New York’s forgotten neighborhood: Inside The Hole

It’s one of New York’s secret neighborhoods. Thousands of people drive by it every day en route to JFK and don’t even know about it. Former home of the horseback riding Black Federation of Cowboys, a burial ground for whacked mobsters and easily switchable in appearance with an old western flick, the Hole is unique, eerie, and intriguing all at once.

Take the A train deep into Brooklyn. Get out at Grant Avenue station and walk southwards towards South Conduit Avenue. Once there, turn left and follow it down for a few blocks. On the intersection of Conduit and Ruby Street turn right. You’ll notice Ruby goes downhill. You’ve reached the Hole, which stretches for all of five blocks.

Situated up to 30 feet below street level, and thus cut off from the city’s sewer system, the neighborhood has no drainage. As a result, some streets in the Hole are essentially permanently flooded.

What neighborhood, or even borough, the Hole is located in is itself an interesting question. It sits within a roughly undefined area on the Queens/Brooklyn border. The couple working the food cart outside the Grant Avenue subway station told me I was in Ozone Park, Queens, even though the MTA claims the station serves Brooklyn.

With even that being in dispute, the Hole’s location is all the more confusing. The Queens neighborhoods of Ozone Park, Lindenwood and Howard Beach are commonly suggested, while East New York, Brooklyn is also referred to by some sources.

Most likely, the borough is decided on a block-by-block basis, with most of the neighborhood falling in Lindenwood while a small portion of it, closer to Drew Street, is situated in East New York.

The area is not deserted, but only a couple dozen residents remain. Abandoned homes are a common sight. One woman, sitting in a car parked outside her property, cautioned me not to intrude on her grounds or take pictures of it. In the hour I spent wandering around, that interaction was the only one I had with locals. I did not see many other people.

Empty lots are also common in the Hole. According to the New York Times, in 2004 an FBI investigation led to the digging up of the remains of deceased mobsters Dominick Trinchera and Philip Giaccone, killed over two decades prior to the discovery in 1981.

In staying true to its un-New York-like characteristics, black cowboys riding their horses were for decades a common sight in the Hole. The NYC Black Federation of Cowboys’ website says they were “created in 1994 by a group of diverse people looking to share and promote knowledge of the ‘Black West'”. They operated a horse stable minutes away from the Hole, but the city shut it down in early 2013 and forced the horses to move.

Unfortunately, I did not see any cowboys during my visit to the Hole, but these cowboys have come to represent the neighborhood as more and more people discover their story.

What the future holds for the Hole is uncertain. With the dramatic increase in development and gentrification across New York, it might not be long before the Hole is no more. It is important not to exoticize the Hole as a mystic land or a ghost town. It is a real neighborhood with real people suffering from some serious neglect by the city. These residents all have stories and experiences in the Hole that should be heard.

Visiting the Hole felt like a return to the New York that has ceased to exist, but also like a visit to the New York that never was.