Liquor Store Frustrates Harlem's Park-Slopification

via The New York Observer

The original "Harlem Renaissance" was a literary and broader cultural movement, led by figures like Langston Hughes, that wrestled with deep political and racial themes. The modern "Harlem Renaissance" is apparently more about becoming Park Slope II.

Hooray for Harlem?

This comes from a story in the Times about the increasingly-gentrified 'hood of Harlem's backlash against a new (yet old school-looking) liquor store. The new place, which has the accoutrement of '70's and '80's Harlem (bullet-proof Plexiglass! Garish signs! Cheap whine! Insufficient pretension!), set up shop at Lenox and 119th, and was cask-blocked by a neighborhood association for failing to be... more like Park Slope.

Here's the key quote from the Times:

'"We want to be Park Slope with charming little stores and become a destination for people," said Ruthann Richert, a 25-year resident who is treasurer of local group, the Mount Morris Park Community Improvement Association.'

The question this raises in my mind -- is Park Slope failing to be Park Slope? Does the rest of the city have some idealized conception of Park Slope that we can never live up to, like that girl you worshipped in high school who now manages a Denny's in Toledo? I challenge you to peep the liquor stores in South Slope, at least along Fifth, and call their signs anything but garish. I used to live at 12th and 5th, making 4th and 9th my stop. That's some suspiciously Plexiglass-looking shit going on in the liquor store on that corner.

But I know what you're thinking. That's South Slope. The TRUE Park Slope, the Platonic ideal of Park Slope that developers across NYC wet dream about, occurs north of 9th and east of 5th. And, I guess, soon enough, South Slope catches up, and that Plexiglass comes down and all the signage looks more like Big Nose, Full Body. You know, tasteful. Family friendly. With the kind of price tags that tell us all that you've arrived.

As for Harlem, good luck on your quest. It does seem a bit gross that a neighborhood with such a rich cultural history wants to emulate whitebread Park Slope, though. The Observer asks if Harlem, and NYC at large, should be concerned about preserving "ghetto" history alongside all the old brownstones. Because that's part of New York's past too, right? It's a fair point. On the other hand, in the Times story, longtime residents of Harlem talk about living through robberies and crack-vial-laden sidewalks, so they're owed their gentrification now. And who really wants to be nostalgic about crack and guns?

The thing about the Harlem liquor store opposition, though -- it seems to be using aesthetics as an excuse to enforce economic changes. Meanwhile, poorer Harlem folks lament their dwindling choices for cheap booze. And, dirty, Midwestern gentrifier that I am, I will never, EVER lose my affection for cheap alcohol.

So, I propose the following compromise for Harlem and, when the time comes, my own beloved South Park Slope: gussy up the signs. Get some nice, maroon-tinted Plexiglass if you must. Maybe etch a few choice literary quotes into it -- something classy, but not too obscure. Maybe some Dickinson or Whitman. But keep the bottom-shelf hooch. I want that written into neighborhood bylaws. Cheap booze is a human right.