The first time I heard the word gentrification in a sentence, I was at a birthday brunch a few years ago. I was chatting with a friend of a friend and she was telling me that the Central District was getting more gentrified as more young couples were buying homes there because it's cheaper than other neighborhoods in Seattle. I nodded politely, not having spent much time in the CD, other than to speed down Madison while trying not to piss off the scary gangsta looking men on the sidewalk in the blocks before you get to the Twilight Exit. It seems like today everyone has an opinion on gentrification. Take this review of the new Ballard wine bar, DiVino, by Bethany Jean Clement in the Stranger for example. She says, "The presence of an establishment like DiVino in a former fishing village seems as inevitable as it does incongruous. With gentrification comes, apparently, one of each type of bar found elsewhere, as if extruded by machine." I haven't been to DiVino yet (although I think it sounds cool), but I for one, am ok with Ballard getting gentrified if that means more new and hipster bars. Bring on more bars like Matador, King's Hardware and Hazlewood I say! Sure, I could go to Chapel or Linda's, but who wants to drive to Capitol Hill? Not me. (And though I love the Tin Hat dearly, it's nice to have some variety.)
Now, if we could just get Greenwood more "gentrified", then I wouldn't even have to leave the block. How I dream of that day... (Not that the Baronof doesn't have a certain "flavor".)
2 comments:
I just went and read The Stranger article. I get so tired of the attitude at that paper. Why don't they delve deeper into why Ballard is changing, rather than just bitch about it? For instance, the elderly have been dying off and the fisherman don't all live in Ballard anymore. 30 and 40-somethings are in the neighborhood now, and they shouldn't be forced to drive to already established commercial zones that are 15 and 20 minutes drives away. Isn't that part of being sustainable? Having an eclectic mix of entertainment in YOUR neighborhood? Then, you aren't driving your car and spending your dollars in someone else's neighborhood? Argh, it's so infuriating. You know 99% of their writers live on Capitol Hill and don't even know what they're talking about when writing about outlying neighborhoods. Review the restaurant, not the area.
Amen, sister! Amen.
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