The Times, of “I’m not trying to start shit” journalism, wrote about the McKibbin lofts in East Williamsburg yesterday, warehouses at 248 and 255 McKibbin Street, inhabited by around 300 people each. For $375 a month/person (if you chose to share “a four-by-six cubby”) or $530 to 800 a month (for a “cubby” of your very own), “artistically”-inclined twenty somethings get to rest their heads in spaces that one resident generously described as looking “more like doghouses than rooms”, and another described as one big “public bathroom,” where there’s zero privacy and music blaring at all hours of the night. Other amenities include bedbugs, having your shit stolen, and being judged for watching TV, which is too commercial and inhibits the creative flow. Though most people love it at first (how could they not?), some say that after a while, the being woken up by the band practicing at 3 am, and the being mugged, and the having a 40 thrown at your head start to get old. But! It could be so much worse. According to poet Eirehan Failte:
“Even when it’s really loud, it’s still better than some terrible stock-trading roommate listening to Fox in the next room.”
Are you people going to take that? The insinuation that YOU WATCH FOX?
Young Artists Find a Private Space, Only Without the Privacy [NYT]
Personally, this does sound preferable to my hedge fund analyst roommate who plays Guitar Hero III until 2 in the morning.
who gives a %^&* about hipsters?
Is the target reader here analysts? Who has roommates?
i concur, these flight of the concord wannabe’s don’t make any positive contributions to society, they conform to their non-conformity, and frankly, it makes me sick
@12:59– probably anyone under the age of 26
I do.
On a first year associate’s base salary, I don’t feel comfortable spending as much as it would cost to get a nice 1 BR.
Instead, I split the costs of a very nice 2 BR with a good friend
Ohmygod this shit is too good! Homeboy doesn’t have a clue. Cavuto is totally one with the hipsters — um, no screen shots of his feet, further proving his affinity with all of Billyburg as he covers the converse with galoshes whilst caressing the hearts of corporate amerikkkana. I once saw him doing pull-ups on the L-train. True story.
This site is getting boring. Dull, infrequent content…and posts that take themselves too seriously.
how does this post take itself too seriously, 1:20?
Only hipster asshats would decided that paying to live in an NY recreation of the Panamanian hellhole from last season’s Prison Break was some sort of avantgarde statement.
not this particular post. just in general.
and yet, you still not only read it, but comment multiple times a day.
Holy crap? This place is real? I met some dirty hipsters when I was traveling in Australia and I found out they were from NY and I asked where they lived. The response “Nowhere in particular. Sometimes this warehouse in Brooklyn” and they described this place. Wow.
Bess how’d you miss the insane drug/alcohol-fueled sex/party/orgy action that must go down @ this place? Obviously a double-bag type joint, but regardless I’m sure its there for anyone who wants it.
Just saying (used without permission)
are you assuming that all “guest” posts are the same person?
Where do you get off telling ME that I take MY posts “too seriously”. Like you’ve ever had your letter to the Times published or something. Ha.
~The Guy Who Takes HIS Posts Seriously
@ analyst– what makes you think she missed it? the point was to paint a bleak picture, not a fun one, and say it’s still better than living with the financiers who populate this site.
it the choice is between a) dirty-filthy hippy wannabes or b) wall streeters .. that’s a tough call .. have to say
What do you get paid for selling plasma these days anyway?
Fox News announced the other day that, indeed, Charleton Heston’s rifle had to be pried away from his “cold, gray hands”.
@ 1:24:
It insists upon itself.
Congratulations to 1:41 for the most retarded comment of the day.
Right, because living with a roomate who can actually pay the rent is FAR worse than living with vagrant hipsters. Great point, thanks for playing!
anal_yst: YOU missed the point. i was saying that the “insane drug/alcohol-fueled sex/party/orgy action” wasn’t mentioned because that would make the warehouse sound good.
Sad article and hardly a good advertisement for the creative life in New York. Frankly, I think earlier generations of artists in NYC were similarly short of cash but lived in much better housing conditions.
Young artists are never going to want to live among financiers. They thrive on the ideas, theories, and creative energies of one another. When they have children and are sick of the bed-bugs, break-ins, cage-like sleeping areas, and threatening neigborhood, a leafy affordable middle-class neighborhood will look as good to them as to anyone else. The more successful will finally make it to Soho. At this point in their lives, they’ll be happy to have financiers as neighbors, as long as they follow the rules of the co-op.
Wait a minute!! Are saying that the “insane drug/alcohol-fueled sex/party/orgy action” comment was NOT referencing members of the financial community??
~The Forehead Slapper
I hate to steal 1-2 and Anal_yst’s favorite phrase…(really, I do) but this just a classic example of cognitive dissonance.
Also can someone tell me what exactly it is that bedbugs do? The Times is legit obsessed with bedbugs, today they had an article saying some guy saw bedbugs on a seat in the subway. Should I be freaked out or something?
Thanks for that. I’m never gonna sit down on the subway again.
Girl – I think bedbugs bite and are in general just disgusting but I don’t think they are hazardous or anything. Just absolutely gross.
@ 1:01pm – Spot on. These hipsters think they are so fucking cool because they shun money, running water, and real jobs when really they are just lazy bums that found being a “hipster” as a cool alternative to doing anything with their lives. Losers.
@girl: bedbugs are an increasingly becoming an issue in this town. they will bite you and make you very uncomfortable.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/15/realestate/15cov.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=bedbugs&st=nyt&oref=slogin
a girl I know on the UES said a woman in her building had them. she lives in a nice doorman building (the kind where daddy pays the mortgage/rent). she claims that her apt was okay, but I definitely wasn’t going to check it out.
if you travel with the unwashed masses, stand, don’t sit and don’t even think of touching anything (best to lean against the doors). and if you’re going to live with hipsters in brooklyn, I hope they fumigate that place weekly. at least finance guys will pay for a housekeeper…
how was the link to this not posted?
chad
Thanks blonde banker.
2:18, I find that on the rare occasions I do sit, the only 2 obese people in the entirety of nyc somehow find the seats on either side of me. So much worse than a bite in the ass, imo.
@ Cluzo, you officially owe me one for augmenting my already exhisting insomnia. Meanie.
@ 2:06
guess I misinterpreted your (sarcastic?) post then. struck me you were yet another finance-hater who meandered onto this site from Jezebel/Gawker/whatever other sites hipster-types read. My bad brosef.
“Girl” has never heard this?
Good night, sleep tight,
Don’t let the bedbugs bite.
Where did she grow up?
I’m an alien diablo, get over it.
I have to say diablo, growing up I always thought that was a myth. Not until I moved here did I realize people really had begbugs. Or roaches. Ick.
@girl: I heard filomenia was starting a new italian restaurant. I hear the pasta is quite tasty and good for your insomnia. if it’s okay with 1-2, I’ll buy you a meal to repay you for my indiscretions ( ;
@blndebnker: you should go to texas some time, they actually have flying cockroaches down there – talk about scary!
Roaches??? Haven’t seen one in years. Those little plastic things that don’t kill but instead prevent them from reproducing have really worked wonders.
@ Investor – Pretty much cemented the fact that I’m now not ever going to Texas. So much for spring break at Lake Havasu.
they’re probably just jealous of Cody’s hair.
@blndbnker – lake havasu is in az! c’mon now! as for tx and roaches, don’t get it twisted. I’m not saying they are everywhere – just bigger. not to mention, when was the last time you walked down a street in manhattan at night? plenty of little critters running from one chinese food restaurant to the next…
ewwww seriously this is the stuff of my nightmares! Enough Cluzo! Now you owe me a penna and enough vodka on the side to erase the memory of this thread. 1-2 says he’s totes cool with it hah
@Investor – I swore it was in TX. I’m blonde for a reason…
Way to use “don’t get it twisted” btw. I was just humming that song. And I know about the street roaches. One ran across my foot once. It was so big, it could give me dog a run for her money. And to top it off it was the first time I’d ever seen a roach in real life. My life almost ended.
uhh blondey i think he meant Rats and the like…
uhhh girl I would classify roaches as critters. I would have preferred a rat to a roach anyway. Again, ick.
Flying roaches are called palmetto bugs in FL.
Maria Bartiromo is getting increasingly frog-looking. Can she go away soon?
@3:41pm
Where in FL are there flying roaches?
@3:48pm
I mostly saw them around South Florida.
@3:57 – no, those were just hovering grandmothers.
@golden girl – hahaha cute.
Everglades mosquitos are deadly, large and powerful. Once got stuck in traffic between Cross Key and Key Largo. Made the mistake of getting out of the car. Rushed back inside and those pest were hitting the car windows trying to break in. They almost did.
Diablo are you serious? That’s like out of Jumanji. Creepy.
@ Blindbinker. – No, the ones living there are the ones with Middle class parents that don’t have to or don’t want to help pay the hipster’s rents. They all believe they can be artists because of the self-esteem movement and it’s way more fun (and self-esteemey) to make art than do math.
The hipsters in my building (I live in a very nice East Village Co-op) have wealthy parents who all bought them their apartments. Cash.
for the record:
a) critters in general – roaches, junebugs ect.
b) critters in subway – rat/cats aka vermin
c) girl: you’re on
d) blndbnker: we forgive you for being blonde.
Always funny (read: depressing) when hipsters with no discernable income/job/skills/etc live in nicer buildings/neighborhoods than bankers/traders/obsessive slash users/etc
@4:32pm – I hear what you’re saying but still. Get a job and stop whining. I just can’t handle it.
@Investor – Thanks, I appreciate it.
@Anal_yst – Obsessive slash users. Witty.
I’ve lived in Texas and I’ve lived in New York City. The roaches in the subtropical parts of Texas can get huge — they’re known in those areas as “two pounders.” However, the roaches in New York City are worse, because although they’re small, they’re everywhere and have to be constantly beaten back by exterminations that probably aren’t doing the resident humans any good.
@blndebnker..I have a job. That was kinda my point. I’m not whining, just jealous of people who’s parents pay their way even when they’re 35! At 35 you should have a job and pay your way and realize that your “art” is maybe not going to be able to feed you. At some point people’s parents should stop so the kid grows up.
I’ve been working since 15 yrs old, supporting myself. I’m Just jealous of other people who’s parents paved their way. I’m human what can i say?
But not whining. – though I do think the generations before the Gen x had it better in New York. Rent is in the silly numbers here. And people used to be able to get crummy apartments for low rent. .
@9:00pm. Poor parents aren’t going to get rich suddenly. In fact, they’ll probably find the process of aging extremely depleting of whatever resources they do have.
Parents who have money but withhold it from their children aren’t going to get suddenly generous.
Try to get over your envy of others. It’s never going to make restrictions or obstacles easier to take.
Agreed, Gen X does not have an easy time in New York. But neither do ordinary people of any age. Many people in their 40s, 50s and on up feel as squeezed as you do, and unfortunately, more limited in their prospects, and simply leave for more hospitable places. How it was in the past doesn’t do them any good in the here and now.
There are enough old people in New York to keep it from seeming like a complete land of the young, but old people have it the hardest. They have to navigate the subway system which comes with few elevators. Think about it. Haven’t you ever seen an elderly person alone and slowly climbing up a steep flight of subway stairs?
Ask any prosecutor and he or she will tell you that the old are the most frequent prey of street thugs.
How would you like to go out onto unshovelled stoops and sidewalks in the winter and risk injury just to get a loaf of bread at the corner?
And even if they did well while working, times change and what was once an ample amount of savings may become meager. Social security payments are modest at best and Medicare doesn’t pay for hearing aids, bifocals, or dental care.
Try to get some perspective.
@12:44, you sound like a nice caring person. Unusual on DB. I generally come to DB because I like the rudeness.
I am thinking about it…one of my very good friends is old. Lots older than me. He lives in a rent controlled apartment. I’m glad for rent control, because otherwise he couldn’t live in NYC. He’s a retired professor, and didn’t make that much money. I don’t think he ever got tenure, so no pension. Basically lives on social security and whatever savings.
But my other good friend is a republican and he thinks rent control is a scam. Of course he makes more than 1.5 mil.
This city is more and more set up for people who have money.
Of course then there’s the landlord who’s taxes, water and other building costs are going up, and who’s rent payments are not….
I knew a 95 year old guy who lived on the fourth floor of a rent-stabilized building with his wife. The apartment was probably rent-controlled for them. The guy was legally blind, and his wife was suffering from Alzheimer’s. He did all of her care-taking. It was utterly phenomenal to watch him carry on his daily life with courage and dignity.
The rent-controlled apartment was no doubt a financial boon, but the landlord was first an elderly lady who was paranoid and out-of-it, and after she died, her undeserving and ruthless nephew. The super was a brain-damaged Korean vet who was totally ineffective, and worse, would steal from tenants if allowed in an apartment. He himself was so poor that he begged for food from the tenants at the end of every month.
There were many winter days with no heat and hot-water. Repainting, repairs, and extermination were non-existent. The 95 year old guy, in desperation, finally got on good terms with the city’s housing inspectors, and changed life for the better for everyone in the building.
The 95 year old guy finally developed bad enough heart trouble that he had to move in with the couple’s son. The last time I saw him, he was sitting with his chest caved in on a wall in the neighborhood, and I had to help him home. I think the wife went to a nursing home. The nephew managed to destabilize all the apartments in the building, and now charges $2,000+ a month for their very modest apartment.
click replica aaa aaa replica handbags for more detail at my estore
pEKbRl I am so grateful for your article. Will read on…
I think this is a real great article post.Much thanks again. Much obliged.
Very informative blog post.Really looking forward to read more. Awesome.
Very neat blog.Much thanks again. Fantastic.
wow, awesome post. Want more.
I loved your post.Much thanks again. Really Cool.
I appreciate you sharing this blog article.Thanks Again. Great.
Thanks for the post.Really thank you! Want more.
Appreciate you sharing, great article.Really looking forward to read more.
Thank you ever so for you blog post.Really thank you! Fantastic.
Im obliged for the blog.Thanks Again. Fantastic.
Great, thanks for sharing this blog.Much thanks again. Cool.
Im grateful for the blog article.Really looking forward to read more. Cool.
I think this is a real great blog post. Keep writing.
Thanks for sharing, this is a fantastic post.Really looking forward to read more. Awesome.
Really informative article.Thanks Again.
I value the blog post.Much thanks again. Really Cool.
Thank you for your article.Thanks Again. Fantastic.
wow, awesome blog article.Much thanks again.
I truly appreciate this post. Much obliged.
Looking forward to reading more. Great blog.Thanks Again. Will read on…
7pbOTz Im grateful for the blog.Much thanks again. Really Great.
I am so grateful for your blog post.Really thank you! Fantastic.
Thanks-a-mundo for the article post. Really Great.
Really enjoyed this blog article. Really Cool.
Say, you got a nice article post.Thanks Again. Cool.
Very informative post.Really thank you! Great.
Great blog post.Much thanks again.
Great post.Much thanks again. Much obliged.
Very good blog. Cool.
This is one awesome article post.Really thank you! Cool.
I really liked your blog post.Really looking forward to read more.
Im obliged for the post.Really looking forward to read more. Awesome.
GET NIKE NFL ONLINE SHOP INFORMATION PLEASE VISit http://nikenflonline.blogspot.com
I was just seeking this info for some time. After six hours of continuous Googleing, finally I got it in your web site. I wonder what is the lack of Google strategy that don’t rank this type of informative sites in top of the list. Normally the top sites are full of garbage.Please tell me that youre heading to keep this up! Its so superior and so important. I cant wait to read additional from you.
Very good article.Really looking forward to read more. Fantastic.
Hey, thanks for the post.Thanks Again. Great.
Looking forward to reading more. Great blog post. Great.
Thanks a lot for the blog.Really looking forward to read more. Awesome.
Very neat article post.Really looking forward to read more.
Thank you for your article post.Really looking forward to read more. Want more.
You can definitely see your enthusiasm within the paintings you write. The arena hopes for even more passionate writers like you who aren’t afraid to mention how they believe. All the time go after your heart.
Really informative post.Really thank you! Great.
Im thankful for the post.Much thanks again. Really Cool.
Thanks so much for the post.Much thanks again. Want more.
A round of applause for your blog article.Thanks Again. Cool.
Thanks for sharing, this is a fantastic post.Thanks Again. Cool.
Appreciate you sharing, great post.Much thanks again. Much obliged.
Major thanks for the blog.Much thanks again. Fantastic.
A big thank you for your post.Thanks Again. Cool.
Great, thanks for sharing this article post. Will read on…
I really liked your blog article.Thanks Again. Will read on…