I’m sick to death of hearing about how hipsters, kids from Ohio, bearded bicyclists or any young person that’s not a mindless banker from Jersey is ruining their neighborhood.
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Is there no room for new people in New York City? WTF? Stop blaming your problems on a demographic that can’t even be defined. Just like when you generalize who “hipsters” are as being destructive to your old school digs, so can the generalizations of “hard-working families” as anyone that isn’t young, cool or not fans of Dancing With The Stars just fits into that more appreciated demographic. Well, let me tell you, the “hard-working families” of North Brooklyn can also mean racist, homophobic, destructive, belligerant thugs and bitches that don’t blame themselves for anything and live a life not unlike those super-sized disasters that we see at Wal-Mart in Nebraska on the Internet.
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If for every new hipster that moves to Greenpoint, a non-hipster that believes they somehow deserve 11222 residence more has to leave, then so be it. If it means for every new hipster, it’s one less non-working dirt bag that’s sleeping, barfing, shitting and screaming in my park; one less fat-faced kid littering trash on my block without shame or parents with any care, ten feet from a trash can; one less idiot putting half-eaten pizza and potato chips in tree pits thinking that they are doing a service for local wildlife; one less woman beating the shit out of their kids on the bus; one less closeted homosexual NRA nut who likes to burn out his tires while listening to raging house music from his red and white eagle stickered pickup truck; one less hard-working family man who only shops at chain stores that put small businesses out and cause unprecedented environmental consequences so they can save pennies on their unneeded mass-produced, foreign plastic products; one less angry dependent who thinks Brooklyn owes them something for being here longer than me; one less middle-aged woman barely dressed, scratching lotto tickets on her stoop all day every day with my state taxes; one less clueless neighbor who doesn’t understand what is actually recyclable; one less careless parent who looks the other way while their child destroys tree branches, defaces statues with swastikas and beats up old drunks in McGolrick Park; one less glass bottle collector that wakes up every light sleeper in the neighborhood collecting at 3am; one less religious store keeper that provides all the liquor, beer, porn and tobacco for the neighborhood; one less fast-food eating, non-local food enjoying, non-local agriculture supporting meat head; and finally, one less Manhattan Avenue junkie screaming at invisible demons while the ole ninety fourth takes a nice long break; then so be it.
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BROOKLYN IMBECILE 
great job! i know that lady who play lottery all day on nassau. it’s mind boggling. what is she going to do with $1million? i do believe that hipster is a covert form of racism. and i do believe ny is an ever changing place with new people coming and going and that no one can “claim” it just because they were born here. i do disagree about the bottle collectors, though. they are annoying and wake me up but they are the true recyclers and at least are working for their money. i am going to forward this to our friend over at diehipster.com – maybe he will stop the self-hating and finally own up to his beard!
you beat me to the defense of bottle collectors. I’m pretty confident that diehipster will take down his site and post a well-worded general apology, though.
You’re a moron and someone not native to the 11222. You can never understand what it is to be “from” Greenpoint, you just live there. Don’t be jealous.
First of all these local lifers that you find so hard to deal with have lived here forever. They don’t have to explain to you where they shop or how they live their lives. Having lived in the area 20+ years I am neither a hipster or a lifer but I can tell you I would take a lifer any day over the new wave of settlers in the neighborhood. They are nothing but a bunch of ill mannered self involved children were never taught common courtesy. If they were good neighbors people would not find them so irritating. The new people in the neighborhood have destroyed the neighborhood.
I second that, but this is the reason they get knocked off their bikes for going through lights instead of being shown courtesy AND the main reason why us lifers pay the rents WE pay and dirty hipsters pay the rents THEY pay. There is no way sweet little old Fanny from Bedford and Nth 4th would ever charge me more than $850 for my beautiful one bedroom with yard and basement storage AND no way she’d charge less than $2450 for the same size one bedroom with no yard/storage to Paige W : ) There is where we get them. We don’t really need lottery we have hipsters
Until recently my family had lived in Greenpoint for 102 years, I would still live there if the rents hadn’t inflated to the degree they did. There is good and bad in all and not every native is perfect but every hipster/young person coming in is exactly helping either. Once upon a time in Greepoint [less than just 20 years ago] everybody knew everybody, I couldnt’t talk to a stranger without word getting back to my mother 5 minutes later. It wasn’t fun but I knew I was safe because we were a community that gave a fuck about eachother and was pretty concious of what was going on all around. I’ve watched my candy stores and small family businesses turn into bars, bars and oh wait MORE BARS (and they’re grodey shady bars on top of that charge $9 for a shit beer). Cycling down Manhattan avenue is depressing , everything has gone out of business or is shut down because we can’t match the rent amount these trust fund babies do. As someone who is young (I’m 23) I cringe at the behavior of some of these hipsters and the lack of respect for the native community. It wouldnt have been the safe community you’d want to live in if the natives hadn’t maintained it the way they had. No some of them are not the best but there are hardworking good families that still exist and would like a good community to raise their children , not a hip one.
what native tribe are you exactly from rose? i live in greenpoint, grew up in queens and am friends with everyone on my block, the new people who just moved in and the people who were born right here. i feel safe on my block and love everyone who says hi to me and doesn’t discriminate against me because i grew up on the other side of the creek. i also know a lot of the new business owners, who are also struggling and i don’t know anyone who has a trust fund.
If you and all your followers are so sick of it, MOVE THE FUCK OUT. You are NOT welcome! No so long as you continue to have zero respect for OUR neighborhood that you now have the sack to claim your own. You wanna complain about the guy early in the morning collecting bottles? What about the clan of drunk hipsters that walk down the street screaming in front of an old sick woman’s house at 3am? You want to complain about your next door neighbor that doesn’t know how to recycle? Since when is it mature & respectful to roof hop all hours of the fucking night and disturb people and destroy their property? I am sure that most of you TRUST FUND BABIES came from a nice neighborhood, is it fair that we have to raise our children in a neighborhood with a shitty smelly bar on ever god damn corner? We complain about rent going up bc we actually are hard working families, not strangers who work from home (if u work at all) and have no problem stuffing 6 ppl in a studio apartment for 1400 a month. And no that isn’t your fault, when ppl see dollar signs they get dumbfounded. But Ur in a neighborhood where everyone knew everyone and everyones mothers and grandmothers grew up together. You have no respect for that which is why you will never get respect in return. And you wanna talk about bitches?? What about the clueless YUPPIE bitch walking the street by herself at 1am half dressed expecting not to get robbed, raped or hatrassed. It’s not just Brooklyn its NYC! this isn’t Ohio its not safe to do that! If your parents didnt care enough to teach you that you ate surely learning your lesson here. And that woman on Nassau playing lottery everyday is probably still hopeful for a better life you fucking idiot. You shouldn’t comment on harmless people if you don’t know their story.
And for the record, I whole heartedly the support the Brooklyn native(s) that continue to cut you stupid fucking bike chains!
To be apart of this neighborhood you have to earn it not just live in it. We’re a family. We’ll stop “hating” when you start respecting. Yes, you DO owe it that much.
Very very very well said!
Well said and just a side note for the dirty little creeps who think they can buy bigger, better chains for their dirty little bikes lifers like me just cut the bike frames and leave the chains as a warning time other dirty little creeps. I haven’t had a bike chained to the pole outside my house in years now, although I have to admIt it was nice being able to sell the bIkes chaIned up with cheap chains for an extra 10 bucks here and there. One guy left an $800 bike chained TO the pole that had a No Bikes sign right on it. An easy few bucks if you ask me. I loved telling him I didn’t see anything when he asked where his bike went.
wow june. so you are a thief. good to know. way to represent your hood.
Right? I’ll take a hipster any day over someone who thinks they have the right to steal my vehicle off the street, and sell it for profit.
Hipsters from Ohio, dirty bearded, smelly little trustfund babies from the midwest have RUINED my hometown, they ruined my neighborhood, they took the family feel out of Williamsburg, Brooklyn and made it into a bar filled bike infested town. How dare you sit there for one second and try to argue the point that it’s not those dirty little assholes who have NO respect or manners for families. You assholes are the reason those disgusting looking, 4×4 “condo” sky rises are being built all over williamsburg and greenpoint. You disgusting non deordorant wearing hipsters are the reason rents are so high, WHY my favorite corner store was sold and turned into some bullshit organic store, you’re the reason it takes 45mins to look for alternate side parking with your little piece of shit cars, why the L train is ALWAYS fckn packed and made me late for work and NO there isn’t any room in NY for hipsters, we don’t like them. You’ve taken away all my memories, you’ve ruined that hometown feeling, you’ve destroyed and moved out families that have lived in Brooklyn for decades. I will forever blame you nasty implants from the mid-west for ruining Brooklyn.
You are a dirty disgusting piece if hipster trash. How dare you put down working families and that bottle collector? Not everyone has a rich daddy like you. Youre not a real greenpointer or even a real new yorker. Go back to the sticks in the midwest.
let’s use a different word here than hipster. i am going to copy and paste everything you say and instead of hipster write the word “jew” – let’s see how this sounds:
You are a dirty disgusting piece if [JEW] trash. How dare you put down working families and that bottle collector? Not everyone has a rich [JEW] daddy like you. Youre not a real greenpointer or even a real new yorker. Go back to the sticks in the midwest.
Lets take a second and see what these yuppies brought good to our neighborhood.. umm, hmm… yep, NOTHING!!!!!! We loved our old neighborhood lacking bike lanes and bed bugs and fuckin idiots who dont have a clue what they are doing. You have no right to bash our hood… get the fuck out and go back to la la land. You guys understand that cars do hurt right??? Why did we invest time putting bike lanes for you morons thats are still not being used correctly. Yes.. you have to stop at a stop sign too! Yes, you should wear a helmet.. Yes.. you should have respect for others. I can go on and on about how all of you are not welcomed here.. you destroyed and made a complete mess of this wonderful neighborhood.
Hmm…where do I start?
First of all, the generalization that all Williamsburg natives are homophobic and racist is quite a hypocritical way to start your argument considering you dedicated this blog to generalizing our own group of people as “destructive thugs” and equatable to some sort of white trash/Wal-Mart lifestyle as you so imply. I am a proud Williamsburg native (along with the generations before me) and because of the HARD-WORKING Williamsburg family I came from I was able to attend school and earn a law degree. I am a lawyer, with probably more education, intellect, life and job experience than you, and YES, I AM A WILLIAMSBURG NATIVE. There are many, MANY young Williamsburg natives like me who have education and amazing careers so one should keep that in mind before they generalize us all as belligerent thugs, gamblers and deviants.
Secondly, you state that the natives are unable to maintain the neighborhood to your “standards” but not recycling, etc. May I remind you this neighborhood has been established for many years. If it were not for our families, and the families before them, which were the ones who built and maintained the homes, commercial buildings, etc., you would not have a place to lay your head. On the contrary, it is the incoming flux of hipsters that is rapidly deteriorating the neighborhood. The crowds of drunken young hipsters, eager to spend their trust funds at one of the many new bars, are often seen urinating, vomiting, and doing much worse on public property. They litter constantly, do not pick up after their dogs, sift through people’s trash and leave it strewn about (I believe your people refer to it as “dumpster diving” — how chic), and are a general nuisance to those of us that work for a living and do not have the time or energy to expend cleaning up after these human tornadoes. Also, need I remind you that the greatest environmental issue plaguing Williamsburg — the influx of massive condominiums — stems directly from your kind. But for this huge influx of trust fund babies, hipsters, yuppies or whatever word used to describe your demographic, all of whom demand apartment availability in Williamsburg, there would be no huge, invasive and environmentally catastrophic condos being built. Recycling means very little when your people are the cause of the biggest environmental problem.
Lastly, perhaps hipsters would have an easier time acclimating to their new surroundings if they themselves were more open-minded and less self-entitled, condescending, and down-right rude. Perhaps if hipsters did not generalize natives so fervently (I know, I know, giggling about us to your friends is the cool thing to do) then maybe they would be greeted more hospitably. Perhaps if they showed some respect and deference for a truly beautiful and historic neighborhood (its native people included) then they would receive those same sentiments right back. And perhaps, if they looked real closely, they would realize their generalizations about us are, in fact, wrong.
What did these yuppies bring to NY other then expensive apartments and useless cafes? They destroyed my youth,my families tradition who’s blood and tears were sacrificed in factories all over greenpoint and williamsburg. The diverse cultures that came from the Southside , Metropolitan Ave, Greenpoint and Beyond. Their basically diminshed every bit of tradition Williamsburg stood up for which was hard working Americans. When they started settling in I tried to become friends with these “hipsters” and the majority of them were rude and looked at you if you werent the one living there your whole life! Stop sticking up for these nutjobs! If I can go back in time I shouldnt saved them from getting their ass kicked from drug dealers for buying coke!. Yes thats right. all those nights in the clubs and walks down those crowded streets… time after time they got robbed and my friends tried to help but not even a thank you…lets be real here….I wish I can go back in time and stop myself from trying to become friends with them or protect them from their less then perfect life you think they all have.
As much as I’m not a fan of hipsters, who are you all to say who “belongs” over anyone else? This is New York Frickin’ City. Our city took people in who nobody else wanted. The blacks, the Irish, the Italians….the hipsters. Everyone belongs in this city. Nobody is a true “native” unless you come from the line of Native Americans who sold this land to the Dutch. Grow a backbone and deal with the hipsters. Its called evolution. In fact, since these hipsters took over Williamsburg, its become a pretty damn awesome neighborhood.
Thanks for sharing. I’m not even a hipster by any of these angry commenter’s descriptions. I just don’t see them being people’s biggest problems. It’s an easy target.
They are ppl biggest problems. If u read all the natives comments you will see what the hipsters are doing wrong. Maybe if the hipsters read the comments they will realize what they r doing wrong. If they cared Soo much about this neighborhood like they say they do, they will fix what they r doing wrong n maybe then ppl will start to accept them!!
Well you expressed urself in a nasty way, expect these type of responses.
Also born and raised here and love it. I love change and new spots opening up and new people from all over. This is what NY is all about. People definitely think I am a hipster. I guess I am like some Guido Hipster hybrid. I just don’t care what terms people use to try to put me down. And I don’t blame other people for my problems.
I am 11211 native, I have lived in apartments in this neighborhood all of my life, and now own a home here. At first I didnt understand why everyone was getting so upset over hipsters moving in, I thought it would be like a fresh breeze, new life in the hood, until you started to throw garbage all over, take over all the mom and pop stores. Why do you think it is alright to let your dogs shit where I just planted flowers by my tree, or to stand in front of my house at 3am and scream on your cell phone and wake me up. The disrespect I see is unforgivable. No one holds the door for an old person or askes if they need help. You just push past and go about your business. I would rather live in the street with the people from Willliamsburg/Greenpoint the in a mansion with you people. So take your bedbugs, your bad mannors and organic bullshit back to Ohio and bother your parents for awhile, see how they like it.
A very well worded article. Exactly what I’ve Ben saying for years!!! You missed a couple of points: 1; in ’92 the ‘hood went below the poverty line for per capita earnings for the 1st time & has gone back up. 2; all us locals were once vilified as new interlopers by the previous ‘townies’ of the day. People hate change. 3: all the local landlords followed the greed by hiking up rents & putting grandmas on the street just like everyone else. Except the homes they inherited were paid off in the 80’s so $500 rent was & is plenty!
As a local who also owns a local bar I’ll say this, I would NEVER opened a bar had gengifercation not happened! When I did open I threw out 100+ people the first year or 2 & 90% of them were the locals you described! Many that’ve responded either were there when I did it & applauded & a few I’m sure are part of my 90% don’t ever come back here again demographic. The same dumb narrow minded,emotional response based townies live everywhere! It’s nice that this place is big enough that they’re easy to avoid,many have left (good riddance!) & thank goodness that all the newbies moved in & revitalized the area! So happy I’m living in the ‘up’ cycle of the city! Having lived in the downside I don’t know what the complainers are missing?
Yes there are malcontents amongst the newbies but as with the yokel slime they’re the minority. The actual yuppies moving in now will make folks miss hipsters. Fact is the schools are better because the newbies are having kids & are involved. That’s a huge example of improvement! I remember being in grade school & getting books my older sisters class used,that sucked! And who can forget the wonderful junkies? Being a parent I don’t miss that & I greatly applaud the help!!! Well done article! Good job!!
“An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind” – Your mindless rant makes you no better than the people you rant about and, quite frankly, is just proof that you have entirely too much time on your hands and should probably invest that time on Monster.com or CraigsList.com looking for a job (or some anger management). Any hard-working, contributing-to-society human being is welcomed to the 11211/11222 area, hipster or not. I have met plenty of hipsters who I thought were pleasant people who brought something wonderful to this area. And I have met people like you. There will be no complaints if you take your filthy, rude, unwelcomed comments, and self, and remove them from our neighborhood.
Greenpoint is truly a unique neighborhood, and I miss what it used to be as well. I’m not a native, but lived in GP for 17 years until I got priced out about 6 months ago. While this post is over-the-top rude and ignorant, I can somewhat relate. it took a long time until I was accepted by “the locals”, even though I was more involved in community board meetings, block parties and park improvements than any of my neighbors. I was called a yuppie (apparently because I worked full-time, as a teacher for the DOE) and screamed at by my landlord’s drunken son for using the garden his mother told me I could plant in. And I often found that if someone started a sentence with “I’ve lived here my whole life and…”, the last part of the sentence was going to be something divisive and hateful toward the newcomers. My husband, who is part African-American, has had more racism thrown at him in Greenpoint than any other place I can think of in the city.
Now don’t get me wrong – the vast, vast majority of Greenpointers are lovely, inclusive and kind people whom I miss daily from our new location. I miss sitting on the stoop and talking to everyone as they went by. But let’s not pretend that it’s all sunshine and rainbows. You can’t deny that the newcomers have 1) raised property values for homeowners 2) helped improve the schools, which were already pretty good 3) helped bring more money and attention to the area — thus leading to more park land, the reopening of McCarren Pool (which, naysayers aside, is WONDERFUL) and more focus on cleaning up the toxic messes in Greenpoint .
“I’ve lived here my whole life and I agree with everything you just said.” Greenpoint is a wonderful place with wonderful people.
I cannot describe how irritated this blog post made me. You are indeed a Brooklyn imbecile. I live in the same house that I spent my childhood in so I’ve seen how this neighborhood has changed. There were no bike lanes, there weren’t cafes/bars on every block, and we were able to see the city skyline. Now there are condo buildings blocking our view, cafes and bars all over (seriously, how much coffee and booze do you need?), and bike lanes that are useless since no one follows the traffic laws anyway. The amount of garbage that the restaurants produce makes the neighborhood smell along with the dog feces that no one bothers to pick up. I never had a problem taking the train to the city in the morning for school, now I have to wait for 4 L trains to pass me before I can manage to squeeze myself on (and that extra swipe of deodorant won’t kill you either!). I just have one story for you – 2 winters ago I fell down the stairs on some ice at the Graham Avenue L station. My coffee went all over the place and my shoe fell off. Do you think one hipster stopped and asked me if I was okay or helped me up? Absolutely not. So please, take your plaid shirts and skinny jeans and go somewhere else. And take your bedbugs with you!
When close friends have to move because of rent inflation so you yuppie fucks can have easy access to the city…it pisses me off. You people work a total maximum 20 hours a week…..from your laptop. Because of you degenerates there is now at least 2-3 bars on every street, and to mention around the corner from schools…Specifically PS 132. The crime rate has gone up because you drunkards are walking in the projects at 4 am in the morning trying to score Cocaine and Ketamine and are getting mugged. You flood bars from 11 am in the morning to 5 am the following day, 7 days a week. People can’t even walk on Bedford Avenue anymore because of all you drunkin assholes being obnoxious and passed out on the curbs like heroin addicts, but yet the police don’t bother you. Morning commutes have been nauseating because it seems that NONE of you believe in antiperspirant. Do you people even shower? Or how about screaming on your cellphones at 3 am when people are trying to sleep to prepare for a FULL workday the following morning?. For people that are so eco-friendly and go green savvy and are looking to help fellow man…..you yuppies aren’t doing shit. Your self centered, self absorbed mid-westerners that have mommy and daddys bank card to pay your rent for your lost you have in some abandoned knitting factory that has been renovated. Which brings me to my last point….How can you afford 3500 dollar a month rent, for a 1 bedroom apartment and not work?…..It only leads me as well as others that since your not in any business attire what so ever at anytime to believe that you are nothing but drug dealers majority of you…do the numbers….part time work can’t pay for luxury brownstones or condos.
my name is jen. i was born in queens and worked my ass off to get through college to work my ass off to continue living in ny. i live in greenpoint. i pay like $1600 in rent. i don’t have a trust fund. lots of people call me a “yuppie” and a “hipster” i work like 80 hours a week. i don’t commit crimes nor do i go to the projects to score cocaine nor do i know anyone who does that. all of my friends are considered yuppie/hipsters, too – and they work ALOT, too. i never have been passed out on a curb and i never did heroin. i definitely wear deodorant. and i shower. i am asleep at 11pm. and don’t talk on the phone that late. my parents do not pay my credit card bills. thanks for lumping me into your fantasy of what young and successful people’s lives are like. i am youngish and successful. i have made a great life for myself with not a lot of financial help from anyone.
3/4 of my grandparents were born in Greenpoint, my parents were born and raised in Greenpoint, my brother, family and friends were born in Greenpoint, and it is ignorance like yours that have wrecked and ravaged our beloved and deep-rooted community. We are the children of hard working Polish, Italian, Puerto Rican, Irish, German, Dominican, Black (etc.) immigrants who shaped and defined our neighborhood exactly the way we want it. We know each other so well, that if you let your kid play on the block with other kids, you don’t have to fear for their safety because someone you know and trust is keeping an eye out for them. We were raised and bred on RESPECT. RESPECT FOR YOUR ELDERS and RESPECT FOR EACH OTHER. Something your parents sadly taught you nothing about. And your comment about how we shop at chain stores is a fucking joke. Greenpoint was nothing but mom & pop stores. IT WASN’T UNTIL HIPSTERS CAME AROUND THAT WE SAW OUR FIRST 7/11 OR TOYS R’US. Oh and I love how you use the terms “my park”, “my block”, sweetie nothing about Greenpoint is yours or will ever be yours. THIS IS OURS AND WILL ALWAYS BE OURS. So quit trying to change a neighborhood that doesn’t want your fucking ideals, your 5,000 bars, your shitty ass boutiques, your bedbugs or your fucking trust funds.
Lol it’s articles like this one that makes us HATE YOU!! We LET u in because we just thought u were passing through. You hipsters are like unwanted guests that don’t know when to leave! Your not welcome here n never will b. US LIFERS made this neighborhood!! You don’t know what ur precious Bedford Avenue was 10 years ago! It was a hooker n crack head paradise. You hipsters wouldn’t have made it. However us LIFERS did!! We made the hood n the hood made us!! The strong survived. We used to hang out 30 deep. There were still mugging’s, robberies, killings, and we didn’t cry about it, we dealt with it n came out on top. We had nice stores to shop in that were replaced by 2nd hand stores, we had nice bars that served more than blue ribbon beer n played good music that we liked, we had a clean neighborhood that didn’t have bikes chained to every fence. Everything u have today replaced our neighborhood stores. The neighborhood accommodated our guests! Even though we had 30 kids hanging out, we didn’t go around screaming at 3am. We didn’t walk around half naked expecting nothing will happen. The neighborhood wasn’t a safe haven, we MADE it one!! It’s YOUR actions and way of life that made us HATE you!! YOU turned our neighborhood to SHIT to accommodate your way of life. OHIO didn’t want you n that’s why u moved here. You couldn’t live the way u wanted to there so u came here and RUINED our neighborhood!! You can bet ur dirty asses if WE didn’t want u here back when u started coming here, WE WOULDN’T have let u stay. We thought u would contribute to OUR neighborhood n make it better, but instead u drained it n ruined it once again with your way of life! Your dirt bags, unrespectful, and for some reason U think WE owe u something! WE don’t owe u shit! We didn’t have to accommodate you, we didn’t have to rent u apartments and change our store to accommodate you, but we did hoping u hippies would help make the neighborhood better than it was. Even though it was good, it could have always gotten better. WE were WRONG, u didn’t nothing to contribute, all u did was bring it down again. We used to walk down the street n know everyone we saw, we said hello to everyone n respected everyone. That was our way of life. Once u transplants decided to stay n our neighborhood started to change in a way we didn’t want it to, we started to hate you hippies. Your not cool, we don’t like or respect you, and never will. It’s not because we are racist, it’s because u don’t respect us, our way of life, or the neighborhood WE made!! WE own the houses u live in, we own the stores u shop in, and we own the neighborhood. U are just guests that never leave. You don’t contribute or do anything to help our society. Your dirty, cheap, n disrespectful. The same reasons they made u feel unwelcome in OHIO!! You wouldn’t have been able to make it here 10 yrs ago when our neighborhood wasn’t great. It would have been to rough for you, n u would have went home crying to mommy n daddy. We fought through the tough times together as one and made it the way it was when u first started to move here, if anything you owe us!! We made it safe for you! Maybe, just maybe, if u weren’t the way u are, I’d u didn’t live 6 in a studio, if u didn’t shop at 2nd hand stores, if u had jobs, if u didn’t live off mommy and daddy, if u started respecting us, if u started cleaning up the neighborhood you ruined we wouldn’t hate u as much as we do. You turned something we worked so hard to make nice into shit again. Like my friend Shannon stated in her reply, ” if u don’t like US or the way ur treated, move the fuck out!!” If u keep going on the path ur own, we will never like or respect you. This isn’t directed at all the hippies as a whole. There are some good ones out there, unfortunately there are more bad then good. Which is weird cause usually there is more good then bad! Every neighborhood had their fare share of shitty people, in the beginning we had you hippies, until you all ventured here like the plague!! It’s not going to get better for u here, so if u don’t like it now, u will hate in as time passes. So I would gather up all ur lil dirt bag buddies, and move on like we thought u would!! It’s not too late!!
BTW the real reason they opened Mckarren pool is because we figured if we gave u the water for free, you would clean ur selves!! Apparently, once again we were wrong!! For fucks sake, take a bath, shave, buy new clothes, just clean ur selves! This way ur no so unpleasant looking when u walk down OUR streets!!
Peace the fuck out!!
AMEN
These replies are pretty funny, making generalizations in the same way about “hipsters” that the original blog post made about the long-time local residents. Guaranteed that every single demographic group in this area has complained about newcomers. The Indians were pissed when the Dutch showed up. The Dutch didn’t like the Germans, Jews, Irish and Italians taking over their farm land to build factories in the late 1800s. These groups didn’t like it when the Poles, Hasids and Puerto Ricans came in in the mid 1900s. Any current local is probably descended from one of these groups, and you can bet that your ancestors weren’t welcome at first either. That’s NYC – its always changing, and there’s always new blood coming in to revitalize and change neighborhoods. That’s the way it is and why NYC is what it is.
Look, we all get it. Some of the hipsters are self-involved and oblivious. Some of them have no respect for the neighborhood. All of this is true. But what else is true is that the condos are a result of the 2005 rezoning of the Williamsburg waterfront, not the hipsters. Blame Bloomberg and your elected officials for that one. Bedbugs? They are a problem in cities and countries around the world in recent years. Not the fault of hipsters. The closing of mom and pop stores with more chain stores coming in? Blame developers and globalization for that. And if you didn’t shop at the mom & pop stores, then blame yourself,too, for them closing. Anyone who lived here 15+ years ago knows that Bedford Avenue was only half full of stores, and that Franklin Street had nothing but a few bodegas on it. It’s amazing how many new businesses have opened on these shopping strips.
There are some comments on here that are really highlight the ugliness and xenophobia of Greenpoint natives.
The difference between what is happening now and what has happened throughout NY’s great past is that now, the distinctions between the demographic groups are based on a class of behaviors and (for the most part) not based on some sort of irrational prejudice against immutable traits such as ethnicity or race. Us “natives” classify hipsters by their negative behaviors, such as screaming in the street, destroying our property, and greeting us with a generally condescending attitude, which is why we may have a general disdain for them. Therefore, xenophobia (an unreasonable fear of something strange or foreign) doesn’t fit what is going on since it is, in fact, pretty reasonable to fear destructive behavior and actions that occur near one’s home.
On that note, any respectable, polite, and hospitable person is welcome to be my neighbor — and that includes “hipsters” as well. I just haven’t met many yet that fit the bill but I hope I will.
I couldn’t agree more.
Noone is saying you owe us natives anything ay all. But this is our home. You owe our home the respect. These comments could’ve went a lot more respectful if the blogger him or herself worded their opinion in a different manner.
Anjelica, I appreciate the thoughtful comments you’ve posted here. But not for nothing: trying to justify the irrational prejudices about ALL hipsters as illustrated here in the comments section, is exactly like all people of a certain race or ethnicity being judged based on the behavior of a few. i.e. “All Puerto Ricans are loud”, or “All Italians of members of the Mafia” or “All Poles hate black people.” And who gives a crap if you’ve lived here 40 years or 5 years, as long (as you say) they are respectful and polite.
I’m not disagreeing with you at all that plenty of the 20 and 30-something hipster types are completely disrespectful and disdainful of many other residents of the neighborhood. (It drives me crazy when people act like children and families haven’t always lived in these areas – like the hipsters are the first ones with kids!) And I get that losing the neighborhood and institutions that you once knew and grew up with is a painful thing. But these hateful comments about the horrible things that the hipsters have brought to and ruined “OUR NEIGHBORHOOD” are just off-base. A quote from above: “sweetie, nothing about Greenpoint is yours or will ever be yours. THIS IS OURS AND WILL ALWAYS BE OURS.” Or: ” It’s YOUR actions and way of life that made us HATE you!!” Talk about condescending, hypocritical and disdainful attitudes! It really goes both ways on this issue.
PS I’m not a fan of idiot bikers either who ignore all traffic laws however, it’s not the hipsters fault that cities everywhere are turning to greener policies, putting in more bike lanes and trying to rid cities of cars. This is a worldwide trend, not a just a Williamsburg trend.
Calyer Street,
Thank you for acknowledging my comments. Sidenote though: I wasn’t trying to justify irrational prejudice (i.e., prejudging an entire demographic off generalizations) but rather I was trying to explain that such negative BEHAVIORS attributed to hipsters have caused a hatred for those types of actions, not necessarily the people themselves. Like I said, if a “hipster” or someone who identifies as such, treats me with respect and is a good neighbor, I will appreciate him or her, regardless of who they are. My problem, and I think a lot of natives can agree, is that we are truly met with such rooted disdain and condescension from some of the people who have transplanted here. I have encountered many people who feel that because they are born outside Brooklyn, are from a higher economic class, dress different, or do not have a Brooklyn accent (the list goes on), they are somehow superior. And as a proud Italian-American, I can also say a lot of these comments stem from thinly veiled ethnic prejudices (Is it always necessary to purposely mispronounce an Italian’s last name or make Mafia references?).
Just like a new transplant may feel ostracized by the unwelcoming comments of natives, we also do not appreciate the general attitude of superiority that is directed towards us. This does not mean all “hipsters” are thrown together, to be prejudiced against irrationally. But rather, based off of past experiences, sometimes it is the only rational conclusion I can draw about this group — that they simply do not like the native demographic of Williamsburg. But like I said previously, I welcome any respectable person as my neighbor — and I do realize that not all hipsters embody the negative traits I described above. At the end of the day, if people cannot co-exist, Williamsburg will not be a pleasant place to live.
Someone with some sense! Thanks for being a voice of reason among a lot of disgusting and irrational commentary.
Basically, can we just not form opinions of people that are being arbitrarily placed into groups having never had any interaction with the individual? Opinions need to be made on a case by case basis. The moment you begin to generalize, it becomes a problem.
I agree Luke. It’s called prejudice! And I am sick and tired of people hating other people just because they were born somewhere different. This is NY.
Sounds like you really hate the natives of my city. Typical hipster. Moves to NYC based on some fantasy and all the while hates the city and her people for what it really is/for what they are. You are ranting about an old woman who plays the lottery? Really??? Oh the Horrors of that!! Then why did you move here in the first place? To smugly look down on others? Please go away. We natives don’t like you and we never will. We have zero in common.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I’m not even a hipster. I wasn’t born here, but I’ve been here a while. I shower every day. I don’t have a trust fund. I have a full-time job. I don’t scream in the streets at 3am. I’m happily married, almost 40 and go to bed at 10:30pm. I just don’t buy into people blaming all their problems on the youth of today. This was one angry rant from one day after spending over a decade in Greenpoint not complaining about anything. I love Greenpoint and Brooklyn and New York City and I’m not fucking going anywhere.
I am a native and I was just eating ice cream at Brooklyn Imbecile’s house last night. He is awesome! We have a lot in common. He loves NY and is a true NYer no matter where he came from.
You are a smug bitch. How does it feel knowing how much you and transplants with your attitudes are hated by native NYers? And we are talking about working immigrants (who we have always accepted with open arms) and NYers of every walk of life, not “bankers from Jersey”. You are hated across the board… Also, these “hipsters” that you speak of are not innocent 14 year old kids going through a kooky phase, they are parentally-funded, gentrifying, pompous, closet-racist 25-40 year olds like yourself. You say you are all about “local” this-and-that, but you are anti-local, anti-diversity. You say you “love Greenpoint” – no you don’t, you want to live only in your yuppiefied version of Greenpoint. You say you “love Greenpoint” but Greenpointers don’t love you. You are hated with extreme passion. Look at yourself and the “hipsters” you defend and figure out why. You are a joke to us all.
Don’t say that native NYers hate transplants. Maybe you do, but I grew up in Queens, NYC. My father was born in Sicily. This city and country is made up of people from everywhere. You don’t own NYC or Greenpoint and you never will. There is no birthright to this land. I know ALOT of NYers, who moved here 6mo. ago. I don’t hate them because they grew up somewhere else. What makes them NYers is that they love the city and change it for the better.
No, you’re wrong. Read what people are saying here. There is no hate towards people who move here from somewhere else. That’s ridiculous. I welcome hard working families and immigrants here with open arms. What I hate and what other commentors hate are the disrespectful and condescending attitudes that many gentrifying transplants have towards the people and the families who have lived here for generations. The disgusting attitude like the douchebag who wrote this post has.
Wow, this whole conversation is ridiculous and drawing unnecessary lines and assumptions from both sides. I am from the middle of america and my husband was raised in greenpoint, his family still lives there but we cant afford it, and yes… That sucks. It sucks that rent in new york is so high and the ability a neighborhood has to change-so quickly-is mind boggling, but… Its the owners of these buildings that are ultimately deciding how much to charge and who to rent to. I think everyone needs to accept there are good and bad parts to every big and small town. Some things just arent going to change. We all came here looking for similar things, whether ur the first of ur family to move to ny or u are from a line of new yorkers, then it wasnt you who came here searching, but ur parents or grandparents, etc…and its always a hard thing to do. But, We all end up needing a sense of community, so we start to build it. Which is how all of these neighbors have took shape and will continue to evolve. Just accept that not all of your neighbors are going to have the same ideals as you, and that their are bad seeds from every place on earth. I know hipsters and polish greenpointers who dont know how to recycle. When I see someone doing it wrong, i correct them. When i see someone littering, i call them out so they feel like shit and hopefully will think twice next time. So, everyone stop pointing fingers because that just draws a thicker line between groups of people that really just need to shut up and get along. Sure my husband will go off everyone once in a while about “dirty hipsters fucking up the hood” but really, he means is “dirty disrepectful kids acting crazy on the street or dirty coffee shop owner charging me too much for an iced tea” i dont have to put him in his place cause he knows that the term hipster doesnt really mean anything, and most of his friends, just by looks alone would fall into that catagory, (he met me here and im not a “native” – its our totally different backgrounds, but same ideals that make us so great together!) we know that the people that do stupid things can come from anywhere, not just ohio. Ill admit that I get upset when I go home and my favorite lunch spot closed down or the empty lot we used to hangout at as kids is now a hotel. But, the feeling doesnt last long, because thats life, things change. And when u have no control over it, isnt it better to just be pleasant to one another?
thanks for the reasonable commentary. it is much appreciated.
Look I may not have been born in Brooklyn, but I’ve lived here longer than most you cock suckers have been pulling on your dicks or bleeding out your cunts. I don’t know what anybody’s complaining about. Back in the 80’s you had to fight 15 fucking junk boxes just to walk five blocks in Carroll Gardens and maybe if you were lucky your grandmother didn’t get mugged or sodomized on her walk to church. You fuckers are complaining about bike lanes? Really a fucking bike lane? Come on! Sure you look at these fucking weirdo kids with their Salvadore Dali mustaches or their vegatable oil hybrid fixed gear combination bicycle potato fryers and their horrible music, and homeless fashion sense. But who are they really hurting? They bring boat loads of dollars into your neighborhood, small businesses thrive, and sure not everybody wants to eat a high fiber-vegan-chinese-fusion- noodle soup combination colon cleanse. But fucking A. Hating people for bringing money to Brooklyn is as stupid as Loving Brooklyn for when all that was here was junkies, pimps, and whores for the past 35 years….
i like this guy.
He’s right on…! “Stupid is as stupid does”
This post is hilarious and dead on. I hope all you native Wburg/Greenpointers were able to buy property back when a 3-family was easily had for under 200k. Because now you’d be able to sell that shit (and seriously, most of these aluminum-sided houses were not built to last as long as they have, Historic District aside) for about a million bucks. Literally, $1,000,000 dollars. And you could finally move out of your moms building, after it being the only place you ever lived for the past 45 years!
The comments section is now closed to anyone who just wants to repeat what has already been said. It’s not like this little article started the hate that many of you have for newcomers to Brooklyn, it was merely throwing back your irrational behavior back in your lap. You say Fuck You, so I say Fuck You back. Start your own blog if you want more of your voice heard.
The guy has some points. Being a local doesn’t excuse you for being a piece of shit. Unfortunately, the hipster alternative isn’t any better.
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Grew up in this shit hole… Greenpoint ( nothing green about it ) back when I was a kid, was all about factories, auto repair shops, junkyards and lumberyards. It was a unique community, in that there were so many nationalities ( Polish,Irish,Italian and Hispanic ) all immigrants, some hard working, others not very willing to work at all, living on the same block ( peacefully for the most part ). I could tell you lots of stories about pollution, gangs and the lack of any kind of future in the hood, until the late eighties early nineties; when after decades of neglect and outright trashing of a community ( that did not have the support it needed to survive or prosper ), till groups of newbies began to inhabit the area. Greenpoint was fast becoming a community of artists, lesbians and gays that no longer sat quietly when community funding was funneled into surrounding neighborhoods with stronger ( louder and more connected ) voices. A paradigm shift was taking place behind the scenes and people in the know began to take notice and took advantage of the low cost of Realestate by buying whatever they could get their hands on. The twenty first century had brought to the neighborhood the idea that it was becoming gentrified, ( but was still struggling to survive ), there was and still is ( judging from all the posts ) an identity crisis for an area that is undergoing a rapid ( and welcome ) change, that never sits well with most folks till the dust settles and those that resist are broken because they refuse to bend to the winds of change; are we better off than we were twenty years ago… Damn right we are… I love seeing all the new and interesting people coming to maybe one day inhabit the area… I’m thankful for more bikes ( I own several ) and hopeful for less cars, more love less hate, more dogs ( hopefully they were adopted, of which I also have several ) that are being picked up after: but most of all I’m for a “GREENER” Greenpoint… More parks less pollution for a long and healthy life for its all its inhabitants, gay, straight, local and nonlocal, young and old, we deserve better… Don’t you think so?
P.S. Why do so many people still smoke? That drives me crazy…!!!