Real Estate Bay Ridge

Come see Shore Road Promenade in winter

Eye on Real Estate: Bay Ridge's waterside oasis has epic views of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge

January 30, 2019 By Lore Croghan Brooklyn Daily Eagle

The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge. Photo: Lore Croghan/Brooklyn Eagle

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The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge never looked so good.

So what if it’s winter? This is an icon for all seasons.

You get the best views of the eye-catching steel span when you’re strolling on Shore Road Promenade.

Bay Ridge’s combination walkway and cycling path runs beside New York Harbor, right along the water’s edge.

Birds of a feather flock together beneath the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge.

The promenade is a terrific recreation space.

The air smells salty. The scene is serene despite the Belt Parkway’s proximity. There are always plenty of passing ships to scrutinize.

You’ll be just fine as long as you bundle up — but we’re not kidding about dressing warmly. It’s often much windier down by the riverside than in the rest of the neighborhood.

Shore Road Promenade is so serene though it’s right next to the Belt Parkway.

You can catch glimpses of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge from lots of spots in Bay Ridge and random locales further afield, like the Fifth Avenue sidewalk in Sunset Park. The bridge’s towers are 70 stories tall, so they’re hard to miss.

Nevertheless, Shore Road Promenade is the ideal place for good long looks at the half-century-old bridge.

The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, as it was called when it opened in November 1964, is named after Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano. In 1524, he became the first European to see New York Harbor.

Last year, Gov. Cuomo signed legislation that changed the spelling of the bridge’s name to match the explorer’s.

Shadows stripe the steps of a pedestrian overpass that connects Shore Road Promenade to Bay Ridge residential streets.

‘It is a crime to build an ugly bridge’

The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge is the longest suspension bridge in the United States. Its main span extends for 4,260 feet.

The bridge, which connects Brooklyn and Staten Island, was one of the Power Broker’s projects. You’ve read the blockbuster biography Robert Caro wrote about New York infrastructure czar Robert Moses, so you know who we mean.

Three workers died during its five-year construction, whose intricacies are detailed in Gay Talese’s re-released book called “The Bridge.”

Love locks hang on the protective fence of a pedestrian overpass above the Belt Parkway.

The designer was Swiss-born structural engineer Othmar Ammann. He also designed the George Washington Bridge and was in charge of the construction of several other metro-area spans.

“It is a crime to build an ugly bridge,” Ammann once said. Amen to that.

Shore Road Park is quiet on a wintry day.

A sculpture to commemorate 9/11

Shore Road Promenade has a couple pedestrian overpasses that allow you to cross the Belt Parkway and gain access to Bay Ridge’s residential streets.

The staircases to the overpasses are good vantage points for photographing the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, by the way.

If you’re inclined to wander, stroll across one of these aerial walkways.

You will wind up in Shore Road Park, which is silent in the wintertime but scenic. Various spots in the park are additional vantage points for looking at the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge.

Here’s Shore Road Promenade where it ends at the 69th Street Pier.

You should return to Shore Road Promenade because of course you’ll want to walk to the end of it. There, you’ll find the 69th Street Pier.

In warm weather it’s a popular fishing spot. It’s got a great view of the World Trade Center and Lower Manhattan.

Its official name is the American Veterans Memorial Pier.

Out in the middle of it, there’s a 25-foot-tall bronze sculpture called “Beacon” by artist Robert Ressler. The work, made at Greenpoint’s Bedi-Makky Foundry, honors Brooklyn residents who died in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

On 9/11, boats that evacuated survivors of the Twin Towers’ collapse took them to the 69th Street Pier.