Bed Stuy block
A scene from the block party, circa late 1970s. Photo via New York Magazine

Through a combination of census data, sweet potato pie recipes and interviews with 62 block residents, both current and former, New York Magazine reporters attempted to gauge the essence of one block of Bed Stuy’s MacDonough Street, from Patchen Avenue to Malcolm X Boulevard.

The extensive, multimedia New York Magazine cover story, “One Block,” explores the diverse experiences of the Bed Stuy microcosm through soundbites and written profiles, photographs and tenant timelines.

The results of the months-long deep dive vary from the obvious sentiments (locals say Brooklyn is changing, becoming richer and whiter) to the more nuanced (neighbors are still welcoming, but many now feel alienated).

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Originally a white neighborhood, the first African-American residents starting moving to Bed Stuy in the early 20th century. By mid-century, the area was almost entirely black and remained so until about 2000. In the last four years, property values have soared, and the white population has swelled.

The story that emerges will confound those expecting the stereotypical arc of wealthy white residents displacing poor black ones. Many of the block’s longtime black residents are attorneys, in finance or small-business owners. Whites rent from black homeowners.

Themes of race, gentrification, nostalgia and history all intertwine to create a poetic portrait: Here is Bed Stuy, in its own words.

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The interviews are streamlined, the majority beginning with a video of the resident leaving or entering their home (in some cases there is only a photo of a front door). Links in the text connect neighbors, statistics and history — metaphors for the ties connecting residents on the block. The smooth formatting somewhat masks the interviews’ divergent content, bringing people together under the umbrella of their shared block and participation in this cover story.

Yet, despite their common block, the characters of McDonough Street are diverse.

“I grew up in Northern California, and Do the Right Thing and Sesame Street sort of represented New York to me,” said Brooke Vermillion, a white woman who bought on the block in 2009. She goes on to say she sees ghosts in her home, and that, “When I moved to this neighborhood, there were only a couple of people who were clearly like: ‘What are you doing here?’”

Meanwhile, Annette Cox bought a house on the block in 1985, and enjoys what she finds to be improved services in the area. At the same time, she feels a standoffishness from new white neighbors. “They move in and it’s like: ‘Okay, we’re here. Don’t fuck with us…White folks feel comfortable wherever they are. We’re the ones who live with a certain amount of uncomfortability.”

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The racial tension, however, emerges between the lines of memories and stories, both from the block and far off it.

“We had a guy named Buddy,” former resident Milton Miles remembers of his years on the block after his time in the military. “He used to get drunk on Wild Irish Rose and karate fight with the trees.”

Other interviewees complain that new transplants don’t understand what it is to be a part of a local community; some discuss what it was like to see the neighborhood’s last white population flee in the 1960s and ’70s.

The article does not end, as the interviews can be read in any order, but a comprehension quickly forms in the mind of the reader that these intimate profiles of area residents give a much fuller understanding of what it means to live in Brooklyn in 2015 than their property values.

[Source: NY Mag]

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What's Your Take? Leave a Comment

  1. I’ve been reading all the stories this morning. Amazing job by NY Mag. The stories of Bed Stuy are so beautiful. And like most of the residents (both old and new) I hope we don’t lose what makes Bed Stuy so amazingly unique.

  2. I’ve been reading all the stories this morning. Amazing job by NY Mag. The stories of Bed Stuy are so beautiful. And like most of the residents (both old and new) I hope we don’t lose what makes Bed Stuy so amazingly unique.