We got several e-mails from readers yesterday wondering why we hadn’t done a post on the Observer article that tries to bifurcate gentrified Brooklyn: cynical hipsters to the North, yuppie stroller-pushers to the South. As silly as they can be, when a publication like New York Magazine writes these kinds of articles, they usually hit some kind of nerve; this Observer piece was pretty pointless, we thought:

Of course, all of gentrified Brooklyn is somewhat similar. It’s mostly white. It’s mostly partial to some form of indie rock. Refugees from small colleges like Vassar and Wesleyan may trudge North; shiny Ivy Leaguers could prefer the South—but the bottom line is that they all attended fancy colleges. Southerners reluctantly fork over deceptively low salaries for DVF dresses and Paper, Denim, Whatever jeans; Northern chicks would rather jump off the Williamsburg Bridge than wear something they didn’t iron on themselves. But in the end, they all care a lot about what they wear.

As someone who’s lived on both sides of the Flushing Avenue, all we can say is, “Whatever, dude.”
Brooklyn Civil War [NY Observer]


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  1. Baby Greene I am w/ you! I couldn’t believe that the writer spent time on Myrtle Ave and still managed to come away with the conclusion that all of Fort Greene is comprised of white ivy leaguers! I live on the corner of Clermont and Myrtle, and I cant say I see too many Vassar grads clad in Paper Denim Jeans chillin at Buff Patty or the Five Spot…Clearly she had an angle in mind and then saught out the evidence to support it.

  2. By Wisconsinites, do you mean those from Up North, Madison, or Milwaukee? Please let us not confuse butter with margarine. By the way, we all in South Brooklyn prefer to call it the War Within the Borough…Northerners are incapable of being “civil”.

  3. Yes, we are gentrifying now. When artists & teachers move into new neighborhoods because they’re affordable, that’s gentrification.

    The thing is that the word has a terrible sound to it, but– what’s an artist/teacher couple supposed to do? We have to live somewhere (and I say ‘we’ becuase I’m in a very similar position), and we want to live in neighborhoods that are diverse & affordable, etc. So I don’t think gentrifying has to be a sin, as long as we contribute to our neighborhoods in meaningful ways…

    however, I have to disagree with Leela- YES, greenpoint is most definitely DIY ironic, etc. Many of my best poseur friends live there.

  4. Yes, we are gentrifying now. When artists & teachers move into new neighborhoods because they’re affordable, that’s gentrification.

    The thing is that the word has a terrible sound to it, but– what’s an artist/teacher couple supposed to do? We have to live somewhere (and I say ‘we’ becuase I’m in a very similar position), and we want to live in neighborhoods that are diverse & affordable, etc. So I don’t think gentrifying has to be a sin, as long as we contribute to our neighborhoods in meaningful ways…

  5. Hilarious actually. As far as stereotypes go, not bad. Funny, Leela, how the article is crap to you but not the stereotype of Wisconsinites on Bedford who forced you out in search of a new haven which undoubtedly now also carries stereotypes of other parts of the country for you. And I mean it, I’m not trying to poke fun, just laughing laughing laughing at how funny it is.

  6. It seems like maybe this was more true 10 years ago, before PLG, ditmars, windsor terrace, etc. had so many gentrifiers– and williamsburg was still a place that artists could sort of afford.

  7. You have to love the stereotypes of NY Magazine. As a white chick who went to state schools, is somewhat over “indie” rock, lives right next door to the projects and works at an investment bank, I’d say they’re not casting their net all that wide. As usual. Ho hum. Like Leela said– kind of fun to grouse about.

  8. i got a kick out of the article, despite the gross stereotypes. williamsburg is fun, but it does seem like all the hipsters are from elsewhere… everyone i know who grew up in brooklyn (and then went to fancy colleges and learned to love indie rock) lives in south brooklyn.

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