I watched the documentary Brooklyn Boheme........ (Lee, Greene: sale, neighborhoods, income)

[scatman]

.......This may be one of the best documentaries on gentrification in awhile. Nelson George takes a look at the striving Black arts movement and scene in Clinton Hill and Fort Greene, Brooklyn during the 80s and 90s. Led by cats like Spike Lee, Branford Marsalis, George, Chris Rock, Rosie Perez, etc, the growth of Clinton Hill and Fort Greene is different from gentrification in other neighborhoods for two reasons: First, it was the black gentry that was the reason for the growth. Lance Freeman touched on this a couple of years ago in his book, "There Goes The Hood".

Second, these artists were not struggling, like a lot of artists that look for places where there are cheap rents. In the 60s, black jazz musicians, such as Spike Lee's father, Bill, took advantage of white flight and bought affordable properties in CH and FG. In the 80s and 90s, folk like Spike Lee, Brandford Marsalis, Rosie Perez, and Chris Rock took advantage of the income from their building fame and bought their properties in those neighborhoods, at the height of the crack epidemic.

Some artists are still there, like Rock and Perez. Others, like Lee, had to sell his spot due to harassment from neighbors due to his huge fame. Lee's brownstone became the first $1 million dollar sale in Fort Greene, and the neighborhood really blew up!

But there were plenty of parties, poetry slams, and Spike Lee filming during that era. I remember going to parties at Frank's Lounge and the old 667 Lounge. Freeman's book and George's documentary dash the notion that gentrification is strictly a "white flight in" phenomenon. Great doc!

[mesa1974]

This was a great documentary. Saw it on Showtime a few weeks ago...