Gentrification across the nation
It seems like only yesterday when Alphabet City and the Lower East Side in general were drug-infested hellholes; areas of Manhattan you wouldn't be caught dead in (or more accurately, would be caught dead in). But through the magic of disaffected suburban kids with the keys to daddy's savings account, these neighborhoods have been magically transformed from slums to the most sought-after tenements on the market. Because really, what could be hipper than paying $1,500 a month for a 30-square-foot studio with money that isn't even yours? Not much, unless it involves freebasing rat poison.
The gentrification of the LES truly has been a miracle for our fair city, and I thought it might be prudent to take a look at other Manhattan neighborhoods in need of some tender hipster love & care. I mean, how much longer can Downtown possibly remain this cool? It can't! Remember - with the proper attitude, off-kiltered looks, ridiculously weird fashion instincts and ironic taste in music, your ghetto could very well become the next hipster enclave.
How about the "deep down we're suburbanites but we wanted to raise our family in a safe part of the city" Upper West Side?
Or Wall Street, that bustling center of capitalism?
Maybe the Lower East Side needs more hipsters to neutralize the existing contingent?
Yea, I'll bet you are, buddy.
I've been hearing Harlem's due for a renaissance for the last 20 years.
What about the poor ex-frat boy 2nd Avenue bar scene/retardedly wealthy Fifth Avenue penthouse dichotomy of the Upper East?
Washington Heights already has hipster cache as it's so far away from civilization it's practically an outer borough by default.
Poor Battery Park City. So many apartment buildings, so few tenants.
And finally,
Wait.
No.
It can't be!
Murray Hill??!!
posted by LA at 7:14 AM
26 Comments:
Actually there is a Clap Your Hands Say Yeah show pretty dern close to wall st. on Aug 10 at S. St. Seaport. Der!
Because a hellhole of people who are miserable is SO much better. Not to say that I have love for hipsters and location obsessed pricks, but to imply that you prefer urban decay and true human misery to annoying suburbanites moving to the city is preposterous.
If you're uncomfortable with change or people who are different from you, may I suggest that you consider moving to a city that has less of those things.
umm, can we start talking about something else? I'm sick of listening to all the hipster knit picking going on. The people really feeding this are the renters who are driving up prices chasing the "natives" out of their own city. You can refer to this as the "hipster bubble." How long will these kids (or as you assume, their parents) put up with this rent gouging? I'm moving to Clinton Hill, from Champaign, IL, not for the scene but for the cheap ass rent for shit tons of space for me and my dog. I will commute to the East Village to work in a restaurant where I will earn the dollar bills to support my lifestyle. Any problems with that?
Your comments I equate to the depth and bravery of tabloid magazines. Talking about pretty people with ridiculous pretenses gets you a lot of attention doesn't it?
I thought this was funny, so there.
Hey Anonymous #1, why are you such a hater?
I'm sorry but I don't think the writer is claiming to support urbay decay, especially not in the town which he grew up, nor do I think he's especially fond of true human misery... but maybe that's just a foolish guess on my part.
My gut guess would probably have to be, um....yeah, no.
I thought it was funny. Lighten up a bit anonymous and anonymous.
By the way...where the hell did you find "shit tons of space" for cheap in Clinton Hill? Is Clinton Hill secretly cheap?
Hipster's are DORKS!
For Clarity -- I'm anonymous #1.
Eh, perhaps I should lighten up. On the other hand, I gotta say that the "hipster hating" has just got me down in general. Sure, there are annoying people with mullets and mismatched pantlegs that look like vagabonds all over this city, but whatever . . .
These people get WAY more attention than they deserve, don't you think? Especially because attention is what they really want anyway (because mommy and daddy [not the band] didn't give them enough attention), right?
Come on guys, lighten up! At least he laid of the whole JAP thing for a day.
Fyi: the LES is not as gentrified as people like to think it is...I definitely saw the aftermath of a drive-by shooting on Avenue C and 4th St. the other night. I don't think NYC is totally there yet.
SWEET!! Maybe rent will go down on C & 4th now and I can finally move my hipster ass into LES.
In NYC you're always standing on someone else's shoulders to get to where you are.
I wouldn't really associate Hipsters with "gentrification." I think they're stealing the yuppies' thunder. Hipsters do the job of making a shitty neighborhood look "cool" (slash annoying) and attract all the yuppies, who proceed to increase rents for all surrounding areas.
Indie-yuppies unite... Murray Hillel 4eva!
hey 4:20 anonymous: the exact definition of gentrification is when a class with more mobility moves in and destabilizes the current market. the 'hipsters' you refer to are the ones causing gentrification not the 'yuppies' who follow in afterwards. it doesn't matter how 'cool' someone is, your money is still forcing the existing neighborhood residents to move out as well as the existing institutions to change. for instance: it wasn't developers wanting to build big buildings in w'burg that caused w'burg gentrify but the slow destabilization of the market that forced out industry and jobs in the n'hood as well as poorer residents.
what shooting on ave c and 4th street? 'cos i happen at ave c and 4th street. fuck!
even the term "hipster hating" is dumb. who the f*&6 cares? trying to be a hipster is about as cool as thinking you have to live in the east village. what? is it 1992 already? the east village is hip? get over it. the problem is not hipsters or a bunch other cooler than thou but less creative non-hipsters who feel like they're the genuine article because they get shit on by strangers while waiting tables and spend a lot of time whining about "hipsters having daddy's money" which problably isn't true and even if it is, so what? the problem is that the cost of housing in NYC is never going to go down because everyone everywhere in the world moves here to make something of themselves and next year some 300 square foot crackden in Flatbush will be $1500. but stop whining about hipsters and deal.
this shit? those comics? that shit is funny.
the only thing worse then hipsters are hipster haters that think they're way fucking better. grow up. high school is over. havent you gone cross-eyed yet from looking down your nose at the world?
And the only thing worse than fools who don't understand satire are idiots who post comments displaying their glaring lack of a sense of humor.
well i'm a poor ex-frat boy......fuck yeah!
and the only thing even worse is a blogger who can't handle commentary on an apparently debatable article and criticizes strangers for not having a sense of humor, despite the fact that they don't happen to find his article unique or funny.
Hey hypocrite - you're the one attacking a stranger you anonymous pussy.
I'm from LA, I don't get what all the fuss is about amongst the angry anonymi of New York.
Hey, I liked the comic. Was pretty funny. No comment on the hipster attacking...
sucked in, poor people.
whats up my nigga. good blog. read mine.
hipsters have their place, but theyre on my god damn nerves. everyone keeps getting dorkier and dorkier and that supposed to pass for cool? f that. just bc you got laid in high school and can play sports it doesnt mean that all of a sudden at 22 your not cool. someone ought to tell the brooklyn loving, cat eye glasses wearing, vespa riding, moretti drinking, courderoy wearing, carbon credit buying dorks to shut the fuck up. gee, i guess i just did.
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