Did you toast nabe on its 171st birthday?

Monday, Dec. 16 was the 171st anniversary of the naming of Bay Ridge, which was formerly called Yellow Hook.

Yellow Hook resident James Weir, a florist with nurseries and a greenhouse in the area, proposed the new name. He took into consideration the geographic characteristics of the surrounding land, specifically the bay along the Narrows and the high bluff (ridge) just up from Shore Road which had been created by a glacial moraine. A resolution was subsequently unanimously passed by his fellow villagers. Weir was also a prominent  vestryman at Bay Ridge’s Christ Episcopal Church.

When the neighborhood celebrated its sesquicentennial (that’s 150 years, folks), there was a grand celebration throughout the community. Near the shoreline, the Fort Hamilton Army Post fired a salute. The NYPD did a helicopter flyover, an FDNY fireboat rendered a high-powered water-spray salute, and the Xaverian H.S. Band played at an outdoor concert.

Later in the evening, with rotating searchlights flooding the entrance to Fort Hamilton H.S., the Sesquicentennial Committee held a party in the auditorium, where the school’s concert band played musical selections from “Saturday Night Fever.” The national anthem and “America the Beautiful” were sung by America’s famous tenor Daniel Rodriguez, a former cop from the 68th Precinct.  As a grand finale, a large birthday cake was rolled out onto the stage as the audience sang “Happy Birthday.”

Lasting monuments from the 150th anniversary celebration include a large bronze plaque at the Bay Ridge branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, a time capsule, a large mural on the 92nd Street wall of the Food Town supermarket and the formal designation by Borough President Marty Markowitz naming the hydrangea as Bay Ridge’s official flower.

***

You have to see it to believe it!  St. Patrick’s Church and Academy did an outstanding job not only lighting up their Nativity but all the trees and hedges on the property and around the statue of St. Mary, the mother of Jesus. It’s one of the largest Yuletide lighting displays in Brooklyn! 

***

On Sunday evening, Dec. 8, we attended the annual Advent Mass in the Sacred Heart Chapel and, sadly, perhaps the final Christmas tree lighting and blessing of the Nativity on the grounds of the Visitation Monastery.  Rev. Christopher Heanue, the rector (pastor) of Brooklyn’s Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph celebrated the Advent Mass and blessed the Nativity. Former State Sen. Marty Golden, who now works for the Brooklyn Diocese Catholic Charities, emceed the tree-lighting program. It was the 30th anniversary of the event, which was originally proposed and organized by the late civic leader and community activist Larry Morrish.

***