I used to hang out in the village from around 96 or so to the late 00's. The place was packed with all sorts of people visiting the numerous quirky shops, many

I used to hang out in the village from around 96 or so to the late 00's. The place was packed with all sorts of people visiting the numerous quirky shops, many of which lined 8th st. Punks, metal heads (me included), hip hop, skaters, artsy and bohemian types, tourists, from high school kids to elderly. There was real life there. Record stores, book stores, comic book shops, clothing and fabric shops, collectibles, gaming, etc. We'd go to bleecker bobs and go to this grugy dude in the back and order black metal imports. Generation records always had tons of vinyl and they had a great band tee shirt collection. The chess shop was few doors down and one friend was a frequent player. Over the summer I took the train in to walk around the village and was heartbroken. Half the stores along 8th st are indeed boarded up. Shops I was familiar with were gone. The eerie part that struck me was how empty village was. Sure there were people walking around but not the hustle and bustle of all walks of life prowling the shops. It's been sanitized. And thats whats happening. The white glove suburbanites are doing their damndest to scrub away New York City's "dirty" history so they can live in/visit their septic utopia devoid of unsightly things and people. And the same thing happened to Williamsburg too. They killed my home and I increasingly feel like a stranger in my own city.