February 10
“Hipchester” Is Never Going to Happen, or That Time the New York Times Spent 36 Hours in Brooklyn
The Times travel section focused one of its “36 Hours In” features on Brooklyn. Notable elements include renaming Williamsburg “Hipchester” and recommending visitors stop by Fort Greene bar Alibi, where patrons are “equal parts artist and laborer.”
March 1
Brooklyn Magazine Launches
The L has a sister! This spring marked the beginning of Brooklyn Magazine, a quarterly put out by the very same people who put out the L.
April 21
Presenting KiCo, NeYoCi
The rampant nicknaming of Brooklyn neighborhoods by realtors desperate to cash in on certain Brooklyn neighborhoods’ popularity (i.e. calling the border of Prospect and Crown Heights “ProCro” or calling everything north of Bed-Stuy “Williamsburg”) leads city councilmember Hakeem Jeffries to propose legislation banning the creation of these monikers. It never passes, of course, because you can only pry BoCoCa from a realtor’s cold, dead hands.
May
F-uhgeddaboutit
“It” being “taking the F train easily if you live in South Slope, Windsor Terrace, Carroll Gardens, or Red Hook.” This month marked the launch of the $275.5 million Culver Viaduct Rehabilitation Project, which involved shutting down the F/G Smith-9th Street Station for years, and fucking up the commutes of thousands of Brooklyn residents. But on the plus side, Smith-9th would eventually reopen with a spiffy new, spaceship-like station, and the G would get a permanent extension to Church Avenue, so that a whole new part of Brooklyn could experience what it was like to regularly ride the G.
May
Smorgas-birth
Smorgasburg was launched “as a spinoff of Brooklyn Flea” this month, and has given us assorted ramen-related food hybrids ever since.
June 13
East River Ferry Launches!
Finally a good way to get from DUMBO to North Brooklyn. This mattered a lot to us here at the L back when our offices were in DUMBO and we found ourselves needing to get to SummerScreen or the Northside Festival and didn’t want to have to go into Manhattan first. When the ferry launched, rides were $4 a pop. And today? THEY ARE STILL $4. Apparently, this is the one form of New York transportation untouched by inflation.
August 11
The Times Discovers Literary Brooklyn
Sure, the paper had, three years earlier, published Colson Whitehead’s essay “I Write in Brooklyn. Get Over It.” but if there’s one thing you can say for the Times, it’s that it likes to “discover” the same trends over and over and over again. (See: Anything having to do with Williamsburg.)
October
Changing Brooklyn Revealed by Census
The 2010 census figures revealed that while white and Asian populations surged in Brooklyn since 2000, there was a sharp decrease in black residents. The decline in the black population corresponded closely with the rising housing costs in historically black neighborhoods.
December
Pitchfork Moves Its Editorial Headquarters from Chicago to Brooklyn
Yeah, this didn’t really come as much of a surprise to anyone. But it still serves as a decent reminder of Brooklyn’s new dominance in media and music. So, you know, consider yourself reminded.
Openings
• Maison Premiere, Williamsburg
• Brooklyn Flea, Williamsburg
• Colonie, Boerum Hill
• The Meatball Shop, Williamsburg
• Chuko, Prospect Heights
Albums
• Days by Real Estate
• The Rip Tide by Beirut
• Strange Mercy by St. Vincent
• Last Summer by Eleanor Friedberger
Books
• Other People We Married by Emma Straub
• Once by Meghan by O’Rourke
• Literary Brooklyn by Evan Hughes
Real Estate Notes
Average sale price for a home/condo
• Williamsburg, $667K
• Park Slope, $610K
• Brooklyn Heights,$721K
• DUMBO, $1.248M