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They should be. How many times have I heard, Harlem will be just like the East Village !!!
Whereas, in fact, it is nothing at all like the East Village (at all).
People did not know what they would be dealing with and I think to some this proved rather daunting.
How to attract decent tenants when they hear from their friends how tired they became of stupidly litter-strewn sidewalks. Among other things. Morningside Park, basically un-usuable during "BBQ season."
The challenge is, even in the decent areas, Hamilton Heights for example, passing through crap areas is necessary and it gets old.
125th and all of that "ghetto fab" also gets old. Don't understand why more people do not try to do something better, there is a huge market here.
They should be. How many times have I heard, Harlem will be just like the East Village !!!
Whereas, in fact, it is nothing at all like the East Village (at all).
People did not know what they would be dealing with and I think to some this proved rather daunting.
How to attract decent tenants when they hear from their friends how tired they became of stupidly litter-strewn sidewalks. Among other things. Morningside Park, basically un-usuable during "BBQ season."
The challenge is, even in the decent areas, Hamilton Heights for example, passing through crap areas is necessary and it gets old.
125th and all of that "ghetto fab" also gets old. Don't understand why more people do not try to do something better, there is a huge market here.
They should be. How many times have I heard, Harlem will be just like the East Village !!!
Whereas, in fact, it is nothing at all like the East Village (at all).
People did not know what they would be dealing with and I think to some this proved rather daunting.
How to attract decent tenants when they hear from their friends how tired they became of stupidly litter-strewn sidewalks. Among other things. Morningside Park, basically un-usuable during "BBQ season."
The challenge is, even in the decent areas, Hamilton Heights for example, passing through crap areas is necessary and it gets old.
125th and all of that "ghetto fab" also gets old. Don't understand why more people do not try to do something better, there is a huge market here.
There is no East Village. Its really the Lower East Side, and I recall when it was heroin junkies and boy that that area horrible in the late 80s/early 90s. All the parks had massive encampments of homelessness. Throughout the years it had a dramatic improvement.
And for that matter, so did Harlem. I remember a Harlem with no bank branches, just crappy bodegas and few decent grocery stores. I remember decayed, run down buildings etc.
You certainly do currently have busted parts of Harlem, but some areas are pretty nice. And the ghetto areas are getting smaller now. Harlem now has major retailers including Whole Foods.
And I once lived in Harlem. Spanish Harlem on 100th and Lexington. The area wasn't bad. I liked it.
Stores of any kind that are not "budget," "cut-rate," or with any connotation resonant with "dollar store."
Substitute "upscale" or "high-end" and someone will capitalize an entire market. Keep in mind that the market for sneakers, athletic wear in general, items plastered with brand logos, and stores that sell gold is over-saturated.
Stores for people with disposable income - existent but completely unserved.
There are no flower stores, what we called "Korean markets," instead - bodegas.
There is no Equinox, instead "Blink."
No Gap store. Instead - "Gap outlet."
FDB - you know, the Gold Coast up here - has, let's see, a "Harlem" store, a new nail store ... only Posh Paws was any good and then only for a short time before being run into the ground by locals (basically). Best Yet is truly awful.
Finally, "Harlem themed" is over-rated. Does everything really need to celebrate Harlem's history. Or some incarnation of "Black history" aimed at tasteless commodification.
Ignore the comments about the East Village, which does indeed exist - not quite accurate. I am well-aware of the state of the East Village in the 1980s and 1990s. Harlem and the East Village have no common ground whatsoever.
Another mistake - Harlem does not "currently" have Whole Foods. There is an enormous hole in the ground at 125th and Lenox, which, they tell us, will be a Whole Foods eventually. But not of course without the requisite-to-Harlem bottom shopping addendum - Designer Shoe Warehouse.
Ignore the comments about the East Village, which does indeed exist - not quite accurate. I am well-aware of the state of the East Village in the 1980s and 1990s. Harlem and the East Village have no common ground whatsoever.
Another mistake - Harlem does not "currently" have Whole Foods. There is an enormous hole in the ground at 125th and Lenox, which, they tell us, will be a Whole Foods eventually. But not of course without the requisite-to-Harlem bottom shopping addendum - Designer Shoe Warehouse.
Yes, Harlem is getting a Whole Foods according to major media sources.
The point about the part of the Lower East Side now called East Village is that it was a ghetto area that became very popular and gentrified.
Just as Harlem is in the process of doing. Its a very different place from the 80s and 90s Harlem.
But hey, if you don't like it why don't you move out? I hated the Bronx, so I moved. Why stay where you hate it?
The point about the part of the Lower East Side now called East Village is that it was a ghetto area that became very popular and gentrified.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Harlem resident
Ignore the comments about the East Village, which does indeed exist - not quite accurate. I am well-aware of the state of the East Village in the 1980s and 1990s.
I always referred to it as Alphabet City. Do people even still call it that?
I always referred to it as Alphabet City. Do people even still call it that?
Yes.
People did through most of my childhood and natives still do.
The East Village was never the LES, nor is it today. LES is the area BELOW Houston, meaning SOUTH of Houston, which is a street running east west for all of you know-it-all know-nothings out there. Second, the East Village was never a "ghetto" in my lifetime. Were there really crappy areas, squatters, drugs ? Sure. But for my entire lifetime, there were also quite upscale shops and people with money, mostly artists who had always lived there and then became very successful - and stayed. Before they became rich, the culture they developed attracted money. So this was always there. Conversely, the culture of entrenched poverty was just not there to the extent that it is in Harlem. This was the biggest mistake investors, including us, made - underestimating this.
To suggest that any commonality exists between the East Village and Harlem is simply pure misinformation from people lacking actual experience.
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