Decode Bushwick.

Bushwick: Brooklyn's Street Art Capital

Bushwick was once the beer capital of the Northeastern United States. In the late 1800s, eleven breweries operated within a fourteen-block radius, producing lagers for the neighborhood's large German immigrant population. The brewery buildings — massive brick structures with deep cellars designed to keep beer cool before refrigeration — still stand throughout the neighborhood, repurposed as artist studios, event spaces, and the occasional climbing gym. When the last brewery closed in 1976, the neighborhood entered decades of disinvestment. The 1977 blackout saw widespread looting on Bushwick's commercial corridors, and the area didn't begin its recovery until well into the 2000s.

The Bushwick Collective, founded by local Joe Ficalora in 2011, transformed the neighborhood's warehouse walls into one of the world's most significant outdoor street art galleries. Artists from dozens of countries have painted large-scale murals on the buildings along Troutman Street, Jefferson Street, and surrounding blocks. The works rotate — new murals replace old ones, making each visit different from the last. Beyond the Collective, the underground music scene that grew out of Bushwick's cheap warehouse spaces produced DIY venues like Silent Barn, Shea Stadium, and Market Hotel, which became essential stops on indie touring circuits.

StoryHunt's Bushwick experience turns the street art into a scavenger hunt. Your phone sends you searching for specific murals, hidden details within the artwork, and clues that connect the neighborhood's brewery past to its artistic present. You'll decode visual symbols, investigate warehouse histories, and piece together the puzzle of how a beer district became an open-air museum. Two to three hours of walking, looking, and discovering — no guide needed.