Bath Beach is a neighborhood in the New York City Borough of Brooklyn in the United States. It is located at the southwestern edge of the mainland of the borough on Gravesend Bay. Sometimes included in the community of Bensonhurst, it is separated from that community by 86th Street on the north. It is primarily a working class community of small homes and row houses. It is served by the BMT West End Line of the New York City Subway system. It is located on the opposite side of the bay from Coney Island. Bath Beach once described the beach resort specifically as part of the community of Bath, New York. Bath and Bath Beach are now more or less synonymous. Bath received a boost at the end of 1863 when steam dummy railroad service connected the community to the horsecar system of the City of Brooklyn at 25th Street and 5th Avenue. The actual beach was paved over to create the Belt Parkway, which barricades Bath Beach from Gravesend Bay. Ethnically, the neighborhood hosts heavy concentration of Italians. As is the case with most of Brooklyn, the neighborhood contains a wide variety of small mom-and-pop businesses and has few chain stores. The streets of the area are noted for their distinctive names such as "Bay 14th Street". The addition of the prefix 'Bay' being required to distinguish them from the parallel avenues, which are interspersed with the 'Bay' streets. The neighborhood is served by the D and M subway lines at the 18th Ave elevated train station.
