Where the Street Runs Out
Most of Brooklyn keeps the water at arm’s length. You can see it from a park, you can bike past it on a greenway, but you rarely get to stand over it. Bay Ridge is the exception, and the 69th Street Pier is the reason. Walk west on Bay Ridge Avenue, cross Shore Road and the greenway, and the pavement simply continues out over the Narrows for a few hundred feet until there is nothing on either side of you but open water.
Officially it is the American Veterans Memorial Pier. Nobody in the neighborhood calls it that. It is the 69th Street Pier, because Bay Ridge Avenue is 69th Street, and that is also where our name comes from: Pier 69 Market sits at 10 Bay Ridge Ave, on the same street, about five minutes on foot from the railing at the far end.
What You Actually See From the End
The thing that makes the pier worth the walk is geometry. Because it pushes out past the shoreline, you are standing in the middle of the view, with roughly 270 degrees of harbor around you.
South: The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge
Look left, or south, and the bridge is right there. Not a distant silhouette on the horizon the way it looks from most of Brooklyn, but close enough to pick out the two towers, the sag of the main cables, and the traffic crossing the upper deck. The light does different things to it through the day: flat and gray at midday, bronze in the late afternoon, and a string of lights after dark. If the bridge is the main reason you are coming, our guide to coffee near the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge covers the rest of that stretch of waterfront.
North: Lower Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty
Look right, or north, up the length of the upper bay, and you get the Lower Manhattan skyline stacked on the horizon with the Statue of Liberty in front of it. It is a long view, so it depends entirely on air clarity. On a hazy August afternoon it is a gray suggestion. On a cold, dry, windy day in October it is startlingly sharp, which is the single best argument for visiting the pier in fall and winter rather than in summer.
Straight Ahead: The Shipping Lane
Directly across is Staten Island, and between you and it is the working channel into New York Harbor. This is the part visitors do not expect. Container ships, tankers, tugs pushing barges, and the occasional cruise ship pass through the Narrows close enough that you can read the hull markings. There is no schedule to it. You stand there long enough and something enormous goes past.
Because the pier pushes out past the shoreline, you are not looking at the water from the edge of land. You are standing in the middle of the view.
The Best Times to Go
The pier is a different place at different hours, and the hour matters more here than it does at a park.
- Early morning, 6 AM to 8 AM. The quietest window, and the one anglers use. The light comes up behind you over Brooklyn and hits the bridge and the Staten Island shore first. We open at 6 AM on weekdays, which exists almost entirely for this kind of errand. More on that in our guide to early morning coffee in Bay Ridge.
- Midday. Best for clarity on the Manhattan view, worst for photographs, since the overhead light flattens the bridge. Good for a walk that continues up the greenway toward Owls Head Park.
- Late afternoon and sunset. The marquee hour. The sun sets behind Staten Island and the New Jersey hills, so from the pier you are looking directly into it with the bridge in frame. Our Bay Ridge sunset guide goes through the timing by season.
- After dark. The bridge lights, the Staten Island shoreline, and the Manhattan skyline all read clearly, and the pier empties out. We are open until 9 PM every day, which makes an evening walk out and back a reasonable plan rather than a logistical problem.
Dress for the Narrows, Not for the Street
This is the most practical advice in this guide, and the thing first-time visitors get wrong. The pier is fully exposed on three sides, and the wind coming through the Narrows is consistently stronger and colder than whatever is happening two blocks inland on Third Avenue. A spring afternoon that feels mild at the cafe can feel like November at the end of the pier. Bring a layer you were not planning to need.
The same logic applies to what you carry. A lidded cup is not a suggestion out there, it is the difference between drinking your coffee and wearing it. If the weather has turned, our hot chocolate holds its heat well on the walk, and in warm months a cold brew on tap is the standard order. If the forecast falls apart entirely, the rainy day guide has indoor alternatives.
Fishing, the Ferry, and the Greenway
The pier does three jobs at once, which is part of what makes it interesting to stand on.
It is a fishing pier. On warm mornings and evenings there are rods along the railings and buckets on the deck, and it has been that way for decades. New York State saltwater fishing rules apply, including registry and seasonal limits, so check the current state regulations before you set up.
It is a ferry landing. The NYC Ferry stops here, which means the pier has a steady rhythm of commuters and day-trippers arriving and departing. If you are building a trip around the boat, our NYC Ferry coffee guide and the coffee near the NYC Ferry page cover the timing between the counter and the gangway.
It is the hinge of the waterfront greenway. The path along the shore runs north from the pier toward Owls Head Park and south toward the bridge, so the pier is the natural midpoint of a walk or a ride in either direction. Our waterfront walk guide maps the walking version, and the Bay Ridge biking guide maps the other. Dogs are a normal sight on the promenade; see the dog-friendly guide for where to go with one.
Getting There
The R train at Bay Ridge Avenue is the closest subway stop, and the walk down to the water is simple and mostly downhill. The B9 and B37 buses serve the area as well. Driving is the harder option: street parking near Shore Road thins out on weekend afternoons. Our guide to parking and transit on the Bay Ridge waterfront goes through it properly, and the visit page has our address, hours, and directions in one place.
What to Bring From the Counter
The pier has benches and railings and no concessions, so whatever you want out there you carry out there. A practical order is one drink with a lid and one thing to eat that survives a tote bag and a five-minute walk.
On the food side, the sturdy items are the right call. Cookies and muffins from the baked goods case travel without complaint, and a breakfast sandwich wrapped for takeaway is the standard early-morning version. Anything that needs a fork or a flat surface is better eaten at a table before you go. The full list is on the menu, and if you are putting together something for a group walking down together, catering or a call to (718) 777-6969 is the faster route. The coffee is La Colombe and the tea is Rishi, if you want to know what you are carrying.
The Short Version
Walk west on Bay Ridge Avenue until the street ends. The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge is on your left, Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty on your right, and working ships pass in between. Go at sunrise if you want it empty, at sunset for the photograph, and in cold clear weather for the sharpest long view. Bring a layer and a lid. We are at 10 Bay Ridge Ave at the top of the same street, from 6 AM on weekdays and 7 AM on weekends until 9 PM. For a full day built around the water, start with our guide to things to do on the Bay Ridge waterfront.
Coffee at the Top of the Street
La Colombe coffee, Rishi tea, breakfast and lunch at 10 Bay Ridge Ave, five minutes from the 69th Street Pier. Open 6 AM weekdays, 7 AM weekends, until 9 PM daily.
