Brookland: Is Brooklyn The New Portland?

Photo via the Observer

Is Brooklyn the new Portland? The New York Observer's Adrianne Jefferies seems to think so. 

In her article, Jefferies sites similarities of the food truck craze, gourmet doughnuts, vegan soaps, and ironic sporting events as obvious points of connection between Portland and Brooklyn. I’m venturing to say I respectfully disagree…to a point.

To reduce the 2.6 million people of Brooklyn into a tiny mold of bicycle-riding, organic fiber-wearing, food truck-eating, Etsy craft-making, Vegans…IS RIDICULOUS. If you want to pick a few streets in Williamsburg, and a couple blocks in Park Slope to base generalizations of Brooklyn off of, go ahead. BUT I think I speak for a lot of Brooklynites when I say…that’s not why we live here.

The beauty of Brooklyn for me, is in the variation. There’s still grit. There’s still growth. And most of all, people live with a determination to make life happen richly -- more than any other place I’ve seen or lived. If you live in Bed-Stuy or Park Slope, there’s this innate feeling of solidarit. We’re proud of where we live. It’s this community mindset that’s infectious. Sure, I find myself rolling my eyes when hipster culture is at it’s extreme. But if you don’t like it, no one is making you bathe with hand-milled soaps, made in the Adirondacks with all local ingredients.

The Hipsterization of a city isn’t a Portland thing, nor is it a Brooklyn thing. At the end of the day, it’s a sub-culture thing…and it’s happening everywhere.