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Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn: A Fishing Fleet and a Lost Racetrack

Sheepshead Bay, New York

Pictures from Sheepshead Bay

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The Lundy Brothers building on Emmons Avenue The Lundy building seen across the water The footbridge over Sheepshead Bay

The neighborhood is generally thought to be named after the sheepshead, a black-banded fish that once flourished in local waters. British colonists first settled it as an outgrowth of the seventeenth-century town of Gravesend, and it stayed a small fishing village through the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. In the 1840s Brooklyn and Manhattan residents began coming out for the summer, drawn by sport fishing and duck hunting, and hotels, boarding houses and restaurants went up to serve them. Ocean Avenue opened in 1876 and the New York & Manhattan Beach Railroad followed in 1877 and 1878, both running down to terminals across the bay in Manhattan Beach. In 1880 the Coney Island Jockey Club opened the Sheepshead Bay Race Track on a tract between Avenue W and Jerome, later Avenue Z, and the resort era had its centre.

  1. The Emmons Avenue bulkhead, with the seafood market and the charter boats that still work out of it.

  2. The 1934 Bloch & Hesse building, landmarked in 1992 and now a retail plaza.

  3. A sitting triangle where East 27th Street meets Emmons Avenue, at the head of the old Millionaires' Row.

  4. Three acres on Avenue Y between East 24th Street and Bedford Avenue.

  5. A jointly operated playground on Nostrand Avenue at Avenue Z.

  6. Just under two acres on Nostrand Avenue at Avenue V.

  7. Seafood at 2017 Emmons Avenue, on the waterfront strip.

  8. Roast beef sandwiches at 2901 Emmons Avenue, open since 1964.

  9. Broth-dipped roast beef on Nostrand Avenue since 1938.

The racetrack, the piers and Lundy's

Leonard Jerome urged the investors who formed the Coney Island Jockey Club, and their track opened for Thoroughbred racing on June 19, 1880. A stretch of Emmons Avenue east of East 27th Street, known as Millionaires' Row, filled up with summer houses in the same era. In 1910 Governor Charles Evans Hughes answered betting irregularities with a statewide ban that ended the track's horse-racing era; it reopened in 1915 as an auto-racing course and that operation wound down by 1919. In 1922 the land was subdivided into house lots, and improved transport and favourable tax policy turned a seasonal resort into a year-round neighborhood.

The waterfront changed at the same time. The New York City Dock Commission proposed in 1922 to dredge the channel, build new bulkheads and widen Emmons Avenue from 80 to 120 feet, replacing the wooden piers and small shops along it. Commercial fishermen who wanted dock access and residents who feared for their property values fought over the plan through the 1920s until a compromise in 1929. The buildings were condemned in 1931 and, with the Depression delaying everything, finally demolished in the summer of 1934.

What went up in their place was the F.W.I.L. Lundy Brothers Restaurant Building at 1901-1929 Emmons Avenue, built in 1934 for the restaurateur Frederick William Irving Lundy by the firm of Bloch & Hesse in the Spanish Colonial Revival style. The Landmarks Preservation Commission designated it on March 3, 1992 and called it the last of the great seafood palaces which once flourished in Sheepshead Bay. The building survives as a retail plaza; the restaurant that made it famous is permanently closed.

Getting there

Sheepshead Bay station, at Sheepshead Bay Road and East 16th Street, is the neighborhood's station and an express stop on the BMT Brighton Line. The Q serves it at all times. The B serves it on weekdays — rush hours, middays and early evenings.

Neck Road station, at Gravesend Neck Road between East 15th and East 16th Streets, is located in Homecrest, immediately adjacent to but outside Sheepshead Bay. The Q stops there at all times; the B runs express past it without stopping.

The Long Island Rail Road once crossed this area on the Manhattan Beach Branch, but passenger service ended in 1924 and the line was formally abandoned in 1937. No LIRR station serves the neighborhood today, and no NYC Ferry landing does either.

Eating on Emmons and Nostrand

Randazzo's Clam Bar has been a fixture at 2017 Emmons Avenue and was inspected by the city in July 2026. Roll-N-Roaster is further east at 2901 Emmons Avenue, a roast beef sandwich shop open since 1964 — its own site still carries a copyright line reading 1964 to 2026.

Inland on Nostrand Avenue, Brennan & Carr at number 3432 has been serving broth-dipped roast beef since 1938, under names its regulars know: the Dingle-Dangle, the Double Dip, the K.F.J. It was featured in the second season of Man v. Food and named to Eater NY's list of iconic New York dishes on December 20, 2022. City health records show a Grade A inspection there on June 8, 2026.

Frequently asked questions

How do I get to Sheepshead Bay?
By Q train at all times, or by B on weekdays during rush hours, middays and early evenings, to Sheepshead Bay station at Sheepshead Bay Road and East 16th Street. Neck Road station, at Gravesend Neck Road between East 15th and East 16th Streets, is in Homecrest rather than Sheepshead Bay; the Q stops there and the B does not. No LIRR or NYC Ferry service reaches the neighborhood.
Why is it called Sheepshead Bay?
It is generally thought to be named after the sheepshead, a black-banded fish that once flourished in local waters.
Can I still eat at Lundy's?
No. The original restaurant closed in October 1979, a scaled-down revival ran from 1995 to 2007 and closed after bankruptcy, and the landmarked 1934 building at 1901-1929 Emmons Avenue now houses a shopping plaza with unrelated tenants. Naming rights were reportedly sold in 2023 with talk of a Red Hook revival, but there is no open Sheepshead Bay location.
Is there still a fishing fleet on Emmons Avenue?
The piers on Emmons Avenue still host an active seafood market and tour and charter boats offering fishing day trips.
What happened to the racetrack?
Governor Charles Evans Hughes imposed a statewide ban on horse-race betting in 1910 in response to betting irregularities, ending the track's racing era. It reopened in 1915 as an auto-racing course, that wound down by 1919, and in 1922 the land was subdivided into house lots.
Where can I stay in Sheepshead Bay?
No hotel with an address inside Sheepshead Bay, in either zip 11229 or 11235, is listed on this page, which is consistent with the neighborhood's residential character. No hotel from a neighboring neighborhood is listed here in its place.

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