The Times of London Singing Bed Stuy's Praises
It sounds like London Times writer James Doran got quite a deal on his Bedford Stuyvesant brownstone. Given how well-preserved all the details were, $600,000 sounds undermarket to us. And what a great provenance! The story he tells of the former owner, a brewery heiress, is great stuff. The Heath Ledger angle might be a…
It sounds like London Times writer James Doran got quite a deal on his Bedford Stuyvesant brownstone. Given how well-preserved all the details were, $600,000 sounds undermarket to us. And what a great provenance! The story he tells of the former owner, a brewery heiress, is great stuff. The Heath Ledger angle might be a bit of a stretch but, hey, Doran’s at least setting the newspaper-reading public straight about the neighborhood which has caught more than its share of bad press over the years:
Bed-Stuy is more than just an incredible investment opportunity for an adventurous property speculator: it is one of the most fascinating neighbourhoods of New York, steeped in history and close to Manhattan’s sleepless streets, yet no tourist ever sets foot here.
Local blog Bed Stuy Gateway had this to say about the article: Is The Times doing a Lenten penance for the smackdown of an article it published on June 25, 2005 in which reporter Dominic Rushe called Bed-Stuy “a horrible and inconvenient area of Brooklyn with some lovely buildings and a nasty crack habit”?
Big Apple’s Core Appeal [London Times]
The Brits Are Coming [Bed Stuy Gateway]
To Jimmy Legs,
Brixton is just like Bed Stuy in some ways. It can be rough in areas but it’s vibrant and has flavor.
Everyone’s anonymous here, whatever you call yourself…
i got a knife pulled on me in bed stuy. i got attacked and ended up fighting someone in the middle of the street in bed stuy. someone in bed stuy once pulled a monkey wrench (?!?) on me. i witnessed people using crack on a regular basis in bed stuy. crack vials crunched under my feet daily on my walk to the subway. if i was home and near the window i could watch prostitutes service men every single night if i wanted (in bed stuy). after i got in the worst fight i had in bed stuy and i told a couple of people, stories started pouring out of the woodwork from friends who were attacked (one who was slashed in the face in broad daylight sitting on a park bench with people on either side ignoring it). write whatever you want, i guess that’s the way it goes these days. but what you wrote seems to me to be uninformed. also, there are plenty of artists in bed stuy, probably as many as in bushwick, and many have been there for quite a while.
James, you just get better with every post! Seriously, this is good stuff. And I agree. I know someone who was held up at gunpoint in Williamsburg, and another person who was basically mugged outside his Ft. Greene home while taking the garbage out (strange but true), but I don’t go around bashing those areas or saying that “the convicts hailed from those neighborhoods.”
I hate to be wishy washy, but we all have our own experiences, and we all know what we’re talking about. And we are all entitled to out opinion.
I dont wear rose coloured specs, but I do have a keen eye for detail — trained observer you see. So like the rest of you, even those who have no real idea what my neighbourhood is like, I do know what Im talking about.
I have been really lucky to have landed in a really good corner of Bed Stuy — the 81st precinct and its officers are great. Im not so much of an idiot that I dont see the bad parts of Bed Stuy but they are along way from where I live. One thing I have learned from writing this “room of my own” piece, is that many contrbutors to this blog are FIERCLEY territorial ovwe their corner of Brooklyn, which is sweet, but odd.
surely someone can tell me why
DISCUSS
to anon,
gentrification does not reduce crime. Police reduce crime.
I just want to remind everyone that the low crime rate in other areas is relatively a new thing. Doesn’t anyone remember prostitution in the meat packing district? Shootings in the East Village? How about crack houses in Ft Greene and muggings in Park Slope? I sure do! Are you all forgetting about the (recent) history of this city or did you only arrive yesterday? The fact is, the WHOLE city is being gentrified, like it or not (and I’m not sure I do) and Bed Stuy is no different. Let’s have this conversation a year or two from now and see how it goes…
I just finished reading the rest of the posts. I see there is a loose British connection here. I’m an American who also lived in London. I lived in New Cross Gate and East Dulwich. I felt way way safer in London than I do in Bed Stuy or New York for that matter.
I’ve live in Bed-Stuy (near the Utica stop. While I think the neighborhood and the houses are beautiful and my neighbors have been great – I also must admit that I don’t always feel that safe walking around at night. I obviously stick out as a white person – and I think that makes you more of a target. I’ve certainly walked by groups of teenagers who I think have fun intimidating “the new white people in town”. That’s just my impression. I have also been the subject to 2 robberies – one of which was relatively non-violent, the other one sent me to the hospital. While I guess they could have happened elsewhere – they didn’t. I’ve lived in NYC all my life and those are the only times I’ve ever been robbed. I also wish there were more restaurants, etc.