What's Your Take? Leave a Comment

  1. of all the corporations to deride, please leave american apparel alone. they do a lot of things right in their business model, as far as labor and manufacturing go, voluntarily, that a lot of other companies don’t. even brooklyn industries can’t say the same- they get their stuff manufactured in thailand which has arguably the worst conditions for the factory workers (of the big manufacturing countries). there is no good reason to be snooty about them.

  2. Petebklyn, I think Cappi’s comments were pretty accurate. 20 years ago (frankly, even 12 years ago) Smith St. was desolate for blocks and blocks at night. Not the case with Court Street, which had most of the shopping for “regular folk” and everyone I knew always walked along Court and avoided Smith as much as possible. Sure there were a few small stores on some blocks (between Union and 2nd was ok) but the strip from Sackett to Bergen seemed abandoned, especially at night. It’s hard to exaggerate how much Smith St. has changed since then — I try to describe it to people who lived in Carroll Gardens back then and moved away and I’m not sure they believe me. The change is clearly not all for the better (American Apparel?) but it is certainly dramatic. I’d say the same thing about Fifth Ave. in Park Slope as well.