Death of a New York Neighborhood
It's a fleeting thing, New York neighborhoods. Image supplants dreams. Grab on while you can.
Living in New York, it's notoriously difficult to find a neighborhood where I can lounge, have a nice conversation, a good syrah – and maybe some live music that doesn't make my vocal chords bleed in attempts to be heard. It's because New York moves in herds, displaying that universal cultural instinct with more gusto than any place I know. The minute a place becomes interesting – and by interesting I mean funky – a patchwork where immigrants and artists and the underground mix, of family restaurants and dusty bookstores and the bustle of families pulling for the Dream – the word spreads and it becomes gentrified; by day the hangouts of nannies and Starbucks and by night a den of high-rollers.
It's the inevitable outcome of a city high on ambition and flushed with cash (it comes with self-entitlement, you know, the power of money is only powerful when it buys what is 'deserved').
West Village was rocking (so I hear) in the 50s, when jazz was king and Kerouac roamed the dirty streets with Ginsburg and crew. The East Village too in the 60s-- scenes of protest and so on. Alphabet City as well, until recently. Then hey, it was the Lower East Side and Williamsburg
For instance, hookah lounges complete with thumping music in the East Village charge $20 for a pipe, catering to the Tag Heur wearing clientele. The old school places in Astoria, meanwhile, cater to ancient Egyptian men nodding off to Arabic television by supplying $5 pipes and a steady supply of dominoes, backgammon and card games.
So here they are. Signs of a New York Neighborhood. When:
- Finance guys are picking this 'great neighborhood for fucking Saturday night'
- There are lines with more than 5 people outside the door
- The bouncers dressed with the 'black on black' uniform
- The drinking establishments have bottle service
- The ratio of fake boob jobs to blue button down 'casual' shirts is close to 1:1
- There are more than five establishments within a 4 block radius that has a velvet ropes
- Starbucks outnumber local coffeehouses (and Barnes and Noble outnumber bookstores)
- Whole Foods has moved in (Lord help you if there's also a Jamba Juice)
- Condos seem normal
- A beer costs more than $4
All in all? It's hard to tell unless you've lived in the neighborhood for a while. But one day walk along a favorite street and it hits you. Gone are the delis, corner grocer, the men on stoops, and the kids playing hopscotch. In are the pan-Asian restaurants, the organic markets, the frat boys and strutting young things.
West Village is a haven for tour groups. East Village crawls with NYU kids and newcomers to the city. The Lower East Side witnesses the Meatpacking transplants. And Williamsburg is overrun by artists flushed with their parents cash and the arrival of corporate lawyers and bankers in search of cheap lofts. Heck, even Harlem is being pinched from the north and south.
It's a fleeting thing, New York neighborhoods. Image supplants dreams. Grab on while you can.
why not move back to philly, it's totally awesome and up & coming.. why does everyone hate on it so much? nyc is a nice place to visit.
Posted by: rmd | June 14, 2007 at 02:11 PM
p.s. i know where to get a can of sly fox for $1.50
Posted by: rmd | June 14, 2007 at 02:12 PM
i don't hate philly. but there are still great neighborhoods here! (plus philly is kind of small for me)
Posted by: j.fisher | June 14, 2007 at 02:39 PM