A Borough of BroBos?
Do you remember when Times columnist David Brooks coined the phrase BoBos to describe a certain set of liberal yuppies—or Bourgeois Bohemians—back in the Nineties? Well, this week the Observer has resuscitated the term with a twist, putting their finger on a certain subset of the Brooklyn population the salmon-colored weekly is calling BroBos, or…
Do you remember when Times columnist David Brooks coined the phrase BoBos to describe a certain set of liberal yuppies—or Bourgeois Bohemians—back in the Nineties? Well, this week the Observer has resuscitated the term with a twist, putting their finger on a certain subset of the Brooklyn population the salmon-colored weekly is calling BroBos, or Brooklyn Bourgeois Bohemians. Ouch! Matt Power is one BroBo, according to the Observer: “Fuck, Brooklyn’s great!” said the PLG-based magazine writer. “I’ve got three blueberry bushes, I’ve got a fig tree, I’ve got 20 tomato plants. We put up enough basil last summer to have pesto until now. It’s fucking great. Why would you suffer living in a lightless hole?” Evidently The Brooklyn Flea is considered a hotbed of Brobos, as is the stretch of Bergen Street that includes Toys in Babeland, high-end hot dog place Bark and maternity clothing shop Bump. “If this isn’t real New York, then why would you want the other New York?” a Flea attendee and Fort Greene resident told the Observer. “Why wouldn’t you want this?” Turns out not every young creative type in the city is buying the Brooklyn hype. “People live in Brooklyn because it’s cheaper,” said one such Manhattan purist. “It’s not a money thing or a class thing, but it’s sort of admitting defeat—an inability to be in New York.”
BroBos in Paradise [NY Observer]
Photo by vlauria
babs, did you get your hair done? Are you wearing perfume? Something…different about you.
What’s really funny about that stretch of Bergen St. is that there are some of the cutest, cheapest, rent-stabilized apartments in Park Slope above those stores (as well as some larger, non-stabilized ones), which are all owned by Pintchik’s. They really keep their properties in good shape and are super landlords, from what I’ve heard (and they like dogs!). So, okay, the stores themselves are kind of like an Epcot Center version of Brooklyn, but if it keeps the rent down, I’m all for it!
And wasder you’ll be fine as long as you don’t start an owl collection and eat your cheese right out of the fridge.
DIBS,
squirrels generally won’t eat tomatoes unless there’s a drought, but I also had to net my apple tree. What kind do you have?
I’ve got some of that critter ridder spray, which is based on black pepper oil, but I can’t really bring myself to spray it on the plants. If I catch a squirrel, I may just mace him with it.
I have blueberry bushes and lots of tomato plants and have been known to hang out at the Brooklyn Flea. Should I be worried?
Time to move
Yesterday, on my doorstep was the WSJ. But now I figured out that same guy must deliver both…and gave me the WSJ that was meant for next door.
Pete, your NYTimes is gonna go missing one of these days!
The originator of BroBos should be thrown in the Gowanus, along with the genius who gave us BoCoCa. The Observer is on its last legs.
To circle this back to David Brooks, his columns drive me crazy when he premises a political argument on some overly facile over-generalization about broad demographic and social trends. Super-sloppy syllogisms passing for astute social observation and sophisticated argument.