Capote Quote Ruffles Feathers in the Heights
Is a Truman Capote quote—”I live in Brooklyn. By choice”—that’s displayed on 78 of the new wayfinding signs in Downtown offensive? According to The Post, some Brooklyn Heights residents think so. One tells the paper that it suggests “we’re forced to live here,” while another says, “I took it to mean that we live in…
Is a Truman Capote quote—”I live in Brooklyn. By choice”—that’s displayed on 78 of the new wayfinding signs in Downtown offensive? According to The Post, some Brooklyn Heights residents think so. One tells the paper that it suggests “we’re forced to live here,” while another says, “I took it to mean that we live in Brooklyn because we can’t afford Manhattan.” Michael Weiss, executive director of the MetroTech BID, which is responsible for the signs, says the quote was vetted by community groups and folks who take issue with it “ought to lighten up a little.”
Capote Wit Sits Badly in B’klyn [Post]
Brooklyn Heights Residents Offended By A Truman Capote Quote/Everything [Gothamist]
Brooklynites Offended by Capote Quote on New Signage [L Magazine]
Photo via the L Magazine.
I wanted to move to Brooklyn after less than a year of living in Manhattan. One look at the Heights and I was sold. Some people have issue with the quote? Much ado about nothing.
Nevertheleth, he wath a nithe man…
quite right ivy. well said.
I moved to Brooklyn Heights after looking at many places in Manhattan because I thought it was beautiful, full of greenery, and affordable, which it was at the time.
Capote rented the basement apartment of a grand house, maybe he wanted a garden. In any case, a reading of selections from his works was held in the parlor of that house last year. It was a pleasant evening and one that I will never live down on this blog.
nomi, yes, quite right. people are more polite today about it. they won’t say “what? you crazy? Brooklyn? are you buying a gun? like they told me twenty years ago.
unlike the reasonable, fair, and measured posters on Brownstoner, there are some residents of Brooklyn Heights who are difficult and argumentative. Obviously by saying that “I live here by choice” implies that most people don’t. Furthermore, I’m not so sure Capote was telling the truth. He would have much preferred living in Sutton Place at the time if he could have afforded it. When he became rich he bought an apartment in the ultra swank UN Plaza buildings. In any case, from now on, I suggest that brooklynheightsivy be the point person for all local queries as he seems to be quite the WASP extraordinaire.
Most people in Manhattan still can’t fathom why anyone would voluntarily live in Brooklyn. It’s something in the deep DNA of the place.