My NYC Black Folk......Gentrification
- Thread starter Lewis Black
- Start date
When Spike Lee chose Fort Greene for the location of his studio, "40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks," neighborhood residents say he inspired a generation of artists.(Credit: Getty Images / Spencer Platt)
NEWS
Fort Greene residents tell nabe’s history in light of new Spike Lee series
By Lisa L. Colangelo lisa.colangelo@amny.com November 19, 2017
Fort Greene is a central character in Spike Lee’s groundbreaking 1986 film “She’s Gotta Have It.”
Much of the movie was filmed in the Brooklyn neighborhood, known for its beautiful brownstones and talented residents. But while Fort Greene had a historically middle-class African American population and a rich artistic community, it was not immune to crime, poverty and the ravages of the 1980s crack epidemic.
Lee headquartered his production company, 40 Acres And A Mule Filmworks, in the neighborhood where he grew up.
A long list of artists called Fort Greene home in the 1980s and 1990s, including comedian Chris Rock and musicians Erykah Badu and Branford Marsalis. And it’s said that decades earlier, Richard Wright wrote his acclaimed novel, “Native Son”, while living in the area and sitting in Fort Greene Park.
Gentrification has taken hold, bringing with it soaring property rates, upscale shops and wealthier, white residents. But some worry cleaner and safer streets come with a price. Lee has famously railed about the changes, especially in a 2014 speech at the Pratt Institute, where he wondered aloud why it takes an influx of white residents to improve police patrols and trash pickup.
Here are some thoughts from Fort Greene residents and historians about how the neighborhood has changed over the last three decades:
“Here’s the thing: I grew up here in Fort Greene. I grew up here in New York. It’s changed. And why does it take an influx of white New Yorkers in the south Bronx, in Harlem, in Bed-Stuy, in Crown Heights for the facilities to get better?”
Spike Lee during a 2015 speech at Pratt Institute via New York Magazine/Daily Intelligencer Magazine transcript.
“Spike’s breakthrough film ‘She’s Gotta Have It’ not only put him on the map, but shone a spotlight on the community of young artists already there, and made Fort Greene/Clinton Hill a magnet for emerging actors, musicians, visual artists and designers from all over the country. . . . A vibrant spoken word scene would develop out of the Brooklyn Moon restaurant, while a group of female artists would form an influential avant-garde theater group known as Rodeo Caldonia. I lived through all this, was inspired by it, watched my peers make great art and was saddened as both success and gentrification changed Fort Greene forever.”
Author and director Nelson George, in the 2011 Kickstarter description of his documentary film, “Brooklyn Boheme.”
“I moved here with my family in 1981 because it was a chance to buy a brownstone. We had a loft in Williamsburg but it was really rough in those days. We came to Fort Greene and immediately fell in love with it.
Now artists looking for places to live can’t afford such expensive housing, and now even some of the longtime places are closing because of the high commercial rents. The fear is only chain stores will be able to afford these prices.”
Richard Norton, treasurer of the Fort Greene Association
“I don’t think we can talk about modern Fort Greene’s history without Spike Lee and the role he played in attracting a whole group of artists relating to film, music journalists (in the 1980s) . . . He didn’t just live there. He opened his production company . . . in Fort Greene at a time when it’s unclear where this is going to go. It was not inevitable what Fort Greene was going to become.”
Zaheer Ali, co-host of the Brooklyn Historical Society’s podcast
Fort Greene history according to those who lived it
Spike Lee's "She's Gotta Have It" Netflix remake stars DeWanda Wise. (Credit: David Lee/Netflix)
ENTERTAINMENT
Spike Lee returns to ‘She’s Gotta Have It’ to tackle gentrified Fort Greene
By Meghan Giannotta meghan.giannotta@amny.com November 16, 2017
Spike Lee’s new Netflix series “She’s Gotta Have It” isn’t a remake-for-the-sake-of-remakes type of project. The filmmaker returned to his ’80s feature with purpose, placing an outspoken Nola Darling in a now-gentrified Brooklyn, where her friends are fighting against being forced out of Fort Greene.
“This gentrification thing is no joke,” Spike Lee said as he shifted into a king-size white chair at the Loews Regency Hotel last week. “They’re renaming streets and neighborhoods that have a history. I mean, who can afford to live in New York City anymore? It’s ridiculous. That’s one of the big issues in this new look of ‘She’s Gotta Have It.’ ”
When Lee, 60, produced his first version in 1986, he spent a total of 12 days on the streets of Fort Greene to tell the story of a struggling artist who breaks the mold by juggling three lovers with drastically different personalities. To turn the new version into a 10-episode binge-worthy series, he returned to the same streets two decades later — only they weren’t exactly the same.
“We talk about how Fort Greene Park is now like the Westminster Dog Show, address the rents and the new street names, the ‘New Fort Greene,’ ” Lee said.
In a comical approach, the plotline compares Fort Greene’s new neighbors — perfectly polished white families with teacup-sized dogs — to longstanding residents, which Lee said he couldn’t ignore.
The change in scene, both in the neighborhood and country as a whole 20 years later, also altered — or updated — Nola’s character. Still a budding artist and cinephile living in a beautiful brownstone, Nola sees a “loss of culture” due to the displacement of residents and changed the way she uses her art as self-expression, explained DeWanda Wise, who plays Nola.
An impact of the current political climate and feminist movement gives Wise’s character (played in 1986 by Tracy Camilla Johns) an arguably stronger, more authoritative voice.
“A lot of our viewpoints and opinions surrounding black feminism have shifted, and the quality has changed since ’86,” Wise said. “We’re more voracious, we’re louder and we’re at this crux in our history for women in general where we can no longer be silent.”
In the series, Nola isn’t just juggling romances with the likes of Greer Childs (Cleo Anthony), a self-involved photographer, Mars Blackmon (Anthony Ramos), a free-spirit, and Jamie Overstreet (Lyriq Bent), a married father. She’s using her art to speak out against injustice, harassment and street assault.
“Nola is really just an embodiment of where we’re at right now,” Wise said. “It was kind of my job to bring her into 2017.”
A scene in the first episode, where Nola is catcalled and assaulted blocks from her home sets the tone early on, inspiring the artist to spread self-designed graffiti posters around Brooklyn that read “My Name Ain’t Aye Yo Ma” — one of which she plasters right over an old ’80s advertisement for “She’s Gotta Have It.”
Wise explained that we’ll see Nola endure these “larger and then smaller traumas” that influence who she becomes and the decisions she makes when it comes to her lovers.
“You really see her first in season 1 to be like, ‘No, no, no. This is the woman I am. I will not let you make me become shut off. I’m not gonna let you shut down my expression,’ ” she said. “I really responded to that and I think women around the world will as well.”
Having 10 35-minute-long episodes to work with gave Lee the room to allow Nola’s character to take on a current-day political agenda, he said, adding that he would have never considered remaking the project as a second film version. Still, it may not have even been enough time to tell the full story Lee has in mind for Nola.
“In no way shape or form does season 1 come to the end of the seeds we’ve planted in the first 10,” Lee said.
When asked if he’s planning to circle back to the character in a second season on the streaming service, the filmmaker kissed a silver cross that hung on a chain around his neck and looked up toward the sky.
“She’s Gotta Have It” hit Netflix in full on Thanksgiving.
Spike Lee shares his favorite part of Brooklyn:
“Walking or riding my bike over the Brooklyn Bridge, I mean that’s one of the most beautiful things you can do. I’ve been doing that since I was little. It doesn’t cost you a dime. On a beautiful summer or fall day or night, not many things are better than that to me.”
New ‘She’s Gotta Have It’ tackles gentrified Fort Greene
88m3
Fast Money & Foreign Objects
Damn. All those Dominican mechanics and auto shops on Jerome are gonna be gone.
On the other hand, good riddance to all those dudes flashing those advertisement signs in the middle of the road.
88m3
Fast Money & Foreign Objects
Damn. All those Dominican mechanics and auto shops on Jerome are gonna be gone.
On the other hand, good riddance to all those dudes flashing those advertisement signs in the middle of the road.
Politicians selling us out
88m3
Fast Money & Foreign Objects
Islanders moving to Belmont Park, boarding Long Island and Queens. Building entertainment district (arena, hotel, retail, etc). Elmont, the neighborhood town near the track is primarily African American had mixed feelings on it from what I gathered on Twitter. MTA considering full-time service on LIRR to Belmont, I expect traffic will be crazy especially for big events/acts.
a stadium of this size looks insane...Belmont Park redevelopment renderings
December 20, 2017 1:10 PM
SEE COMMENTS SHARE
See renderings for the redevelopment of Belmont Park released by Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office on Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2017. The plans call for a year-round arena that seats 18,000 and will be home to the Islanders, plus retail and dining space, a new hotel and expanded LIRR transformation.
Photo Credit: Sterling Project Development / Sterling Project Development
A rendering of the redevelopment of Belmont Park, which will feature an 18,000-seat arena for the Islanders, 435,000 square feet of retail space and dining village and a hotel.
Photo Credit: Sterling Project Development / Sterling Project Development
A rendering of the redevelopment of Belmont Park, which will feature an 18,000-seat arena for the Islanders, 435,000 square feet of retail space and dining village and a hotel.
Photo Credit: Sterling Project Development / Sterling Project Development
A rendering of the redevelopment of Belmont Park, which will feature an 18,000-seat arena for the Islanders, 435,000 square feet of retail space and dining village and a hotel.
Photo Credit: Sterling Project Development / Sterling Project Development
A rendering of the redevelopment of Belmont Park, which will feature an 18,000-seat arena for the Islanders, 435,000 square feet of retail space and dining village and a hotel.
Photo Credit: Sterling Project Development / Sterling Project Development
A rendering of the redevelopment of Belmont Park, which will feature an 18,000-seat arena for the Islanders, 435,000 square feet of retail space and dining village and a hotel.
Photo Credit: Sterling Project Development
A rendering of the redevelopment of Belmont Park, which will feature an 18,000-seat arena for the Islanders, 435,000 square feet of retail space and dining village and a hotel.
Photo Credit: Sterling Project Development / Sterling Project Development
A rendering of the redevelopment of Belmont Park, which will feature an 18,000-seat arena for the Islanders, 435,000 square feet of retail space and dining village and a hotel.
Photo Credit: Sterling Project Development / Sterling Project Development
A rendering of the redevelopment of Belmont Park, which will feature an 18,000-seat arena for the Islanders, 435,000 square feet of retail space and dining village and a hotel.
Photo Credit: Sterling Project Development / Sterling Project Development
A rendering of the redevelopment of Belmont Park, which will feature an 18,000-seat arena for the Islanders, 435,000 square feet of retail space and dining village and a hotel.
Photo Credit: Sterling Project Development / Sterling Project Development
A rendering of the redevelopment of Belmont Park, which will feature an 18,000-seat arena for the Islanders, 435,000 square feet of retail space and dining village and a hotel.
Photo Credit: Sterling Project Development / Sterling Project Development
A rendering of the redevelopment of Belmont Park, which will feature an 18,000-seat arena for the Islanders, 435,000 square feet of retail space and dining village and a hotel.
Belmont Park redevelopment renderings
December 20, 2017 1:10 PM
SEE COMMENTS SHARE
See renderings for the redevelopment of Belmont Park released by Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office on Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2017. The plans call for a year-round arena that seats 18,000 and will be home to the Islanders, plus retail and dining space, a new hotel and expanded LIRR transformation.
Photo Credit: Sterling Project Development / Sterling Project Development
A rendering of the redevelopment of Belmont Park, which will feature an 18,000-seat arena for the Islanders, 435,000 square feet of retail space and dining village and a hotel.
Photo Credit: Sterling Project Development / Sterling Project Development
A rendering of the redevelopment of Belmont Park, which will feature an 18,000-seat arena for the Islanders, 435,000 square feet of retail space and dining village and a hotel.
Photo Credit: Sterling Project Development / Sterling Project Development
A rendering of the redevelopment of Belmont Park, which will feature an 18,000-seat arena for the Islanders, 435,000 square feet of retail space and dining village and a hotel.
Photo Credit: Sterling Project Development / Sterling Project Development
A rendering of the redevelopment of Belmont Park, which will feature an 18,000-seat arena for the Islanders, 435,000 square feet of retail space and dining village and a hotel.
Photo Credit: Sterling Project Development / Sterling Project Development
A rendering of the redevelopment of Belmont Park, which will feature an 18,000-seat arena for the Islanders, 435,000 square feet of retail space and dining village and a hotel.
Photo Credit: Sterling Project Development
A rendering of the redevelopment of Belmont Park, which will feature an 18,000-seat arena for the Islanders, 435,000 square feet of retail space and dining village and a hotel.
Photo Credit: Sterling Project Development / Sterling Project Development
A rendering of the redevelopment of Belmont Park, which will feature an 18,000-seat arena for the Islanders, 435,000 square feet of retail space and dining village and a hotel.
Photo Credit: Sterling Project Development / Sterling Project Development
A rendering of the redevelopment of Belmont Park, which will feature an 18,000-seat arena for the Islanders, 435,000 square feet of retail space and dining village and a hotel.
Photo Credit: Sterling Project Development / Sterling Project Development
A rendering of the redevelopment of Belmont Park, which will feature an 18,000-seat arena for the Islanders, 435,000 square feet of retail space and dining village and a hotel.
Photo Credit: Sterling Project Development / Sterling Project Development
A rendering of the redevelopment of Belmont Park, which will feature an 18,000-seat arena for the Islanders, 435,000 square feet of retail space and dining village and a hotel.
Photo Credit: Sterling Project Development / Sterling Project Development
A rendering of the redevelopment of Belmont Park, which will feature an 18,000-seat arena for the Islanders, 435,000 square feet of retail space and dining village and a hotel.
Belmont Park redevelopment renderings
Good.