Grand Theft Auto IV/Broker

The Liberty City setting of the game Grand Theft Auto IV is made as a fictional interpretation of the real life Greater New York City Area. Liberty City is made up of five boroughs; Algonquin (Manhhatan), Broker (Brooklyn), Dukes (Queens), Bohan (the Bronx), and Alderney (New Jersey); Staten Island was left out of the game because creator Rockstar Games felt that it would offer nothing to the game's setting that the New Jersey based Alderney would not. Each of these boroughs are in turn made up of a number of neighborhoods, also based on real life neighborhoods of New York City.

Hove Beach
This is the first area heavily featured in the game and is based on Brighton Beach. Like Brighton Beach, Hove Beach features a population made up of predominantly Eastern European immigrants.

Hove Beach is the citywide headquarters for the Russian Mafiya controlled by mob bosses Mikhail Faustin and Kenny Petrovic and home to the Mafiya owned Comrades bar and Perestroika cabaret club. Like all neighborhoods in the game with a gang presence, behaving recklessly in Hove Beach will draw the attention of the local gangsters who will not hesitate to protect their turf. The Russian gangsters of Hove Beach tend to patrol the area on foot and in black luxury cars.

The neighborhood was named Hove Beach because Hove and Brighton are the names of neighboring beach front towns in the UK.

Firefly Island
Based on Coney Island, Firefly Island features the closed Funland amusement park in addition to a beach and boardwalk where you can find the Memory Lanes bowling alley. Like Coney Island, Firefly Island is not presently an actual island. Russian Mafiya can occasionally be found here, but nowhere near as abundantly as they are in Hove Beach.

Firefly Projects
While there is a real life housing project called the Coney Island Houses which no doubt served as an inspiration for the name of this neighborhood; the area also has a strong resemblance to the housing projects of other Brooklyn neighborhoods such as Brownsville. The Firefly Projects are controlled by the African-American gang known as M.O.B.

Beachgate
Beachgate is an affluent gated community based on the Seagate neighborhood in Brooklyn. Populated with mansions and fast cars, it is also the location of the home of Russian Mafiya boss Mikhail Faustin.

East Hook
Also called the Broker Navy Yard, this is where Niko Bellic takes his first steps on American soil after disembarking from the container ship, Platypus. It would appear to be based on both Redhook and the Brooklyn Navy Yard. In addition to the docks the area is home to steroid and status nut Brucie Kibbutz' Executive Autos garage and chop shop.

Outlook
Outlook Park is located in central Broker and is based on Prospect Park. The Soldiers Plaza monument and the traffic circle surrounding it are found to the northeast of Outlook. Like nearby South Slopes, Orthodox Jews can often be found here.

South Slopes
Located to the west of Outlook Park, South Slopes takes its inspiration from Park Slope and has a large population of Orthodox Jews.

Downtown
Clearly based on Downtown Brooklyn, Downtown is generally a business district where suits can be found walking about discussing business while drinking overpriced coffee. Of interest is an underground gun shop run by the Angels of Death OMG located down an alleyway through an unmarked door.

Rotterdam Hill
An historical neighborhood with a cobblestone overlook offering a view of BOABO, Algonquin, and the Broker and Algonquin bridges; Rotterdam Hill is based on Vinegar Hill.

BOABO
Based on the DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) area, BOABO stands for Beneath Of the Algonquin Bridge Overpass. Directly north of the Broker Navy Yard, BOABO appears have been working class neighborhood like East Hook, but like DUMBO is becoming a more hip neighborhood due to it's proximity to Algonquin. Niko and Roman Bellic's friend Brucie Kibbutz, a materialistic steroid junky obsessed with being a "winner," calls BOABO home.

The Angels of Death OMG also have a notable presence in the area.

Cerveza Heights
Clearly named for Corona, Queens (Cerveza meaning beer in Spanish and Corona being a well known Mexican beer), Cerveza Heights also bares resemblance to other central Queens neighborhoods such as Flushing, Jackson Heights, and Elmhurst. Like these neighborhoods Cerveza Heights is home to a number of ethnic groups, most notably Latinos, but there are a number of Chinese and South Asian establishments as well.

Cerveza Heights is one of many neighborhoods in Liberty City occupied by the Spanish Lords.

Schottler
Schottler is a large and fairly ethnically diverse neighborhood most likely based on Sunnyside, as it features a replica of the arch located on 46th Street and Queens Boulevard. Jamaican gangsters Little Jacob and Real Badman share an apartment here.

Beechwood City
With it's large West Indian population, the western part of Beechwood City may be based on Richmond Hill and Jamaica. Home to Real Badman's Posse and their Homebrew Cafe; Jamaican gangsters can be found here cruising the streets in pimped out low-riders and SUVs with a two-toned green and black paint scheme.

In contrast, the east edge of Beechwood City near FIA tends to be packed with members of the Angels of Death OMG. There is a Burger Shot in the area that serves as a hangout for the biker gang.

Meadow Hills
Mostly a residential area, Meadow Hills would appear to be based on Forest Hills.

Willis
Willis is an east Dukes neighborhood which like Beechwood City, is a turf for Jamaican gangsters. It is a middle class neighborhood based on Hollis, and is home to a community center where Kate McReary works.

East Island City
Based on Long Island City; NUCA (National Union of Contemporary Arts), based on the P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center, and the LC24 Tower, based on the Citicorp Building can be found here.

Steinway
Located in northwest Dukes, Steinway is based on Astoria, where there is both a Steinway Village and Steinway Street. In Grand Theft Auto IV Steinway is the base of operations for the McReary Crime Family (Irish Mob). Although modern Astoria is known more for its Greek and Middle Eastern populations, historically the neighborhood was heavily Irish and German. Steinway is also home to the McReary hangout and local landmark Steinway Beer Garden which is based on Bohemian Hall, the oldest beer garden in New York City which was founded in Astoria in 1910 by Irish and German Americans.

Charge Island
The island at the center of the Triborough Bridge based East Borough Bridge which connects Dukes, Bohan, and Algonquin. It would appear to part of Dukes as one can get to it from Dukes without paying a toll, but the when coming from Algonquin or Bohan the Dukes toll is paid. The real life Triborough Bridge passes over Ward's Island and Randall's Island so Charge Island clearly takes inspiration from both of them, but it is far closer to Randall's than it is to Ward's. Interestingly Colony Island, which appears to be based on Roosevelt Island, also has much in common with Ward's Island.

Meadows Park
The largest park in Liberty City, Meadows Park is based on Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. The park features two Liberty City landmarks; the Monoglobe (based on the Unisphere) and the Liberty State Pavillion Towers (based on New York State Pavilion Observatory Towers).

The McReary home is located on the westside of Meadows Park.

Francis International Airport (FIA)
Liberty City's only airport which takes up nearly half of Dukes is based on JFK Airport.

South Bohan
Based on the South Bronx, South Bohan is a tough, mostly Puerto Rican neighborhood home to Mallorie Bardas, Manny Escuela, and Elizabeta Torres. It is also believed to be the original turf of the Latin gang known as the Spanish Lords. During Grand Theft Auto IV Mallorie arranges for Roman (her boyfriend) and Niko Bellic to stay at an apartment in South Bohan owned by some relatives when they are on the run from the Russian Mafiya.

Chase Point
Bohan's redlight district, it is based on the seedier part Hunts Point (as opposed to the industrial Hunts Point based neighborhood, which happens to be named Industrial); Chase Point has a seemingly endless supply of prostitutes as well as old warehouses and chop shops.

Fortside
Fortside is based on Fordham and would appear to be the busy center for business and shopping in Bohan. Members of the Spanish Lords can occasionally be found here. Folsom Way, a major road in Fortside, is probably based on Fordham Road.

Industrial
As its name implies this is an industrialized area filled with dockside warehouses and factories. Like neighboring Chase Point it takes influence from Hunts Point in addition to other industrialized areas along the coast of the Long Island Sound.

Boulevard
Named for the Grand Boulevard which serves as its southern border and a major throughway for all of Bohan; Boulevard is the equivalent of Concourse which in turn is named for the Grand Concourse.

Northern Gardens
A large neighborhood making up most of northeast Bohan, Northern Gardens is an amalgamation of several of the neighborhoods making up the area known as the East Bronx. Some of the neigborhoods that it resembles are Woodlawn, Morris Park, and Norwood. Tenement buildings, serene coastlines, and the Triangle Club strip bar can all be found here.

Little Bay
The area of Bohan that is lead into by the Dukes Bay Bridge has aspects of both Throggs Neck and Pelham Bay. The name and location seems most similar to Pelham Bay; however with the Dukes Bay Bridge connecting Dukes to Bohan, just like the real life Throggs Neck Bridge connecting Queens to the Bronx, there is a definite similarity to Throggs Neck. The atmosphere and appearance of Little Bay is also closer to that of Throggs Neck than Pelham Bay.

Castle Gardens
At the most southern tip of Algonquin is Castle Gardens, a park based on Battery Park. Like Battery Park, Castle Gardens offers a view of the game's version of the Statue of Liberty, the Statue of Happiness.

Battery Park is named as it was the site of a fort with gun batteries when New York was a Dutch and later a British Colony, a large castle type building is on the very southern tip of Castle Gardens and may be what the area is named for. In this same building there is currently a restaurant called the Poop Deck, which is a favorite meeting place of the crooked Deputy Commissioner Francis McReary when making off the record business deals.

The Exchange
Full of skyscrapers and stockbrokers, the Exchange is the in game equivalent of the Financial District. The famous law firm Goldberg, Ligner & Shyster is located here, as well as Perseus, where designer suits can be purchased.

Castle Garden City
If Castle Gardens in Battery Park, Castle Garden City is Battery Park City. On its west side is a large park and promenade on the West River offering a view of Alderney and Happiness Island. Among the buildings in the neighborhood are replicas of the World Financial Center.

Happiness Island
The location of the Statue of Happiness, Happiness Island is a combination of Ellis Island and Liberty Island. While the Statue of Liberty holds a torch, the Statue of Happiness holds what looks like a cappuccino cup from Starbucks and has a goofy grin on its face.

City Hall
As the name implies, this is the location of City Hall and it is based on Civic Center. In addition to City Hall there are replicas of the Manhattan Municipal Building and the Woolworth Building.

Chinatown
Named for it's real life counterpart, Chinatown is located in lower Algonquin and is home of the Triads who run a gun shop in a cellar beneath one of the many buildings here. While neither Chinatown or the Triads play a large role in the main storyline, this neighborhood is one of the more memorable with neon signs in Chinese and trigger happy Chinese gangsters creeping out of alleyways.

Little Italy
Like Chinatown, Little Italy shares a name with its real life counterpart. Full of Italian restaurants and wiseguys, this is grand zero for the Five Commission Families of the Libery City Mafia. Like Chinatown, if you hang around for too long you may attract attention from the wrong sort of characters and end up "sleeping with the fishes."

Pegorino family capo Ray Boccino manages a restaurant here called Drusilla's; it's from here that Boccino conducts business.

Suffolk
An upscale shopping district based on SoHo, Suffolk has cobblestone streets lined with Grand Theft Auto brand boutiques such as Didier Sachs and Ranch.

There is an old cathedral on the border of Suffolk and Little Italy where the McReary family holds a funeral during the main storyline. The cathedral is most likely based on Old Saint Patrick's Cathedral which is in between Little Italy and SoHo.

Lower Easton
Based on the Lower East Side, Lower Easton was traditionally a working class and immigrant neighborhood that has recently begun attracting students, bohemians, and artists.

Easton
Although it is geographically much closer to the East Village, Easton has little, if anything in common with that neigborhood, instead containing two Midtown landmarks; the MetLife Building based GetaLife Building and Grand Easton Terminal which is the game equivalent of Grand Central Terminal.