East 21st Street & Ditmas Avenue

East 21st Street and Ditmas Avenue meet at a four-way crossing in Flatbush, Brooklyn. The corner is also named Aracely Courtenay Way by local law. Between 2021 and 2025, 14 police-reported crashes were recorded here, against a median of seven crashes for a Brooklyn corner. Flatbush Tompkins Congregational Church is 1,100 feet away. The nearest subway, Newkirk Plaza, is about ten minutes on foot, for the B and Q. Within a five-minute walk are ten public places, six of them religious buildings, and 15 places to eat.

Safety record
5 hurt
14 police-reported crashes, 2021–2025
Nearest subway
Newkirk Plaza
0.5 miles · 10 min on foot · B, Q
Nearest bus stop
370 feet
Ocean Av/Ditmas Av · BM1, BM3, BM4
Within a walk
10 places
6 religious buildings, 1 day care or pre-K site and 3 more kinds, within five minutes

Map

Layers
East 21st Street & Ditmas Avenue Nearby corners, linked

Getting there

How walks are measured

Subway

The nearest subway station is Newkirk Plaza, 0.5 miles from this corner, about ten minutes on foot.

  • 2 lines at the nearest station
  1. Newkirk Plaza B, Q
    0.5 miles
    B Q

Next trains at this station

Manhattan
2 lines
  1. B …
  2. Q …
Southbound
2 lines
  1. B …
  2. Q …

The MTA's permanent art catalog lists “Transit Skylight” (1988) by David Wilson at the Newkirk Plaza station.

Bus

The nearest bus stop is Ocean Av/Ditmas Av, 370 feet away, for the BM1, BM3 and BM4.

  • 10 routes within a ten-minute walk
  1. Ocean Av/Ditmas Av BM1, BM3, BM4
    370 feet
    BM1 BM3 BM4

Next buses at this stop

  1. BM1 …
  2. BM3 …
  3. BM4 …

Live arrivals

Cycling

  • 20 bicycle racks within 820 feet

Nearest bike-share station

  1. Beverley Rd & Flatbush Ave 30 docks in all
    0.4 miles

By car

The nearest highway entrance is the ramp to the Prospect Expressway westbound at Prospect Avenue & Prospect Expressway, 1.7 miles by car along the streets.

  1. 1261 Flatbush Avenue Gas station
    1,310 feet
  2. 1170 Ocean Avenue Charging for electric cars, eight Level 2 chargers
    0.5 miles
  3. 2699 Nostrand Avenue Fast charging for electric cars
    1.8 miles

Safety record

How crashes are counted

Between 2021 and 2025, police reported 14 crashes at this corner, more than the median of seven crashes for a Brooklyn corner.

  • 4 people injured
  • 1 person killed
  • 4 of those hurt, on foot

The most recent crash recorded here was in April 2026.

About this corner

Where facts come from
ZIP code
11226
Community board
Brooklyn Community Board 14
City Council district
40
Police precinct
70
Neighborhood (City Planning area)
Flatbush
Elevation
29 feet above sea level

This corner is also named Aracely Courtenay Way, a co-naming enacted on July 20, 2024 (Local Law 81 of 2024).

The streets

  • Up to two travel lanes
  • One of the streets is one-way

Homes

About 2,700 homes stand within 820 feet of this corner, most of them in buildings of ten homes or more. The buildings holding them mostly went up between 1931 and 1940.

Trees

NYC Parks records 54 trees within 330 feet; the most common is the London planetree.

The Department of Records' Honorary Street Names dataset has its own note on Aracely Courtenay Way.

Parking on the streets meeting here

How signs are read
  • 30 signs on these blocks
  • 8 different rules

The sign wording is DOT's, as recorded between December 2015 and June 2026, and the sign on the street decides.

North side of Ditmas Avenue

  • Ambulances and ambulettes only 2 signs AMBULANCE AMBULETTE ONLY
  • No parking 4 signs NO PARKING MONDAY THURSDAY 11:30AM-1PM

South side of Ditmas Avenue

  • No parking 5 signs NO PARKING TUESDAY FRIDAY 11:30AM-1PM

East side of East 21st Street

  • No parking 5 signs NO PARKING TUESDAY FRIDAY 11:30AM-1PM
  • No parking 4 signs NO PARKING TUESDAY FRIDAY 8:30AM-10AM
  • No standing 1 sign NO STANDING 7AM-7PM EXCEPT SUNDAY

West side of East 21st Street

  • No parking 5 signs NO PARKING MONDAY THURSDAY 11:30AM-1PM
  • No parking 4 signs NO PARKING MONDAY THURSDAY 8:30AM-10AM

Landmarks and historic districts

Within 820 feet, 96 buildings are designated by the Landmarks Preservation Commission, recorded most often as Colonial Revival, and mostly built between 1905 and 1911.

Schools and places within a walk

How places are listed

Ten public places are within a five-minute walk.

  • 6 religious buildings
  • 1 day care or pre-K site
  • 1 listed historic place
  • 1 nursing home or hospice
  • 1 older adult center

Schools and child care

  1. Cortelyou Early Childhood Center School-based preschool, ages 3 to 5
    1,270 feet

Health care

  1. Ditmas Park Care Center Nursing home or hospice
    280 feet

Libraries, museums and history

  1. Ditmas Park Historic District Listed historic place
    1,070 feet

Houses of worship

  1. Pilgrim Wesleyan Church House of worship
    250 feet
  2. Flatbush Tompkins Congregational Church Landmark
    1,100 feet
  3. Fernande Valme Ministries House of worship
    1,250 feet

Community centers and public services

  1. Older adult center at 961 Ocean Avenue Older adult center
    440 feet

Supermarkets

  1. CTown Supermarket
    0.4 miles

Pharmacies

  1. Walgreens Pharmacy
    0.5 miles

Food stores and places to eat

Within a five-minute walk there are 15 places to eat and 16 food stores.

Not on record for this corner: a signal or safety change.

Nearby corners

The eight corners within a three-minute walk:

See every intersection along Ditmas Avenue or East 21st Street.

Sources: NYC Technology and Innovation, NYPD, MTA, NYC DOT, New York City's bike-share system, NYS Environmental Conservation, NYC City Planning, US Department of Energy, NYC Records, Landmarks Preservation Commission, NYC Parks, NYC Health, NYS Agriculture and Markets and USDA, retrieved September 18 – October 6, 2026.