Similarly to the many Boroughs in and around Portland, Brooklyn often finds itself being classified under the blanket term, "New York." That being said, Brooklyn is very different from the rest of the concrete jungle that surrounds it. The city is mainly comprised of ancient brick buildings, a few massive waterfront warehouses, and a handful of little victorian homes. Most of the residents live in apartments and condos around the city center, while the peripheral homes are reserved only for the extremely wealthy.
. Brooklyn is an interesting case because while it has had a similar cultural shift to Portland, it had no space to grow. Brooklyn is in the center of an absolutely enormous urban sprawl. This means that the people of Brooklyn have ultimately chosen to gut the buildings that they have.
Because of this, Brooklyn looks a lot like what it probably looked like twenty years ago, but on the inside, it is quite similar to Portland. Inside the old structures of Brooklyn, you will find trendy cafes, expensive restaurants, and packed thrift stores. They haven’t completely taken over though. New York’s old culture is rooted deep in their neighborhoods, so many old deli’s, restaurants, shops, and diners still stand. They serve all of the same things you would expect from them. The food is cheap and tasty and the portions are big. The seating arrangements are cramped, for maximum patron capacity, and they are always built into brick buildings below a set of apartments. This is what makes the backbone of Brooklyn’s old-food culture. These menus have been the same for decades, and they will stay like that for many more.
On the other hand, these new restaurants, with their polished floors and painted I-Beams, have cornered a different market. Gluten-free bagels, expensive Colombian coffee, and pies named after pop culture references, all costing at least double what they should. Now don’t get me wrong, the food is good. Expensive fair-trade Colombian coffee tastes great, and who is going to turn down a slice of “Big Apple” apple pie. Nobody. In this case, it isn’t even particularly intrusive. Brooklyn is so incredibly dense, that there is usually a new establishment on the same block as a traditional one. In Portland, you can walk for blocks seeing nothing but expensive new houses and farm-to-table bike shops. When these two types of establishments co-exist, the damage to the community feels lessened.
That does not mean that general gentrification hasn’t wreaked havoc on this place. I mean come on, a studio apartment is 2,000 dollars a month, which is frankly ridiculous. College dorms at Pratt hover around 900 dollars, and that is considered cheap. My point is, Brooklyn is definitely dealing with the same issues that Portland is, they just aren’t necessarily turning the entire local culture on its head.
If you are interested in reading more about the importance of traditions in food, check out my colleague Jesse's blog here:
I am from smelly seafood markets,
From the incredible meals they yielded.
I am from Lobster Rolls, from fish and chips, from blue point oysters.
I am from late summer cookouts,
From steaks and lamb chops,
From grilled corn and lead poisoned herbs.
I am from Sunday suppers at Lucques,
From ten person cooking teams,
Three families in the kitchen, all at once
From failed culinary endeavors.
I am from the deluxe town diner,
From cramped boxcar booths,
From Murtons maple syrup.
I am from Tapas in Somerville
From Egg drop soup in Watertown,
From Deli sandwiches in Cambridge,
And from pastries in Vineyard Haven.
I am from the smell of molasses that lingers in the air a century later,
Ever present on a hot summer day.