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Impending "Hipster Bar" Scares Bejesus Out Hipster-Hating Bay Ridge Residents
By
Garth Johnston
Published Jan 10, 2013
Modified Jan 10, 2013
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By
Garth Johnston
Published Jan 10, 2013
Modified Jan 10, 2013
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Back in September, Bay Ridge had a slight freakout when it was announced that a bar targeting hipsters was coming to the hood. And the freaking out has not ceased! In fact, the Brooklyn Paper reports, some neighbors are trying to stop the madness before it even begins. Because Bay Ridge, a place where on New Year's Eve a man ran over four people outside a nightclub in "self-defense" is a quiet neighborhood, y'know?
"This idea of bringing a young crowd from Williamsburg and Park Slope, it’s unacceptable," declared literal NIMBY Elizabeth Pabian, whose backyard borders the Fifth Avenue space between 92nd and 93rd streets where the new bar, the Lock Yard, is set to open. "My whole life will change."
Fearing the bar, which will boast an outdoor space when it opens in the old Bridgeview Locksmith space this summer, Pabian has gone and collected 29 signatures from neighbors. That list includes one under-30 woman, Amanda Tigio, who is not looking forward to the bar despite being in the "hipster" demographic. "I bet 20-somethings would be an even more of a late night crowd, so that perpetuates my fears about the sound," she told the Paper. "I can hear when a buzzing alarm goes off next door. I can only imagine what this is going to be like."
And it isn't just fears that, in the hyperbolic words of Paper writer Will Bredderman, an influx of "trendy newcomers will shatter their block’s tranquility faster than the screen of an iPhone 5 stashed in the same pocket as a mustache comb." Folks are also worried that hipsters will hurt the neighborhood's (not necessarily on the up) property values. "What’s going to happen to the value of that house, if there’s a beer garden in back of it full of drunk people?" wondered one nearby property owner.
Still, not every Ridgite is necessarily upset about the impending hipster onslaught. "I still don't see that becoming a hipster bar," one longtime resident told us before pointing out that "Bay Ridge is anything but quiet. Perhaps that exact corner? I mean, Bay Ridge... It's loud on the avenues and quiet on the streets. Y'know the drill."
The bar, which was originally supposed to open for the Superbowl is now aiming for a June debut. Anybody want to put an over/under on how long until a neighbor is arrested for making hundreds of false complaints about those infernal hipsters?
Tagged
bay ridge
brooklyn
gentrification
hipster bar
hipsters
nimby
Garth Johnston
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