San Francisco of the East Coast
That’s what New York magazine is calling Ditmas Park, “the Victorian-packed enclave south of Prospect Park.” Its resemblance to the foggy city is listed as reason #39 to love New York, and it’s not just the “painted ladies,” those houses now fetching as much as $1.8 million, that bear a resemblance to San Fran. “You…
That’s what New York magazine is calling Ditmas Park, “the Victorian-packed enclave south of Prospect Park.” Its resemblance to the foggy city is listed as reason #39 to love New York, and it’s not just the “painted ladies,” those houses now fetching as much as $1.8 million, that bear a resemblance to San Fran. “You can also see similarities in the restaurant scene: The reigning culinary draw, the Farm on Adderley, references Chez Panisse (okay, that’s in Berkeley, not Frisco) in its strident locavorism and mismatched plates. And Ditmas’s tiny, cozy Cinco de Mayo can hold its own in the Mexican brunch department against the Mission District’s Pancho Villa Taqueria (although the latter’s burritos are admittedly better).” Perhaps most San Francisco-ish is the Ciy LIghts of the East Coast, Vox Pop, with its socialist literature and cappuccinos, “where, on a recent Sunday, you could order a Cesar Chavez personal pizza, buy lefty tracts, and listen to a live drum circle from a group called Manhattan Samba.” Still, a look at political contributions belies the neighborhood’s true colors: it actually leans toward the red.
Because Ditmas Park Is the New San Francisco [New York]
Photo by nicknormal.
Most of the houses in Victorian Flatbush use a simple three-color paint scheme. Very few are true “painted ladies.”
The house which illustrates the New York article is operated as a bed and breakfast in my neighborhood of Beverley Square West. The paint job is new over the past year. Even when it was on the house tour in 2007, it had a five-color scheme, though the palette was more restrained.
Why can’t Ditmas Park just be Ditmas Park!
It does have some great Victorian architecture. Many of the styles are represented. One of my favorite is a stick style house. I was thrilled to see it in Brooklyn. There are a lot of Queen Anne, some late gothic revival and Italianate.
So many delicious Victorian details. I would recommend a walk thru.
There aren’t that many painted ladies in Ditmas (unless I missed them). For an overwhelming cluster of painted ladies, go to Cape May and count how many colors are used.
Sometimes poverty, sometimes drugs, often mental illness of one kind or another being self-medicated with drugs. You never can tell. That is until a peanut butter sandwich hits you in the face! Then you can sorta tell.
Well Dave we are really sorry to hear that. We were really appalled when we visited DC and there were homeless people everywhere. Dommage! To be fair Union Square is not so bad in comparison these days. But back to DP that Vox Pop place sounds very interesting and unique; does anyone know more about it?
Noklissa we suspected drugs has a lot to do with the homeless mess as you suggest but the missus got upset when we brought up drugs :). She prefers to blame it squarely on poverty.
Homelessness was very bad over by City Hall when I was there. There were little encampments. GGate Park also had people camping out in the bushes – sort of little shanty type arrangements. It was pretty serious in the 80s. Then, for the 1984 Democratic convention they scooped up as many homeless as they could find and bussed them to other places. It was bizarre and awful. Dianne Feinstein (DiFi) was mayor. In the Haight and on Polk St. you would see a lot of teenage kids that looked like they hadn’t showered in days, dirty skin, pan-handling.
It (homeless population) was so bad in and around the Tenderloin, that my friend and I started what we called “Operation Homeless” where we’d make peanut butter sandwiches and pass them out with hunks of cheese. Actually had a couple of people throw them back at us as a sign of their gratitude that we wanted to help them eat rather than buy heroin and liquor. That was nice.
It is a problem not going away anytime soon.
Yes Pierre. The whole city is filled with homeless…young, old, male & female. Union Square itself is still ground zero for a problem that the city just won’t own up to. It’s really very tragic but also quite an annoyance to anyone visiting (and living there I’m sure) to encounter so many throughout the whole downtown area.
Poor New York Magazine, they will say anything to fill column inches. It must be silly season. Not that DP isn’t lovely, but come on. Vox Pop is a scuzzy little oddity, hardly the locus of a legendary bohemian subculture; and Farm on Adderly is wonderful, but the point of Farm is that it’s a lone beacon among the surrounding blah. However, Cinco de Mayo does rock (although I’ve never eaten a West Coast fish taco, so what do I know?)
El Faro was my favorite – was it on Valencia near 16th?