When Jason and I moved into Crown Heights a year ago, it was always surprising to see another white person in the neighborhood.  There’s a strong Jewish (Hassidic? I’m kind of embarrassed not to know) presence in Crown Heights, but not in our neighborhood (we’re north of Eastern Parkway – they tend to be south of it), so it’s rare to see even them.  Now we’re seeing tight-pantsed, scruffy white kids all the time: on Nostrand, on the subway, in the markets.  Just today Jason saw not one, but two separate bearded hipsters in the Keyfood rocking out on their iPods.

Crown Heights really is a hidden treat in Brooklyn—old beautiful buildings, cheap rent, an abundance of subway lines, and a surprising amount of culture shock—so it’s not surprising that it’s happening, and really, it’d be kind of dumb to pretend that we’re not a part of it. (Our pants are of a normal fit, is the big difference.) I’ve been wondering a lot the past year when and if a sea change would happen, and I’m not really sure that this is anything more than a blip. We’re still a pretty marginal group, and both Nostrand and Utica are so lively and thoroughly Caribbean, I don’t really see how that could change. But maybe I’m just telling myself that?