In a shop window in the Gowanus neighbourhood of Brooklyn, a painted effigy of Saint Joseph bows his head at passersby. Beyond him, baristas serve pastries inside a library packed with Edward Gorey books, vinyl records, and pillows printed with microbial cell images.

Occupying the ground floor of New York’s first death-themed gallery, the Morbid Anatomy Museum, Black Gold coffee shop is just the latest in a recent crop of new businesses brightening up Third Avenue, a formerly derelict corridor linking the BQE overpass and downtown Brooklyn.

Gowanus barely registers on most New Yorkers’ radar, despite its rich history – Third Avenue is one of the city’s oldest merchant routes. In recent years, it languished, a vacant industrial strip where 18-wheelers roared past tyre shops and storage warehouse lots. Now, it seems to be reverting to the hive of entrepreneurship and creativity it once was.

In December 2013, Whole Foods opened its first Brooklyn location here, choosing Gowanus over trendier neighbourhoods like Williamsburg or Brooklyn Heights. The stylish supermarket, with its solar panels and rooftop beer garden, is thriving in its spot along the muddy estuary.

But not all of the focus is on shiny new developments: Gowanus’s battered waterfront, empty warehouses and the slightly ghostly feel of its bridges and cross streets hold endless potential for artists (in October, a Gowanus open-studio tour counted over 300 participants). And venues like Royal Palms Shuffleboard Club and the newly opened Threes Brewing (a cosy brewpub that will open a large beer garden this spring), have even added nightlife appeal.

Josh Stylman, co-owner of Threes Brewing, says the area’s recent blossoming drew him here, but also cites a practical concern: “We needed a manufacturing area to make our own beer, and Gowanus is that – albeit one that’s undergoing a massive transformation.”

Things are even looking up for Gowanus Canal, the infamously toxic waterway that snakes through this quirky Brooklyn backwoods. An upcoming multimillion-dollar housing development, led by the Lightstone Group, has accelerated a clean up of the blighted canal. As part of the deal, they’ve also promised a 1,000-sq ft boathouse (set to open later in 2015) to accommodate the Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club, a grant-funded organisation that’s offered free waterfront access to locals and tourists since 1999.

With all the new attractions coming to the area, canoe club leader Eymund Diegel says that crowds could become an issue, but adds: “The fact that people are taking an interest in this area is a good sign.” Last autumn, Diegel hosted a wedding on the canal: “We picked up the bride and groom, dressed in a white gown and tuxedo, and brought them down to the Union Street Bridge, where he’d proposed. Couples love our sunset cruises, they bring a bottle of wine ... it’s very romantic.”