226-St-James-Place-Brooklyn-0109.jpgIn the wake of the Biggie Smalls biopic ‘Notorious‘ last week, The Times compares and contrasts the rapper’s neighborhood—which includes both Clinton Hill and Bed Stuy, though The Times can’t seem to keep them straight— in the early 1990s with the gentrified version 15 years later. Smalls grew up in a third-floor apartment at 226 St. James Place (right) in Clinton Hill, a building that has since become a condominium and undergone the requisite sprucing up. From the article:

It is a flashback to an era of Walkmans, corner drug deals and rap duels in a neighborhood that is now largely referred to by real estate agents as Clinton Hill, where there is more diversity, million-dollar condos, gourmet restaurants and less apprehension about walking alone at night. The movie is as much a commentary on the neighborhood that inspired his music as anything else…What once was a busy strip that included fast food restaurants, a liquor store and an arcade is now a stretch of eclectic dining spots, wine shops and markets featuring organic items. A restaurant named Soulé International Cuisine used to be a bodega that served as a front for a drug market, Lil’ Cease said. The liquor store often pictured behind Biggie in documentary footage is now the Fine Care Pharmacy.

Then again, maybe things haven’t changed that much: Four people were stabbed at a release party for the movie early Saturday morning in East Flatbush. Any folks in who lived in the neighborhood back then care to add their own observations about how times have changed? Or how they haven’t?
‘Notorious’ Captures Bed-Stuy as It Once Was [NY Times]
Photo from Clinton Hill Blog


What's Your Take? Leave a Comment

  1. Crime was on the decline in the neighborhood before gentrification. Actually this applies to the city as a whole since the early nineties. Is gentrification a good thing? That depends on who you talk to, there are ALWAYS two sides.

  2. pitbull said,

    ” liquor stores and arcades >>>>> sooooo much better than wine shops and organic items. sorry but it’s true! bring back ms. pac man and night train!!!”

    you cant be serious!!!! in the words of johnny mac!

    here are some crime stats with a historical twist. so much for wanting the old days. i say good thing they’re gone. this is for the 88th precinct

    1990 Murders-19
    2008 Murders-4

    1990 Rapes- 54
    2008 Rapes- 7

    1990 Robbery- 1556
    2008 Robbery- 237

    1990 Fel. Assault- 639
    2008 Fel. Assault- 134

    1990 Burglary- 1029
    2008 172

    1990 Grand Larceny – 611
    2008 Grand Larceny- 452

    1990 G.L.A. – 1053 ( not sure what this stands for )
    2008 G.L.A. – 102

    Looks like gentrification is a good thing. Who’s gonna say it isn’t?

  3. I think what Mr Lesher was saying,was that Mr B was asking if Biggie’s neighborhood had changed (Bed-Stuy,Clinton Hill) , then says “Maybe things haven’t changed that much” and mentions a stabbing in a neighborhood quite far from where Biggie grew up, so it appears confusing. However there was a shooting in Bed Stuy on Sunday at an under age party.