July 2026

I have lived in Sunset Park for almost six years. A 15-minute walk from my house lands me in the heart of this bustling Brooklyn Chinatown, lined with grocery shops, vegetable stands, fish-mongers, and the kind of general stores sporting piles of kitchen utensils, household supplies, and gardening tools. I moved to Sunset Park for easy access to Chinese groceries I couldn’t find elsewhere: fresh water bamboo, whole yellow croaker imported from China, freshly-made tofu sold in individual takeaway containers instead of mass-produced plastic packaging. But I had never found my way into the life of the community; I felt sheepish calling it “my neighborhood.”