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Williamsburg Hipsters Vs. Park Slope Yuppies
By
Jen Chung
Published May 17, 2006
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
Jen Chung
Published May 17, 2006
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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Forget arguing over whether uptown or downtown Manhattan is better - the new fighting is about what's better, Williamsburg or Park Slope. There's a hilarious Observer article about the psychological divide between residents of hipper, edgier enclaves like Williamsburg and Greenpoint and those of Park Slope, Carroll Gardens, and Boerum Hill. Yes, hipsters may lives in South (Gentrified) Brooklyn and yuppies may have condos in North (Gentrified) Brooklyn, but that doesn't matter - it's all about the state of mind - and a state of dress and other stuff. You're vintage-clothes wearing, kickball-playing, getting-drunk-all-the-time, crunchier liberal arts shools-graduates if you live in Williamsburg, you're a stroller-pushing, contemporary-literary-fiction-reading, $200-jean-wearing, Ivy League graduate if you live in Park Slope. It all makes so much sense now! Maybe if the G train ran better, maybe there wouldn't be such hostility. But we can't wait for the remake of the Warriors, where it'll be a gang running from the cooler-than-thou types in one nabe into the young-settled-couples in another.
Of course, the first quote in the article was the best:
John Flansburgh, of the band They Might Be Giants, was on the phone. “I have mixed emotions about ‘fabulous’ Williamsburg,” said Mr. Flansburgh, 47, who has lived in that neighborhood for over 20 years, watching as bars and boutiques began to choke Bedford Ave. “It’s quickly becoming a life-size replica of St. Marks Place, and honestly, I’ve never wanted to live on St. Marks Place.”
Double diss!
If you had your druthers, would you live in a Williamsburg or Park Slope? Or is it time to head to Queens?
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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