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.
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.
Uh, excuse me, but REDS closed a while ago. Great reporting!
@42494e8616847a40091b727f4ff8bfcd:disqus that’s spoken like someone from carroll gardens.
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.
Gentrification isn’t always a good thing, it seems, although estate agents love it!
That is because realtors are bugs
Coffee roasting is one of the best smells there is. I know Mormons who love roasting coffee smell. Stop trying to ruin Brooklyn!
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!
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
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.
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.