Travel & Hotspots

HOW BROOKLYN IS CHANGING

Everyone knows: Manhattan is so totally over and now it's Brooklyn where you have to be if you consider yourself a bit hip & happening. But that means the entire borough is changing at breakneck speed and that is not always fun for the original residents. Everything is getting more expensive, authentic shops are disappearing and making way for the umpteenth trendy donut shop and unaffordable cocktail bars are on every corner of the street.

By the way, there is also a trend going on in Amsterdam. A few years ago, the neighborhoods East and West were total no-go zones, nowadays the newest and most popular restaurants are opening there. In any case, not nearly as extreme as what is happening in New York. But fair is fair, nothing will ever be more extreme than in New York.

Photographer Kristy Chatelain lived in Brooklyn for many years and saw the changes pass her by every day. During walks through the neighborhood, she decided to capture it all and now, years later, she can put the images side by side and she does so in the series Brooklyn Changing. By the way, she doesn't want to be super bitter and “everything was better back then”, but was more intrigued by the rapid transformation of her old neighborhood. “I see it as all part of the cycle of change that is New York City,” says Chatelain. “It's just sad that long-time residents might be forced out in the process of gentrification, or basically have to watch their neighborhood become unrecognizable.”

And she does have a point there. In any case, you can see the series here. And which Amsterdam photographer is smart enough to do the same here very quickly?