What's it Like in Flatbush?

That's what Brooklyn Based is asking, following up on their series of neighborhood investigations. "What began as a series of swanky developments in the early 1900s, luring white, upper class residents from Brooklyn Heights, is now attracting professionals and ex-Park Slopers to the stately homes of “Victorian Flatbush” — a term that’s only three decades old," they write. Flatbush has attracted immigrants from everywhere: Italians and Jews, Caribbeans, Pakistanis and Southeast Asians. Within the sprawling neighborhood are its mini-enclaves: Prospect Park South, Ditmas Park, Fiske Terrace, Wingate, South Midwood, Midwood Park and West Midwood. For the scoop on life in the 'bush, they interview a young couple, one originally from the Bahamas, the other with Trinidadian parents. Their thoughts: "I like Flatbush, it’s convenient to everything I need and the apartment is big and affordable." The food? "We walk to Kensington for non-Caribbean food, but there’s a Japanese restaurant [Sushi Tatsu III] up the block and there’s Tex Mex [Tex Mex Fresco] and there’s a Spanish spot [La Cabana Rodriguez Restaurant] that you can sit and eat, maybe have drinks." Neighborhood changes? "For the first time in life, my neighbors are Caucasian. You see them jogging, skateboarding, food shopping, with children in strollers, walking their dogs."
What's It Like in Flatbush [Brooklyn Based]
Photo by Rufus Mangrove.

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The little article was earnest and decently executed, with an interesting choice of folks interviewed (if you don't mind the exclusion of any senior citizens or working-class recent immigrants), but the whole thing seemed as if it could have been written two or three years ago. The white gentrification of a few lovely enclaves is less interesting to me than the raw mash-up of very recently arrived groups like Mexicans and Bangladeshis on commercial strips and elsewhere...and do we have any early readings on how the downturn is affecting issues like overdevelopment and teardowns? My hope for a silver lining is that construction of "stucco bloaters" outside landmark districts will come to a screaming halt. They also missed the emergence this year of a fledgling organized art scene in Flatbush, like the Flatbush Artists Studio Tour. (The artists have been there all along, it turns out!)

Posted by: Brenda from Flatbush at December 10, 2008 9:38 AM

the screenname *brenda from flatbush* cracks me up, every time.

*rob*

Posted by: PitbullNYC at December 10, 2008 9:43 AM

Nice. All sorts of folks getting along with each other. Much to the What's chagrin.

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at December 10, 2008 9:50 AM

I very much agree with part of your post Brenda. Brooklyn, and Flatbush in particular, to me seems far more complicated than the endless black vs white debate of years past.

I of course wouldn't agree the neighborhood has scene much development in the past half century, but that's just me.

Posted by: Polemicist at December 10, 2008 10:07 AM

lol try to get one of those men on that train to put their legs together to allow for more than one person to sit in a gigantic space and i'll give you a medal. until that happens, meh.

*rob*

Posted by: PitbullNYC at December 10, 2008 10:25 AM

I have lived in Fiske Terrace, in one of the "grand houses" for 28 years, and I hope to be here for 28 more. Now part of the Fiske Terrace-Midwood Park Historic District, our nabe clearly gets better with age. Great family environment, quiet streets, diverse and very nice neighbors, outstanding public schools (PS 217, Midwood and Murrow High Schools), new restaurants, Flatbush Food Co-op, etc. etc. and we are a one-minute walk to the Q train, and 25-30 minutes to Union Square. To get a great overview of Victorian Flatbush, go on the Victorian Flatbush House Tour, usually in June, sponsored by the Flatbush Development Corporation (that's how I discovered this area!). Check later on www.fdconline.org for more info.

Posted by: evfred at December 10, 2008 12:34 PM

Ah, but Rob, this has been covered! Can't remember who gave us this gift, but we were advised to cross one leg over the other - indian style - with the foot's soul facing the offending leg. Make it so that they must close their legs or risk getting their pant leg dirty with good old NYC sidewalk sludge. Or pooh mist to use your term.

I think we had even gotten into a bit of an argument as to the gender of most offenders.

I submitted it is something like 95% male.

Posted by: Nokilissa at December 10, 2008 12:43 PM

>>>>CH: I’m starting to see different people in the neighborhood. For the first time in life, my neighbors are Caucasian. You see them jogging, skateboarding, food shopping, with children in strollers, walking their dogs. This building got equipped with security cameras… [the] paranoid Caucasians [are] moving in.

then...

>>>>CH: I got jumped coming home from work. I was walking from Eastern Parkway and Nostrand Avenue, coming down Nostrand. I got to Fennimore, minding my business when one dude ran up behind me and that was it… my face broken in three places. I believe it was a gang initiation. It was random.

Dude wants it both ways. If security measures are to be interpreted as paranoia, be prepared to get jumped.

www.forgotten-ny.com

Posted by: Kevin Walsh at December 10, 2008 1:20 PM

How much does a single or two-family Victorian or brownstone cost in this area?

Posted by: mopar at December 10, 2008 11:02 PM

The houses in Victorian Flatbush are still mostly over a million, some approaching 1.5 million, though prices have softened over the last few months. Large 2-families are probably at the higher end. I don't know about brownstones (there are just a few in the area, along only 1-2 blocks). The nabe is mostly free-standing houses and apartment buildings.

Posted by: evfred at December 11, 2008 8:10 AM

mopar, depends on whether it's East Flatbush (east of Flatbush Ave) or Victorian Flatbush (beneath Prospect Park). Good breakdown here:
http://www.marykayg.com/html/vic_flatbush.html

Posted by: the chicken at December 11, 2008 8:12 AM

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December 10, 2008

What's it Like in Flatbush?

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