Comment Archives: stories: News & Features: Local
Re: “The Brooklyn Neighborhood Power Rankings”
@SK
Preferring Bushwick to Park Slope might be insane (but hey, I don't like parks and find Park Slope incredibly boring), and this whole undertaking is most certainly biased by the opinions of those of us who put it together (including someone born and raised in Bay Ridge!), but I'm not sure why it's particularly arrogant. We've been pretty clear about what we like and want out of life, as have most of the commenters in this thread. They seem to be different things. I invite everyone to come up with their own rankings and, where possible, I'll post them right here.
I certainly don't blame people for vehemently disagreeing with this ranking, though I can gently mock them for their dully homophobic hatred of the mythical "noodle-armed Midwestern girlie man who has a trust fund and hates brown people and on and on and on..." The vitriol indiscriminately hosed upon the archetypal hipster straw man always amazes me.
Re: “The Brooklyn Neighborhood Power Rankings”
@Johnny Diamond
Right, it's why it makes any sense. And to be honest I don't blame you because it's what your readers, for the most part, want to read. So that should be the end of the story. But...
Can you blame all the people who are put off by this? It's written from within an arrogant and very biased bubble where Bushwick is #7 and Park Slope and Carroll Gardens fall right behind it. Really? That's absolutely twisted and insane.
Besides, South Slope is pretty Hipster and cheap (relatively) these days. Maybe it'll make next year's Hipter power ranking?
Re: “The Brooklyn Neighborhood Power Rankings”
@SK
"So this article is pretty much for people who read this magazine."
Crazy, right?
Re: “The Brooklyn Neighborhood Power Rankings”
This is a bogus article. It's written in tunnel vision from a secluded elitist point of view. Which of course is from a transplant hipster. But this is L magazine. This is written by hipsters for hipsters, so it should be expected. How many L magazine readers are there in Sheepshead bay? exactly.
So this article is pretty much for people who read this magazine. Not to say I agree. I think the ratings are absurd and even somewhat despicable. Bushwick is an ugly hell hole. There is no reason it should have made any list over prospect heights or boerum hill. But it's skinny jeans and art school/barista town and that's who reads this. what use would it do to have the 10 greatest neighborhoods: bensonhurst, bay ridge, sunset park, crown heights, midwood...
Me, I'm raised in park slope (since 1990), originally from manhattan. Some of my friends went the williamsburg route, whle some went the deep brooklyn ways. Others just never left. I don't hate on hipsters or think I'm better. I love good coffee and bike lanes. Just don't be a tool.
Re: “The Brooklyn Neighborhood Power Rankings”
I'm tired of testosterone starved girlmen transplants from the Midwest giving their opinions about Brooklyn - you people grew up in a cultural wasteland bubble and don't know what the hell your talking about. You know nothing about the real world because your white bread grandparents fled to the shitburbs in the 60's, now after two years of living living in Brooklyn you pretend like you discovered the fuckin place. Only people from the ghetto and wannabes use the word "hood", but if you want I dare you to move to Brownsville. Go back where you came from and a blow me.
Re: “The Brooklyn Neighborhood Power Rankings”
Yea i kinda agree that not even listing why they were chosen is an issue and that they shouldn't even be ranked, but i don't agree with the white statement Ditmas Park is really diverse.
Re: “The Brooklyn Neighborhood Power Rankings”
@Fcuk yuppies
Isn't that what we did?
Re: “The Brooklyn Neighborhood Power Rankings”
The L magazine has no business commenting on real Brooklyn neighborhoods such as Brownsville, East NY,Sheepshead,etc...
Stick to reporting on your manufactured neighborhoods
Re: “The Brooklyn Neighborhood Power Rankings”
@MissAnnThrope, @sledgehammer
Ha. Now you guys are just being nonsensical fuckheads.
Re: “The Brooklyn Neighborhood Power Rankings”
Jonny,
You left the bedbug farms you keep under your wool ski cap and the stale grease, food particles and lice in your gross neckbeard off your list. Those are things you like a lot too, like yah, totes obvsies.
Re: “The Brooklyn Neighborhood Power Rankings”
Gee, yet if you visit the Midwest, all you hear is how Muslims should assimilate to the culture. How Mexicans should learn to speak English in areas that used to be Mexico. How scary foreigners are. Yet the people from the Midwest show up in areas in which they are the foreigners and expect those who are already there to assimilate to their Midwest idea of what the area should be. Is that what hipsters call living ironically?
Re: “The Brooklyn Neighborhood Power Rankings”
The problem with self-proclaimed native Brooklynites is that they only interact with themselves and try to tell everyone who moves to Brooklyn how to live.
Re: “The Brooklyn Neighborhood Power Rankings”
Johnny,
-bike lanes Not a problem for me but the holier than thou attitude of transplants is rather annoying.
-drinking PBR--Pretty shitty beer. You drink it to be ironic because working class people used to drink it which is obnoxious. Most hipsters grew up wealthy and drink this shitty beer to gain some fake authenticity
-thick-framed glasses--These just look stupid, especially for those with 20/20 vision
-wool hats--NYC is very hot in the summer and there is no way this can be comfortable. People choosing fashion over comfort in 100 degree heat are generally poseur assclowns. Also probably used to hide unwashed nasty hair
-scarves --see above
-riding a fixie--Again style over comfort. NYC is very hilly which requires more than one gear.
-loud clubs-Don't disturb families with your loud parties on a Sunday night because you don't have a job
-restaurants-If they serve tasty food I am fine with transplants opening restaurants. However most of these hipster places serve food that is way over priced and under portioned
-trendy coffee-I like a good cup of Joe, just not for $5. The pretentiousness of some of these places is also off the charts
-lumberjack shirts--You're not a lumberjack and I bet you couldn't even lift an axe
-sustainable- if true a good thing but in reality a buzzword to be pretentious about
-organic-see above, don't preach to me about it
-fair trade--you care so much about Guatemalans yet look down on them here in the city. Hypocrites.
-wanting to be an artist--nothing wrong with this except most of you aren't talented and in the end contribute nothing to society
-lattes- No problem here
-artisanal [things?] Again a buzzword. Most of these artisinal products produced by these transplants are not very good. True artisinal products generally result from experience and apprenticeship. Artisinal doesn't mean "Josh just learned how to make pickles last week and now has opened a pickle company with daddy's money". Go to Smorgasbord in Williamsburg, tons of shitty products.
-kickball--Look if you want to play kickball that's fine with me. I just choose to play in a baseball and basketball league because I have athletic ability
-writing on a laptop--Again not a problem, just a common symptom
-the flugelhorn--I will plead ignorance here
-the names Hayden, Josh, Zoe and Meghan--typical white suburban douchey names
-Chuck Taylors-Besides being ugly they are uncomfortable
-vintage clothes --we live in a city with a bed bug problem. Need I say more?
-American Apparel--un flattering clothing for skinny hipster men and chubby hipsterwomen owned by a peadophile.
-ironic t-shirts--these shirts aren't ironic and they aren't clever. Wearing blue collar clothes doesn't change who you are
-Macbooks--Actually a pretty good product
-men with bags--Don't get shocked when your $400 man purse gets robbed by a kid from Bed Stuy
-girls in shapeless dresses with uneven skirt hems---Not flattering.
-unicycles---Really? I mean Really? I have no rational thing to say here only that anytime I see some asshole on a unicycle I want to punch them. Well i guess they are a public safety hazard because they are a GIANT WHEEL WITH A SEAT
-banjos--This isn't Deliverance asshole
-xylophones bands---Shitty not ironic
-Space Invader's T-shirts--You're 40 years old. You're an adult, give up childhood. i never saw my father wearing a Howdy Doody t shirt
-Apple products--Not a problem with the product but the sheep like devotion is a little sick
-film theory---Useless waste of Daddy's money
-women's studies-Possibly useful
-contemporary tattoo history---Your nasty ass tattoos are permanent. You ever see 60 year olds with faded stretched out tattoos? Enjoy your future
-roof top farming--Brooklyn is pretty toxic. I wouldn't want to eat things growing out of the ground no less an asbestos laden roof. Enjoy.
So you see most of us "natives" have no problem with people moving here and being productive parts of the community. People who interact with the people who are already here. The problem with the hipsters is that they only interact with themselves and try to tell the people who are already here how to live. They also view the different "ethnics" like zoo animals in the stories of their lives. There is no respect. Your list is fairly indicative of this trend.
Re: “The Brooklyn Neighborhood Power Rankings”
Here are the things being used as insults so far in this thread:
-bike lanes
-drinking PBR
-thick-framed glasses
-wool hats
-scarves
-riding a fixie
-loud clubs
-restaurants
-trendy coffee
-lumberjack shirts
-sustainable
-organic
-fair trade
-wanting to be an artist
-lattes
-artisanal [things?]
-kickball
-writing on a laptop
-the flugelhorn
-the names Hayden, Josh, Zoe and Meghan
-Chuck Taylors
-vintage clothes
-American Apparel
-ironic t-shirts
-Macbooks
-men with bags
-girls in shapeless dresses with uneven skirt hems
-unicycles
-banjos
-xylophones bands
-Space Invader's T-shirts
-Apple products
-film theory
-women's studies
-contemporary tattoo history
-roof top farming
How are you supposed to argue with someone who thinks they're insulting you by correctly identifying the things you like very much? Most of what you say is true (except for all the blustering nativist crap: some of us (L Mag editorial) are from Brooklyn, some are from Queens, and some are—gasp—from foreign countries. And yes, one of us is even from Ohio.)
Re: “The Brooklyn Neighborhood Power Rankings”
Invert this list for a ranking of neighborhoods based on street cred.
Re: “The Brooklyn Neighborhood Power Rankings”
This is one of the most pointless things I've seen in a while.
Re: “The Brooklyn Neighborhood Power Rankings”
Oh and moew thing. brooklyn used to be a manufacturing powerhouse. Tons of products - some of which are still being made today.
Now as then not one of them had "Brooklyn" in their company or product name.
Now you jackholes put "Brooklyn" everything. I wonder some hipster wastrel is trying to get his parents to copyright "Brooklyn".
Re: “The Brooklyn Neighborhood Power Rankings”
Are you guys talking about neighborhoods or electing a friggin' prom queen?
Being Brooklyn born and raised, I pray that someday soon all of you urban homesteaders pack up your fixies, Space Invader's T-shirts and I-junk and go back home to Spungeon Falls, Ohio where your degrees in film theory, women's studies and contemporary tattoo history will do you as much good as they did here.
I've had the opportunity visit my old 'hood (screw you with your"nabe" moniker). What a sad site.
24 dollar pizzas. People wearing scraves and ski caps - in the heat of summer.
My only hope for the future is that the criminal element that has laid dormant in my time will eat you pretentious like-yahs alive and you'll go running back to mommy and daddy screaming like a little girl with her hair on fire.
I'm not gonna get into the tattooed canklesauruses - much. My beef is with you - the beta males. the ones who, when your girlfriend is being molested, you film it with your I-phone to post it on your blog about your urban gritty existence. Heaven forbid you man-up.
The people I grew up with made damn sure that it was safe for old ladies to go to mass at midnight...for kids to hang out at the park at 10PM. We took care of our own and we took care of criminals in our own special way - namely thanks to the kind folks who inhabited so many of the social clubs in Brooklyn. We never had bikes stolen, apartments broken into or muggings.
But then we lived in the good neighborhoods. We wouldn't be caught dead living near a toxic open cesspool like the Gowanus canal or in an over priced apartment - excuse me - "live/work space" - in what used to be Ye Olde Breukelen Galvanizing Co. and Phosporous Werks. And if this wasn't dumb enough, you grow food on the roof tops of these buildings? Are you insane? You eat vegan burritos buy organic food and live in a superfund site? Is this the irony you swizlesticks are so fond of?
My dream is that you parentally funded, water tower and graffiti photographing, roof top farming bedbug ranchers run out of cash or get eaten up by real New Yorkers who have had enough of your whining, bike lanes, unending demands, rent raising, organic overpriced goods, art galleries and essentially turning one of the greatest cities in the world into a playground for mentally challenged, funemployed redbeards and Meghan canklesteins.
Yeah I know what your thinking: "But Yahhhhhhhhhhhhh..It's so ...authentic! I bought a piece of pizza from a real eye-talian. Can't wait to put this on my blog!"
You see ..we lived this long because as far as humans go we're at the top of the food chain. We're not victims. we know better than to whip out an I-pad on a subway only to be punched in the face by some kind (at least to us) Hispanic and have it taken from you (and that's the hispanic women). We know how to fight. We treat real Brooklynites and NY-ers with respect.
You don't. You pathetic urban colonists are nothing more than victims. So no matter what "nabe" you move to, no matter how many galleires and coffee shops you open, criminals will find you because they can smell weakness.
But go ahead. Form your little community groups and neighborhood patrols. But a video camera and a rape whistle will not help you one bit when some interloper has your faced smashed into the pavement.
Call the cops..but it's hard to do when your I-phone got shoved so far up your nether regions you have to dial 911 with your tonsils.
Ahhhh. The meds are kicking in. I feel much better.
You can take my post down now, Bucky.
Re: “The Brooklyn Neighborhood Power Rankings”
Wycoff Heights Hospital on my birth cert. too.....snap!. This schmuck nothing wishes he knew what REAL Brooklyn was about...he wouldn't even survive in the REAL Brooklyn acting like a pompous little twat...now thats friggin funny.
Re: “The Brooklyn Neighborhood Power Rankings”
"This is all pretty much true. Except for the part at the end about how well you know us"
Born out of state were we Johnny Cupcake? Sorry about that. My birth certificate says Wycoff Heights Hospital, Brooklyn. Yours? Not so much. I'm sure you think you have it all figured, how "Brooklanized" you are. But you don't. And because you were not born here you will never, ever, figure out why you will never be a real New Yorker. Enjoy you blog. Ohio misses you
