The Sheepshead Bay Neighborhood , whose low wooden houses spread north of Emmons Avenue from the basin, has drawn metropolitan anglers and epicures since its founding in the early 1800's. Fronting the bay are many restaurants noted for their shore dinners. Best known are Lundy's, Villepigue's, Seidel's, the Beau Rivage, and Tappen's. Some of these boats take as many as two hundred passengers on fishing cruises that sometimes extend as far as Atlantic City. The charge per passenger ranges from two and a half to five dollars.
Boats leave at six, seven, and eight in the morning, and at midnight.
In the 1870's Sheepshead Bay was also a noted sporting center. At Ocean Avenue, near Jerome, was the track operated by the Coney Island Jockey Club. Near by, in the Holwell mansion, still standing, flourished one of the earliest racing tipster rackets. This information would be sold to bookmakers. It was considered the fastest automobile track in the world.