So, I found an apartment in the East Village. I'm extremely excited about it. It's a great place. It has an open kitchen. Will get some new appliances. Is only 3 blocks from the subway. I really like the neighborhood. I'm ready to become an East Villager.
I'm a yuppie and, apparently, that is a bad thing again. As a yuppie, I do feel mildly bad about the gentrification of the East Village and how my arrival is a part of it. I'm also aware of how the 'locals' hate me. Regardless, I'm embracing the neighborhood in all it's tattooed glory. I've only been living here a short while, but I've already found a bunch of great places. There is a great burrito place on St. Mark's Place called Chipotle that only serves naturally raised meat. And on Houston, just a few short blocks away is a great little grocery store called Whole Foods.
Seriously though, I do hope that the East Village can keep some of its 'charm'. I hope the neighbors continue to keep their tattoos and piercings, despite my suit-wearing yuppie ways wandering in. The area has great (and relatively inexpensive) restaurants and bars and shops. One of my next steps here is finding all the good ones. I'm even going to try to hit up local hardware and miscellaneous stores (as soon as I find them) for my random apartment needs. It's been too easy to default to Bed Bath & Beyond and Home Depot, and with them being across town I'm cutting them out.
I expect that living in the EV while it struggles to maintain its character while the residents turnover (and are priced out) will be an interesting experience. What I think is funny about it is that people talk about the East Village and Punk as though one never existed without the other. The East Village has only most recently been associated with Punk Rock, before that, it was something else entirely (but I have no idea what). The evolution of neighborhoods in New York is a fascinating topic, and one that I know nothing about. It amazes me that neighborhood lines have been so clearly defined for so long and that the vibe can change so drastically from one avenue to the next. All over New York people fight to get landmark status for every foot so that it never changes. I'm all for respecting the past, but at some point, you need to move forward. What if the tenements of the early 1900s were landmarked as reminders of an important time in New York's history? Would anyone actually be in favor of that? Does anyone who has lived in the EV for the last 30 years really want to go back to the crime of the 80s? Am I, a suit-wearing yuppie, that much worse than a gun-toting mugger? (Note: That's a dramatization. I admit ignorance about what type of crime was going on here in the 80s)
I'm not sure where I come out on the whole issue of gentrification/preservation. In my gut, I feel like I don't belong here, but I love living here. I'm against every neighborhood looking the same (glass walled condos, Chipotle, Whole Foods, etc.) I want to embrace the hyper-local culture and become a part of it (I need to get some black pants and converse). At the same time, how can I really feel like a part of it? I commute to midtown to work for a giant, faceless corporation and come home to a neighborhood where every inch of every person is different from the one next to it. For me, it's important to have that feeling of out-of-place-ness while walking home in a suit. But, I realize that I am most certainly either a part of the engine of change for this neighborhood or proof that it has lost its soul.
What do you think? Am I overreacting? Where do we draw the line between history and progress?
