Invention of Brownstone Brooklyn by Suleiman Osman (2011)
“Brooklyn’s young white-collar emigres moved there with a sense of zeal. They started block associations, organized street festivals…to foster a sense of community, place, and history” (Osman 6).
“The explorer accidentally found an idyll unsullied by the forces of modernity” (91).
These two quotes portray the initial zeal and appeal that characterized the pioneers of the first stages of gentrification.
Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem (2004)
“White people were returning to Dean Street. A few”(Lethem 5).
“The place was one of a run of glossy new restaurants and boutiques on the old Hispanic strip…impoverished Smith Street had been converted to an upscale playground” (424).
The quotes above characterize the gentrification that was transpiring around protagonist Dylan in the 1990’s. A once old Hispanic strip has been converted to a plush avenue laden with fancy restaurants and boutiques to meet the upscale demands of the new upper class residents in the neighborhood.
Works Cited
Lethem, Jonathan. The Fortress of Solitude. New York: Doubleday, 2004. Print.
Osman, Suleiman. The Invention of Brownstone Brooklyn. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. Print.
