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September 8, 2008

Quote of the Day

quotation-icon.jpgWhen we (a young white family) moved to Clinton Hill in the early 1990s, within days we'd been welcomed by our (black) neighbors, invited to barbecues, spent time talking on stoops and watching each other's children play on the sidewalk, etc. When I moved to Park Slope, I found that the mostly white families mostly keep to themselves. To this day, I'm on a friendly "hi, how are you?" basis with my black neighbors on my North Slope block whereas the white neighbors seem to think I'm crazy if I say hello to them on the sidewalk! Talk about cultural differences.
— by Park Sloper in Do Generalizations About Harlem Hold for Brooklyn Nabes?




Posted by Brownstoner at 3:27 PM | Comments (22)
Categories: QOTD

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Comments

it's not white people, it's park slope.

in williamsburg, everybody hangs together and chats and the kids all play.

in fact, after playing with several different kids all afternoon at McCarren yesterday, my daughter then got an invitation to dinner from a neighbor to have dinner with her daughter.


Posted by: wine lover at September 8, 2008 3:49 PM

It's the park slope snobs who think their better then everybody else and look down on people.say hello to them and go on your way that just kills them.

Posted by: janko at September 8, 2008 3:57 PM

Some of us who live in Park Slope reply to friendly greetings with friendly greetings.

Then again, I don't make enough money to think I'm better than everyone else. :)

Posted by: cwbuecheler at September 8, 2008 4:06 PM

Not so sure if Park Slope thing or white thing...but I do notice the more affluent and younger neighbors are much less likely to make eye contact or say hello. Could be they are just newer to the area. Older and longer time residents often will say hello or smile.
Also notice that cashiers at supermarket who are young but rarely white and doubt affluent - also rarely make eye contact or greet customer. Which is very differect from supermarkets upstate where I have weekend home.
I think it may have more to do with identifying with the community and neighborhood. Cahsiers don't becaue probably don't live there and newer residents are new and affluent people value privacy and although are cordial keep distances from others.

Posted by: Petebklyn at September 8, 2008 4:08 PM

I think it has to do with Manhattanites vs. more old time brooklynites - brooklyn neighborhoods are like small towns and manhattanites come with the anonymity frame of mind. I was like that when I first moved to bkln 10 years ago. It takes a while to get it.

Posted by: gkw at September 8, 2008 4:15 PM

"I think it has to do with Manhattanites vs. more old time brooklynites - brooklyn neighborhoods are like small towns and manhattanites come with the anonymity frame of mind. I was like that when I first moved to bkln 10 years ago. It takes a while to get it."

There is something to this.

My old building in Manhattan had over 80 apartments and probably over 200 tenants. You need a little anonymity to keep from (1) going mad and (2) having 200 people into your business.

My building in Brooklyn has 4 apartments with 9 tenants (incl. children). Quite a change, and it does take some getting use to.

Posted by: northsloperenter at September 8, 2008 4:25 PM

I love my black neighbors, they have better weed than my white counterparts.

Posted by: Xander Crews at September 8, 2008 4:39 PM

i would agree with the manhattan vs everywhere else opinion. When I lived in park slope everyone in the building I was in (8 unit brownstone) was friendly but the most friendly where either from brooklyn or another state. I grew up in the south and everyone waves and says hello on the street. A good chunk of black people in brookyn came from the south thus explaining how friendly they are on the street.

it also seems that the coldest most uninviting people I have dealt with in brooklyn are the old school white residence.

Posted by: Santa at September 8, 2008 5:11 PM

'stoner, your link to the original thread is borked because your html is incorrect - the link starts with hthttp instead of http.


Posted by: Florence Castleberry at September 8, 2008 5:16 PM

Being a PS resident for a while, hard for me believe anyone here would "think it crazy" to say hello, but I've found that exaggeration is the soul of blogging.

On my own block, most everyone says hello to each other, we joke that you have to allot 10 extra minutes in summer to leave the block.

Posted by: cmu at September 8, 2008 5:59 PM

Yeah, I feel like I run into neighbors on the street all the time in the neighborhood.

Posted by: Polemicist at September 8, 2008 6:01 PM

The slope has changed a lot since I moved here 25 years ago, but GKW and northsloperenter's posts have it right: the less welcoming people are the newer transplants from Manhattan. Mostly wealthier, and closer to the Park, they just don't know how life is in Brooklyn, and stick with the attitudes they arrived with. They never sit on their stoops after work and have a beer, nor do their kids play with each other in the street under an adults watchful eye. Fortunately I moved downhill to a more old-timer Brooklyn block, of every ethnic group and social level you could imagine. We all say hello to each other, shovel each others walks in winter, and have long conversations out on our stoops while the kids play. Maybe the newer folks will catch on that this is the pleasant urban life they came looking for, and in time will fit in better. Who knows? Maybe in a few years they'll be the ones complaining about the unfriendly people who don't say hello.

Posted by: brikenny at September 8, 2008 6:31 PM

"They never sit on their stoops after work and have a beer,"

What time of day do you think people earning $500K get home?

Posted by: dittoburg at September 9, 2008 8:56 AM

"What time of day do you think people earning $500K get home?"

And you wonder why your neighbors are a little shy about getting to know you better?

No one likes being looked at as a bag of money -- esp. those of us who sure as heck aren't.

Posted by: northsloperenter at September 9, 2008 9:19 AM

Northsloperenter - I have no idea how you managed to turn my comment into some sort of wealth bragging.

The point wasn't the amount of salary earned, the point was that in order to earn the salary to pay the mortgage to buy a brownstone in Park Slope, you generally need to be putting in very long hours, and the idea that you'll be able to come home and sit on the stoop and have a beer after work is just funny. For many, leaving work at 5 or 5.30pm feels like a half day. Sure some can pull in big bucks and have reasonable hours, but most have to stay put at work.

Posted by: dittoburg at September 9, 2008 9:38 AM

dittoburg -- my apologies for misinterpreting.

Your comment sounded to me like "these new people are too busy making money to be friendly", but I can see you meant something more sympathetic.

Posted by: northsloperenter at September 9, 2008 10:28 AM

If I earned $500K I'd be buying the beers

Posted by: dittoburg at September 9, 2008 10:52 AM

MY USER NAME HAS BEEN HIJACKED

I did not post what you put up as "quote of the day", Brownstoner.

Please note the space between "traditional" and "mod" used in the user name for the quote you posted.

Posted by: traditionalmod at September 9, 2008 10:52 AM

Their links seem all mucked up. It doesn't even link to you traditionalmod - it links to Park_Sloper. And the thread link is not working either.

Posted by: cobblehiller at September 9, 2008 11:04 AM

Feh. There's no white people hostility like old Greenpoint Pole white people hostility. Forget 'hello'; you're lucky if they don't talk about what an ass you are to each other in Polish right in front of you.

Posted by: deadnancy at September 9, 2008 11:40 AM

Black versus white anal retentiveness differential stereotype? Check.

Old-timer Brooklyn versus newcomer stereotype? Check.

Manhattan versus Brooklyn stereotype? Check.

Yuppie versus bohemian stereotype? Check.

New money versus old money? Check.

Park Slope bashing? Check.

Thanks for playing.

"When I first moved to Park Slope 58 years ago, back when I was a friendly happy-go-lucky black person, we all made apple pie together. Now these new money hedge fund snobs from Manhattan have ruined everything."

Posted by: Mr Joist at September 9, 2008 12:12 PM

Perhaps you had adorable kids, and now they are worth avoiding?!

Posted by: James Patience at September 9, 2008 2:15 PM

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