As I usually do, I read with interest Bob Morris’ weekly column in the Style section of the New York Times: "The Age of Dissonance." This week’s really hit home. Titled, "No Sleep Till Brooklyn" he opened with the revelation that local literary luminary (a dime a dozen around here) just sold one Park Slope House for more than $3 million and bought another one for $6.75 million.
"Maybe Brooklyn can finally stop the need to promote itself as some kind of hip equal to Manhattan. Here is a loaded celebrity author who could afford to buy anywhere – who doesn’t have children who would need extra bedrooms and a yard – and he has chosen Brooklyn over Manhattan."
He goes on to say: "Paying $6.75 million to live a half-hour subway ride from Greenwich Village. That tells the world that you’re not an outskirt. You’re a mecca."
At this point in my reading, my blood pressure was rising. And the quote from Marcellus Hall, the illustrator of the New Yorker cover that got Marty Markowitz spritzing all over the letters from readers page of that tony publication, really pissed me off: "It’s all just insecurity."
Who says that Brooklynites would rather be living in Manhattan? I’m a born and bred Manhattanite – grew up on Riverside Drive no less and I chose to be here. Granted, I was priced out of Manhattan back in 1991 – but that’s besides the point. I didn’t know better. I thought I was settling when I was actually doing something better. And that doesn’t come from insecurity.
Every choice comes with a price. Sure, we’re a half-hour away from the village, forty-five minutes to Chelsea, and an hour door-to-door to the Upper West Side. But so what?
As Morris says, Brooklyn has become a world-class mecca, a destination not a place to escape from (as it was for my mother’s generation). She always said, "Growing up in Brooklyn makes you an over achiever. You have to cross the bridge."
Our kids aren’t itching to escape from Brooklyn the way my mother’s generation was. They love it here and they know it has a great deal to offer. They don’t feel gipped that they’re not in Manhattan. They know they’re living in one of the great communities in America.
And that doesn’t come from insecurity, Marcellus Hall. That comes from a wholehearted appreciation of a really special place.
I can’t seem to understand what brought Mr. Morris to such a frothy froth. Maybe he’s got issues with what he pays for where he lives, eats and recreates. Aside from motives, I can say I live in and love Brooklyn, and I wasn’t even born here. You can see the sky here, the water’s here and we’ve got Coney Island. It’s almost the happiest place on earth.
Thanks for all your passion. I totally agree.
I wish people who live in Manhattan would stop crowing about how cool they are. Manhattan used to be cool, but now it’s one big shopping mall. Soho used to be fun place to prowl, you could see funky art in galleries and even funkier stuff on the street, now it’s full of stores for the tourists who pour out of those double decker busses to shop at Nine West, Fossil, Old Navy, Eddie Bauer, Sketchers, two (TWO!) H&Ms. Why these people feel the need to come to New York to shop at the same stores in their local malls is a mystery to me. And let’s not forget Bloomingdale’s. I nearly died when Canal Jeans closed and Bloomingdale’s opened. How sad! But don’t fear, there is still a Canal Jeans
well said. i’m sick of the ny times’ elitism. i live in brooklyn because *i want* to.
What made my blood boil reading the stupid article – is that it’s the NYTimes that can’t write one article about something in Brooklyn without comparing to Manhattan. To me – its all very silly – It’s one city – Queens, Brookyln, Manhattan, SI, Bronx – Please everyone stop ranking and thinking geography makes you hip, sophisticated, successful, or whatever.
I’ve lived here most of my life and still don’t understand this borough thing.
Believe me, reading your blog makes it very clear that Brooklyn is one cool place to be!