New Jersey Couple Opts for McCarren Views
While Williamsburg has been indelibly branded with the hipster label for the last decade or so, luckily the marketing campaigns of developers in the area have cast a much wider demographic net. To wit: When Steven Leeds and Rachel Hott, empty nesters from Montclair, started looking for a place to move in the big city,…
While Williamsburg has been indelibly branded with the hipster label for the last decade or so, luckily the marketing campaigns of developers in the area have cast a much wider demographic net. To wit: When Steven Leeds and Rachel Hott, empty nesters from Montclair, started looking for a place to move in the big city, they fell in love with a three-bedroom pad at The Aurora overlooking McCarren Park. (The 1,400-square-foot apartment was originally listed for $1,200,000, but the fifty-somethings snagged it for $999,000.) Before signing the contract, however, the couple insisted on timing the walk from the new development to the L train station. Luckily for them (and the developer), it clocked in at a commuter-friendly six minutes. They moved in last month, and can’t get enough of their new neighborhood, especially McCarren Park. I have never seen so much activity, Dr. Hott said. There is break dancing and tai chi and soccer. In case they need any tips, The Times also has a close-up this weekend on the neighborhood to the north: Greenpoint.
The Hunt: The Six-Minute Test [NY Times]
Living In: Greenpoint, Brooklyn [NY Times]
Agreed, Dirty. I do the same (except I take my hipster bike to Williamsburg).
Bonita is horrible horrible horrible. BUT . . . when you’ve got a bad cold, like I’ve had the past couple of weeks, nothing like the Lime Soup and a tequila chaser to clear your head cold.
g10, sell your house quick b4 the in-law, mother,… want to move in
I do think that when you are older when you surround yourselves with younger people you feel young. My mom acts young, sure she has her physical ailments, but she’s sharper than I am 🙂
My mother in law on the hand lives in South Carolina and is bored to tears – wishes she was back in BK and I quote “So I can wake up and walk to the corner store to get a good cup of coffee”!
Haha Iz – i’m not trying to get into a pissing match. I respect your opinion re: Williamsburg more having actually lived there then some random Manhattanite that lives in Murray Hill whose experience in the neighborhood is limited to eating at SEA on a Saturday night.
Yeah – my nabe pisses me off sometimes, and sometimes it’s awesome, and I agree it was better back in the day. I feel obligated to stick up for it as it’s so fashionable to hate on it nowadays. If I’m feeling anti-burg on a saturday, i’ll take a 10 minute cab ride to your neigborhood or carroll gardens or park slope and enjoy what those hoods have to offer.
Oh – and Bonita sucks 😛 (WB and FG ones)
Anyway, Williamsburg is still a pretty killer place to live, and maybe I’m just jealous of those who get to live there still. It’s vibrant, wacky, colorful, and there’s a reason it has attracted such a wave of newcomers. I wont knock it anymore. I can totally see why people might hate where I live now (in fact, I seem to recall rolling my eyes at friends years ago who would talk about the sesame streets of ft greene — I swear my stomache turned at the cliche of it all, so . . . . if I have to be totally honest, it is lame here and I only like it because I have to! It’s my home!!!!!)
Gemini,
That’s sweet! I’ve noticed that my neighbors who are in their 80’s act so incredibly young…they are out and about talking to other folks in the neighborhood, walking just a few blocks to go to the grocery store, talking to random passersby, up and down 3rd and 4th floor walk ups 3 times a day, etc….
When I compare that with older people I know outside the big city, the older folks here seem so young! I really think there’s something to being around other people, and having more to think about than telling everyone about all your ailments 24/7.
DH, you didn’t! You did! The whole “I know brooklyn better than you” bs. . . . I really can’t take it. I really can’t continue a conversation with anyone that says shit like that. It’s just . . . whatever, I can’t do it.
But in defense of Habana Outpost, I will say that I’m so grateful to be able to walk into a joint like that and see literally 4 or 5 completely idiosyncratic groups of people with nothing in common with one another, all stuffing their faces with delicious food together. There’s the black and proud beautiful people of the FT Greene vicinity, the white implants of recent years mainly young and drunk, the slightly older white-black mixes with their gorgeous children, the young thugged out bike gang boys and girls from the PJs, the older bike gang black mac daddies and their (generally large and sexy) ladies, and the middle aged white wealthy South “Whatever” home owner couples.
If you want to complain about the hipsterfication of Ft Greene, you might want to point out how the owner of Diner/Marlow/Bonita, whom I used to always see at Diner in years prior, now hangs out exclusively at Bonita (the Ft Greene version). I assume he lives here. Natch.
Sorry to chime in late
But I appreciate people mentioned in the article. My 62 year old retired NYC teacher mom born in queens moved to Long Island 35 years ago to raise me is selling her condo so she can move to Park Slope. Of course one of the reasons is to be closer to me, but she also wants a better QOL.
She doesn’t want to have to drive everywhere and she wants to be around people and be able to walk to shops and cafes and participate in community based projects.
I think it’s great to not want to just give up in your retirement years and live in the burbs and just rot away in your house…
AND you guys realize how incredibly “un-brooklyn” it is to be so neighborhoodcentric? You ask any Brooklyn oldtimer where they are from and they will respond “Brooklyn” – if you ask what neighborhood, they will give you a funny look. Try it sometime.