Running Through a Changing Brooklyn

The Times had an article this weekend looking at how various city neighborhoods along the marathon route have changed enormously in the last few decades, including several in Brooklyn:
–Bay Ridge: The area used to be home to a large number of Scandinavians, Irish and Italians but is now increasingly populated by “Russians and Asians, with a huge Muslim population, too. Women in purple and gold hijabs stroll down Fifth Avenue past the Islamic Society of Bay Ridge, a popular mosque that is the community’s spiritual heart.”
–Fort Greene: Characterized as “perhaps one of the neighborhoods more representative of change in New York,” which has led to “the kind of conversation taking place in many corners of the city — about the merits of gentrification, the complications of integration and the implications of aggressive policing.” The high price of real estate in the neighborhood is also mentioned, as is a beer price index: “Back in the 1970s, Ralph’s, a corner market at South Portland, was a Budweiser station, for marathon watchers or runners looking to reload some carbs. Now, Ralph’s stocks River House beer for $18 a six-pack.”
–Williamsburg: The hipster explosion of the past decade is noted, and a 27-year-old who lives in Greenpoint offers up his opinion about how the Burg is totally over: “Way too many ‘rad dads’ floating around.”
It’s not highlighted in the story, but 4th Avenue in Park Slope—with its crush of new residential construction—is another stretch of the marathon in Brooklyn ripe for then-and-now contemplation.
Along the Route, Neighborhood Snapshots of New York’s Progression [NY Times]
Photo by jonathanpercy