Like so: A few short decades ago, the area above Tribeca ("Hudson Square," said the realtor) was a fucking dump. Now, it's populated by De Niro and Jay-Z and, you know, a plethora of other rich and famous Manhattanites. The city wants to put a garage for garbage trucks on the far West side of the neighborhood. So a group of concerned average citizens including Roger Sterling from Mad Men and various artists—presumably drawn to the neighborhood for its wonderful halo of long-gone industrial grit—are fighting the plan. For the good of everyone.

"We're no Nimbys," said Jana Haimsohn, a performance artist and neighborhood advocate. "Always in our dealings we look at the needs of the broader community."

Did you know that Louisville, Kentucky, has its very own version of the Meatpacking District, called Butchertown? Same story: former butchering district close to downtown that's now "being spruced up with art galleries and fancy shops," according to the Wall Street Journal. Now the Butchertown Neighborhood Association is working to move the last slaughterhouse out of the neighborhood, "Butchertown," with its wonderful halo of long-gone industrial grit.

"It's been an ongoing nuisance for people in the area," says Jonathan Salomon, a 34-year-old Butchertown resident and attorney representing the group. "We don't want to see anybody, especially during these times, put out on the street. But...we have to look at what kind of economic growth is good for the neighborhood."

Look, we're not against these people having jobs. But let's be honest—this neighborhood is not the place for those kinds of people. We're not against the city parking its garbage trucks somewhere—but they don't really fit in with the character of this neighborhood.

This is for the good of everyone. Reversals of gentrification will not be tolerated.
[Pic via]

BPA, a chemical found in like every plastic thing ever made and which you guzzle in your body every time you eat or drink from a plastic container, has been found to make men much exposed to high amounts of it much more likely to suffer erectile dysfunction.

So all those people with their fancy Sigg water bottles were right! Except Sigg water bottles were also full of BPA up until a year ago. Still, look for a dude driving a Volvo with an attached bike rack if you want a good, hard penis.
[Pic: Flickr]

No, seriously. Here's how it works: inexperienced campers shell out cash for a big, yellow box. Let's say they go camping, aaaaaand, hm, one example: a bear goes into a homicidal rage and starts after them up a tree. They get caught up in the tree, with the bear, who is trying to kill them. They are just out of reach of the bear, they've all pissed themselves, and they're more scared than they've ever been in their lives. They hit the "I'd rather not be bear food" magical button—also known as a "personal locator beacon"—and voila: emergency authorities show up to say GO AWAY, BEAR and get their people-friends out of trouble, but not before the bear can sing a sad goodbye song. Everyone is happy, and safe, and the system works like it's supposed to, even if the system only works for people who can afford it. Fair enough! That, I guess, is natural selection. Rich Yuppies who stomped on teh poors survive bear attacks and get songs sung to them because that's where they made it in life. Poor people become bear food. Shit happens.

But let's say some of these people are kinda stupid. Or even: sissies. And maybe they happen to mistake an "inconvenience" for an "emergency." In fact, ask yourself this: What happens when some of these people with too much time and/or money on their hands decided that they were smart enough to go to some of the more remote locations in nature, without guidance, making these expeditions even more dangerous? You know the answer: they push the button! But even in this situation, how is natural selection failing us?

Observe:

Last month two men and their teenage sons tackled one of the world's most unforgiving summertime hikes: the Grand Canyon's parched and searing Royal Arch Loop. Along with bedrolls and freeze-dried food, the inexperienced backpackers carried a personal locator beacon - just in case.

In the span of three days, the group pushed the panic button three times, mobilizing helicopters for dangerous, lifesaving rescues inside the steep canyon walls.

What was that emergency? The water they had found to quench their thirst "tasted salty."

Like the bitter, acidic feeling in the back of my mouth. Which might be the unique taste of spinal fluid. Somewhere, that In The Wild kid is hitting his head over and over on a very hard surface.

For those who don't know what the Park Slope Co-op is: basically, you work three hours a week month to shop at an organic, Whole Foods-lite grocery story at cheaper prices. A perfect example of the culture there is front and center on their website right now:

They are not boycotting Israeli products, you guys. The Haifa Hummus will live to be kissed by another piece of soft, silky Palestinian Pita for one more day. The Park Slope Co-op: doing what they can to tolerate all cultures, especially, well, Brooklyn's (read: assholes). Without further ado, we present the best of "Flunking Out at the Food Co-op."

• The first sentence: "I bounded off the Q train in Brooklyn one night last winter and headed to Union Street, past the yogurt shop and the firehouse, to do some grocery shopping." Only people who live in Park Slope "bound" off their trains. Most people "trudge" or "shuffle" or maybe even "shove their way out" from the imprisonment of a Q-train. You bound? Also, yogurt shops.
  
  
• The writer gets suspended from her Food Co-op. Obvious enough, but yes: complete and utter white whine, of the worst kind.
  
  
• The guy who castigates her does it loudly and without remorse, so others can hear. "Some entrance workers speak softly, but not this one. Worse, there were a dozen other shoppers within earshot." Only a pious nu-Brooklyn asshole would care enough to embarrass someone for getting suspended from a food Co-op. And only a Brooklynite would be embarrassed at this kind of thing, or worry about word getting out.
  
  
• But of course, it's in the Times.
  
  
• The alternative meal of the dejected? It should be vegetarian-friendly and ethnic. "A takeout burrito. But no amount of mushrooms and spinach could diminish my shame and guilt."
  
  
• Mention of the Craigslist "Missed Connections" that take place within the Co-Op's confines.

  "I'm seeking the olive packaging boy that was laughing at my jokes and wearing plaid pants," said a Craigslist "Missed Connections" item last winter. "I was wearing the leopard print glasses and my responsibilities included: Mozzarella whole milk, part skim and plain goat cheese."

  
  

• The "organic" food culture that's such a revenue generator for smart people like the CEO of Whole Foods that's more than just a capitalistic endeavor for others, who make it a religion. Observe: "Like every other aspect of the much-loved and much-hated co-op, the topic of members in trouble draws a bushel of opinions. An organic bushel, of course."
  
  
• Obnoxious political correctness in the face of common sense: "At one point, the job was amended to prohibit bag checks for fear of racial profiling - a change that worked out well for me since I would never dream of asking members to open their backpacks."
  
  
• She's got an MFA in poetry. No bold tags needed.
  
  
• "In June 2008, I married a trim man with dark curls, a rabbi for a progressive congregation in the West Village, and embarked on a chapter of togetherness and bliss." Skinny, Jewish, a Rabbi, a Rabbi for a "Progressive" Congregation, a Rabbi for a "Progressive" Congregation in the West Village: a blessed union of BoBo perfection.
  
  
• You're still living next to the people you once slept with, forever, and ever, and ever: "and besides, the aisles were filled with too many ex-boyfriends browsing the organic okra..."
  
  
• More pompous, pious self-righteousness about community idealism:

  "My friend Sarah Stein Greenberg, a member until she moved to California in 2005, is the only person I know with a flawless co-op work record. In her view, people like us lack commitment. They join the co-op because it's "healthy or trendy," she said, but they are not fully committed to its greater values. "The bigger community element," she declared, "is really fundamental."

  
  

• Sigh. Nonchalant ignorance and insensitivity of anybody suffering legitimately difficult economic hardships: "I watched a woman hold her forehead, her children clinging to her skirt, while a worker at the register called out over the intercom, "Does anyone know how to process food stamps?"
  
  
• "Alana Joblin Ain is a writer and an adjunct instructor at Hunter College, where she received an M.F.A. in poetry. "

If you're in Central Park right now, those things you felt land on you were bits of my head exploding across the East River. There's so much more here. Do enjoy. Please: any more cliches you find, throw in the comments. They will be savored, and cooked over an organic, fair-trade Nepalese leek reduction and some sulfate-free prunes, and served on fourteen-grain beer bread grown on the side of the Gowanus Canal.

You are simply not a real foodie yuppie New York City news outlet right at this moment in the gustatory zeitgest if you are not writing articles about fried chicken. Did you think that fried chicken was just chicken, fried, a food that poor people eat? Think again! It is chicken, fried—a food that rich people eat, now!

New York magazine had a whole motherfucking six-part "guide to the great fried-chicken craze of 2009" last week. You thought the best fried chicken was at Popeye's in a combo meal? Nope, it's at Locanda Verde in the $41 prix fixe. Duh.

The New York Times has a whole Dining section feature on fried chicken today. You thought that the best fried chicken in NYC has probably always been at storefronts in Harlem and some little shack in backstreet fucking Flatbush? Wrong, it's in the East Village, Tribeca, and Carroll Gardens. In case you didn't know, white, non-Southern people have now mastered fried chicken, and it's better than ever. Thanks, New York Times.

Oh Momofuku's fried chicken was maybe created by an Asian guy, but it still costs $100. So it gets a pass.

Thanks to yuppie foodies and their media partners here in New York City , fried chicken is now something good to eat. For the first time ever!

It's not like you just have children and then don't have to worry about your fitness routine and whether the changes induced in it by parenthood would be good fodder for any fake trend stories in the NYT. You do have to worry about such things! You think jogging while pushing a stroller is just as easy as regular jogging, except while pushing a stroller? The paper of record has like a thousand words of filler that say you're wrong:

Ms. Arnold of Santa Fe joked that strollers should come with a placard, warning starry-eyed parents of what an intense workout they provide.

She's absolutely right. Strollers should come with a placard warning starry-eyed parents of what an intense workout they provide. "WARNING," this placard would say, in bold letters. "This stroller provides an intense workout."

But one placard won't be enough to resolve all of the serious fitness issues facing the adult New York Times-reading population. Allow us to present to you Michelle Slatalla's newest column detailing her adventures as a Wife/Mother/Worker/Spy. In this episode: Michelle likes to play tennis at the tennis club but she hurt her wrist and now she has to learn to serve with her other hand and despite her extensive work with Rafael the club tennis pro she's hesitant about returning to playing tennis competitively at the tennis club but her entire tennis team is putting mad peer pressure on her to come back to playing tennis until one day, Michelle reports, "She had put me in the lineup! OMG, OMG, OMG!"

She plays okay. The point is, the reader demographics of the New York Times are fucking terrifying.
[Pic via]

I mean christ, New York's bohos did not all move en masse to Cobble Hill and Boerum Hill just to see those communities overrun with generic chain store crapola. They're starting their very own community-based chains. One of which is called "Area," just to highlight the "Ripped from the pages of The Onion" aspect of this phenomenon. The following grassroots, homegrown, neighborhood businesses are mentioned in the NYT story on this trend:

"Over here, it is a day spa. Over there, a children's clothing shop. Down a ways, a toy store...a masseuse turned entrepreneur...a yoga studio...Patois, a bistro...a quirky mix of hangouts...two restaurants in Carroll Gardens, Frankies Spuntino and Prime Meats, and a coffeehouse, Cafe Pedlar...cheese-and-charcuterie store Stinky Bklyn, a wine bar, the JakeWalk, and a wine shop, Smith & Vine...the home furnishings shop Environment 337...a boutique, Retrospect...the bistro Provence en Boite and a nearby bed-and-breakfast, Les Sudistes...Sweet Melissa bakery-restaurants...children's clothing shops in Brooklyn Heights, Park Slope and Williamsburg...Delightful Coffee Shop in Red Hook...the Smith Street brewpub Bar Great Harry...a beer garden, Mission Dolores."

Lest Smith Street get a Rite Aid or some shit.
[Pic: Flickr]

They're raising prices on macchiatos and frappucinos and the other fancy drinks of the sort that mediocre comedians like to mock in exaggerated tones, adding, "What does that even mean?"

Conversely, the "Just a regular coffee" drinks of the sort that mediocre comedians pine for as a counterpoint to the fancy newfangled drinks will see their prices go down.

So the yuppies willing to pay more for fancy coffee are now subsidizing the poors, who will get their basic swill cheaper. Starbucks and Barack Obama should probably meet in some sort of socialism summit?
[Pic via]

Everybody knows H&H Bagels. It is the most famous bagel store in New York. It is a landmark of the Upper West Side, as much as people who seem to have stepped off the set of Seinfeld are. Well, it's closed now because of nonpayment of taxes.

Sure, it may reopen. But ask yourself: are you to blame? The answer is yes. The bagel store failed because you failed to support local business sufficiently. Organic dairies are failing because you failed to purchase enough maple-flavored yogurt at the farmer's market. The book industry is failing because you failed to pull out your wallet and support the genius of, say, Keith Gessen. Have fun with your Dunkin Donuts bagels and bodega milk and John Grisham novels, America. It's what you deserve. You people are terrible yuppies.

Also the New York Times has published an entire "news" story today revealing that some people who have gotten pay cuts are now buying less stuff, as a result. Just to make you mad.

[Pic by Cemile Kavountzis]

The thing is that both of these Starbucks were always fucking packed. Packed with the same people who would always be like "Starbucks right next to another Starbucks, WTF, they're taking over, corporate bullshit, etc." People like us! But those fucking Starbucks just kept on making money, money, money.

Or so one would think! But now the big ass location on Astor and Third Ave. is closing down. We knew SBUX was having trouble, but this—this is the end of the world as we know it. If you lived in New York during the NEW GILDED AGE of the mid-to-late 00's, you'll always remember those two Starbucks, a mere block away from each other, standing astride the East Village like living "Fuck You"'s to anyone nostalgic for the heroin and Bob Dylan and Basquiat and all that other romantic shit. Starbucks, baby. Suck my latte. Now there's only one Astor Place location left, dangling all alone, like Lance Armstrong's last testicle.

Starbucks, you bastard. You are Cobra Commander to our G.I. Joe. It wasn't your presence that destroyed our rage against the machine. It's your absence. What do we hate now? Coldstone?
[Eater]

This email went out to the Park Slope Parents Messageboard, the place where the community is kept safe:

Dogs IN Tot Lot??!!!
Posted by: "bklynfam" jewelsluv@gmail.com bklynfam
Sat Apr 18, 2009 5:13 pm (PDT)

Dear Parents,

I am very upset that so many parents violate park rules and bring their dogs INTO the Tot Lot. For example today I was there for just 2 hours and three people brought their dogs. One of those parents even let their dog OFF LEASH. I am livid.

I don't care how cute, or small your dog is, or if you are holding it on a tight leash. Keep your dog out of the playground away and from MY child and all the children!! And when I say something to you about your dog, don't give me an attitude. You are breaking the rules and being totally arrogant and irresponsible. Leave your dog at home like I do.

Rules are rules for a reason. The fact is that dogs are animals and can turn mean for any reason; another kid or parent gets too close it it's owner or child, a child pets it too hard, or pulls a tail or ear, OR as toddlers do, FALL, may fall on a dog or near it and scare it. BITE.

Call To Action: Write a complaint e-mail to the Prospect Parks department asking for clearer, more prominent sign that clearly state NO PETS. Send you e-mail to info@propectpark.org . And say something to people who bring dogs. Tell them it is not allowed. If they don't leave or give you s++t, then call the Parks Enforcement Patrol at 718-437-1350 (put this number in your cell phone).

Thanks,
Juliette- dog owner to a dog that stays home, and mom to a toddler that betta' not get bit by someone's dog...

...OR ELSE, bitches. Or else.

The "Park Slope Parents" fight is ostensibly about a plan by the listserv moderators to charge the parents $25 to remain on the list. In reality, it's just like all of Park Slope's other epic battles: a contest to see who can be the most shrill and sanctimonious.

Somehow, the moderators continue to "win" this entitled bitchfest. They could have, for example, just let list participant "Joanna's" epic weekend diatribe speak for itself.

Declaring she was done "self-censor[ing],", the mother denounced "self-righteous... earth-destroying" Easter-egg hunt rules, the coverup of a video camera theft (we think?), the environmental slander of kitchen scraps (the methane can be contained!) and, best of all, some jerk-ass French brat who ruined rock climbing in the park for EVERYONE.

Instead of just letting this very entertaining message go out to the list, the moderators decided to block it, on the grounds that Joanna's "heart of hearts" would have blocked it, too. (That's totally our new moderating standard on Gawker, by the way.)

If any other Park Slopers have an urgent rant they need to get past the jackbooted censors at PSP, just send it our way. We'll publish it, provided it is at least this awesome.

Joanna's message is below, followed by her back-and-forth with the moderator.

(Top image via)

Some lady's plan to charge people $25 for access to their precious precious listserv of yuppie commiseration may have a fatal flaw: some dude could just start another listserv. It's crazy enough to work!

One enterprising Brooklyn dad — miffed at plans to charge members of the popular Web site "Park Slope Parents" an annual fee — created a competing online group and quickly signed up 15 members.

Craig Bromberg, a father of twin boys, said it took him only 10 minutes to get the user group "Park Slope Kids and Parents" online.

By god we look forward to a long and acrimonious relationship between these two competing messageboards of doom. "'I, for one, expected better of Park Slope Parents,' fumed one poster, who signed herself as 'Anna, mama to Alice, 15 months.'" Fucking forget it, Anna mama to Alice. This shit will get ugly.

Meanwhile, the hot topic of conversation on Williamsboard: "so i just found out a friend of mine took this girl's virginity using one of them NYC condoms last week."
[Pic via]

A few years ago, a huge internet war broke out on that very same forum when someone had the audacity to write that they'd found a "boy's hat," clearly a vicious assault on the gender-neutral safe space that was Park Slope. You can read all the emails from that epic philosophical battle here, if you're unclear on why Park Slope Parents are one of the worst cultural subgroups this side of the Minutemen.

Caught up? Okay. On to the new issue which threatens to tear the very fabric of the Park Slope Parents online community into two gender-unequal parts: it seems that the "moderators" of the group want to charge its 13,000(!) members a $25 fee to continue posting. They work hard and they want what's coming to them, okay? They've posted an incredibly lengthy FAQ to the outraged members describing why, exactly, they deserve the cash. (Idea: write shorter FAQs, feel less overworked!). Some highlights of this battle for the soul of the proletariat:

We'd like to thank the members of Park Slope Parents for their support, patience, and tough questions during this time of transition. One of the things that Park Slope Parents has been known for is our ability to disagree without name-calling and personal attacks. Many of you have been taken aback by the news of the membership fee. Many of you are angry and would imagine from the posts that some of you feel hurt as well. For that we are sorry, since as fellow parents (and in many cases friends) our desire is to be ever-supportive of each other.

Heh!

—-How is the money going to be spent?—-

The primary use of the money we raise through membership fees will be used to pay salaries for the current Park Slope Parents staff (Susan Fox and Rachel Maurer as well as other staff whom we hope will be hired), and to pay for the website fees and for costs associated with in-person events. Here's just a sampling of what these staff do:

* Research and post information and events useful to our members
* Find, train and manage moderators on membership approvals, message
approvals, questionable posts, nanny posts, advertisements and the like.
* Research and write surveys, program the survey, send requests and
follow ups to members, clean data, crunch data (solicit and manage
volunteers to help) create toplines and presentations of surveys (e.g.,
Nanny Survey, PSP feedback surveys)
* Write, collect, and convert online survey reviews to the website
(e.g., daycare reviews, camp reviews)
* Read and field ideas about possible PSP events (e.g., seminars,
book signings, Mommy and me exercise classes, etc)
* Address concerns from members about questionable ethics related to
PSP (e.g., bartering for PSP reviews, trolling for business, bad nanny
posts, prosletizing in the park)
* Answer questions from members about potential spammers/trollers,
research the company, follow up with the business, email Constant
Contact and other direct marketing corporations about abuse and follow
up until we reach a resolution
* Field the accuracy of messages posted to the list which may be
inaccurate
* Find, hire and manage computer consultants who update PSP website
software. Research changes to software and decide if upgrades are
needed.
* Review online community software and vet emails from Yahoo! groups
competitors
* Receive and answer emails from local organizations and businesses
about posts on Park Slope Parents (e.g, Methodist Hospital, CB6,
Brooklyn Children's Museum, businesses which receive negative reviews,
etc.)
* Manage non-moderator volunteers (Who offer to compile information
for the PSP Website, offer to help organize events, etc.)
* Create new content from Yahoo groups' summaries and create
links on the website and inform group of addition
* Organize, find volunteers, set up, attend, and follow-up after PSP
events (Park Slope Parents Concerts, Harvest Festival, Spring Fling,
Celebrate Brooklyn concerts)
* Create new categories of content for recommendations section when
needed

Sounds fucking horrible. I should warn you that that's just a portion of Question #1 from this 16-question FAQ, which features its own table of contents. Let's just do one more, shall we?

—-Online communities should be free. It's the members that make it what it
is. Why are you charging for something that someone else will provide
for free?—-

Yes, the Internet is "free" in the sense that it's an open worldwide network of networks. Yahoo! groups does not charge for groups and people can start another Yahoo! Group easily. There are many other groups (Urban Baby, Moms Connect, etc.) which you can join. The underlying goal of many of these other groups, however, is to sell your eyeballs, find ways to market to you, get you to click on their ads or buy their products so they can repeat this cycle. Website stickiness and use is the goal, not community building.

We have never tried to keep people from starting another list and we encourage people through "other online groups" reminders and website page that there are many other groups in other communities to join. People who oppose the new fee are welcome to start a new group and run that list in any way that they see fit.

Park Slope Parents is full of amazingly talented, educated, wonderful people who have, over these past 6 1/2 years, contributed a wealth of experience and support to the group. We thank each and every Park Slope Parents member, past and present, for their contributions and hope that this new development will not in any way decrease the support or feelings of camaraderie you feel to other parents.

However, the work that goes into maintaining is not 'free' if the group wants to maintain an online community of this size with a high level of civility and integrity, free of spam and too much commercialization. Clearly the organizers have made the list look like it runs itself, which is both a compliment and a barrier the acceptance of this new fee. Park Slope Parents has the character it does specifically because it is both carefully maintained and informed by a sense of responsibility to the community and the other members of the list. As Park Slope Parents grew, so did the behind the-scenes work created by that growth, including (for example): anonymous post protocols, moderation of
conversations to avoid "flame wars"; mindfulness of the impact discussions can have on local businesses and individuals; soliciting and maintaining commercial posts; posting events for schools and non-profits, planning community events, and oversight of caregiver listings.

Someone likened Park Slope Parents to a town square where people can freely converge and discuss issues. But even town squares need maintenance. The cracks in the sidewalk need to be fixed, the advertising flyers people leave need to be cleaned up, and if a riot breaks out, there need to be people who manage the situation so it doesn't cause permanent damage to the community.

... Someone else likened Park Slope Parents to a town square where witches are burnt alive. The pyre has been lit, my friends. This FAQ alone certainly represents $325K worth of work, but no matter; Park Slope mommies are loading their shotguns. The end of this will not be pretty. Hipster kickballers: this is your future.
[Pic via]

It's true, according to the vice president of Colombia!

"Santos said many middle-class Britons who used cocaine were unaware of its environmental impact. 'For somebody who drives a hybrid, who recycles, who is worried about global warming - to tell him that that night of partying will destroy 4m square of rainforest might lead him to make another decision.'"

So stop it, all of Hollywood! [Guardian]

[The key: Purplish-pink for traditional strongholds of the rich that will remain unscathed. Red for core neighborhoods that are probably too gentrified now to roll back significantly. Pink for marginal hoods, where a recession could send gentrifiers fleeing. And grey for wilderness neighborhoods, where yuppies would fear to tread after The Poors and other non-glamorous types take them back for good.]

[Map by Steven Dressler]

"our building had its first pool party this weekend and i thought you would enjoy. the disastrous combo of hedge fund guys, gay guys, and hipsters caused massive combustion resulting in the cops coming, fdny as well, the roof trashed, drugs, booze everywhere and some random people shitting in our gym. i stopped by for a couple hours and saw the disaster in the making! i'm sure you'll read about it in curbed soon. it was one of those 'only in ny' moments."

This would never happen in Topeka.

[Pic via Curbed]

Slope-bashing hit the big time last February, when The New York Times’ David Brooks pegged the ’hood as ground zero of the “hipster parent moment.” He wrote: “Can we please see the end of those Park Slope alternative Stepford Moms in their black-on-black maternity tunics who turn their babies into fashion-forward, anticorporate indie-infants in order to stay one step ahead of the cool police?”

Some of this sentiment, to be sure, springs from the area’s transformation in recent years: Trendy boutiques and bars have replaced bodegas on Fifth Avenue; and the neighborhood’s nickname has gone from nice, crunchy “Dyke Slope” to crowded, congested “No Park Slope.” According to a recent study, nearly half the drivers cruising at any given time are searching for a parking spot.

At least to non-locals (such as Brooks, who doesn’t realize that Williamsburg is actually where the “hipsters” are), the Slope seems to represent all that is reprehensible about gentrified New York and modern urban parenting. “Non–New Yorkers think of it disparagingly as a hipster alterna-playground, and Manhattanites think of it as a sanctimonious PC stroller derby, like one big suburban PTA meeting stuck in a food co-op,” says novelist Steven Johnson, a longtime Sloper who jokes on his blog that “all writers with young children in NYC are legally required to live” there. “To the outside world, it’s too cool for its own good, and inside New York, it’s not cool enough.”

Even many residents maintain a love-hate relationship with their nabe. Graphic designer and community organizer Aaron Brashear says that his family shops everywhere but jam-packed Seventh Avenue. “We will not walk there because of the stroller brigades,” he says. Slope psychotherapist Peter Loffredo has sworn off the kid-crammed Barnes & Noble, Starbucks and both Tea Lounges, and not because he doesn’t like the coffee. “They’re overrun pseudo Romper Rooms,” he says. [TONY] [photo: Ben Goldstein]

[via WSJ]