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Whites in Bushwick? I remember the burning of the 1970's and the open air drug market of the 1980's/1990's. In all of those years there was not one suburban white anywhere near the place. If some yuppie or hipster would have gotten lost on the L train and stumbled down Evergreen ave in 1990 it would have been like a baby duckling stumbling into a snake pit. As the economy cycles back down those moving in there now may get caught in a switch as the area might not be able to lurch out of its welfare slum conditions. Other areas like Williamsburg have firmly transitioned out of the working class shadows while Bushwick still lingers in the morass. Let's closely examine why these yuppies move from the safety of the suburbs and upper class areas of Manhattan to working class/welfare class areas like Bushwick.
The main reason white yuppies move into these areas is to cultivate credibility and respect from other liberal white people for living in an authentic neighborhood. It proves that they love diversity, (even though they walk around with their head down trying their hardest to avoid the whiteboy taunts ) and are exposed to real culture on a daily basis. After Daddy paid for school they decided to start their adult life in New York. So Daddy once again ponies up the rent or a down payment and it is off to the former working class areas of the outer boroughs to live a tough poor life struggling on daddy's dime.
There is a attractive status associated with living with areas like Bushwick in liberal white circles. You are chic, edgy and cool in Bushwick. While you so boring and white if you live in Long Island or some other suburb. Maybe these people grew up in a suburban area and still have friends that live in the suburbs. Whenever their old suburban friends mention their home in the suburbs or richer urban area, these people can say “oh, it’s so boring out there, so fake. In our neighborhood, things are just more real.” This lends social superiority to the gentrifier and the earlier they get in on the gentrified neighborhood, the more social status.
The other reason for gentrifying is money. With the real estate boom of the late 90's early 00's the money was great, in fact it was hard to lose. In a few years, if more white people start moving in, these initial trailblazers will be rich as the decrepit slum house they purchased may quadruple in value. At that point the gentifier will take the money and move to Westchester where all yuppies go home to roost.
Credibility or money, these are the two ways to win at the gentrifying game. The losers get stuck in a downward economy cycle holed up in a fifth floor walk up with only the cockroaches and daily taunts of whiteboy to keep them company.
Samyn on the Green - Wow! You get my nomination for post of the year! You provided a great definition for the term "hipster."
What is a hipster? A hipster is someone from an affluent Westchester, New Jersey or Nassau suburb whose parents paid 100% of the costs of attending an expensive liberal arts college like Bard. Upon graduation, God forbid the hipster takes a job with a corporation like Mom or Dad did. So they live in a crap hole in Bushwick or other butt-ugly areas with four roommates thinking about how cool they are while they create "art" or play their guitar. Of course their parents are paying the rent, while the "uncool" kid from the working-class family moves back to his parents suburban home to save some money from his $35,000 job. You can tell who they are by their dress and demeanor, and they may do strange things like wear winter hats in the summer. After a year or two, when Mom and Dad get tired of paying the rent, many give up and apply to law school. Those who have trusts (a/k/a Trustafarians) can keep it going indefinitely.
I think you are confusing these kids. Some of them are yuppies and yes they have it good, others, hipsters, are from working class and poor white families, whom most likely come from outside NYC. I think Yuppies are not the majority of the 'whites' in Bushwick, but they are (probably) in Williamsburg. Now I think the hipsters are the ones you see in Bushwick. But why Bushwick? Well it has to be one of 'those' neighborhoods that the rents are low enough to make it. We should all know by now the reason for choosing this particular neighborhood over others in the Bronx or even others in Brooklyn, and it has to do for the convenience to getting to the 'expensive' Lower East Side and the East Village along the fastest and closest train line (the L). They need to be close to the arts scene, music scene, whatever things to do to make it big in the city, etc, etc. So don't confuse these 'white' kids. There are the Yuppie ones and then there are the Hipsters.
yes, Samyn seems to want to make one huge generalization about an entire neighborhood. I really don't think that, as you say, "The main reason white yuppies move into these areas is to cultivate credibility and respect from other liberal white people for living in an authentic neighborhood. "
I think the main reason is limited financial resources, perhaps coupled with the desire to live in an edgy neighborhood and to be as close as possible to Williamsburg, which perhaps they couldn't afford.
I know plenty of kind of poor students/artists who chose Bushwick. It's also one of the last areas in the city where there is affordable studio space, though even that is not so affordable any more. If you're an artist with a limited income and you need a place to work, then Bushwick makes sense. With this scenario, where else would you suggest? Staten Island? Philadelphia? Bridgeport? Even studio spaces in the South Bronx are expensive these days.
Also, I have to say I've noticed a tremendous number of posts by people like rubygreat who seem to think that everyone who says they're an artist is somehow a faker. Just curious, Rubygreta, why you wrote "art" in quotes as in while they create "art" What would be your definition of art (without quotes around "art")?
Whites in Bushwick? I remember the burning of the 1970's and the open air drug market of the 1980's/1990's. In all of those years there was not one suburban white anywhere near the place. If some yuppie or hipster would have gotten lost on the L train and stumbled down Evergreen ave in 1990 it would have been like a baby duckling stumbling into a snake pit. As the economy cycles back down those moving in there now may get caught in a switch as the area might not be able to lurch out of its welfare slum conditions. Other areas like Williamsburg have firmly transitioned out of the working class shadows while Bushwick still lingers in the morass. Let's closely examine why these yuppies move from the safety of the suburbs and upper class areas of Manhattan to working class/welfare class areas like Bushwick.
The main reason white yuppies move into these areas is to cultivate credibility and respect from other liberal white people for living in an authentic neighborhood. It proves that they love diversity, (even though they walk around with their head down trying their hardest to avoid the whiteboy taunts ) and are exposed to real culture on a daily basis. After Daddy paid for school they decided to start their adult life in New York. So Daddy once again ponies up the rent or a down payment and it is off to the former working class areas of the outer boroughs to live a tough poor life struggling on daddy's dime.
There is a attractive status associated with living with areas like Bushwick in liberal white circles. You are chic, edgy and cool in Bushwick. While you so boring and white if you live in Long Island or some other suburb. Maybe these people grew up in a suburban area and still have friends that live in the suburbs. Whenever their old suburban friends mention their home in the suburbs or richer urban area, these people can say “oh, it’s so boring out there, so fake. In our neighborhood, things are just more real.” This lends social superiority to the gentrifier and the earlier they get in on the gentrified neighborhood, the more social status.
The other reason for gentrifying is money. With the real estate boom of the late 90's early 00's the money was great, in fact it was hard to lose. In a few years, if more white people start moving in, these initial trailblazers will be rich as the decrepit slum house they purchased may quadruple in value. At that point the gentifier will take the money and move to Westchester where all yuppies go home to roost.
Credibility or money, these are the two ways to win at the gentrifying game. The losers get stuck in a downward economy cycle holed up in a fifth floor walk up with only the cockroaches and daily taunts of whiteboy to keep them company.
This post is on the MONEY. Hipsters and yuppies should be clustered together... hipsters renting, yuppies buying. What they share is a need to prove their self worth and build a reputation, whether to coworkers, friends, people back home, or to themselves. Brooklyn is the #1 place in America you can name drop for instant street credibility. Brooklyn Heights is more "gangsta" than Newark to most of America. Not only telling people "Brooklyns in da house", but also saying something like "I live down the street from Jay-Z's old projects" just adds to the OOHs and AAAHs back in Ohio. 2pac said it best, "I remember when ****** were scared to say they were from anywhere but Brooklyn" Now you can fill the ****** with hipsters
I would put the Bronx at #2 for name dropping. Many of the gentrifying neighborhoods in BK are just as bad as the BX, but notice pretty much NOBODY moves to the Bronx, even though the BX has just as much diversity. So why does nobody move to the Bronx? Because the neighborhoods arent popular, and nobody paved the path for them. Living in Fordham takes thick skin, but Fordham has a university and sounds too upscale, whereas Bed-Stuy has Biggie! They want street cred, but at the same time they are scared to death to move alone. They want to be around their own and are secretly very insular. Hipsters/yuppies are so eager to prove their anti-racism as a front, yet you know they see color more than anyone else, and most probably wouldnt raise their kids in an all-black/hispanic community even if it were safe.
I was talking to hipsters at a downtown bar once, and while outside I asked, "Where are you from?" They all drop "Brooklyn" but you could tell by their demeanor/dress/accents that they are not. Some kid that looked like that actor Shia LaBeouf tried dropping Red Hook on me and I started laughing. So I asked all these people, "Where are you REALLY from?" And they usually put their heads down and say Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Ohio, etc, like I just blew their fake BK cover. Ivy league educations for joke jobs, and pride for stirring paint at their temp job at Sherwin Williams. I hate to generalize, but I have met many hipsters from the ones in the suburbs who are in the baby stages of becoming a hipster to the ones who are already in Williamsburg. They all share the same anti-establishment, anti-conformity mentality that ironically they conform to. The whole thing is based on irony and contradictions and really makes no sense. Many of these kids have privileged backgrounds and to make influential art/music you usually need some unique perspective on life that often comes in the form of natural struggle. So they choose this unexplainable, backward American dream/moving down in the world that can be summed up as "VOLUNTARY POVERTY". The million dollar question: if they were really looking for artist inspiration and cheap studio space, why not move to Detroit or Newark???? Its all in the name, its all about Brooklyn.
Real estate profits can be had anywhere in america so I dont think this is about money. After all, if you look at the crime rates and the fact that youre an easy target, maybe you wont be alive to see the profits. You could say that probably 99% of these hipsters & yuppies want to move in for the street status experience, bringing in their culture and pretending to be a local while never being part of the community, in hopes of eventually pushing the locals out and having their own neighborhood. However maybe there is the 1% who move in because they want to live close to the city, but away from Manhattan but not in Far Rock, they just want to be around good neighbors and really dont care what the neighborhood name is or what the local skin color is. Not the coffee shop type, not the wine and cheese or club scene type, but the few normal jeans & t shirt block party type. Cant really give these people a hard time but then again you rarely notice them because they mind their own business, live with the local population, and nobody bothers them.
This thread is unbelievable. The fact that you guys hate white people for having more money than you is no different than hating a person b/c they are poor or because of the color of their skin. You are pissed off at "white" people moving into neighborhoods with rising rents, when you should be pissed off at the people raising the rents. From what I have read, landlords in NYC normally are not young white yuppies.
So you think a white person that moves to New York City should look at a neighborhood and say "oh, I should not live here b/c this area is more of a "local" area, and I need to go live with my own kind". That is crazy.
And what's with the "Daddy paid for school" criticism? What exactly is wrong with a parent paying for a child's schooling? Are you just pissed off that your own parents couldn't afford to pay for your education? My parents worked their asses off to save for me so that they could help with my education and I would not have huge amounts of debt. What exactly is wrong with that?
Yeah this post is absolutely absurd and appauling. People move to different areas for a variety of reasons, most often for affordable housing. But so what if "hippies" or "yuppies" move to highly segregated and poor neighborhoods because it is more affordable or more "real." People of color who are from these neighborhoods and never leave these neighborhoods glorified this "realness" so this is nothing new or somehow created by these "hippies." These neighborhoods are supposedly "real", the people are "real" the experiences are "real"....and even if you believe in this silly concept, why is this "realness" only for the generationally poor, uneducated, people of color? Do they somehow own it and therefore anyone else is undeserving and cannot experience it? Maybe those people of color who are so "real" are also undeserving of the "realness" that comes from white neighborhoods with good schools, safety, and healthy environments?
As somebody from one of the most "real" neighborhoods (Mott Haven), these new residents are LONG overdue, and the extreme segregation that has caused these neighborhoods to somehow be "real" is the REAL problem. Since when did people from anywhere and whatever income bracket not be allowed to move and live somewhere? This mentality reinforces the idea of who "belongs" and who doesn't...and who's neighborhood it is..and who's it isn't.
I am utterly appauled at the rampant hate on these kids that, through no fault of their own MAY come from affluent families, yet choose to experience a different side of life, either for cheaper rent, proximity to the city, or enrich themselves with different cultures/experiences. I cannot imagine what closed minded, misplaced anger individual would believe this to be a problem, or somehow not a REAL reason to live wherever they choose...as if they needed some reason.
I am utterly disgusted with those that hurl a nonsensical assault at those that choose to venture into these neighborhoods and make a go of it for whatever reason, yet give a free pass to all those thugs/drug dealers/criminals who are in fact the REAL problem and hold these communities hostage.
At the end of the day this rant is nothing more than a veiled atempt at reverse discrimination and racism, and it merely reinforces the same divisive, racist rhetoric that has gripped these areas for the better part of 50 years. If it ain't the Irish, it's the Jews, then the italians, then the PRs, then the Blacks, then the Dominicans, now it's the Hippies. It's all one big ignorant, superficial, and baseless rant to allocate blame for one's problems, shortcomings, inadequacies, and inevitable changes that have ALWAYS occured in NYC. How about redirecting that unwarranted anger towards the REAL problem in these "REAL" neighborhoods: thugs/criminals/drug dealers, horrendous educational system, extreme segregation, poverty, inept leadership, and monumentally abysmal government policies.
It's yuppies/hipsters like those that **** me off. I swear, I don't care if I get arrested, If I see this lady on the street I would beat her ass. Some view minorities as animals. Hence, they're cleaning up the neighborhood. Rich whiteys know your roles. I dont care if daddy is rich, you wont make it. Where Im from, Yups and Hips wouldn't dare step foot. Some of the community is doing the right thing and scaring these whites off. Whether it be with more graffiti, loitering, noise, crime w/e.......Raise the rents and **** it up for everyone else. Add new stores that the majority of people in the area either cant afford or is not targeted for them. Too bad we can tell you people off...with your bookbags and tight jeans..ha ha ha.
So any yuppie can tell me...do you take pride in destroying long established neighborhoods? Do you know what youre doing??
They make take Manhattan and Brooklyn, but they are never taking the Bronx.
It's yuppies/hipsters like those that **** me off. I swear, I don't care if I get arrested, If I see this lady on the street I would beat her ass. Some view minorities as animals. Hence, they're cleaning up the neighborhood. Rich whiteys know your roles. I dont care if daddy is rich, you wont make it. Where Im from, Yups and Hips wouldn't dare step foot. Some of the community is doing the right thing and scaring these whites off. Whether it be with more graffiti, loitering, noise, crime w/e.......Raise the rents and **** it up for everyone else. Add new stores that the majority of people in the area either cant afford or is not targeted for them. Too bad we can tell you people off...with your bookbags and tight jeans..ha ha ha.
So any yuppie can tell me...do you take pride in destroying long established neighborhoods? Do you know what youre doing??
They make take Manhattan and Brooklyn, but they are never taking the Bronx.
Supermario-you are no different than the girl narrating that stupid video. You hate an entire class of people based solely on their wealth. Hating white rich people b/c they are white and rich is no different than hating someone b/c they are poor and not white.
SuperWario..that is the most disgusting post I have ever read from you....you should be completely ashamed. Let's understand something very fundamental SuperWario: YOU DO NOT OWN THESE NEIGHBORHOODS ANYMORE THAN THE WHITES THAT LIVED THERE BEFORE YOU OWN THEM. If you cannot understand that concept then there is no hope for you. I think, in fact, a better argument can be made for the blacks/dominicans/PRs coming into these once middle class, clean, established white communities and absolutely wrecking them into the cesspools of crime, filth and decay that they have become. People of color that first came into these neighborhoods faced the same type of hate, ignorance, and racism that you are expressing, and it helped create the problems we see today. So since you acknowledge that hate against you, your friends, and family, why is it okay for you to do the same?
Your tirade is very offensive, and just wrong. There is NO concerted effort by anyone to scare away anybody. In fact, the vast majority of these residents, I being one of them, are happy to see new people, new faces, in our very segregated, very poor, very isolated communities, becuase this will help revitalize the area and bring new attention to the problems we have been dealing with for decades.
Fortunately, the Bronx is NOT YOURS, it is EVERYONE's, whether you want to believe that or not is irrelevant. The fact is people ARE coming back to the Bronx, new faces ARE popping up, and new investments are happening. All the graffitti, loitering, violence in the world will only end up locking you and your friends up in prison...which from the sound of your tirade, might be the best thing for you and the community.
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