Dyker Heights is located in the south-west part of Brooklyn, between Bay Ridge and Bensonhurst. The neighborhood borders Bay Ridge to the west (at 7th Avenue), Boro Park to the north (at 65th Street), Bensonhurst to the east (at 14th Avenue), and the namesake park to the south (at 86th Street).
Dyker Heights includes the neighborhood of Dyker Park, an exclusive community of high-priced mansions situated next to the namesake park. Dyker Park extends from the park’s border to the Gowanus Expressway, and from 86th Street southward to the Fort Hamilton Army Base.
Dyker Heights is a showcase of Brooklyn’s best architecture. Examples of almost every major style can be found here, especially along the park-side avenues. Housing in Dyker Heights runs the gamut from attached and semi-detached brick rowhouses to stately mansions with landscaped grounds. Generous lot sizes and zoning regulations in this area have resulted in large, spacious houses, built of brick and/or stone.
13th Avenue, also known as Dyker Heights Boulevard, is the neighborhood’s main commercial strip. The 13th is home to gourmet food shops and delis, a large supermarket, several pharmacies, a bakery, the post office, and many other establishments. The Dyker Heights branch of the Brooklyn Public Library is located at 8202 13th Avenue.
The Dyker Heights community is famous for grandiose Christmas decorations. Visitors from all over the Tri-State Area come to see the stunning displays of lights, animatronic statues, and synchronized music. Many of the amazing decorations are motivated by complicated family stories, illustrating the long history of the neighborhood and the closeness of the families that live there. The displays have been the topic of several TV documentaries, most notably PBS’ “Dyker Lights”.
Christmas is not the only time that Dyker Heights residents enjoy a good spectacle. In Bay Ridge, right next door, the annual Ragamuffin Parade showcases the talents of over 3,000 Brooklyn kids, and neighboring Bensonhurst attracts thousands of visitors to the feasts of Saint Rosalia, one of the patron saints of Sicily, and the Feast of Padre Pio.
The neighborhood 216-acre Dyker Beach Park, with the adjoining Dyker Heights Golf Course, borders the oceanfront. The park complex includes bocce courts, football & soccer fields, baseball diamonds, and safety playgrounds. In addition, the nearby Seth Low Park and the 17.5-acre Bensonhurst Park have plenty of space and attractions for adults and kids alike.
Only a few miles away, the oceanfront communities of Coney Island, Seagate, Brighton Beach, and Manhattan Beach offer miles of sandy beaches, many amusements, and a selection of multi-ethnic restaurants and shops. Coney Island’s Keyspan Park is home of the Brooklyn Cyclones, New York Mets’ minor-league team.
Dyker Heights and neighboring Bay Ridge is home to over 50 schools, including some of NYC’s best public and private institutions. The neighborhood is home to outstanding public schools, such as the Fort Hamilton H.S. and Telecommunications H.S., as well as exceptional private schools like Adelphi Academy and the Bay Ridge Preparatory School. The prestigious Poly Prep Country Day School is located here, and a group of high-ranking Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Greek Orthodox schools, as well as a healthy selection of yeshivas, rounds out the Dyker Heights/Bay Ridge selection of educational institutions.
Public transportation in Dyker Heights is provided by the B1, B4, B8, B16, B64, and B70 local buses, which bring residents to the R subway in Bay Ridge, and the D/M and N lines in Bensonhurst and Boro Park. In addition, the X28 and X38 express buses provide a direct connection to Manhattan, and the S53, S79, and S93 buses run express to Staten Island. Drivers appreciate the convenience of direct access to the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, as well as Shore Parkway, Gowanus Expressway, and Fort Hamilton Parkway, just to name a few.