Sea Gate is a neighborhood that was built at the far western end of Coney Island located in the borough of Brooklyn, New York. The neighborhood is a barrier between residents of this middle-class enclave at the western tip of Coney Island and the chaos of the world just beyond its three gates. It is bounded by Coney Island Creek, West 37th Street, the Atlantic and Norton’s Point. As of 2010 census, there were 3,530 people residing in the area. The median income for a household in the village is $39,492.
Sea Gate contains mostly single family homes, some directly on Gravesend Bay and regularly patrolled by the Sea Gate Police Department, though the New York Police Department has jurisdiction over it. The NYPD takes command when a serious incident occurs, but otherwise stays out of the neighborhood.
Surf Avenue and West 37 Street entrance to Sea Gate, a neighborhood at the far western end of Coney Island and a private gated community with police guarded entry.
In the 19th century, the area was developed as a private, gated community. The former and merged names include Norton’s Point and West End. The corrupt deposed leader of Tammany Hall named William Marcy (Boss) Tweed, hid out there for several weeks in 1871 after escaping prison guards. He later got on a ship to Spain. In 1892, several wealthy people especially who loved sailing cleaned up the neighborhood when they purchased a lease from the Norton’s Point Land Company. They were the ones responsible for setting up the elegant Atlantic Yacht Club, built summer homes, and six years later formed the Sea Gate Association. The association provides sanitation and police services and maintains public works. The city provides firefighting and health protection services. The old chapel was built in 1901 which is just inside the Surf Avenue entrance to Sea Gate and no longer used for services. It is used as an official polling site at election time, a community center, and a home to Boy Scout Troop 256, one of the last Boy Scout Troops in the southern part of Brooklyn.
Well-known residents living in Sea Gate include Beverly Sills (opera singer), Isaac Bashevis (singer and author), and Woody Guthrie (musician). The neighborhood is a safe to live and work. There are no public schools in Sea Gate but instead schoolchildren take buses to District 21 schools in Coney Island. They attend Public School 188, Intermediate School 303 and Mark Twain Junior High School for the Gifted and Talented, which requires an admissions exam. John Dewey, Lafayette and Abraham Lincoln High Schools are also nearby.
