It is 11 am on Saturday March 6th 2016 as I am walking down Coney Island Avenue, exploring the neighborhood searching for a storefront survivor to interview. On my walk I pass little kids playing on the sidewalk and presumably their mothers who are fully veiled.  I pass numerous South Asian restaurants, clothing stores, and car workshops. All of these stores display a culture that is very foreign to neighboring streets.  A store that stands out to me is Bahar Masala, a Chinese and Afghani fusion restaurant operated by South Asian owners.  This restaurant itself speaks to the mixing of cultures in America.

I then turn onto Cortelyou Road and after walking less than a block, I feel like I am in a whole new dimension.  The sidewalks no longer have children running around, but instead there is a completely different demographic entering and exiting organic food markets and “edgy” coffee shops.  I pass an Indian restaurant that catches my eye and I decide to go in to see how it compares to the restaurants on Coney Island Avenue.  Inside the restaurant I am greeted with an overpriced menu and fancy atmosphere that lacks the hospitality of the restaurants on Coney Island Avenue.  I continue my walk down Cortelyou Road and see the gentrification consuming the neighborhood.  I can’t help but wonder if this change will creep into Coney Island Avenue anytime soon.

Looking for stores to interview , I walk down Coney Island Avenue passing Foster street and approach a grocery store named Zaitoon.   I approach the owner of Zaitoon for an interview and to my surprise he immediately agrees to give an interview even before I give him all of the details about our research.  Located on 1082 Coney Island Avenue, Zaitoon is a large store with a metallic front.  “Zaitoon” is written out in large green letters across the front of the store making it hard to miss.  Walking into Zaitoon you will always first be greeted by their little tabby cat, who sits by the front door like a guard.  Despite being a large store, it is quite cramped so you would have to walk single file down the aisles.  Every aisle speaks for the assimilation of the Pakistani grocery store as you can find packs of “Chips Ahoy” next to bags of “MasalaChips”, and boxes of “Shaan Masala” next to boxes of “Fusilli Pasta.”  Towards the back of the store, there is an exquisite collection of books in Urdu.  I remember that as a child I would always run to that section to try and read Urdu, my first language that I can speak but not read.  Right next to that section is the butcher who is always working.  Consciously observing Zaitoon for the first time today, I notice how Pakistani culture is mixed with American culture to suit the needs of the neighborhood.

After walking around the store, waiting for the owner to finish his phone call, I start the interview.  The owner, Mohummad Shabbir agrees to the interview and allows us to take pictures of his store.  From Kashmir, Pakistan, Mr. Shabbir moved to New York City in 1997.  Without thinking, I comment that I was born in 1997 which makes him chuckle.  Noticing that he is more comfortable speaking in Urdu, I continue the rest of the interview in Urdu.  Mr.Shabbir was sponsored by his wife who was already living in Brooklyn.  He first worked in a bakery which is still running today.  At this point in the interview a customer walks up to the register where I am conducting the interview and starts asking me about my project.  He then reveals that his store was right across from where Mr. Shabbir worked in Manhattan when he first came to America many years ago. I ask Mr. Shabbir more about his background in business and find out that he has eighteen years of experience and that is why his business partners took him on board for Zaitoon.  Mr. Shabbir’s business partners are also Pakistani-American, but unlike him they were born and raised in the United States.  Mr. Shabbir states that is why they have minimal problems working with NYC regulations.  I ask to interview them as well but they are not there at the time.

Since Mr. Shabbir has been living in Brooklyn for so long, I ask him about how this neighborhood has changed over the years.  He says that it was much more crowded before September 11, 2001, and after that incident many people began to move out.  He also says the demographics are still similar as mostly Pakistani people still live here.  He then mentions that the rents have been going up recently and I ask him why he thinks rents are increasing.  Mr. Shabbir blames the increasing rent on the growing number of people moving into the neighborhood from Manhattan.  I ask Mr. Shabbir how he would describe these people and he says that they are definitely from the upper class.  Seeing slight frustration on his face, I ask Mr. Shabbir how this is affecting his business, and he tells me that it is making things difficult.  I ask if he thinks Zaitoon will be here in the next ten years, to which he replies Inshallah (god willing).  He even hopes that Zaitoon will branch out and open at more locations.  I find out that the building has a Jewish landlord with whom Mr. Shabbir and his partners have very good relations.

Next I ask Mr. Shabbir about the community and the types of customers he usually gets.  He tells me that when he first started working here the customers were “99% Pakistani”, but now he gets a mix of Pakistani, Indian, Bengali, Hispanic, and American customers.  He mentions that he has many old customers from out of state who come back from Boston, Massachusetts, and even Chicago.  I ask him why he thinks they still come back and he says they come back for the good service and good quality.  I thank Mr. Shabbir and he says we are welcome to come back if we have more questions.

Continuing my endeavor, I reach the last South Asian store in the cluster of South Asian stores on Coney Island Avenue.  I’ve travelled all the way from Cortelyou Road to Avenue H.  On the corner of Avenue H and Coney Island Avenue is located Sweetness, a Pakistani restaurant.  The store is quite large and has a bright orange sign.  A couple of things set Sweetness apart from the other South Asian restaurants on the block.  First of all, the name of this restaurant is in English, unlike many of the other South Asian restaurants.  Additionally, the front of the restaurant is completely glass, allowing you to see the entire restaurant from outside.  Walking into Sweetness, I am first greeted by the bakery portion of the restaurant which is bursting with bright colors and delicious aromas.  The appealing presentation of the food distracts me for a good 30 seconds before I remember why I’m here.  I ask for the store owner but they are not available at the time.  Not wanting to leave, I call my parents in and we have lunch at Sweetness.  We order the “Lahori Chargah” which is chicken cooked in a clay oven called a “tandoor.”  While eating I get the store owners contact information and luckily setup an interview over the phone.

Later that day I get a call from Mr. Awais Ahmad, the owner of Sweetness.  Mr. Ahmad agrees to be interviewed and even offers to send over some pictures of his restaurant so that I don’t have to make another trip.  From Lahore, Pakistan, Mr. Ahmad moved to America at the age of seventeen.  He completed high school here and lived in Staten Island (represent!). Now Mr. Ahmad lives in New Jersey and commutes to work daily. Since Mr. Ahmad lived in Staten Island, I ask him what his connection is with Coney Island Avenue.  He tells me that Coney Island Avenue was his hangout spot as a teenager.  I then ask Mr. Ahmad how things have changed from his time as a teenager to now.  He says, “well I have lost my hair.”  I laugh at his remark and then rephrase the question.  I ask how Coney Island Avenue has changed over the past twenty years.  He says that there are definitely more people and businesses here now.  When he was a teenager there were very few stores and the demographic was predominantly Jewish.  Now there are more Pakistani people living here.  I ask Mr. Ahmad why he thinks there was such a drastic change in the past twenty years.  He thinks that many more Pakistani people moved to Coney Island Avenue to live in closer proximity to the mosque.  Mr. Ahmad also mentions that the rent on Coney Island Avenue for apartments and businesses has been drastically increasing.  He attributes this to an increasing surge of people wanting live on Coney Island Avenue.  He says that there is an increase in demand because people want to live close to stores of their own nationality.

I then ask Mr. Ahmad about his business, Sweetness.  I learn that Mr. Ahmad has many businesses and Sweetness is just one of them.  This is his third location in the café business and he enjoys what he does a lot.  Even though Mr. Ahmad is the owner of Sweetness he does not own the property. The property has a Jewish landlord with whom Mr. Ahmad has very good relations.  I ask Mr. Ahmad about the customers that Sweetness gets.  He tells me that most of his customers are Pakistani.  Also many of his customers are regulars that come back to Sweetness for the delicious food. I learn that in August, Sweetness will turn six years old, so I ask Mr. Ahmad what doing business on Coney Island Avenue means to him.  He tells me that he is very emotionally attached to Coney Island Avenue and that this is little Pakistan for him.  I ask him how he is involved in the Coney Island Avenue community and he tells me that he regularly contributes to the annual parades and celebrations.

I end the interview by asking Mr. Ahmad what his favorite and least favorite thing about Coney Island Avenue is.  He says that his favorite thing is that he gets to serve his own community and that no matter what Pakistani people will always love to eat so he will always have business.  His least favorite thing is that Pakistani people are cheap.  Mr. Ahmad says “Twenty years ago naan kebab was one dollar, and twenty years later it is still one dollar. It is one of the few things that hasn’t changed over the years.”  I laugh at his comment and thank him for the interview.  Before hanging up Mr. Ahmad invites me back to Sweetness and promises me a free pastry, an offer that I will definitely follow up on.

When I asked the owner of Sweetness what Coney Island Avenue meant to him, he replied Little Pakistan.  Looking into the history of Coney Island Avenue, however, reveals that this wasn’t always the case.  The socioeconomic history of Coney Island Avenue, specifically of  Ditmas Park, paints a different picture which can’t be seen by simply taking a walk down Coney Island Avenue.  The South Asian cluster on Coney Island Avenue from Avenue H to Cortelyou Road flourished in a short amount of time, and its progression can be attributed to demographic changes in the neighborhood.

By simply looking at the change in categories in the census reports from 1980 to 2010, one can infer that there was an influx in the Asian population, as the categories get more specific to the Asian population in 2000 and 2010 than they were in 1990 and 1980.  This qualitative change points to an increase in the Asian population in the neighborhood surrounding Coney Island Avenue, which is then supported by a quantitative analysis.  In 1980 there were 892 Asian Indians in the neighborhood surrounding Coney Island Avenue, comprising 0.6% of the entire population.  Since other South Asian populations, such as Pakistani and Bangladeshi populations, are not represented in this census, it is likely that they were counted in the Asian Indian population.  In the 2000 census with Asian detail, other South Asian populations are represented for the first time.  Pakistani, Bangladeshi, and Sri Lankan populations are accounted for along with Asian Indians.

Despite the Asian population still being the minority in Flatbush/Midwood in 2010, behind the White population and the Black population, the break down of the Asian population shows a significant increase in the Pakistani population in this neighborhood.  The Pakistani population went from not being represented in the 1980 census, to being the majority in the 2010 census

Interestingly, the claims made by the store owners I interviewed support this statistical analysis.  The owner of Sweetness, Mr. Awais Ahmad, mentioned that he definitely noticed an increase in the Pakistani population from twenty years ago.  The census reports themselves, don’t provide a reason for this change in population, but Mr. Ahmad attributed it to the mosque and South Asian stores on Coney Island Avenue.  He believes that these establishments attracted the Pakistani population because these families prefer living closer to their ethnicity.  The Asian Population census report also shows a decrease in the amount of Asian Indians living in the Flatbush/Midwood community as the amount of Pakistanis and Bangladeshis increased from 2000 to 2010.

Mr. Awais Ahmad mentioned an increase in the rent around the neighborhood.  To look into this, I researched the property values around Coney Island Avenue in 2000 and 2010.  In 2000 36% of the properties around Sweetness were worth more than 300,000 dollars, and this was a consistent trend around the neighboring areas.  In 2010 however, the amount of properties worth more than 300,000 dollars was close to 90% near Sweetness.  This data shows that property values around Sweetness have drastically went up in merely a decade.  This supports Mr. Ahmad’s claims of increasing rent around the neighborhood, which he attributed to an increase in demand for housing on Coney Island Avenue.

Increasing rent due to the gentrification taking place around Coney Island Avenue is legitimate reason for concern for many of the store owners like Mr. Awais Ahmed.  This is a change that is not only being felt by the store owners, and residents but also by regular customers like myself.  New condominiums, organic food stores, and overpriced coffee shops are just a few indicators of the change coming towards Coney Island Avenue.  If these trends continue, in the future it will be difficult for many small businesses to keep their stores running and Coney Island Avenue many even see another change in demographics.

References:

“Population By Race 1980 Census.” Table. Infoshare Online.Community Studies of New York, Inc., n.d. Web.

“Asian Population By National Origin 2010 Census.” Table. Infoshare Online.Community Studies of New York, Inc., n.d. Web.

“Owner Occupied Housing Units More Than 300,000- Census 2000” Map. Social Explorer. Social Explorer, n.d. Web. (based on data from U.S. Census Bureau)

“Owner Occupied Housing Units More Than 300,000- ACS 2014” Map. Social Explorer. Social Explorer, n.d. Web. (based on data from U.S. Census Bureau)

All picture credits: Noor Sheikh