I just spotted yet another "Berlin is the the next Williamsburg" article (yawn):
"Robert Elmes spent the month of August in Berlin. He borrowed a spare bike from a friend, one of those antique-looking, function-over-form contraptions that many Berliners ride, so he could cruise the bezirken, the boroughs. Mr. Elmes owns Galapagos, the long-standing performance-art space in Williamsburg, and he is looking either to open an outpost in Berlin, or to entirely relocate the operation to the German capital."
I think people who write this stuff just don't understand what makes Williamsburg enjoyable. Firstly Williamsburg is in the shadow of Manhattan, so it has a slightly off the beaten path quality to it which is it's charm. Berlin on the other hand is the capital city of Germany, which hardly makes it off the beaten path.
I think if there is a "next Williamsburg" it would have to be Bushwick, but noooo that's too far out for a New York Observer reporter to travel to from Manhattan....
Comments (1)
Actually Berlin HAS had an off the beaten track persona since WWII and especially after the wall went up. Even today after all the building it's had a hard time. That is probably changing but much more slowly than you might think since the wall came down so long ago. It's not a perfect simile but there's more to than you're willing to credit I think.
Posted by Chick Foxgrover | October 29, 2006 8:44 PM
Posted on October 29, 2006 20:44