Oh my god, I think I just threw up a little in my mouth. Via Gawker comes this revolting article about how gosh-darn warm, friendly, and civilized Brooklyn is. The whole essay is unctuous enough, but it really goes for the gold with this money (literally) quote at the end:
“You know in The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, when, at the end, the hobbits have been up in this fantastic place, and they’ve been hanging out with Gandalf and Liv Tyler and all of these people, right?” said Edward Wilson, 36, a banker at Goldman Sachs who moved with his wife, Hesu (Suzy) Coue, 39, from the West Village to a brownstone in Park Slope. “And then suddenly they’re back in the Shire, and they’re all kind of in the pub. And when we were watching the film, and it’s all over, we just looked at each other and both said, ‘Brooklyn.'”
Now I love, love, love Brooklyn, and I only hold a little bit of a grudge that I can’t really afford to live in the prettier neighborhoods of it, but I can still only handle so much rhapsodizing about its innocent pleasures. Brooklyn’s charm isn’t really it’s casual attitudes toward its celebrities (which is bull) or its suburban feel (which is also bull). It’s always been hard for me to pinpoint exactly what I love about Brooklyn so much, but it sure ain’t nuthin’ that feels validated just because Heath Ledger lives in an expensive pad there.
Update!: And this ludicrously late-to-the party puff piece from the Washington Post also made my eyes roll back far enough to read the inside of my head. Gosh! Who knew Williamsburg was so trendy! (Remember thos sarcasm marks I mentioned yesterday. I needed one right there.) The most delicious part about the WP story is the subtext anyone around here understands: it’s an article promoting the neighborhood in a way that will only encourage further invasion by people no one in Williamsburg would actually want there. Well, the real estate developers want them, but that’s about it. And everyone else basically wants their money, but not the people actually spending it. That my friends, is the snotty hypocrisy about gentrification that makes me so giggly when I hear people talking — still — about how much Williamsburg has changed since they first got there [insert absurdly small number] years ago.
And even though my current neighborhood is in the crosshairs, I figure I’ve still got a couple of years of affordable space there before I get squeezed out again.
that article made me a little sick. these people should not be generalizing brooklyn in this manner just because boerum hill, cobble hill, & park slope are so much better than manhattan. there’s still a big portion of brooklyn with rampant poverty & crime.
i also really love that people associate williamsburg with the bedford stop off the L. williamsburg is bigger than that 10 block radius around the train station.
Wow. I could barely choke down the first page.
I am thankful I have the opinions of real humans (including myself) to make me want to move to Brooklyn.
i feel like i keep leaving these neighborhoods just in time.
unfortunately i can’t afford to keep fixing up hellholes until the fancy people move in and i can no longer afford to live there.
my neighborhood is also in the crosshairs and its a bizarre thing to watch.
i am afraid to read the gawker post.
im already an angry girl.