In the heart of Downtown Brooklyn lies a unique center of entertainment and bustle, a neighborhood with a long and rich history laced with interminable construction and celebrity performances. It is a center, as its name indicates. A center of entertainment. A center of growth. And a center of change. This “central” area was one I never knew much about. To me, it was just the location of some concerts and the train station where you can always transfer. But doing this project on the Barclay Center area broadened my knowledge on the area and the rich history it contains. It also taught me how ethnography and observing field sites through all of the senses, in particular smell, can really affect one’s insight into a certain location.
Before doing this project, I had been to the Barclays Center maybe twice. I always knew about the massive stadium and its current technology, but I never knew about the transition it had to get there. The Barclay Center is and has been a construction site for many decades. When I went there to work on this project, the construction was one of the biggest thing that hit me. I wasn’t sure how to observe the area with the sense I had chosen, the sense of smell. But the construction, although more jarring to sight and hearing, gave the air a cement and tar-like tinge that I was really able to pick on. This smell gave me a sense of the mass construction that must have been done over the years in this area to create the enormous stadium of the Barclay Center.
On one of my trips to the Barclay’s Center, it was a busy day. I went to the area midday, around 4:30 pm. It was just a few hours before Justin Beiber was giving a concert there. I assumed that we would miss the brunt of the crowds and commotion if we went earlier. However, I was mistaken; there was a massive line to get tickets, cops were everywhere, and booths were beginning to open up. A strong smell that hit me then was the car exhaust emitted from all the cars sitting in traffic. That smell made me feel the bustle of the area and the constant commotion. Doing the research into the neighborhood made me realize the transition the Barclays Center underwent to become what it is today.
When they found out about the plans to construct the stadium nearly a decade ago, the residents of the neighborhood at the time were none too pleased. Fearing the progressing gentrification, many protested. On the other hand, since the fall of the Flatbush Terminal and the Dodgers’ departure to Los Angeles, Brooklyn was in need of something monumental, something like a mega stadium. Jay Z was instrumental in the process of opening this stadium for the Nets, from 2003 until it opened in 2012. In a documentary, Jay Z recounts, “This was a long, long journey to get here” (Puliam-Moore). But when it finally happened in September 2012 and Jay Z sold out eight shows, the area took on a life of its own.
Since Jay Z’s performancei n 2012, Barclay’s 18,000 seat stadium has become an extremely popular venue for not only the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets but countless popular musical performers and celebrities. But aside from the stadium, the communities encircling the Barclay Center have grown and developed. The Barclay Center is setting a new standard for Brooklyn communities (“Barclays Center draws the crowds to Brooklyn”). “Brooklyn is the borough that time forgot” but “…is now the borough on the make” (Furst). Brooklyn was and is not a very huge tourist attracter. According to the Tribute Business News article, “Brooklyn Comeback Makes it a Place to Stay.”, Brooklyn once had very few hotel rooms for its large population, compare to the many hotel rooms in the much smaller town of Rochester. But now, with new attractions being built up like that of the Barclay’s center, Brooklyn is finally feeling the spotlight. Other projects are imitating the grand construction and are being built up, like the revitalized Coney Island. This transformation, this reformation, of this area in Brooklyn, was something I was able to pick up on and later delve into, just from the sense of smell.
Until I did this ethnography project, I barely knew a thing about the Barclay Center. But now I know about the significance of this distinctive neighborhood in Downtown Brooklyn and the transition it has made to become the attraction that it is today. From Jay Z to Justin Bieber, the Barclay Center represents something –a new tourist attraction, a center of growth and a beginning of a popular Brooklyn. The Barclay Center is a bustling neighborhood inundated with many of the senses. It is a hectic cacophony of sights, sounds and smells. But just focusing in on the sense of smell itself, I noticed how much of the transition of the Barclay Center was represented in the scents in the atmosphere. The smells of cement and tar engulfed me with the construction site that the Barclay Center has been for many years as it is constantly being built up and improved. The smells of pizza dough, halal meat, and fried food hit me with a sense of the excitement and bustle. Doing this project has helped me look below the surface to uncover the richness of the neighborhood. I learned not only to focus in on just the smells of the area, but to picture what the smells represented—the emotions, associations, and the rich history.
Batsheva Ettinger
