Atlantic Avenue follows Flatbush Avenue and Fulton Street in notoriety and fame, and it parallels Fulton Street throughout much of the borough of Brooklyn.

Atlantic Avenue runs from the waterfront near the East River all the way to Jamaica, Queens. Officials in Kings County (synonymous with the Borough of Brooklyn) have dubbed Atlantic the "Champs Elysees of Brooklyn" in an attempt to play up its status as a major center of tourism, commerce and traffic through the borough. While not quite in the same league as the Champs Elysees, Atlantic Avenue has its charms. The length of the avenue spanning the waterfront to the Flatbush-Atlantic Avenue intersection is tipified by its Arab community. Mosques, specialty shops such as Sahadi Importing Company (knows as Sahadi's ) and restaurants specializing in Middle Eastern food define the character of Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn Heights, Boerum Hill and Downtown Brooklyn.

As Atlantic ventures further east, its character changes. Gone are the shops and boutiques; they are replaced by gaping holes in the ground that comprise the Atlantic Avenue Train Yards--used by the Long Island Railroad and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority of New York City--massive buildings used by storage companies, and the Atlantic Terminal projects. The face of Atlantic Avenue east of Flatbush Avenue is most defined by its relationship with the Long Island Railroad tracks that run beneath it (from Flatbush Avenue to Bedford Avenue ), above it (from Bedford to near Albany Avenue ), and at grade (in East New York). The elevated portion of the Long Island Railroad tracks greatly limits the ability to thrive of the businesses and residences along Atlantic Avenue; many shops are derelict or defunct, and this trend continues on into Queens.

Atlantic Avenue serves as the border between Prospect Heights and Fort Greene; Bedford-Stuyvesant and Crown Heights.