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August 11, 2008

The New York Times Does Gravesend

gravesend_0808.jpg
The Times' Living In column covered the south Brooklyn neighborhood of Gravesend this weekend, a largely Sephardic Jewish area sandwiched between Brighton Beach and Bensonhurst. But it's not just Middle Eastern immigrants who inhabit the one- and two-family homes there—Chinese, Mexicans and Russians have been taking root as well. It's always been an immigrant neighborhood, they say, but the geography of the immigrants changes over the years. As the neighborhood grows wealthier, it's seeing the increase of a fad popular in other parts of the States: the tear-down. Five million dollar mansions are going in razed lots, though they say you can still snatch up an older home—one that doesn't need razing—for $600,000. One local broker summed up why prices are so high: “Sephardic Jews would rather pay a million dollars for a 2,000-square-foot lot in Gravesend than pay $500,000 for a 4,000-square-foot lot elsewhere.”
A Neighborhood Both Insular and Diverse [NY Times]
Ocean Parkway at Avenue U. Photo by Lisanne!.




Posted by lisa at 11:29 AM | Comments (19)
Categories: Gravesend, Real Estate

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Comments

is this the greenest neighborhood in the city or is that picture fixed?

Posted by: dittoburg at August 11, 2008 11:31 AM

I live in this neighborhood. Its like a suburb in the city. very quite (especially on saturdays). Some of the mansions are really ugly and you can't help but scratch your head when so much money is spent on something so ugly. Additionaly you don't have many resturants in the area. When going out to eat I either go to 5th ave park slope or bay ridge.

Other then that, the area is very beautiful and I love living there.

Posted by: troll at August 11, 2008 11:40 AM

The sky looks photoshopped.

Posted by: 11217 at August 11, 2008 11:57 AM

And what's the deal with the pruning job done on the pine tree? I never saw one that was wider in the middle than at the base.

The sky does look photoshopped.

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at August 11, 2008 12:04 PM

I used to live there. Nice, quiet, clean neighborhood. Area I was in was mostly Italian & Chinese (West streets). Quick trip to Coney, bay Ridge, Bensonhurst, etc...Choice of N & F trains was good, too...

Posted by: Dyker Blights at August 11, 2008 12:10 PM

yes, someone turned the saturation dial up to 11 in that photo.

Posted by: z at August 11, 2008 12:44 PM

I really dislike Sephardics. They're sooo racist. Their ignorance is shameful

Posted by: PropJoe at August 11, 2008 12:51 PM

Er, looks like we've got a bit of a pot/kettle problem above.

Meanwhile, DIBS, I think that tree may be training to be topiary. Bit big, though.

Posted by: slopefarm at August 11, 2008 1:23 PM

PropJoe has Sephardic envy. He's usually asking where they get all their money.

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at August 11, 2008 1:28 PM

Or maybe he's speaking from his/her experience...Ethnic enclaves/ghettos are not the best place to live if you are not part of the group. Religion can really f#ck people in the head.

Posted by: qis4quincy at August 11, 2008 1:50 PM

q4q -- DIBS is right. Look at pj's previous posts. He's been trolling on this little digression whenever he thinks he's got an angle for it. Do not feed.

Posted by: slopefarm at August 11, 2008 1:56 PM

Oh yeah. The quality of conversation on Brownstoner has significantly improved since the required-registration policy went into effect. Yeah. Uh huh.

Posted by: East New York at August 11, 2008 2:19 PM

Hey East New York...why is that your name when your profile says you live in Crown heights?? And why are more than half of your posts defending the What and DOW?

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at August 11, 2008 2:31 PM


Hey Dave,

Because I was raised in East New York and now own a home in Crown Heights. I also enjoy referring to my East New York roots. My Mom still owns a two-family home there, across the street from what in my boyhood was a horse stable. That's right, a horse stable. I could tell you a history of East New York you could never imagine, but I'm not sure someone as pretentious as you appear to be is capable of appreciating what I'd have to say.

I haven't "defended" the What and DOW. I've commented that while I don't always agree with him/her, I find a few of the What's posts quite funny, which I do. I don't recall ever having commented on a DOW post.

My turn: why do you spend so much time posting here? I have to say your employer is really getting the short end of the stick, unless they are cool with your obsession with this site. If so, then good for you.

Posted by: East New York at August 11, 2008 3:04 PM

My partners are cool with it. They play viseo games. The less we fuss with the portfolio, the better are the returns. We all own the firm.

Interested in the horse stable story. I used to watch my neighbors coal hauled up the hill at their house by a guy using a bushel basket.

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at August 11, 2008 3:08 PM

ENY - lets be honest, you said "but 'The What' is easily the funniest person posting here". And by that I presume you didn't mean inadvertently the funniest. Which he is. especially when he's unashamedly using his sock puppet to congratulate himself on his brilliant posts.

Posted by: dittoburg at August 11, 2008 3:26 PM

Hard to tell which is the sockpuppet at this point though.

Posted by: wasder at August 11, 2008 4:00 PM

i knew u were a hick,dave

Posted by: buckfast at August 11, 2008 11:12 PM

with a name like buckfast I can't imagine where the hell you came from!!! Peolpe in cities burned coal too.

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at August 12, 2008 8:01 AM

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