New York's Dangerous Gowanus Canal Situation
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- Äas pĆidĂĄn 8. 05. 2024
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The Gowanus Canal, situated in Brooklyn, New York, boasts a rich yet checkered history that mirrors the evolution of urban landscapes in America. Originally a serene tidal inlet surrounded by marshlands, the canal underwent a dramatic transformation in the 19th century when it was dredged and transformed into an industrial waterway to accommodate burgeoning commercial activities. The canal became a vital artery for Brooklyn's industrial expansion, serving industries ranging from shipping to manufacturing. However, this rapid development came at a cost, as the canal became heavily polluted due to industrial runoff and sewage discharge. Despite its ecological challenges, the Gowanus Canal remains an emblem of New York's industrial heritage and is undergoing extensive restoration efforts aimed at revitalizing its waterfront and addressing environmental concerns for future generations.
ITâS HISTORY - Weekly Tales of American Urban Decay as presented by your host Ryan Socash.
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» CREDIT
Editor - Karolina Szwata,
Host - Ryan Socash
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Some images may be used for illustrative purposes only - always reflecting the accurate time frame and content. Events of factual error / mispronounced word/spelling mistakes - retractions will be published in this section.
Hey everyone, Iâm sorry the audio is messed up on this one, Iâve been living in hotels for over 2 weeks. The cool thing is that the episode was recorded in a literal castle. Iâll be back in the real studio soon! Thank you all for watching! - Socash
I was wondering. But I do love when you do videos on location so its all cool man.
Everything good?
What about Coney Island canal between Sea Gate and Sheepshead Bay ?
I smoke pot.
What is a literal castle?
When I started working on a tugboat in NYC , the captain told me not to fall overboard in the Gowanus Canal or they wouldn't let me back on the boat. I always thought Newtown Creek was worse. But they cleaned up Newtown Creek to the point that I saw Cormorants diving for fish in it before I retired in 2009.
I grew up a few blocks fron the Canal. The smell back in the 1980's and early 90's was unlike anything I've ever smelled since.
I would go as far to say that most young people that live in NYC today have never smelled such a stink!
I still live in the neighborhood and can gladly say that the Gowanus Canal today is nothing like it used to be. Looks and smells much cleaner now. Compared to 30 years ago you wouldnt even believe that its the same waterway!
Good change !
It still has a purplish film. But itâs not nearly as stinky
Since the pumping station was fixed. My mom and Buddy Scotto (funeral parlor) tried to get the pumping station fixed in the early 70s.
Only in NYC can multi-million $$$ condos facing an EPA Superfund site spin that as "waterfront property". I've lived in Carroll Gardens near the Gowanus for 30 years and have seen the changes.
progress baby
Fisher Island directly faces the Port of Miami đ
Ahhh the memories of Gowanus..when I was a kid back in the 90s my big brother used to have me thinking if I fell in there I'd come out a Swamp Thing a la what happened to Emil at the end of Robocop
One of the most underrated iconic film moments of the 80's.
Freaked me the heck out
My friend, Jack Armstrong, swam in the Gowanus Canal just downstream from the Union St bridge in 2015 and is still alive today somehow.
Yikes. Did he loose a bet? Good thing he didn't drink the water.
Isn't he the guy the NIH is looking for?
It's a miracle the Gowanus Canal didn't suffer the same fate that befell Cleveland's Cuyahoga River back in the 70's as it was so polluted, it caught fire. âŁïž
As memorialized in a Randy Newman song with an extremely evocative name: "Burn On." (!)
The Rouge River in Detroit burned too, 1969.
If it caught fire, then that would only help to burn off the nasty chemicals, and make it cleaner. đđ€Ł Aarre Peltomaa of Mississauga, Ontario
@@musicforaarre okay, well then that makes all the polution acceptable...?
"just burn it off, everything will be just fine."
Buffalo River in Buffalo NY
I can still remember the horrible odor that originated from the canal when i was growing up in the area in the 1970's and 80's...
The old industry is gone, redevelop it !
its etched in our brains and nostrils.
I grew up in Brooklyn and lived there my whole life and when I was a kid we use to bet people to go in and swim for five minutes no one ever had the nerve to take the bet
I recall that Burt Reynolds did a movie around there called, "Shamus". You could actually see how run down the Gowanus Canal was in the early 1970s.
There was a whale that got turned around like 10 years ago and ended up in the canal. It became so poisoned and disoriented that it rammed its head into the walls until it died.
this guy that made the video doesn't know a damn thing about this area of Brooklyn. he said the dutch purchased this area when infact they killed off the Lenape that wanted to stay there and waged war on the lanape that wanted to defend themselves. this area still belongs to the Lenape of Marechkawick.
@@vlosa2439tell us how you really feel
but many mobsters took their final swim in the gowanus!
One pathogen you did not list is venereal bacteria! A few years back a car went into the Canal, the driver got out of the car before it went in. A passer-by not knowing this jumped into the Canal to rescue, only to find out nobody was in danger. He was admitted to the hospital and had to be treated, shots, etc. because anybody who is crazy enough to go in that water is required to get hospital treatment, according to the newspaper article I read at the time!
How interesting, sad, shameful, and scary !
The needles you have to get if you fall in that water is Iron Maiden like.
You should do one on the Kill van Kull/ Arthur Kill. The waterway between Staten Island and New Jersey. There was raw sewage pumped into that waterway for over 100 years from factories along it. Very high levels of PCBs and others. It was reported as being one of the worst polluted waterways in the US. There is some good news in the improvement of the environment reported due some efforts from NJ/NY. Hopefully there is a positive trend. Anyway, thank you for another informative video
Not to mention all the medical waste dumped in the 1980s and 1990s... They finally removed the the "Warning - Do not Eat the Toxic Crabs" sign from when I was growing up.
Sounds like another Superfund Site, for sure.
Gowanus is not connected to the Hudson River. It's below both the Hudson and East River in the upper bay. The gowanus is currently lined with multimillion dollar condos and a Whole Foods. Yes there's still some industry but that is shrinking while housing, entertainment and more craft type industries are growing. The intro makes more sense referring to late 20th century gowanus than the last 20 years
This guy Hudson rivers
Iâm always amazed at how gritty places transform, I saw the same thing happen throughout Chicago. Thanks for your comment!
The Hudson isnât even near Manhattan.
I can verify those observations. Seen it myself.
Still, the legend of the four criminals who tried to escape the police by jumping into the Gowanus Canal, and shortly later died of poisonings, is still prevalent amongst people in Brooklyn, New York.
This is why I stopped watching hood videos. Too many errors or he doesnât know how to read a map. Also video is too long.
our local mascot is a three-eyed fish
The name Gowanus means the sleeper or dreamer in the Lenape language/ It was where the Canarsie Indians did their ceremonies
I work in the neighborhood, yes, lots of construction everywhere and the water is super smelly while you cross the bridges. I do hope it gets the continued clean up.
Who knows if that Gowanus Canal will ever be cleaned. I read somewhere, sometime ago, that in the 1860s, captains used to take their sailing ships through the Gowanus Canal to kill Barnacles off the ships hulls.
I worked across the street from it a few years ago. It was like a gate with sanitation signs on it I think. I trying to remember.
Theyâd have to dredge the entire canal and replace all the soil surrounding it. Same thing in Wburg, when I lived there 15 years ago before it turned into Soho 2, every time a building broke ground you could smell the old Standard Oil petroleum in the dirt.
â@@theequalizer9154wow, that's insane!
Cleaning it up and returning it to a brackish saltwater marsh -- still stinky
Great story. I lived in Carroll Gardens, and rode my bike across the Gowanus daily,on my way to Prospect Park. This was1989, and it did stink! The scent from a nearby coffee roaster made it palatable! When the tidal access was restored, it all improved dramatically. I remember riding the drawbridge on my way to the park, and being waved down by the drawbridge operator. He excitedly pointed out that he had see a crab! Alive! The bridge op saw this as a sign! I remained skeptical.
Cool story!
I remember several decades ago a whale đ accidentally swam up the Gowanus & soon died ,we called him "Sludgie the Whale" a take on the Carvel icecream cake đł called Fudgie the Whale
I remember both the whale and the ice cream cake. From Carvel.
Classic
Yep
I used to live nearby the Canal. Upon walking near it, you could smell the odor of death coming from there. I didn't know the history of the canal until I watched this video. The story that we received was that there was no flow of the water and it was just a sitting pool with nowhere to go. Thanks for posting this video and clarifying the true nature of this site.
The FDNY fire house in the area is called
The Cancer House
I knew a firefighter in the 90âs who worked there and ended up with cancer in his late 20âs but I didnât know it was related to the firehouse.
@@leeannmcdermott8313 itâs not the firehouse but a lot firemen in the house get cancer. Also at young age đą
@@marcsarfati3291 yea so the firehouse has to be toxic, prob water contamination. I wonder if the people who live in the surrounding area of the firehouse has the same problem?
@@leeannmcdermott8313 the surrounding area is âlow incomeâ. Most of the area is under a very busy highway as well.
No homeless tents but very industrial
@@marcsarfati3291 lol it is not low income anymore what are you saying?
My direct ancestor created the first mill on this site, and his mill is one of the pictures in the video. Itâs cool to see that and Iâd love to see this area become clean and vibrant again.
Thank goodness we had talented artists and illustrators from before the age of photography to show us what life was like in New York back in the day when it was still rural. The 'before and after' is startling.
Pathetic how this nation treats its waterways.
Not everywhere
In Brooklyn, We need money to clean it, redevelop it.
The industry is gone, but the Dutch never left.
@@lucasrem Given who will win the election. Ecology will continue to be taken seriously and hopefully, waterways get grants for repair.
Thank the Caucasians every piece of land they touch is ruined.
@@lucasrem the dutch left long ago what are you talking about.
Only in NY would they build overly priced "luxury" apartments and get people silly enough to reside there.
I no longer live in Brooklyn, but I remember the canal very well.
When they first started building the apartments my reaction was. âWhy would anyone consider living by the Gowanus Canal a selling point?â
@@user-vs7el9wm3d The canal is not nearly as polluted now as it once was. The canal no longer smells and the surface is clear and no long multi-colored with contaminants.
Iâm an environmental scientist that works in gowanus. Thereâs an insane amount of environmental cleanup required for these buildings to go up..but I still wouldnât live here lol
Ryan, you skipped the part about how in 2010, Whole Foods Market paid over $4 million to help clean up the Gowanus Canal, so they could open their first store in Brooklyn.
It was designated a superfund site in 2010. Why did Whole Foods have to pay that much if the Federal government was supposed to pay for the cleanup?
@@howwitty Whole Foods wasn't required to pay, they spent $4M+ for the Virtue Signaling points.
â@@howwitty it's like a you scratch my back I'll scratch yours. The 4m probably went straight into some politicians pocket and whole foods probably gets a massive tax break or straight up exemption
Whole Foods also received massive tax breaks from NYC.
@@RyshusMojo1 $4M+ is just virtue signaling?? What would it take to make it meaningful for them to do help in the clean up?
They are cutting so many clean up corners to convert this area to housing. Residents will have so many serious health problems and there will be much litigation.
I mean I grew up there during the 80s 90s and Iâm 44 and I think it gave me super immune function and I can ignore any smell
I will never forget the way it smelled while driving over the Kosciuszko Bridge on the BQE
That's Newtown Creek.
@@harveywachtel1091 All I can remember was the stink I left NY in 1996
Once they fix the flooding in the area and get it up to a liveable standard that land is going to be worth a fortune.
Another great video. I can appreciate all of the work that goes into these videos. Thank you.
Is it only me but I can see the word ANUS in Gowanus, which describes how it was treated for centuries
Not only you .....
Go Anus !! That's funny !! I'm going to remember that one. It's catchy. Aarre Peltomaa
Steps from the indstrial ravaged gowanus canal, in the heartland of america
TMR!!
They need to build a temporary dam, drain the canal, and completely unearth the soil in it.
Line the canal with metal/ cement walls and completely redevelop the area.
That would cost an enormous amount of money not to mention be a biohazardous nightmare. All that biofilm aerosolized as it is excavated? Then transported to create a Superfund site of biologic and chemical waste elsewhere. You could not just hire construction workersâŠpeople would need PPE and the EPA other agencies involved.
Plus the cost of a dam and further construction?
â@@ilovecatvideos1851They can afford it if they stop giving free money to foreign countries and illegal immigrants right?
theyâve refined and capped the thing. itâs literally a superfund site and has been worked on for years now. I donât know why someone would make a video like this and leave out crucial information.
They (the Feds and NY State) have the money for anything they really want to do. Hey, how much did the #7 train extention to Javits Cyr or what about the cost
of the 2nd Ave Subway?
The money is there, just ask everyone in and around govt to stop stealing for a while.
@@tj9585 They can afford it while doing that at the same time
Do you see at @ 6:14 that green building in the corner? Gone, you see the lots all around those blocks in the same frame? All gone, see the lots with the trucks? The next frame where you see all those white trucks? All these lots are gone, replaced with condos and high rent lofts. Theyâve absolutely leveled this area without taking care of the water source right next to it. This should tell you about the greed in New York City, I live on Bond street within the 300s near Union street. Iâve lived here my whole life, I cannot tell you of another waterway I find more stinky, or more polluted than the Canal. My homies and me used to say if you fall in there you come out a ninja turtle. However if you do fall in there what you would need is immediate hospitalization. I wouldnât ever call this a river or anything near a river. It is by far one of the most smelly things you will find in New York. Union street, (Carroll street used to have a bridge), and 3rd street all have bridges that go over it, tbh I would say that Iâm so used to the smell that sometimes I canât smell it, that should tell you something about my health. The truth is I love Gowanas, and Carroll park but I cannot continue to live here, tbh it has nothing to do with the canal! Itâs the area in general, they have made this area condo city within the last 2 years out of nowhere, theyâre pushing native New Yorkers out like me who canât afford those kinds of rent, congestion, and bills. I love my little area next to the canal, but unfortunately Iâm fleeing north brooklyn and trading it for south brooklyn. Thank you for making this video, my part of brooklyn doesnât get enough love
Agreed with your entire post. If if ever REALLY FLOODS, it's going to be a Bacterial Nightmare. In regards to South Brooklyn, please do your research first. There are some areas that were decently middle class a couple of decades ago that are now low class to bordering lower middle class. (if that makes any sense)
Alright shoutout to majority report
Left is best!
Reminds me of the bubbly creek down where the Chicago stockyards used to be! I remember seeing it gurgle on warm days years ago.
I remember stories of a monster living in the Gowanus Canal from back when I was a kid. I always said anything that can live in there can't die.
It's been REALLY cleaned up & it's becoming a lovely waterway once again.
The person who started the first real effort to clean up the GC, was the great Buddy Scotto.
Ive seen people jump in, canoe, even jet ski. There are even dormant fans under the water,
As well as other things.
Dormant fans?
What is a dormant fan, please?
My mom worked with Buddy on getting the pumping station fixed in the early 70s. Deaf eared politicians.
Good stuff thx 4 the efforts
A very timely history, and message for NYC.
You really should do a video about Cohoes NY and the water infrastructure and the mills and railroads and canals.
The amount of history is incredible in this city and most of it has disappeared and is forgotten
Hopefully, there's a future episode in the works for Newtown creek
I grew up in Brooklyn, maybe a mile southeast of Gowanus Bay.
I got out of there as soon as I could.
I now live in the mountains of Teton County, Wyoming.
Thank you for validating my reasons to leave.
You can make some spicy seltzer using water from the Gowanus canal
Hey, Majority Report! Their intro is what made me click on this.
Same!
Me too.
I work in a studio in Gowanus and over the past year, several enormous residential towers have been constructed. Unfortunately, the water cleanup is not moving as quickly as the new construction. Architectural renders show people kayaking in the canal, but it still stinks and I will never touch that water. On the other hand, I watched a goose and a duck hunting thru the mud next to the Loweâs parking lot
Iâm an environmental scientists in gowanus. The main sources of contamination is not the canal itself but the former factories that once surrounded it which polluted the ground water. All construction here has to fully clean up the pollution on which the building stands on.
Really enjoyed this video. Greetings from Slovenia, EU.
Really good doc! Iâve been to the Canals numerous times during my life. However, you did forget to mention a few interesting facts about the canal. For starters, the canal was instrumental in transporting much of the Brownstone used to build Brooklynâs iconic Brownstone homes. Also, you didnât mention sludgie the whale! Nor the beautiful Newtown creek nature walk along the canal. In addition, you will see ducks floating on the water from time to time. This signals that the water is getting cleaner, despite still being unsafe for humans. If youâre interested, check out an artist name George Trakkas. He was pretty influential in bringing attention to the canal back in the day.
Ya think any stolen guns or ones used in the commission of a crime were dumped in the canal? đ
Hudson
Thanks NY for giving us the worlds largest living petri dish.
I haven't been to NYC in years, and never heard of the river being mentioned. Thanks for the video. Cheers.
You bet!
This just goes to show how absolutely fleeced we are as consumers. The most polluted areas on the east coast, is also one of the most expensive. Good job America.
That's free market economy 101, the freedom to pollute and passing on the burden and cost to the community.
Remember this riverđ€đđ€Șfrom All in the Family episode âŒïž
I love watching the CSOs ( Combined Sewer Overflows )
Especially when it rains as billions of gallons of raw sewage pours into the rivers every hour
And the smell, you haven't lived till you smell the CSOs start flowing when it rains
Fascinating. Philadelphia's two rivers: The Delaware and the Schuylkill were polluted like the Gowanus. Many of the former creeks were converted to sewers that are still very much in service.
8:48 pumping station at buttlerstreetđ
Nyc does have humorđ
Man, Sam Seder isn't kidding
You should do a episode about dead horse bay
You might hear some Brooklynites refer to that canal as âperfume bayâ.
Literally never heard that
Lavender lake
Donât ever joke around and push someone in
People used to jump in from time to time in the 90s during parties over there, with death and other serious consequences.
Love that you mentioned Sam! That is why I clicked on this video
Im sure in the colonial days it was mainly a septic system with an occasional brown breads floating by.
In London in the early 1800's, there were covered booths in which people could shit into the river 'Thamesis' Thames directly. The Thames estuary was a stenchy place. Because of the sewers built, no more turds float in the river.
Aarre Peltomaa
I lived in Gowanus for years, right by the draw bridge on 3rd St and man, there were some days when you could smell it with every window and door shut.
One of the saddest stories was about a dolphin that got trapped in the canal and died because there wasn't enough oxygen in the water.
I miss and love NY but yeah... it's not for everyone... humans or dolphins.
'broadcasting steps from the industrially ravaged gowanus canal'. It's why Im watching this well presented tragic story, actually
"Our neighborhood is classy,
We've got rats as big as Lassie!"
-- old NY song
The canal is fine. I swim in it with my children 3 times a week. We also catch eel in there and eat it every day of the week. My son is growing fingers on his face, and I'm wondering why.
Flying over the canal in 3d on google earth is pretty cool. Some rough neighborhoods but neat industry as well.
Ryan, good product placement for LOWE'S, that and Home Depot my two favorite stores.
The cannal would probably burn with the toss of a match like the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland did years back.
I saw a piece on this water on Off Limits. Interesting.
Rest in peace. New York City !
So that stuff growing in the canal is basically a mutant monster. Creepy
Excellent video. I had no idea that the Gowanus was 'that' nasty ! Would you also do a sister video about the Newtown Creek just to the north ? It has much history also. Aarre Peltomaa
Does anyone know what that red/brown brick with white trim building is on the poster for this video? It's rather elegant, considering where it stands.
Very good video. Actually, Sam Seder says "We are broadcasting live, steps from the industrially ravaged Gowanus Canal in the heartland of America - downtown Brooklyn, USA."
Years ago I worked one summer in Long Island City. The scene at 0:05 was very nearby my walking route from the Hunters Point subway station.
Huh? 0:05 is nowhere near LIC.
@@BKDBut curious which crossing is the scene in?
@@johnstraley9057 That's the BQE from the point of the Gowanus going out to the Bay. The picture is likely taken on the 9th street bridge, underneath the Smith-9th St station for F/G train
i'm amazed that in a city like NY there is any brown field land left
More housing lowers rents for everyone
I believe Mad Magazine refered to this as the "Yecch Factor" back in the 70's. Always seemed completely plausible to me.
Ah, so this is the canal mentioned in the Majority Report. âSteps from the industrially ravished Gowanus Canal in the heart of downtown New Yorkâ
When we were kids my friend used to jokingly refer to it as the Iguanas.
Thanks again for another interesting piece Ryan. I truly appreciate your attention to detail in each item that you bring us. I'm a huge history buff and enjoy just about anything I can get on different places around the nation and beyond! God bless! ~ Scott đđđ»
You have to do one on far rockaway
It's a perfect metaphor for NYC.
My grandfather fought at the Battle of Gowanus Canal.
I would love to know how exactly this canal and the river are to be cleaned
Brown logs are still a hazard in the water
Majority Report listener here
so much torque!
Is there a chance youâll ever do a video about Las Vegas?
Ferrara bros cement and Bayside fuel and oil were the MAIN traffic on the canal.
Clean water is not just a nice thing to have; it is essential.
11:58 - Luis Scola lived there
So a bunch of politicians and their friends lined their pockets coming up with a stupid plan. Sad!
I can't believe it's dirtier than I thought!! đ
Nice historical video, itâs amazing how the money allocated for improving Gowanus canal area was so little, yet the politicos managed to bypass the serious problem of Gowanus canal contamination by rezoning for residential use, crazy, the area still probably not fit to live in because of Gowanus canal. SMH!
Gowanus is a perfect metaphor for New York in general. Gross...
Affectionately referred to as Lavender Lake by Brooklynites.
Wish I lived back in those days. NYC is a cesspool now.
NYC was way more dangerous back then.
The worst thing about NYC today is #TheRentIsTooDamnHigh
The Gowanus canal is connected to the Hudson? That's new!
Is the new Gowanus bridge up sometime soon are is that too local?
I fell into that canal launching a kayak. I live to tell the tale (I still feat turning into toxic avenger though).