Last week in Brooklyn’s Clinton Hill, on a 40,000 square foot piece of asphalt, about 200 vendors and some 20,000 shoppers flocked to the insanely hyped flea market. With many of New York’s flea markets losing their space to new developments, the announcement of a new weekly event in the up-and-coming neighborhood brought out the big crowds.
Organized by Jonathan Butler, the guy behind the Brownstoner.com, the market definitely had a particularly ‘Brooklyn’ vibe with carefully curated vendors and fashionable visitors. The New York Times picked up on the chic nature of the event and produced a fun a little pictorial sideshow with audio commentary evaluating the scene and it’s patrons unique styles.
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sadly, many residents of the clinton hill neighborhood (including myself) were quite disappointed. the prices were extremely high in a neighborhood that is struggling to survive the process of gentrification. sign of the times i suppose, but it poses the uncomfortable questions about class, race and economic status as the financial fabric of our country shifts even further encouraging the disparity between the rich and the poor.
the “creative class”, it feels, is just a new term for young urban professional and is no longer a reliable description for the artistically inclined. have you noticed that everyone under the sun uses the term “creative” when describing oneself? has the term been appropriated to simply mean young, well-off, white and trendy? help me understand.
April 16th, 2008 at 3:41 pm