LOS SURES - SOUTHSIDE WILLIAMSBURG
Geographic Setting
Bounded roughly by Grand Street to the north, Union Avenue to the east, Broadway and Division Avenue to the south, and the East River waterfront to the west, Los Sures—literally “the Southside”—forms the historic heart of South Williamsburg, a neighborhood long defined by resilience, reinvention, and community struggle. Once a center of industry and working-class tenements overlooking the river’s docks, Los Sures has evolved into one of Brooklyn’s most symbolically charged landscapes: a microcosm of New York’s shifting urban tides—industrial decline, immigration, disinvestment, activism, and gentrification—all within a few square blocks.
The geography of Los Sures is both intimate and industrial. Narrow side streets like South 2nd through South 5th Streets, Havemeyer, Roebling, and Driggs Avenues are lined with 19th-century brick tenements and converted warehouses, their façades bearing the patina of a century’s labor and life. Along the waterfront, former sugar refineries and shipping terminals—once dominated by the Domino Sugar complex—have given way to glass towers and new parks, where the Manhattan skyline stretches across the East River. Yet within the grid east of Kent Avenue, the older fabric endures: bodega awnings in Spanish and English, murals honoring local heroes, and generations of families who call Los Sures home.
Etymology and Origins
The name Los Sures (Spanish for “The Souths”) emerged organically in the 1970s, coined by the area’s Puerto Rican and Dominican residents to describe the southern portion of Williamsburg that had become their cultural stronghold. In earlier centuries, the land was marshy farmland belonging to the Dutch village of Boswijck (Bushwick), later subdivided into industrial lots during Brooklyn’s 19th-century expansion.
By the mid-1800s, Williamsburg—then an independent city before its annexation by Brooklyn—was booming. The Southside became home to German, Polish, Italian, and Jewish immigrants who worked in the shipyards, sugar refineries, breweries, and metalworks that lined the waterfront. The Havemeyer & Elder Sugar Refinery (later Domino Sugar) employed thousands and stood as one of the largest sugar producers in the world, while Wythe Avenue and Kent Avenue bustled with warehouses and rail sidings.
The neighborhood’s tenement blocks were dense and hardworking, their proximity to the factories shaping a rhythm of life centered on labor, family, and faith. Churches such as Our Lady of Mount Carmel (1887) and synagogues like Congregation Beth Jacob Anshe Leib reflected the area’s European immigrant roots, while the hum of trolley lines connected Los Sures to the rest of Brooklyn.
The Neighborhood
Early–Mid 20th Century: Industry and Immigration
By the early 20th century, Los Sures had matured into a dense working-class enclave. The industrial base remained strong—sugar refining, textiles, machinery, and shipbuilding—and the waterfront’s factories provided steady jobs. But beginning in the 1940s–1950s, major demographic changes transformed the area. European families began moving outward to other boroughs and suburbs, replaced by new waves of Puerto Rican migrants arriving through “the Great Migration” to New York City.
These newcomers brought music, language, and new forms of community life to Williamsburg’s Southside. Spanish-language storefronts and Pentecostal churches appeared along Grand Street and South 3rd Street; salsa and bomba echoed from windows in the summer. Yet, like many postwar industrial districts, Los Sures suffered from disinvestment. The city’s manufacturing decline led to widespread unemployment, while “urban renewal” projects displaced residents without providing adequate housing replacements. Buildings deteriorated, services dwindled, and by the 1970s, the Southside was marked by both deep poverty and deep pride.
Late 20th Century: The Rise of “Los Sures” and Community Reclamation
The 1970s and 1980s were defining decades for Los Sures. Amid fires, neglect, and economic collapse, residents organized. Facing landlord abandonment and arson, Puerto Rican and Dominican families refused to leave, instead forming cooperatives, block associations, and community development groups that reimagined the neighborhood from the ground up.
Chief among these was Southside United HDFC—Los Sures, founded in 1972, which became one of New York City’s most influential tenant-led housing organizations. Los Sures rehabilitated abandoned buildings, created affordable housing, and established cultural centers that preserved the neighborhood’s identity. Their name became synonymous with grassroots resistance—a declaration that the Southside belonged to its people.
During this period, the neighborhood’s built environment changed dramatically. Vacant lots were transformed into community gardens, squatted buildings became co-ops, and murals proclaimed “El Pueblo No Se Vende” (“The People Are Not for Sale”). Despite economic hardship, Los Sures flourished as a cultural nexus of the Puerto Rican diaspora—home to artists, activists, poets, and musicians who infused the streets with creativity and resilience.
21st Century: Transformation and Tension
The 2000s brought profound change to Los Sures. Williamsburg, once neglected, became the epicenter of Brooklyn’s postindustrial renaissance. Rezoning of the waterfront in 2005 triggered waves of development, as luxury towers replaced old factories and artists’ lofts gave way to high-end apartments. Along the river, the Domino Sugar Refinery—a symbol of both industrial might and working-class struggle—was reborn as a mixed-use complex surrounded by new parks and promenades.
Within the historic Southside, however, the story was more complex. Rising rents and speculative investment pressured long-standing Latino residents and small businesses. Yet the cultural legacy of Los Sures proved enduring: organizations like El Puente, Los Sures HDFC, and the Southside Community Garden continued to advocate for affordable housing, environmental justice, and youth empowerment. The Los Sures Archives Project, launched in the 2010s, preserved decades of oral histories, photographs, and films documenting community life.
Today, Los Sures is a place of paradox—its murals of Puerto Rican flags now framed by gleaming condominiums; its corner bodegas coexisting beside coffee roasters and galleries. Still, amid change, the Southside’s heart remains strong. Grand Street and Broadway hum with Spanish conversation, and festivals like the Southside United Parade continue traditions born of struggle and solidarity.
Spirit and Legacy
The spirit of Los Sures is one of resistance, reclamation, and renewal. Few neighborhoods in New York have fought harder to define themselves against the tides of displacement. From the industrial boom of the 19th century to the activism of the 1970s and the gentrification of the 21st, Los Sures has endured as both a place and a principle—a reminder that community is not built from concrete alone, but from memory, struggle, and love of home.
New York City
Use this custom Google map to explore where every neighborhood in all five boroughs of New York City is located.
The Five Boroughs
One of New York City’s unique qualities is its organization in to 5 boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx, and Staten Island. These boroughs are part pragmatic administrative districts, and part vestiges of the region’s past. Each borough is an entire county in New York State - in fact, Brooklyn is, officially, Kings County, while Staten Island is, officially Richmond County. But that’s not the whole story …
Initially, New York City was located on the southern tip of Manhattan (now the Financial District) that was once the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam. Across the East River, another city was rising: Brooklyn. In time, the city planners realized that unification between the rapidly rising cities would create commercial and industrial opportunities - through streamlined administration of the region.
So powerful was the pull of unification between New York and Brooklyn that three more counties were pulled into the unification: The Bronx, Queens, and Staten Island. And on January 1, 1898, the City of New York unified two cities and three counties into one Greater City of New York - containing the five boroughs we know today.
But because each borough developed differently and distinctly until unification, their neighborhoods likewise uniquely developed. Today, there are nearly 390 neighborhoods, each with their own histories, cultures, cuisines, and personalities - and each with residents who are fiercely proud of their corner of The Big Apple.
