Jonathan Van Meter Hates Brooklyn
As the epitome of Jonathan Van Meter’s problem with Brooklyn, maybe we aren’t in the most unbiased position to comment on his overly-long and only moderately entertaining swipe at the borough. Sure, the piece made us a little nostalgic for the days of affordable downtown loft space (we still miss our 1,800-square-foot former candy factory…
As the epitome of Jonathan Van Meter’s problem with Brooklyn, maybe we aren’t in the most unbiased position to comment on his overly-long and only moderately entertaining swipe at the borough. Sure, the piece made us a little nostalgic for the days of affordable downtown loft space (we still miss our 1,800-square-foot former candy factory in Little Italy, to be sure), but after a couple years in Brooklyn, we’re total converts. While it was partly financial necessity that drove us to leave Manhattan, we don’t think we’d want to move back even if we struck it rich. Why? Van Meter sums it up pretty well:
Who will be left once the exodus to Brooklyn is complete? Old money, Eurotrash, and stubborn, delusional, middle-class strivers like me.
What’s to come back to?
I Hate Brooklyn [NY Magazine]
“Did you read the article??? Did it sound like a joke to you? Maybe I missed something. He would never make it in Brooklyn; it would chew him up and burp him out. I’m not saying Brooklyn is a mean, tuff place to live. But it doesn’t take kindly to FAKE JERSEY BITCHES”
Nigaa youd get fucked up in Jersey City or Newark….so keep you yuppie ass mouth shut.
park slope is pretty, manhattan smells gross and is crowded
Hey me, you could be wrong
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-04-19-gentrification_x.htm?POE=click-refer
I’m sorry how is moving your 40k+ white ass to a working class neighborhood simply cause you’re too cheap to pay the prices you all created in Manhattan in the first place improving the quality of life of those 25K- life long residents when you are pricing them out of their homes? I’m really fecking sick of this argument, because even if you make <25K you people move to these neighborhoods and lock yourselves in your apts afraid to say hello to your neighbors cause God forbid, they're black, or they're loud hispanics who have a joy for life you will never understand because you will never have a conversation with them. And 1 year goes by and next thing you know everyone looks like you, and you say "life has improved???!!!" Life hasn't fucking improved, in fact you just missed out on one of the greatest opportunities to improve your life, and that is to integrate another culture into your life (which btw was what this city was built on) besides just reading about it in your bleedin' $50 coffee table books and purchasing the over priced food at the gourmet supermarket that your buddy just opened where that family runned deli used to be for 25 years. And then when you get bored or it gets too expensive you'll go find another neighborhood instead of battling it out like those folks have done, which is what made that neighborhood what it is that attracted you to it in the first place. For feck's sake would you take one look at yourselves, you're no better than vermin!
Brooklyn hates Jonathan Van Meter.
I hadn’t realized partying was “shallow.” Are those of you saying this because you are up til 3 am every night licking envelopes to save the Sudanese? Hope so.
I haven’t read through all the comments yet, but I completely agree with Tony.
I live in Brooklyn for my own reasons. When I was looking to buy in the city, I considered the city as a whole and chose a neighborhood in Brooklyn that suited my needs.
If you read the entire article, you will not find it offensive at all. It is partly tongue-in-cheek, partly nostalgic and part self-confessed shalloweness. This is his life and his dreams.
He hates Brooklyn because it has stolen all his friends and it is the Manhattan of yesterday.
Though, still part of me can’t help but think that Brooklyn *is* truly cooler than Manhattan and Manhattanites just can’t deal with it.
He ends his article by saying that Manhattan is changing and I agree with him. To me it is no longer a Mecca for the alternative and disaffected from across America. It has become a safe haven for mainstream America to act like they live a Sex -and-the-City life.
For all the reasons he hates Brooklyn, I love it. For all the reasons he loves Manhattan, I also love it. It’s one city and I’m glad I have the opportunity to live in it.
isn’t Brooklyn Heights the only neighborhood in all of NYC that has never changed?
this is a matter of perspectives, personally i like Philadelphia, he doesn’t. in fact i’d say that he’s got a complex from living where he did in NJ, this is a psychological problem, something like second city syndrome or whatever you call it. a shrink could go to town on the author of a text like that!
The article may or may not be tongue-in-cheek. But why should anyone take offense to it? The article represents one person’s point of view. If you’re comfortable and secure about how you choose to live your life, why does it bother you that someone else disagrees?
I live in Brooklyn for my own reasons. No need for me to explain those. But I enjoyed reading the article because of its many undercurrents. I didn’t take it as being negative toward Brooklyn, but just a humourous account of one person’s inner thinking. We all have our own values. The author’s values are best achieved in Manhattan. That’s what I took away from his amusing account.