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Did you know there are places to live in the United States aside from Brooklyn? Neither did we, but according to an article in the Style section of yesterday’s Times, there’s a place in California called San Francisco that is something of a sister city to Brooklyn. Or, as the piece puts it, “there is a young, earnest population that is beating a path between artsy, gentrifying neighborhoods in Brooklyn and their counterparts in the Bay Area, especially East Oakland and the area south of Market Street in San Francisco, or SoMa.” So what do the two places have in common aside from loads of creatives? Local eyesores (Emeryville mud flats and the Gowanus Canal); good breweries (Anchor and Brooklyn); literary do-gooder establishments (Dave Eggers’ 826 Valencia and 826NYC); and a shared ethos: “If there is an aesthetic credo to Brooklyn and the Bay Area, it is Do It Yourself, which connotes more than using an Allen wrench from Ikea. D.I.Y. can mean everything from wearing locally designed T-shirts to attending concerts staged in someone’s warehouse apartment, to riding a bike to work.”
Sisters in Idiosyncrasy [NY Times]
San Francisco photo by Dizzy Atmosphere; Brooklyn photo by rsguskind.


What's Your Take? Leave a Comment

  1. I think a lot of these posts have good points. SF is not a city like NYC or even Manhattan alone is a city, but it is the cultural hub of the Pacific. I think seasons are overrated, and I miss the ocean, but NY has a neverending stream of music, arts, etc. One thing I do have to say, though, is that NY can never really be a “foodie” city because from November to April, you can only buy really fresh food at the greenmarkets that’s white or orange. No greens in winter is a killer.

    Why can’t people just appreciate things for what they are instead of trying to compare them to one another constantly?

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