The New York Nobody Knows by William B. Helmreich

Author:William B. Helmreich
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 2013-06-23T04:00:00+00:00

Amenities

Once housing is taken care of, other amenities become relevant to new residents of a neighborhood. One of the most important of these is the availability of nearby restaurants, cafés, and wine bars. Most of the gentrifiers are young, and nightlife is the hub of their activities. These people love to gather in eateries, especially those that have outdoor seating, just like they do in, say, Paris. The fact that so many people flock to them underscores the safety of the neighborhood, and indeed the presence of such places outside reduces the likelihood of crime. In the morning hours the Internet cafés both reflect and enhance the area. For many, doing their work in these spaces is much more attractive than being holed up in a cramped studio apartment. That’s why they’re sometimes called “coffices” by patrons.

But the locals don’t always see it that way at all, even if such establishments do make the neighborhood less dangerous. For them these places emphasize the class divide. As one Harlemite who has lived in a public housing project for his entire life said about a new café, “We don’t eat there. I went in there for a piece of cake and it was like four bucks! I can get a whole cake for four bucks. Obviously they don’t want too many of us in there. We don’t get down like that spending four dollars for a piece of cake, know what I’m saying?”9 The resentment in his statement is visceral. He cannot ever feel comfortable with such people. He’s disapproving and disdainful.

In her book Harlem Is Nowhere, Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts describes this feeling well: “I couldn’t help but wince when noticing my elderly neighbor Mr. Edward standing outside the door of that new café, but never going in. He hovered next to the entrance, drinking a seventy-five-cent cup of bodega coffee.” As a black person the author is sensitive to how the gentrifiers see the situation. She reports on a conversation she overheard between two white men, one of whom was visiting his friend’s new neighborhood, Harlem: “ ‘This is fabulous,’ he exclaimed…. ‘Really, you have to do something to get the word out. There need to be more people up here.’ ”10 More people? Harlem has lots of people. Obviously, the man meant people like himself.

Boutiques are another important feature, whether they’re art galleries or clothing stores. The rapidly evolving Lower East Side is practically awash in such establishments. According to one study, in December 2010 there were sixty-four art galleries in that area, with more in the planning stages. The main reason art galleries pick up and move to the Lower East Side is because they are priced out of Soho and Chelsea. Some complain that these areas are “too commercial.” But can one really say that with a straight face when the galleries charge thousands of dollars for paintings and a menswear boutique charges the reduced price of $210 (down from $299) for a “chambray button-down shirt”?

Sometimes artists on the Lower East Side combine their art with depictions of the local population, which is heavily Chinese.

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