Bleeker Street Syndrome
As the Brooklyn civilization advances, I thought it might be worthwhile to caution the citizenry about a phenomena we’ve had here in Manhattan. There was a time, about 8 years ago when Bleeker St between Hudson and Christopher was a charming collection of small and unique business – antique stores, craft stores, book stores, a…
As the Brooklyn civilization advances, I thought it might be worthwhile to caution the citizenry about a phenomena we’ve had here in Manhattan. There was a time, about 8 years ago when Bleeker St between Hudson and Christopher was a charming collection of small and unique business – antique stores, craft stores, book stores, a frame shop, even a Kim’s video store. Then the gentrification started – and one day the Italian restaurant closed, and then Clarey & Co antiques, and then Kim’s video… all mysteriously shuttered. And we all sensed something coming. That something was the Mallization of Bleeker Street. Now in the place of these neighborhood centric stores,we have Cynthia Rowley, Ralph Lauren (2 stores), Coach, Juicy Couture, Brunelli Cucinello (sic), James Perse, Marc Jacobs (2 stores). The rarified money crowd now trots up and down Bleeker, clearly not citizens from the area, with their high-powered tans, polo shirts, flashing gilded watches, and Hedge Fund gazes… they seem to be wondering where the Chauffer was off to. Oh well, that;s what happens – you live in a place like this for years because it ISN’T all this crap, and what you get is all this CRAP. So my friends, be wary of too much success in your revitalization plans – The Fortune 500 are not too far behind you, ready to push those commercial rents to the sky, and put you back in a rarified shopping mall. You can just move to the East 60’s if you need that.
Interestingly, I avoided soho like the plague until a few months ago. Now I sort of regret it. My kid loves the $1.50 butterfly plates I bought her from CB2.
Not jealous.
Love Soho to visit and shop, but I’m serious, the crowds really really make me crazy there. Too many looky-loos and when it’s time for lunch you can’t get a table. I work from home so when I choose my home neighborhood it’s a place I’m going to be all day and evening both. So the fact that Soho is more quiet at night wouldn’t help me much.
Maybe YOU could never live in SoHo, but besides the tourists (which are horrendous at times) its pretty convenient in every way: trains, cabs, groceries, shopping and near everything in East Village West Village and Tribeca. I live in SoHo and “celebrities and eurotrash” are not my neighbors. My neighbors are artists and families and young New Yorkers. At night there is parking galore and the streets are very quiet and window shopping is dreamy.
I think you are a little jealous, huh? just a little?
“crap place to live…” I can tell you, its not.
That’s awesome you made a good investment, 1:37, good for you but every time I’m in Soho battling the throngs of tourists and shoppers in that bit outdoor shopping mall, I think “I could never live in Soho”. The only people you could sell to are 20-something lookatme celebrities and Eurotrash.
Good investment but a crap place to live. For normal people anyway.
Ahhh… yes. Lets see. I bought a place in SoHo in 1998 for 500,00 and now its worth 2.5 million. Yeah, it sucks. I hope it continues to suck.
The times they are a changin’…
Yes putnamdenizen…i remember the earlier post…He’s 45 and has been on a bond trading desk for 16 years and he’s looking at $600,000 one bedrooms. Spend it all on coke???
The conclusion was that he actually worked in the back office and fantasizes about a careeer as a “rich man” (see profile)
Why do people talk like they need to run away from retail? Like Retail is chasing THEM (personally)…
Why do people talk like they can’t get involved and help create the kind of community they want. Join your CB- or get more active in the community with your own cause. Don’t run away because you can’t have everyting exactly as you like it. If you’re going to keep acting like that, you’re in for a lot of moves, and if everyone acted like that, there would never be anywhere where there were anyting but corporate rentals and shopping malls.
I think you moved to Bay Ridge because you couldn’t afford the Heithts, DUMBO, and Park Slope.
I’m surprised that anyone who’s seen the past 40 years of Manhattan gentrification would assume this wasn’t going to happen. As a teenager I moved to Mercer St in Soho in 1971, back before there was ANY retail in the neighborhood. After getting chased from loft to loft by encroaching development, I wound up in a Noho loft at Broadway and Bleecker St. That lasted until ’99 when I got totally fed up. When Wendys and Swatch became neighbors, I knew it was time to leave Manhattan.
I also knew it was only a matter of time before the Heights, DUMBO and Park Slope got hit with it too so I moved to Bay Ridge.