Passages of Relevance

"The alienation of the avant-garde from bougeois taste and morality demanded an alternative society. New York's Greenwich Village became its center...Both a geographical entity and a state of mind, the Village was where individuals could go to reinvent themselves through psychoanalysis, feminism, fashion, revolutionary politics and unorthodox sexual relationships...While the West Village would generally remain a center for the avant-garde throughout the first half of the twentieth century, the postwar era saw a gradual shift of the downtown artistic community toward the Lower East Side, particularly the section north of Houston Street and below Fourteenth Street, bounded by Fourth Avenue on the west and the East River on the east. This shift was precipitated primarily by economics (high rents) but also had roots in artists' resistance to being co-opted by the kinds of mainstream activity commodifying the late 1950s West Village arts scene. The commodification took forms as various as increased police harassment of drug users, organized tours bringing suburban residents wanting to experience bohemia into the West Village for a day, sugar-coated media representation of bohemian theatre and poetry, and deflationary or dismissive attitudes toward the often-revolutionary beliefs underpinning the avant-garde."
-from All Poets Welcome: The Lower East Side Poetry Scene in the 1960s by Daniel Kane

The same result will surely affect "Williamsburg". Just as it did happen in Paris in the 1920s post-Hemingway and Fitzgerald, buses of tourists will flock to experience the hipster neighborhood. This is worries me. However, I am not worried about Madonna claiming "New York isn't what it used to be, it doesn't have that same energy." Yes, this is the truth Madonna. It is a place that is constantly changing and if you seek out that nostalgic spot on the dancefloor at Studio 54, it will not be found. Chronologically, Studio 54 was not much more than a flash in the pan, closed down after an explosive few years from 1977 to 1980...the search for the party continues...