Went to try out Ganso Ramen restaurant, get more interviews, and go to the BAM theater with a friend.

Took the D train to Atlantic Av and then switched to the 3 train. Got off at Hoyt St.

Places visited: Ganso’s Ramen shop and BAM Peter Sharp Jay Building. 

Weather: around the 60’s° F. Windy and the air had a chill to it.

Time: 2:00- 6:30 PM

Went to go and scout out one of the restaurants that popped up when I was researching for the project. The streets were busy with a nice flow of pedestrian traffic. Ganso’s was a little bit challenging to find due to its small store front. Once inside it was somewhat busy but not overly crowded. I noticed that there was a small family sitting by the windows (one dad, three sons) and the rest of the customers in the restaurant were people  of around late 20’s- mid 30’s.

The overall decor of the place was simple and designed with a modern twist to it. And the clientele of Ganso was a mixture of different people. There were young people (probably college students), two men who looked like they were in their early 30’s, and I saw two families come in to enjoy a bowl of ramen. Both of them were of Asian race.

The food was good and my friend and I enjoyed ourselves. As I went to the bathroom that was at the back of the restaurant, I got to see the kitchen through the glass windows that enclosed its space. I was rather impressed by the kitchenware and all of the pots and bowls that were present in the work area. It also looked clean and well managed as I saw that the cooks would always wipe down their stations after they had used it while I was eating. What surprised me was that none of the cooks present were Asian.

After we had paid the bill, we then made our way to the Peter Jay Sharp BAM building to go see a movie at the Rose Cinema. I took the opportunity to go and watch a Japanese animated film that was currently being shown at the Rose Cinema and to take advantage of the student pricing discount after I had learned about on my last visit during one of my interviews. The BAM building was cavernous and empty on the inside as the only people who seemed to be entering in and out of the building were probably actors, musicians, artists, or employees as they had their own entry access cards that they used to swipe at a turnstile by the security desk and by some doors that were at either ends of the building. Since we were early and the ticket box still was not open, I took the opportunity to interview the two security guards who were stationed at the desk in the middle of the gallery (see interview section of the website for the interview itself).

Once we bought the tickets for the movie, we made our way into the cinema (which had just opened their doors) and found the room from where the movie was going to be shown. While I was doing this, I could not help but to notice the cinema. It was unlike any other cinema that I had gone to. First of all, it was more elegantly decorated and the walls had more posters of musical/theatrical performances than actual movie posters. It was also somewhat empty of people (but this could be due to the fact that the cinema had just opened). The theater room was also small and somewhat intimate. The seats were not sectioned off into groups with an aisle down the middle like most theaters do, but all of the chairs were gathered in one section facing the screen. There was also a small stage at the front which I found to be interesting.

Watching the movie at the Rose Cinema at the BAM was a different experience from any other movie theater. Just the venue in it of itself was quite different as it was much more elegantly furnished and decorated than any of the other common movie theaters that one might go to. This gives the area an elevated air of sophistication and class as the Rose Cinema caters not to the public masses and the latest blockbuster trend but to a more refined and selected audience and taste. It made watching the movie a more enjoyable and unique experience that stands out from any other time that I would go out to watch a movie at a movie theater. The way that the viewing rooms of the cinema are designed also gave me the impression that they had other uses other than to view movies on the silver screen. Since there was a stage at the front and of the layout of the seats, I would have to assume that they might hold small gatherings of performances in those rooms that gives it multiple functions and purposes which differs from other movie theaters; giving anyone who visits a wider selection of options of entertainment from which they could choose from.

Since the movie was a Japanese movie with english subtitles, I noticed that there were a couple of Japanese people inside of the theater with their children, which I thought was nice. It showed to me that there was a diversity to the public that one might see in Downtown Brooklyn that I felt was missing from the times that I have visited the field during the project.

Analysis:

• Sight: With the new set of interviews I now saw things in a much more different perspective than before. What I thought was an astonishing feat of the city of New York in transforming the neighborhood into an area of economic boom, I noticed how easily it is for someone to get swept away with all of the glamor and glitz that the new shiny glass and metal buildings present to our eyes. These buildings and the new businesses that were popping up all over the place were actually oppressors that moved their way in and kicked out those who had laid down their roots in Downtown Brooklyn before the rezoning. And it is not surprising to see that these new businesses who had forcefully replaced those that were from the neighborhood were empty in business and patronage because they have no support from those who live in the actual community. All of these new establishments that are popping up have no type of loyal customer base because the people who live in the area are not patrons of these establishments. One reason for this could be because they lack the money to actually use their services and another reason could be because these new businesses do not call the attention or the favor of those who are in the area, thus taking their patronage somewhere else instead of Downtown Brooklyn (which could be a failure that is in part of the rezoning and revitalization of Downtown Brooklyn).
• Taste, smell, and touch: At Ganso Ramen, when I came in I smelled the umami aroma of the Japanese food and of the multiple different types of broth that they must have had prepared. The restaurant was warm and it had a feeling of comfort, despite of the decor that calls for a more minimalistic and cool modern vibe that the hard wood furniture and features brought to the atmosphere of the restaurant that was perhaps used in hopes to attract and appeal to the younger audience and patrons that would probably frequent the establishment. The food was well to my liking although it was not something that was rather novel. The broth was well seasoned and not overly salty and oily, which I appreciated. The noodles were chewy and had a nice bite to them texture wise. All of this can mean, in my perspective, that the food was very well cooked to the standards as to how it might be traditionally prepared in Japanese cuisine as they tend to not go overboard with one particular flavor/aspect of their food but to find a certain balance between the different taste buds.
  • Touch: Since it is quite hard to find things from which to touch, one thing that I was told that I could do is feel how the buildings felt. All throughout the neighborhood, it is quite noticeable the slow changes that are occurring with the building of new and modern buildings with the passage of time. There is a recurring theme throughout these buildings in which the newer ones were mostly (if not the majority) made up of steel and glass materials while the older buildings were made up of more substantial materials like stone, brick, and concrete. This obviously gives their respective buildings a different type of texture to their composition. The newer ones obviously had the reflective surfaces from which can be quite blinding with the bright sunlight reflecting off its smooth and cool surfaces. A lot of the times, due to their modern and new appearance, I was reluctant to touch it but whenever I did, a dusty residue would come off from their surfaces on my fingers, reflecting the amount of pollution that is present within its surroundings. The older buildings, although made up of materials that are rougher in comparison to the modern materials used in the newer buildings, have a worn out texture and feel to them, in some cases they were almost a velvety smooth feeling to the stone when one runs their hands over its surface. This can be attributed to the passage of time and of the elements and of the material’s frequent usage by those of the public.
• Audio: All throughout my time researching the project and going to the neighborhood, one thing that has struck me as kinda odd was the prevalence and lack of diversity in the languages that I would hear in the streets. And in the sounds that I would hear in general. The language that I mostly heard while outside was mostly English. Although English might be the official and main language of the US, being in NYC, you get used to hearing a multitude of different accents and languages floating up in the air. This also correlates to what has been told to me that the new population who is moving into the neighborhood are predominantly white people who would most likely speak English. Although I have heard people talk in Spanish while in Fulton Mall, it is just a rare instance that it comes off as a bit odd when you compare to how often you would hear the English language being used. Could this be because the population of the new Downtown Brooklyn is not as diverse as it once was when it was dominated with African Americans and Hispanics? The notion that the neighborhood is now turning  into a more predominantly white neighborhood does has its basis considering the amount of people who you see around the residential area. So when at the BAM I heard some string of Japanese dialogue, I was immediately curious and peaked at the sound of another different language. This meaning that Downtown Brooklyn might be attracting a variety of people as the government as initially wanted and it has also led me to wonder if there were more people who were not white that lived or frequented the businesses and establishments in Downtown Brooklyn.
• Smell: One thing that truly amazes me is the fact that the area of Downtown Brooklyn does not have an unpleasant odor. Most places have a predominating smell of either trash, smoke (cigarette), rotting food, etc. One down side that one might take away might be the smell of the car pollution and the occasional whiff of the debris that comes from the construction that surrounds the area. These smells are mostly industrial in nature and dusty in feeling; leaving a gray dusting on top of your skin and a tickling sensation to the nose, which can lead to health problems later on in life if one were to be exposed to it for an extended period of time. Other than that, one reason as to why this neighborhood of Brooklyn is fairly pleasant in terms of how intense the unpleasant smells are could be because of the fact that the city government is aware that the area is a tourist/ commercial/ business/ federal area and they might tend to focus a bit more of their resources on keeping the area clean by providing more employees that help maintain the area of Downtown Brooklyn clean (this certainly is plausible to do the sheer frequency of how often one might encounter a sanitation employee walking along the sidewalks with their equipment being diligent of areas where they might need to clean up). Another thing that is interesting of the smells that one might find in Downtown Brooklyn is the different aromas of food that permeate throughout the air and into their surroundings. Just walking along Fulton Mall, one’s nose will pick up the delicious and savory aromas coming from the different restaurants like Shake Shack, Burger King, various pizzerias, Halal food trucks, hot dog carts, and that one cart by the corner of Albee Square that is run by an old man who sells different types of meat. Which goes to show how multicultural and diverse the area is. Not only can this represent how multifaceted the city of New York is but it can also give anyone who is in the area a wide variety of options from where to eat; a rare option that only a few places can truly provide to anyone who visits.