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]
anonymous with the hmmmmms
you need to read more closely and be a little less hyperbolic.
cheers all,
Now I really have to get back to work!
JD
PS english buy in BS — I used to live in Brixton, but also in Worthing, where were you in London and on South Coast and where are you IN bed Stuy?
Welcome to Brooklyn, James.
You seem respectful while trying to adapt and bring your own flavor to your new community.
Unlike many of the posters on this site
who gentrify and then have the nerve to look down on their new neighbors.
Heth Ledger in BedStuy hmmmmmm
Bushwick artsy hmmmmmmm
Williamsburg all Hasidic hmmmmmm
Bay Ridge only Irish/Italian hmmmmmm
Bay Ridge only working class hmmmmm
BedStuy all professionals hmmmmm
The 12:55 posting was me.
The 12:55 posting was me.
I think people need to stop criticizing other people’s neighborhoods on this blog.
The neighborhoods of Brooklyn are not in competition with each other. If one neighborhood improves, it is not at the expense of the others. It only makes ALL of Brooklyn better, which helps other neighborhoods, too.
We can ALL profit off of Brooklyn’s rise here. People need to start emphasizing how much better ANY neighborhood in Brooklyn is than ANY neighborhood in Manhattan or any other Borough. As Doran’s article says, prices do not reflect this yet. Hopefully, someday they will.
As a Brit also in BS, I totally back up James statements and experience. I am safer in Bed Stuy than I was living in London or growing up in a small town on the South Coast of England.
I also value the community feel of people on the block looking out for each other and the simple ‘good morning’ to your neighbor.
Yes, gun violence and negativity exists, amongst pockets of the community, and its tragic for those caught in the cycle. But its just one aspect of a multi-faceted neightborhood.
If you are ready to embrace the people and the neighborhood of Bed Stuy, the rough with the smooth, you will find a beautiful neighborhood with some truly inspirational authentic people making it happen.
You get out what you put in. Come with your eyes open but with your mind open too.
Beautiful! At the risk of being criticized, I think many predominantly black neighborhoods in NYC have retained a kind of neighborliness that has been lost in many predominantly white, superficially more “affluent” neighborhoods. When my husband and I moved into a house in Clinton Hill with our newborn baby in 1990, we were the only white family on the block. Within days — hours, even — neighbors were showing up at our door with pies and cookies and warm welcomes. We were invited to barbecues and birthday parties and baby showers. As our little girl became a toddler, she was embraced by the families on the block and always had a playmate. Later, my husband and I divorced and went our separate ways, and I moved to Park Slope. While I love the amenities and overall convenience of my new neighborhood, we have never experienced the kindness and warmth that embraced us on that Clinton Hill block.
James,
Perhaps the piece you should have filed was the one you just posted.