Prospect Park
Ca. 1960

In the late 1960s, demographic changes in the areas east of Prospect Park consolidated them as Afro- Caribbean enclaves. Local musicians then began congregate in this area near the southeast entrance of the park, calling themselves the Congo Square Drummers, referencing the historic Congo Square in New Orleans. Before the Civil War, open spaces like these were crucial for safeguarding African culture, providing enslaved people a place to gather, socialize, express their spirituality and perform traditional music. Drum circles took inspiration from these sites, offering new generations a connection to the broader African diaspora. Through the years, performances at Drummer’s Grove became highly anticipated events, attracting an increasing number of people during the spring and summer months. This prompted the Prospect Park Alliance to officially recognize it as a place of importance, launching a renovation project in 1997 that included seating for drummers and spectators. Photo: Artists performing at Drummer’s Grove, courtesy of I Am Caribbeing.

553 Rogers Ave 
1922 

Established in 1970 by Lawrence P. Dorsey, Dorsey’s Fine Art Gallery is one of the oldest Black-owned art galleries in New York City. For over 50 years, it has showcased works by some of the nation’s greatest African-American artists. Born in St. Louis, Dorsey attended LeMoyne- Owen College in Memphis, Tennessee, where he majored in journalism and was editor of the college newspaper. During World War II, he served as a supply sergeant and was stationed in Germany, before being honorably discharged in 1945. In 1953, Dorsey moved to Brooklyn and worked as a head waiter on a cruise ship, where he would begin collecting works of art. Upon his retirement, he bought a framing business located at this two-story brick building to open an art gallery, which fostered and displayed pieces by renowned artists like James Denmark, Jacob Lawrence, Ernest Crichlow, Ann Tanksley,
Emmett Wigglesworth, Otto Neals, Elizabeth Catlett, and the late painter and illustrator Tom Feelings. The gallery also held an annual holiday art auction to raise funds for the neighborhood. Dorsey passed away in 2007. In 2011, a section of Rogers Avenue between Fenimore Street and Hawthorne Street was named after him.

5101 Church Avenue 
1928 

Conrad Ifill was born and raised in Trinidad and Tobago. He had a large family but few resources, so he learned to bake in order to help feed them. He emigrated to Canada in 1968 and later moved to New York, working in computer data processing and accounting on Wall Street for over 10 years. In 1981, Ifill decided to change careers and open his own bakery. He rented a space in a commercial building at the corner of Utica Avenue and Union Street. It was so successful that in 2015 he opened a second location at this corner of Church Avenue. The bakery specializes in Caribbean pastries, like currant rolls, guava tarts and nine-rum cake, as well as hard dough bread and many other traditional baked goods. It became a fixture of Little Caribbean, and Ifill was an active member of the community. He passed away in 2019 due to COVID-19, and the Utica Avenue store was closed in 2021.

736 Flatbush Ave 
1926 

In 1995, Gavin Hussey co-founded a small restaurant called Danny & Pepper’s at Flatbush Avenue, mainly selling jerk chicken. The dish originated on the island of Jamaica, where it descended from a cooking technique developed by aboriginal Arawaks. Ten years later, Hussey -nicknamed “Peppa” since childhood- opened his own restaurant on Flatbush Avenue, where he continued to serve chicken and escovitch fish, along with a few other traditional dishes. Born in St. Andrew Parish, Jamaica, Hussey grew up helping his
mother cook for their large family. His unique style of jerking made the restaurant a neighborhood favorite, and the menu was soon expanded. Two new locations were opened in Brooklyn and one in Manhattan, all run by his family, consolidating Peppa’s as a staple in the Little Caribbean community. Photo courtesy of I Am Caribbeing.

624 Flatbush Ave 
1926

In 1984, Trinidadian Tony Fongyit opened this ice cream parlor and vegetarian store on Flatbush Avenue. The shop’s menu was inspired by his adherence to Rastafarianism and an Ital diet, which advocates for the consumption of pure and natural food, directly from the earth, avoiding animal byproducts. Scoops quickly became one of the neighborhood’s
important cultural hubs, with loyal customers supporting it for over 40 years. In 2015, the six-story converted tenement building that hosts the shop was sold to a local developer who attempted to evict Fongyit after his lease expired in 2019. He was able to continue operating on a month-to-month agreement, but a court ruling in 2024 stated that the storefront be evicted by the end of August.

2123 Caton Ave 
2022 

Located at one of the main intersections of Little Caribbean, the Flatbush Caton Market was established in 2000 as an open-air market for West Indian goods. The initiative was led by Dr. Una Clarke, the first Caribbean-born woman elected to the City’s legislature, who partnered with the City of New York to provide a permanent space for street vendors. The site was a former municipal parking lot, where merchants would set up tents. Over time, the need for a more permanent structure prompted a fundraising campaign, which resulted in the construction of a one-story brick building at the same site. The now- enclosed market opened in 2001, allowing vendors to grow their businesses and hosting community events. In 2013, plans for the re-development of the site were announced by the New York City Economic Development Corporation. The project included commercial, residential and community uses, and a new space for the Flatbush Caton Market. The new 14-story mixed-use complex was completed in 2022, with the market occupying the ground floor and renamed Flatbush Central Caribbean Marketplace.

1109 Nostrand Ave
1906

Born in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, an island country in the eastern Caribbean, Allan Smith moved to the US in the 1950s. He began working at hospitals, and by the late 1950s he and his wife Gloria started baking products at home and selling them from the back of their vehicle. In 1961, they rented a storefront at 425 Saratoga Avenue and opened their first bakery. Due to its popularity, by 1967 the family had relocated the business to its current address at Nostrand Avenue. The bakery is known for its Caribbean and West Indian breads, pastries and cakes, as well as savory
preparations. It is one of the longest-standing Caribbean businesses in the neighborhood and is still owned and managed by the Smith family.

1127 Nostrand 
1914 

In the late 1990s, McDonald Romain identified the need for authentic West Indian food products in the Little Caribbean neighborhood. These were widely available in his home country of Granada but there were few ways to bring them to the US. He then set out to establish Labay Market, which opened in 2005 at this three-story brick building at the corner of Nordstrand Avenue, offering a wide array of goods essential to prepare traditional dishes. Romain, also known as “Big Mac,” imports many of the items from his family’s 60- acre farm in Grenada. He also imports traditional utensils and spices from nearby islands.

1194 Nostrand Ave
1906

Established in 1968, the African Record Centre specializes in the distribution and promotion of African music. At the time, there was little information available about African culture, so brothers Roger “Roy”, Rudolph and Roland Francis decided to put together the largest selection of African music in New York, thus helping to establish the genre within the United States. The Francis brothers were originally from Brooklyn and became familiar with traditional African music and dances through a folkloric ensemble they had formed in the early 1960s. They began importing music from Europe, Africa and the Caribbean, becoming distributors of Makossa, the first label for African music in the United States. The store’s first location was in Harlem, and was soon followed by this location at Nostrand Avenue. They would later expand into books about the black diaspora and spirituality, opening the Yoruba Book Center at the corner of New York Avenue and Rutland Road. Although this is their only remaining location, the African Record Center continues to be one of the neighborhood’s most beloved and influential spots, attracting people from all over the world. Interior view by Nenim Iwebuke, courtesy of Afropop Worldwide.