Fort Greene: City's Best Nabe?
Trying to crown one neighborhood as New York City’s best is kind of a silly exercise, but if you were to concentrate on the criteria of culture, community, diversity and architecture, there certainly is a good case to be made for Fort Greene. “In all my days and nights of walking neighborhoods and asking people…
Trying to crown one neighborhood as New York City’s best is kind of a silly exercise, but if you were to concentrate on the criteria of culture, community, diversity and architecture, there certainly is a good case to be made for Fort Greene. “In all my days and nights of walking neighborhoods and asking people why they live where they live, I have never encountered a place that has this much heart, soul and pride,” write Daily News correspondent Jason Sheftell. “More than ever, I found people who said they could never live anywhere else but right here.” Unfortunately for those just hearing about Fort Greene’s charms, the days of finding a real estate deal are long gone (though they may return soon enough!), but it’s still worth it. (The writer naively claims that the Brooklyn nabe is as expensive as the West Village. Not!) People here do not like any fakeness in their neighborhood and they pay higher rents for that, said Denis DuPreez, co-owner of the Dekalb Avenue restaurant Madiba. We have beauty, and we have the good people. It’s hard to argue with that.
Fort Greene: The best neighborhood in New York? [NYDN]
Photo by atomische.com
“Look, things had changed and by 2003 when you left it was NOT the Fort Greene of 1993 or 1983 or earlier. I can imagine if you wanted something that edgy or with very little food shopping you were happy.”
BrooklynGreene,
I enjoyed a mix of old home owners (rehabbers from the 80’s), owners/renters from the 60’s after the “white flight” from the ‘nabe and MOSTLY the mix of cultural, racial and economic mix of those folks in the neighborhood.
I will agree that gentrification has it’s perks, but they did not outweigh the change in vibe and the attitude of “privilege” of newcomers since the NY Times wrote what a great ‘hood it was in 2001 (writer lived across the street from us). Amenities did not bother us, as we did most of our shopping by foot, i.e. walking all around the area to shop at different stores (something I actually miss).
Our neighbor moved to Harlem after not being able to afford the rent increases and winning a lottery for an affordable housing condo in one of the mixed use projects at the time. She was lucky.
I will always have good memories of the area, including Clinton Hill/Bed Stuy…the park, the Alibi, etc. but looking forward, not backward.
Enjoy the “new” Ft. Greene.
Goldie, I never said they were an asset. They are there, they aren’t going anywhere, and the majority of people there are merely hardworking, but poor people, most of whom would be out of there in a minute, if they could. Their wants and needs are just like everyone elses, they just may not have had the opportunities and advantages of some. They are more likely to be in danger from muggings and shootings than the rest of the community. Innocent people in the projects have been collateral damage for years without too many people being too upset about it. My point being that it is all Fort Greene, from Flushing to Fulton, good and bad. Housing projects are in almost every neighborhood in brownstone Brooklyn, that hasn’t stopped neighborhoods from thriving or growing, it certainly hasn’t stopped this one.
My biases are all about attitudes of entitlement. Your “facts” speak for themselves, too.
Well A.J.,
WE certainly haven’t gone anywhere and yes, there are a LOT of oldtimers (how old is old?)…How can you write “All the old timers were gone”? That is silly and very objective.
I’m sorry you had this shocking experience with a new real estate agent though. I would hate to be the poster child for anything. Do you remember who the agent was and from what agency? How did you handle it?
Look, things had changed and by 2003 when you left it was NOT the Fort Greene of 1993 or 1983 or earlier. I can imagine if you wanted something that edgy or with very little food shopping you were happy.
I have to say, yes, I’ve been exasperated at times by “the new Fort Greene” you seem to be referring to, but, though I may be a bit insulated from things, I appreciates some of the upsides. Frankly, the same thing was going on all over NYC in many places, not just Fort Greene–you couldn’t escape it easily.
Case in point, your neighbor who moved to Harlem…do you mean to tell me Harlem didn’t experience “gentrification”? Price increases in Harlem probably outstripped Fort Greene by a long-shot.
I hope you’re happy wherever you moved but it might have not only been off your radar screen in 1995 but it might have seemed unpalatable to you then as well. The citywide changes may have changed the neighborhood you moved too quite a bit in the years leading up to 2003.
And I wouldn’t write your old neighborhood off so fast. I’m sure if someone left you her brownstone in her will, you’d come back to Fort Greene in a heartbeat, no?
Listen, I can understand the things that irritated you. I understand it and can relate…but your reaction tells me more about you than about Fort Greene.
11217 that Prospect Heights place is dirt cheap. My goodness! Anyone know anything about the area? Can we consider this the first short sale in “prime” Brooklyn? Or at least a hefty price cut?
“But to say it is very “real” is ridiculous. The old timers do give the hood some plausible realness, but anyone who moved in post 2001 have a cooler-than-thou attitude that is just a tad “fake.”
The very reason my wife and I went elsewhere in 2003 after Ft. Greene became the “fabulous” as our long time neighbor called it. She moved to Harlem. Spent almost 20 years there in a floor through 1/2 block from the park.
Too bad I just got to my computer. Would have had some choice words earlier…
All the old timers were gone and the newbie “THIS is Brooklyn” vibe was just too much. The straw that broke the camel’s back was when a new real estate agent was showing a young African American woman an apt. on our block and refered to me “as one those people who have changed the neighborhood.” I came very close to slugging him. Had a few choice words.
Loved, now hate it. The beauty had become skin deep.
Headed south to more diverse and less “fabulous” digs, but a great neighborhood.
Flexy,
Dearheart, how can anyone live in that kind of wreck that is getting that kind of renovation? I certainly wouldn’t advise it. It sounds as if the mould and warped floors which all need to be pulled up means the interior may be little more than studs and joists for a long time. And if it needs all new everything, I’m not too sure someone would have even a rudimentary kitchen or even a bathroom…and, goodness knows it would probably drag on and on and on. I’m sure someone will buy that house at the right price.
I’m sorry for posting so many times but Fort Greene is kind of a passion…did anyone notice?
Thanks for everyone’s input today.
Donatella, I thought there’s new food store on Greene? Anyway, yes, going east in FG toward Clinton Hill limits your options. I hear that Fulton has been getting more exciting on that whole stretch up though Clinton Hill but haven’t had a chance to really walk it for a long time.
But, as you say, you take the car. It seems this is the trend. Again, let’s not forget that parking is a lot easier for us, even in the more crowded western edge of Fort Greene than it is in Brooklyn Heights and Park Slope. I have a feeling that the trend to multi-families being converted to one- and two-family homes and, sadly, the job losses in NYC which leads to Fort Greene being a daytime park-n-ride, has helped decrease the number of parked vehicles in our area. Parking is remarkably easy lately. I’ve seen whole swathes of “the wrong side” (the side that has street cleaning the next morning) being empty, two, three and even four spaces all night long.
13 South Elliott needs $800,000 worth of work. Total cost for completely renovated brownstone – $1.6 million. Expensive I know but a relative bargain. That’s with all new electricity, plumbing, roof, facade, windows, bathrooms, kitchens, mechanicals etc. For someone with lots of cash and a will to renovate it makes sense. Impossible for someone who wants to renovate over time while living in the building. Hey – you’re better off installing new plumbing from the get go – than having your waste pipe burst and ruin your ceiling a few years down the road. Either way you’re gonna pay the plumber.
Oh, and PDT, it depends on how much renovation work you can stomach living through and spending on. I guess purchasing a house is always a balancing act between price, cost of work needed to change/upgrade the house and stomach for renovation.
Fexley, isn’t that the house that had the fire and has been moulding and falling into the earth these many years? I would be curious to see that house…but it sounded like it was so icky, a number of people who wrote about it on another thread on Brownstoner were horrified by the state of the place. I guess if you have the wherewithal to do a complete gut renovation and rip out the entire interior structure to the joists…eeek! Some of the people who saw the house made it sound like it was positively dangerous to walk around in.