The Rich being Displaced by the Very Rich
I had never heard of Magnolia bakery before Mach 16, 2009. Turns out Magnolia is to blame for the demise of New York City's West Village.
I found myself in the West Village two weeks ago with a couple of friends. One thing led to another and we found ourselves with baked goods from Magnolia bakery with nowhere to eat them. As we began our search we were stopped by 60-somethinglady. She was small and her dog was smaller. "Oh Magnolia bakery. You are from New York."
"Yeah, I am. I'm just not from the West Village."
Then she went on to tell us of the how Magnolia bakery as devastated the west village. "None of the privately owned bakeries can afford the rents here anymore. But all the tourists line up outside that place. It's like dipping your tongue in sugar."
"Yeah, I don't know about that.We were wandering around and smelt baked goods so we went in and then we bought personal sized cheesecakes for ourselves. There wasn't any line." I explained.
"Ugh! It's like a mall now. And these kids move into the million dollar apartments, they buy two three of them at a time and break-through the walls for one big apartment.Uh! The racket. I remember when this was a real neighborhood. Back 20, 40 years ago when it was only slightly non-affordable. But now the mere rich are getting priced out."
"I know." I said, "It's horrible. Soon you'll be priced out and you'll have to move to Brooklyn and then we might be neighbors. I'll have to listen to you for ten minutes in the cold air while you rail against my spontaneous shopping decisions. But the good thing about that, is you won't be a random stranger anymore."
I found myself in the West Village two weeks ago with a couple of friends. One thing led to another and we found ourselves with baked goods from Magnolia bakery with nowhere to eat them. As we began our search we were stopped by 60-somethinglady. She was small and her dog was smaller. "Oh Magnolia bakery. You are from New York."
"Yeah, I am. I'm just not from the West Village."
Then she went on to tell us of the how Magnolia bakery as devastated the west village. "None of the privately owned bakeries can afford the rents here anymore. But all the tourists line up outside that place. It's like dipping your tongue in sugar."
"Yeah, I don't know about that.We were wandering around and smelt baked goods so we went in and then we bought personal sized cheesecakes for ourselves. There wasn't any line." I explained.
"Ugh! It's like a mall now. And these kids move into the million dollar apartments, they buy two three of them at a time and break-through the walls for one big apartment.Uh! The racket. I remember when this was a real neighborhood. Back 20, 40 years ago when it was only slightly non-affordable. But now the mere rich are getting priced out."
"I know." I said, "It's horrible. Soon you'll be priced out and you'll have to move to Brooklyn and then we might be neighbors. I'll have to listen to you for ten minutes in the cold air while you rail against my spontaneous shopping decisions. But the good thing about that, is you won't be a random stranger anymore."
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