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The New York Observer

Overheard in Carroll Gardens: The Most Entitled Area of Brooklyn?

By Drew Grant 2/24 6:10pm
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  • These kids are the worst! (David Berkowitz)
    Start The Slideshow

    These kids are the worst! (David Berkowitz)


    For those who don’t venture out in Brooklyn often, how can we describe the new transplants of Carroll Gardens? In terms of life-stages, they are halfway between the eternal hipster youth of Williamsburg and the chronic “Why can’t we bring baby strollers into bars?” Yuppiedom of Park Slope.

    If Carroll Gardens was a fictional character, it would be Wendy from Peter Pan at the end of the book, when Peter flies through the window and finds that somewhere between the little girl he loved and the old crone whose daughter he wants to bang, there’s this sad young woman, reading a book and complaining about the smell of roasting coffee.

    Wendy was sort of a horrible person (aristocratic snob that she was), and so too are the people of Carroll Gardens, as we’ve discovered.

    The latest grievance of these young adults who have moved to the Bergen/Carroll stop is that D’Amico Coffee– a general store that’s been around since 1948 and has been brewing its coffee on premises since its inception–smells bad. Bad like coffee. Instead of settling this issue Do the Right Thing-style (i.e. throwing a trash can through the window of the shop and burning it to the ground), several citizens have written a strongly-worded letter to the city. Now Mr. D’Amico might not be able to burn his beans anymore, after the DEP stopped by and realized that the owner wasn’t using an afterburner. Currently there’s this sign up on the window, according to Gothamist, alerting people to the fact that D’Amico does indeed smell like coffee.

    It’s very polite and civil. If we were D’Amico Coffee, we would use some choicer words to explain that after being around 70 years, they shouldn’t have to put up with whiny 311-dialers who just moved into the area four months ago. And for some reason hate coffee. (No babyccinos for these people, we assume.)

    If this was an isolated incident, we’d be able to leave it alone. But as we’ve spent a lot more time over in Carroll Gardens recently, we’ve noticed that this issue is the symptom of an epidemic: people who move to Carroll Gardens are terrible. We’ve been keeping track in the form of overheard conversations. Here’s just a few samplings of a Friday night.

     

  • Back Forward Is the Chardonnay here oak-y at all?

    Is the Chardonnay here oak-y at all?

    (Photo via ScaredyKat)

  • Back Forward I identify with the Bourne movies--as a liberal.

    I identify with the Bourne movies--as a liberal.

    (Photo via SapphireBlue)

  • Back Forward All right, I'll tell you my screenplay, but you can't be a bitch about it.

    All right, I'll tell you my screenplay, but you can't be a bitch about it.

    (Photo via the_wb)

  • Back Forward "On the record? Off the record? Fuck that, when We talk it is ON. THE. RECORD."- Said by a goateed  gentleman retelling a story during what is obviously a first (and hopefully last) date.

    "On the record? Off the record? Fuck that, when We talk it is ON. THE. RECORD."- Said by a goateed gentleman retelling a story during what is obviously a first (and hopefully last) date.

    (Photo via IStoletheTV)

  • Back Forward I would never say this to her, but you are totally your own entity.

    I would never say this to her, but you are totally your own entity.

    (Photo via Minka6)

  • Back Forward My publisher told me to move here because it was closer to Franzen...but I haven't seen him once.

    My publisher told me to move here because it was closer to Franzen...but I haven't seen him once.

    (Photo via -cp)

  • Back Forward ...And I realized if i wasn't going to be an artist at 33, I mean maybe I wasn't supposed to be an artist.

    ...And I realized if i wasn't going to be an artist at 33, I mean maybe I wasn't supposed to be an artist.

    (Photo via MattHurst)

  • Back I tried to go to a sensory deprivation tank once...it was a clusterfuck.

    I tried to go to a sensory deprivation tank once...it was a clusterfuck.

    (Photo via DavidBerkowitz

  • Stephiewalter

    well yeah, that’s what happens when you transplant the natives to other areas and allow the wall street/euro/hipster crowd to take over.  Its like the East Village – they ruin everything.

  • Guest

    Uh, excuse me, but REDS closed a while ago. Great reporting!

  • gir4ff3

    @42494e8616847a40091b727f4ff8bfcd:disqus that’s spoken like someone from carroll gardens.

  • Larryzz

    Yep, sounds familiar, which is why I got the hell out of there after 36 years in the neighborhood–and smell D’Amico’s every day and didn’t think twice about it. Carroll Gardens is now for rich shits and young twerps and vice versa.

  • Andy Paul Brown

    Gentrification isn’t always a good thing, it seems, although estate agents love it!

  • http://evilbloggerlady.blogspot.com/ Evi L. Bloggerlady

    Coffee roasting is one of the best smells there is.  I know Mormons who love roasting coffee smell.  Stop trying to ruin Brooklyn!  

  • Brooklyn Native

    Amazing considering the number of coffee houses that have opened in the neighborhood. Next they will start complaining about the smell of  baking bread from Caputo’s!  

  • http://pardonmeforasking.blogspot.com/ Pardon Me For Asking

    What’s more entitled than a writer  like Drew Grant and a publication like the Observer not giving credit to the blogger who first reported the story.
    Please be courteous enough to include the primary source of the story instead of plundering other people’s hard work. (Gothamist did.)

    Katia Kelly
    Pardon Me For Asking: The Smell Of Roasting Coffee Just Part Of Carroll Gardens’ Charm

  • Ciaobella65

    That is because realtors are bugs

  • Vogelphoto

    Tragic NYC, I was here first, bullshit.
    “Everyone here suuuucks.”
    “This place is soooo lame now.”
    “Bunch of idiots.”
    “Only jerks live here.”
    For real?
    So, some uptight folks complained about a smell, who cares?
    It was obviously not enough people to do anything.
    Stuff like this is happening everywhere, all the time.
    Neighborhoods change, deal with it or move.
    You don’t like change? Move to Brownsville, until then, share.

  • Larryzz

    My neighborhood changed. 
    In the 36 years I lived there it changed a lot. 
    I didn’t mind until recently. 
    So I moved.
    Glad I did.

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