Thought this was interesting...Alex of Franz Ferdinand gives a pretty good description of "New Brooklyn":
I’m back in London to rehearse for the summer festivals. I was in NYC for a few days, where I’m fascinated by the slew of shops, cafes and bars that appear almost daily in Williamsburg and Greenpoint, yet look like they’ve been there since George Washington discovered Brooklyn. One day there is an old bodega or an empty car repair shop, the next day there is a place that seems like it was there for a hundred years, with mirrors distressed by age, ancient flaking gold leaf signs on the windows, flickering lamps, floorboards worn down by ten thousand footsteps, pressed tin on the roof and Ancient Artefacts on every shelf. It’s a phenomenon you find a little of in other cities, but nothing like in new Olde Broolyne Towne. I don’t know if there is a term to describe it, but I call it “Faux Past”. If you find yourself in that plot of land between the Newton Creek, BQE and Broadway and discover a dive bar selling PBR and micro-brewed IPA that wasn’t there a week ago, or a wee boutique selling vintage ephemera that wasn’t there last month, or a dusty old diner selling organic burgers with arugula, blue cheese and walnut salad where the wait staff all have stunning tattoos and Edwardian Levis held up by braces/suspenders (apart from the Latino guys who actually make the food, bring the water and clear the tables) that you could have sworn was an empty funeral home last time you passed… and want to describe it to your pals, it would be something like: “I was in this café/bar/shop on Driggs between 7th and 8th. It’s cool, really Faux Past, yeah super old and shit, the chick behind the counter has the name of the place tattooed on her back on the footplate of a massive steam locomotive riding between her shoulders, yeah, a bit like the ‘Rembrandt’s Radio’ tatt the guy from that place on Franklin has on his arm. Cool. See you at 6. We’ll go check out that band.”
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