Do You Live on Gentrification Row?

Gentrification Row runs along Bowery, north from Houston, south down to Chatham Square in Chinatown and all the way to Frank Gehry's Beekman tower on Beekman and Spruce Street. This corridor has yet to suffer the fate of it's northern half, where great affluence has enveloped the neighborhood, but is well on its way. Everywhere you look on Bowery, new luxury buildings are sprouting like tulips in the springtime. South of Houston, gentrification was developing in stages slow enough so that you could see it creep. The New Museum. 257 Bowery. But the completion of Gehry's tower on Beekman Street seems to signal a change. Newly constructed buildings in glass and steel are now arriving in working class Chinatown, signaling a new breakthrough in gentrification's advance down Bowery. The Beekman tower now plays the role of anchor and a beacon for money south of Bowery, just as Avalon on Houston was an anchor and beacon on the northern end. Combined, both developments have created a powerful wind tunnel up and down Bowery and environs that blows money and development around. If you listen on a quiet morning, you can almost hear the money whooshing around. And just as a river wraps around the bend, so too does did the gentrifugal force of gentrification, streaming down streets like Kenmare and Bond, enveloping nearly everything in its path. Do you live on Gentrification Row? (View a larger size map of Gentrification Row on NYC The Blog's Facebook page.)

Related:

• The Final Hours Of Chinatown Fair, The Last Arcade In Chinatown
• Chatham Square's Contribution To Gentrification Row Nears Completion
• Kenny Scharf Restores Bowery Mural; Flirts With Bystanders
• T-Bone Grocery Store On Mott St Gets Boarded Up
• Visiting St. Patrick's Old Cathedral School
  
• The Hidden Graffiti Of Chinatown
  

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A Record 16,000 Kids Will Go To Sleep Homeless In NYC Tonight; One Has A Solution

Reports show there is a modern-day record number of homeless families in New York City. According to Coalition for the Homeless, city data shows as of October of '09, there are over 39,000 homeless New Yorkers in the shelter system each night—including more than 16,500 children from 10,000 homeless families. A reported 42% rise from when Mayor Bloomberg took office, not including people sleeping on the street, itself a seemingly sizable number.

One of these children have a solution: "How? Get rid of corrupt landlords and stop gentrification. No more luxury condos!!! Word."

Home Girl: Building a Dream House on a Lawless Block

"Intoxicated by West Harlem's cultural diversity, and, more importantly, its affordability, Judith impulsively buys a fixer upper brownstone in the area. Little does she know what's in store."

The video trailer above is for a book, Home Girl: Building a Dream House on a Lawless Block, recounting the experience of a Judith Matloff, who impulsively bought a house on West 141st Street in Hamilton Heights after visiting the area in 2000. An area of Harlem the NYTimes, in a piece about the book and the neighborhood, reports at that time, "was considered by law enforcement to be a main distribution point in the Northeast for millions of dollars in cocaine...Much of that drug activity was centered on Ms. Matloff’s street." The story went on to report another consequence of living in the neighborhood, "Her son, Anton, grew up thinking he was Latino: he spoke only Spanish, identified himself with the brown dolls and had a fashion sense that 'veered towards bling,' as Ms. Matloff explained."

The video above is pretty humorous, and I'm dying to read the book. I can't tell if I will enjoy it or not, but at first blush it seems entertaining. The author has published some excerpts on her page, and they're hard to interpret. I liked the video trailer better. Below is from an excerpt of the Prologue (pdf),

"Leaving the subway platform, I ran up the stairs to the street where the Mexican vendor cried, 'Tamales, Tamaales' like a siren...What terrific street life! If I closed my eyes and ignored the police sirens – for some reason there were so many – I could imagine myself on a commercial drag in Santo Domingo. I almost bumped into a group playing sidewalk baseball with a broomstick. They shot me curious looks...Turning the corner of what would soon be my – my! – street, I passed a cluster of men who regarded me gravely. “Buenos tardes!” I called out cheerily."

Following is an excerpt from An Encounter With Police (pdf), recounting an experience of having armed police guard their house for protection,

"...We knew from experience in Africa that there’s nothing like an armed man to provoke another armed man. This was like sending out a beacon to the block that we were in cahoots with the police. Even more worrying was John’s explosive reaction. He was puffing up like a rooster spoiling for a fight. 'You’ll have to move,' John ordered the man in shorts. The cop looked longingly at the freedom of Broadway -- so close, yet so far. 'Can’t. Orders,' he said regretfully. 'Whose orders?' John’s voice dropped an octave. The policeman put his hand on his holster for greater authority. 'The commander of Manhattan North, Diaz. He says you need protection.'"

The Book, Home Girl, is available for purchase at Amazon.

ATM Watch On 145th St. -- First There Was One, Now There Are Two

Yesterday's report on the first free-standing exterior ATM on 145th St might not have been entirely accurate, as this ATM machine that has appeared just a few doors down can attest. Neither were there last week, and which one arrived first is unclear, though they are both new. Either way, in one week 145th St has received two free-standing exterior ATM machines, bringing the street up to date with street furniture that is ubiquitous on streets having a high population of of people who have ATM cards, and like to use them, even it is on a corner known recently for forceful removal of your property.

Harlem World

2340 Frederick Douglass Blvd

• Alexander Hamilton's house, condo projects, gang graffiti and Doug E. Fresh's waffle place. <Harlem Hybrid>
• After snapping a photo last month of an "upcoming snadwich place" HCL finds more information <Harlem Condo Life>
• Growing Pains Come To Harlem <NPR>
• Challenging the king of Harlem <Decision NYC>
• Voting line is like one big part for neighbors <Harlem Fur>
• Uptown Flavor is all over election day with an Election Day Watch Party guide, a first hand account of her voting experience this morning, and more. <Uptown Flavor>
  
• Selling Obama: Vendors Peddle Politics on the Streets of Manhattan
  <Geo/Graphi/Culture>
  

145th St Gets It's First Free Standing Exterior ATM Machine

Hot on the heels of various assaults and muggings taking place in the vicinity, 145th St. has it's first, free-standing, exterior ATM machine. It is kept company by three payphones steps away from each other, with another two or three payphones in the subway station below. The ATM sits about 5 feet left of the subway stairs, and is blocked from sidewalk view on that same side by the subway stairs wrought iron fencing and advertisement display sitting atop it.

I snapped this photo, at approximately 12:30 am, moments before three people speaking with European accents used the machine. Whose backs were turned to the street during the transaction. On the corner of 145th and St Nicholas, in a darkened corner behind the ABCD subway station entrance.

SEE: NY Police Officer Offers Tips On How Not To Get Mugged, What To Do If You Do Get Mugged

Is gentrification like reading a book, with the next chapters having already been written and simply waiting for you to read them? If so, this neighborhood is at an authors reading.

Six years ago, 145th St east of St Nicholas Ave was rezoned, and the change that followed was swift and and dramatic. New condos, Starbucks, Banks, displacement, the whole sh-bang. Like the end of a fireworks display, that was a jaw dropping finale. A chapter was written and read.

In June of this year, a Dunkin' Donuts opened on the SE corner of 145th and St. Nicholas, in what had long had been a bar that neighbors had mixed feelings about. A T-Mobile store followed on Amsterdam shortly after. The bodega on the NW corner of the 145th and St. Nicholas received a months long renovation, replete with a grand re-opening as new deli. A juice bar selling five dollar juices opened next door. The Baton Rouge opened, closed, re-opened, and closed again, this time being sold to new owners.

Recently a group of three young kids moved in to an apartment in my building, musicians who I believe to be exiles from downtown Manhattan. A boyfriend of one recently came to visit, and couldn't get his significant other on the phone as he stood outside. He requested to be let in. "why don't you buzz her?" I asked.

"I dont know what apt. she is. I mean, I'm not trying to sneak in. I promise. She just moved in, she is not answering her phone, and I'm not sure what number she is." Inside, I rolled my eyes.

In sections of downtown Manhattan, Orchard St for instance, there can be 4-5 free standing ATM's on one block. Quietly, they make me angry inside. In a juvenile, reactionary, classist, selfish way. And now we have one on 145th, across the street from one in the deli and others in the bank. I've read this book once, and didn't really care for it. The ending broke my heart.

UPDATE: Exciting Developments Tomorrow!

Related:

• BREAKING::145th St Station. Found Travel Mug, Will Return.
• Kelton Hundredz Hustles His Demo On The Corner Of 145th And St. Nicholas, Harlem
• Subway Dancers On The D Train, From 145th To 161st
• [UPDATED] You've Got Mail, Harlem World Style

Harlem World

Manna's moving notice, West Harlem, New York, photograph by Eating In Translation.

• Harlem condo sales plunged a staggering 76 percent annually in the third quarter of 2008 <NY Observer>
• Hunter College Social Work School to Move Uptown <City Room>
• BEST HEADLINE AWARD: Except for the Displaced, Many Neighbors of Planned Hunter College Building Seem Pleased <NY Times>
  
• Animal Welfare Approved is sponsoring a Thanksgiving meal at the Community Kitchen of West Harlem, located at 252 West 116 Street, Manhattan for an estimated 700 low-income New Yorkers. <Market Watch>
  
• The Future of an Arts House Collective in Manhattanville, Sitting In C.U.'s Expansion Footprint, Does Not Look Good <Columbia Spectator>
  
• East Harlem Intersection Gets Traffic Light Thanks To Efforts Of Local Teen <NY1>
  
• The St. Nick's Dog Run Coffee Bark happens this Saturday, November 1st from 9am-11am, at one of the city's largest Dog Runs with some coffee, donuts and fun
  
• The Taco Mix, where cooks in Spanish Harlem eat <The Feedbag>
  
• A new Harlem resident declares, "I am the face of gentrification. It's not something I aspire to be, just something I am." <And How>