Brooklyn Banks

Brooklyn Banks (officially known as Gotham Park) is an area under the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City. The banks are a skate spot popular among skateboarders and BMXers for the unique brick banked surfaces that give the spot its name, and other skateable features such as benches, pillars, ledges, stairs, and handrails.

The banks have been referred to as "New York City's most famous skateboarding spot" and "the Mecca of New York skateboarding" by the New York Times.

The skateboarding community has rallied to save the banks from destruction on multiple occasions.

Architectural history

Originally an area used for the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, the banks abut large vaults under the bridge's anchorage that had been used as wine cellars in the 19th century and a Cold War era bunker to store emergency survival supplies in the case of a nuclear attack.

After the removal of trolley lines from the bridge in the 1950, land was cleared for additional exit ramps for cars to be constructed on the Manhattan end. In 1972, the space under the ramp supports was reclaimed as part of the larger 1 Police Plaza development project. Parks Commissioner Henry Stern independently declared the area a park by installing a wooden sign that read "Red Brick Park."

The distinctive wavelike banked surfaces were designed by landscape architect M. Paul Friedberg, who later said of his design "it was not with the intent of creating a recreational area… but it's interesting that it became that. What is fascinating to me is how we interpret our environment, how we use our imagination to do things, involve ourselves in activities that were not intended." Justin Davidson, architectural critic for Curbed, wrote that the banks were "bleak by design".

Skateboarding

From the mid-1980s onward, significantly before any skateparks were built in New York City, the Brooklyn Banks provided one of the only banked skateable areas in the city.