Brooklyn - it's all about the Brooklynites
July 16, 2006 9:37 PM   Subscribe

 
Ouch. You have to be careful getting a quote into a title tag:

Paul Auster - Author, 58

"From a strictly anthropological point of view, I discovered that Brooklynites are less reluctant to talk to strangers than any tribe I had previously encountered. They butt into one another’s business at will (old women scolding young mothers for not dressing their children warmly enough, passerby snapping at dog walkers for yanking too hard on the leash); they argue like deranged four-year-olds over disputed parking spaces; they zip out dazzling one-liners as a matter of course. One Sunday morning, I went into a crowded deli with the absurd name of La Bagel Delight. I was intending to ask for a cinnamon-raisin bagel, but the word caught in my mouth and came out as cinnamon-reagan. Without missing a beat, the young guy behind the counter answered: ‘Sorry, we don’t have any of those. How about a pumpernixon instead?’ Fast. So damned fast, I nearly wet my drawers. " (excerpt from the brooklyn follies)
posted by caddis at 9:41 PM on July 16, 2006


I like how it raises awareness of this otherwise obscure and oft-overlooked segment of the world's population.
posted by hifiparasol at 10:07 PM on July 16, 2006


Great project. Thanks!
posted by dobbs at 10:47 PM on July 16, 2006


rep-re-SENT.
posted by thejoshu at 11:33 PM on July 16, 2006


Hifiparasol, we're just better than the rest, so we deserve this much needed attention :u)
posted by vodkadin at 11:33 PM on July 16, 2006


"After moving to Los Angeles it was a bit of a culture shock, it was depleted of culture - a specific culture. There was nothing to attach yourself to. Nothing and no one. The irony was that you had perfect weather out there, but you were miserable."

As a recent transplant from Brooklyn to LA, I find the sentiment sound. Thanks Rosie.

Great post.
posted by scallion at 1:21 AM on July 17, 2006


I really want to go to Brooklyn now, though it's funny that you could do a project like this anywhere in the world, and the people would say pretty much the same things (that their place is unique, that the mix of people makes it that way, as does the hisory of the place, that the Summer was great when they were kids, that the houses look nice...).
posted by jack_mo at 3:17 AM on July 17, 2006


yes jack_mo, people would say pretty much the same things, but as concerns Brooklyn, it's all TRUE! ;)
posted by flapjax at midnite at 3:51 AM on July 17, 2006


Hasn't "apiring elitist moves to New York" played itself out? Because any dense neighborhood is going to have its share of interesting indiginous characters. What makes Brooklyn notable is the sheer force of the pretentiousness of the people moving there directly from college campuses.
posted by Mayor Curley at 4:04 AM on July 17, 2006


Regardless of your personal opinion of Brooklynites, that "pumpernixon" line is sharp.
posted by Faint of Butt at 5:13 AM on July 17, 2006


I meant to add:

GO SOX!
posted by Mayor Curley at 5:22 AM on July 17, 2006


Los Angeles... was depleted of culture - a specific culture. There was nothing to attach yourself to. Nothing and no one.

Look, I like Brooklyn, and I like NYC overall, and I'm not trying to get bogged down in a regionalistic pissing contest, but is Rosie Perez deaf and blind? LA has about a dozen different cultures in any given area, all of whom are a heck of a lot friendlier to each other than stupid movies like Crash give them credit for. If you can't find something to attach yourself to in LA, you're probably either a total snob, an insecure introvert, or not actually in Los Angeles.
posted by hifiparasol at 5:41 AM on July 17, 2006


Great post. I'm proud to call Brooklyn home, and while I think a lot of the claims of 'elitism' are perhaps founded when describing a very small minority of people who have moved into the area in the past decade or so, the misconception that this attitude is pervasive throughout the burrough is completely ridiculous. There's a big diference between, say North Williamsburg, and Bed Sty, Bushwick, Caroll Gardens, Bay Ridge, Red Hook, etc. The relatively small chunk of land between Bedford and Lorimer immediately south of McCarren Park shouldn't be representative of all Brooklynites, and I think this link does a great job of elucidating that point. Brooklyn's a BIG fucking place.
posted by tiger yang at 6:52 AM on July 17, 2006


And while we're at, a recently-published book ("Brooklyn by Name") will give everyone a handy guide to all those place names people mention (including tiger yang, above). E.g., "The English takeover of the area in 1664 led to the Anglicization of Dutch names, (vlackebos, meaning "wooded plain," became Flatbush). Good stuff...
posted by mapalm at 7:15 AM on July 17, 2006


Brooklyn is so over. Queens represent!

Actually I love Brooklyn too. But it's so nice now.

And yeah, if Rosie thinks LA is devoid of culture she should try Houston or Atlanta or just about any other city.
posted by fungible at 7:32 AM on July 17, 2006


Brooklyn is so over. Queens represent!

Preach On, Brother!

(actually, I have family from BK, too, so I got love for Brooklyn as well)
posted by jonmc at 8:11 AM on July 17, 2006


The whole thing about the particular charm of Brooklyn is that it depends on the wild bravado and braggery in the face of obvious counter-examples thing. "Brooklyn is unique, everyone knows everyone, people are earthy and witty and ballsy, LIKE NOWHERE ELSE ON EARTH." I've been lots of places that are kinda funky and outspoken and full of neighborhoods. The whole Brooklyn bravado thing fails if you admit for one second that Brooklyn is not the most special place on earth, it's a tightrope walk.

Brooklyn's a pretty good place most of the time, you can actually live there, there are actually some human beings around, as opposed to Manhattan which is hell on earth now, a sea of shopping and Paris Hilton clones and the kind of people that Mayor Curley is talking about, although I was in a mall in Long Island this weekend and I felt like joining Al Quaeda after about five minutes. So perhaps the problem is just middle class American white people make me want to get a fucking AR-15, a water jug to pee in and drill a shooting hole in the trunk of a wide assed late model Caprice Classic. I dunno. They're right about the sky thing, Brooklyn has big skies.
posted by Divine_Wino at 8:23 AM on July 17, 2006


Brooklyn is so over. Queens represent!

Bring that shit down to the mean streets of Cobble Hill and you'll learn what's what, pal.

I'm cutting Queens some slack because you've got the Bohemian Beer Garden, but outside of that, the borough is dead to me.
posted by Gamblor at 8:33 AM on July 17, 2006


Bring that shit down to the mean streets of Cobble Hill and you'll learn what's what, pal.

You pimped your Bugaboo?
posted by Armitage Shanks at 8:38 AM on July 17, 2006 [1 favorite]


Just for that, you can forget meeting me for pomegranate mojitos. Yeah, these days it's all bars, restaurants, boutiques, and baby shops. The place has gotten all civilized.

Hard to believe that once upon a time Carroll Gardens/Cobble Hill was mob central. I was watching a show on the history of organized crime once on tv and they were talking about the Bonanno crime family, and they showed a photo of their headquarters at an old Italian restaurant in CG. I was shocked to see it was the old place directly across the street from my apartment. The one with the friendly old couple that was always all smiles whenever I ate there. The next time I went in, I paid closer attention to all the old black and white photos on the walls. There was the owner, many years younger, smiling next to all the (in)famous old mafiosos. So strange.

Coincidentally, that same time I was there looking at the photos, the place was empty except for one table with Mayor Bloomberg dining with several companions. Such a small, out of the way place for the Mayor to choose to eat at. I wonder how he ever heard of it. Ahem.

I still hear old ladies speaking to each other in Italian every once in a while, but it seems like the neighborhood has mostly turned over. Can't say I'm sorry to see the mob go, but it's an interesting history, to be sure.
posted by Gamblor at 9:18 AM on July 17, 2006


The mob was still there when I lived in Carrol Gardens in the late nineties, but it was like some inverted mob vacation area, their old mamas and ex-wives lived there and they came to get bread and rice balls while the real action was in Long Island, Howard Beach and Jersey.


But there was this dude who I was sorta nodding friends with who once closed down the whole street on a whim by parking two of his cars at either end of the street and brought out a hot dog cart that had the city inspection plates pried off and two four wheeler atvs for his kids to ride and filled a giant kiddie pool and invited everyone out to come get drunk. Police station was two blocks away, no one said a peep.
posted by Divine_Wino at 9:28 AM on July 17, 2006


You pimped your Bugaboo?

ahem
posted by eddydamascene at 9:29 AM on July 17, 2006


Queens is the worst borough ever after the Bronx and Staten Island. People who live there should have to wear scarlet Qs so may avoid them. In conclusion, Brooklyn is the only place to be.
posted by dame at 9:30 AM on July 17, 2006


Waddayawaddaya?
posted by Divine_Wino at 9:40 AM on July 17, 2006


After more years than I care to think about in Brooklyn and Manhattan, I recently moved to the Bronx, and I've found much of the same braggadocio. I presume in a couple years, when the parts of the Bronx closest to Manhattan gentrify, people here will think living in formerly bad neighborhoods confers some aura of toughness and street smarts too, just like most of the transplanted midwesterners and Long Islanders in Brooklyn do now. Of course by then, Brooklynites will have a Gap and a Starbucks at every corner just like Manhattan.

Sure, you can find genuinely tough parts of Brooklyn, but where you used to count the safe neighborhoods on one hand, now you count the less desirable ones. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, but if anything large swaths of Brooklyn are becoming less diverse, not moreso.

OK, all snarked out now. That'll teach me to go without coffee.
posted by JaredSeth at 9:42 AM on July 17, 2006


Brooklyn is the only place to be.

Parts of Brooklyn are OK, but the recent influx of recent Hampshire/Bennington/Williams grads is turning some parts of it into so with row houses. I like my neighborhood's greasy charm.
posted by jonmc at 9:55 AM on July 17, 2006


I should add that I don't object to new arrivals in New York City from anywhere, but in Williamsburg, they just kind of took over and remade the place in their own image. In Astoria, there's a nice balanced mix of old and new school New York, and it's pretty harmonious.
posted by jonmc at 9:59 AM on July 17, 2006


the recent influx of recent Hampshire/Bennington/Williams grads is turning some parts of it into so with row houses.
so?
I would so like to know what these H/B/W grads have turned Brooklyn into.
posted by Flashman at 10:08 AM on July 17, 2006


Well, Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg is now full of Smoothie Stories and 'vintage clothes' emporiums and stuff like that, which replaced the greasy spoons and old guy bars that used to be there. I'm not saying smoothies and vintage clothes are bad things, but you shouldn't have to completely obliterate the old to change things.
posted by jonmc at 10:12 AM on July 17, 2006


(also I meant to type "SoHo," not 'so.' Damned flippers.)
posted by jonmc at 10:13 AM on July 17, 2006


I should add that I don't object to new arrivals in New York City from anywhere, but in Williamsburg, they just kind of took over and remade the place in their own image. In Astoria, there's a nice balanced mix of old and new school New York, and it's pretty harmonious.

Right. But a lot of people living in Astoria are saying that this nice balance may not last a whole lot longer. I live in Greenpoint, and while the area still maintains its original Polish flavor, you can tell that the writing is on the wall. Since it's just above Williamsburg, it's pretty obvious that this is the next neighborhood to go. Williamsburg kids are already moving up here in fast droves, rent prices are going up very quickly. Thankfully, I can still get a beer for $2 at my neighborhood bar - but who knows how long this is gonna last.
posted by tiger yang at 10:17 AM on July 17, 2006


Right. But a lot of people living in Astoria are saying that this nice balance may not last a whole lot longer.

I dunno. They've predicted that a bunch of times, but it hasn't happened yet, and the multi-generational Greek families don't seem to want to leave. If it happens..we'll there's always City Island. :)
posted by jonmc at 10:22 AM on July 17, 2006


Bring that shit down to the mean streets of Cobble Hill and you'll learn what's what, pal.

Oh, you mean mean as in the RE prices?

Woodside, Muthafuckas!

Anyway, the FPP link (you know, the one with no text) is clearly a LOVERLY little grant proposal in the making, innit? I can just see the foundation money PILING right on up. Get a camera that cool and ANYONE would look that cool no matter where they were. Portraits are just interesting.
posted by DenOfSizer at 10:30 AM on July 17, 2006


Well, speaking as a native New Yorker I can say strictly on a personal level that my toughness and streetsmarts come from a classical mix of bravado, impatience, foolishness, trust in luck, a dislike of fighting and a certain williingness to endure physical pain to prove a point, not whatever neighborhood I can currently afford to park my size twelve Adidas in. The only way someone is going to find out just how tough I am or where I live is if they ask me politely. I'm a nice guy.

I would prefer to live in Brooklyn for the rest of my life (except perhaps if somone wants to kick down a nice farmhouse in the Catskills say...) but I will never wear a shirt that says Brooklyn on it (as in if found, please return to...), whenever I see one of the many "transplanted midwesterners" wearing one I always think of someone who got loose from the halfway house and is wandering around looking for the nurse and snuffling back little rivers of snot.
posted by Divine_Wino at 10:35 AM on July 17, 2006


"...but where you used to count the safe neighborhoods on one hand, now you count the less desirable ones."

Where do the poor people go when the Gentrification Nation invades their neighborhood? Yonkers?
posted by MikeMc at 10:37 AM on July 17, 2006


I love Brooklyn for many, many reasons (current favorite: Jennifer Connelly hangs out at my local cafe), but I kind of think the borough jumped the shark when Brooklyn Industries opened a store in Manhattan.
posted by mkultra at 11:17 AM on July 17, 2006


Nice site/project, thanks caddis!
posted by carter at 12:12 PM on July 17, 2006


They might convey a better idea of Brooklyn's diversity if they traveled outside Brighton Beach, Bensonhurst and Williamsburg for the non-famous. But a great read. Thanks!

Where do the poor people go when the Gentrification Nation invades their neighborhood? Yonkers?

The Poconos or Florida. Or to get a job from their cousin in the Carolinas or Atlanta, Georgia. From experience with East New York / Brownsville clients, anyway. They're not necessarily poor, though. Many just want to own property, which is impossible in Brooklyn for the non-rich.
posted by Marnie at 12:18 PM on July 17, 2006


Do you live in Brooklyn? (self-link)
posted by Captaintripps at 12:21 PM on July 17, 2006


Brooklyn is one of the richest cultural icons of these United States and I love how this site captures that richness. However, it is not just the richness in Brooklyn but how it spreads out. I live in Jersey and almost every one of my direct neighbors grew up in Brooklyn. They are a vibrant lot and their energy really enhances the neighborhood.
posted by caddis at 4:31 PM on July 17, 2006


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