4 Best Sights in Sunset Park, New York City

The neighborhood’s namesake park offers fabulous views of New York Harbor and the Lower Manhattan skyline from one of Brooklyn’s highest hills. Stretching three blocks between 5th and 7th avenues, the green space has a seasonal public swimming pool, playgrounds, and multiple ball courts. Head to the park at sunset to see why it’s worthy of its name.

This imposing block-long Romanesque church stands tall on a ridge is unusual because it's actually two churches, one stacked on the other. The lower church opened on Easter Sunday in 1909. The larger, upper one was completed in 1928 in time for Christmas. In recognition of Sunset Park's diversity, masses are said in English, Spanish, Chinese, and Vietnamese.

The opening of this park in 2014 marked a major milestone in the effort to reclaim Sunset Park's formerly industrial waterfront. Once part of the Bush Terminal port complex, the 11-acre public green space has soccer and baseball fields, as well as a nature preserve containing saltwater tidal pools. The preserve's restored wetlands are helping to purify the nearby aquatic habitat. Enter the park at 43rd Street and 1st Avenue and walk past several industrial buildings to get to the park gates. The waterfront esplanade has sweeping views of New York Harbor, including the Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan skyline.

A makeover and an influx of 21st-century businesses—some in a marvelous food court—have reinvigorated the mammoth former Bush Terminal complex of factories and warehouses. Reincarnated as the 6-million-square-foot Industry City, the space, still evolving, hosts "designers, innovators, start-ups, manufacturers, and artists." Tenants worth checking out at the Food Hall include Colson Patisserie, Blue Marble Ice Cream, and Avocaderia, what may be the world's only avocado-centric restaurant. Events include sample sales, food festivals, and family-friendly dance parties.