The Hollow neighborhood is located near the center of Bridgeport, northwest of Downtown. It is bounded by North Avenue (Route 1) to the northwest, Park Avenue to the southwest, Washington Avenue to the East and Main Street to the northeast. This small neighborhood consists of approximately 0.42 square miles but has a population of 9,562, according to the 2000 Census, making it the most densely populated neighborhood in the city. The Hollow neighborhood has an unemployment rate of 11.3 percent, and one-quarter of its residents live below the poverty level.

The Hollow has historically been an immigrant neighborhood since it was settled by Irish and English immigrants in the late 1830s. Today, 30 percent of the area’s residents are foreign born, and nearly half of all residents (44%) are Hispanic. Other significant immigrant populations include Portuguese, Brazilian and Cape Verdean residents. The rest of the neighborhood is comprised of Black non-Hispanics (28%), White non-Hispanics (16%) and Asians (12%). In 2000, the area had 3,477 housing units, over 95 percent of which were built more than 20 years ago. The overall character of the neighborhood is multifamily residential, and approximately 77 percent of housing units are renter-occupied. The Hollow has no land area devoted to parks or open space, but contains Sterling Hill Historic District.