by:

The once-celebrated East Village bar the Yaffa Café announced that it is closing its doors for good. It was initially shut down in September by the Department of Health for health violations. The coverage sent up its standard lament; another “iconic” landmark crushed by cruel fate. It’s a familiar pattern now. A well-known music venue,… Read more »

by:

Let’s get some definitions out of the way first: Gentrification is integration that you don’t like. Integration is gentrification that benefits you. Filmmaker Spike Lee made news when he complained about the gentrification of Brooklyn recently, decrying the efforts of white interlopers to “bogart” black cultural enclaves like his native Fort Greene. But Lee suffers… Read more »