Report: Wife Scratched Tiger Woods' Face, Chased His SUV; Update: Police Unable To Interview Couple Today
GMA: Adam Lambert, No; Chris Brown, Yes
Street Artist Proposes on Subway Signage
Two Doors Fall Off AirTrain At JFK
SLA Raids Bar for Selling Wisconsin Beer
Even though crime was essentially below normal during the blackout, last week's lootings on the Lower East Side, at cool stores like Alife Rivington Club, sound terrible to Gothamist when we read the Times article this morning: "one of the women got 17 staples in a wound at the back of her head" and "his employee paced back and forth with a spider web of blood on his neck and face." Lockhart Steele has first-hand coverage of the looting, and today, the Daily News reports that Alife owners are going to sue the city for ignoring their cries for help during the looting (that left owners and employees injured as they tried to ward off the looters). Reader Matt suggests that while "the looting during the '77 black out was an expression of poverty, desperation, and anger by New York's put-upon underclass: this is clearly a calculated crime of hipster envy-- I want cool shit, so I'll steal it." That makes Gothamist sigh and hate people more - hipster envy? Really, we hope it hasn't come to that.
Lower East Side Looting: Hipsters Envy?
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebookComments (26) [rss]
Post a comment (Comment Policy)
Tips
Newsmap
Contribute
Latest Tip:
The World March for Peace and Nonviolence comes to New York tomorrow, Monday, November 30, 2009, on
[more]
i'm no hipster, but i do love buying sneakers. some of the sneakers down there are pretty dope/fresh/cool. not that i would loot or anything to get them, but they are damn nice.
Hey Jen, Love gothamist. The looting back in 1977 was not, "an expression of poverty, desperation, and anger." It was an expression of greed and hate. Poverty is not a justification for crime against those who honestly created wealth.
During a blackout, it's only appropriate to loot the government, which steals our money (and gives it to gov't unions) and regulates our businesses into bankruptcy (smoking laws, supposed health violations, minimum prices on labor, restrictions on signage).
I'm sorry to learn that you now hate people even more. I never picked up that you hated people at all. You have a witty style that seems to poke fun mostly at circumstances more than people.
By the way, those sneakers are really ugly. They look like Kmart sneaks from the 70s. I can't believe someone would even buy them.
A disturbingly sad tale. Not much else that can be said about the pathetic folks who perpetrated the crime . . .
Huh, fifty years later, and John Galt is *still* a boring, selfish blowhard. Such consistency.
first, as a side note, John Galt, please shove it.
i'm glad this story find broke. after all the press the police got about stopping the looting at the foot locker in brooklyn, i was afraid this would be brushed over.
oh, and they weren't hipsters, they were HUGE thugs. the kind you wouldn't think twice about getting out of the way of. so it's not for the sake of 'i want that' it was for the sake of, 'damn, i could make a buck off that'.
What a strange comment John Galt made. Apparently, not wanting to be impoverished is GREEDY. Hmm.
I don't think poverty had much to do with that store gettign looted. That was pure greed. And how upsetting that the cops were unwilling to help. I hope someone got his badge number. Probably not, since it was dark. But a cop like that needs to examine his ideas of masculinity.
Christ, I sound like a college sophomore.
Yet another reason why we need to take back our right to defend ourselves and our property with weapons, including guns. Anti-self-defense laws, that restrict gun use, only impact honest entrepreneurs and women, who abide by the laws. What we're left with is a society where official thugs (aka gov't workers) and unofficial thugs terrorize defenseless people.
Learn from this story and support your right to defend yourself by voting only for politicians who support the 2nd amendment.
Looting would not have happened this year or in 1977 if store owners and their employees carried guns AND IF crimes involving guns led to severe prison sentences.
The combination of an armed citizenry plus a powerful criminal justice system leads to a civil society that is not dependent on electricity.
P.S. -- I know that this is abhorrent those authoritarian/fascist/socialist individuals who believe they have the right to plan people's lives and know that planning is a lot easier when people cannot defend themselves. Keep in mind that you're planning your way to a desolate civilization. There won't be any cool sneaker shops in a communist dictatorship.
While the blackout stories I've heard have mostly positive, I did hear one other example of cops refusing help to those in need.
My sister found a girl who was alone and suffering a severe asthma attack in the heat, who eventually went unconscious. She asked FOUR successive cops to help get her to a hospital, all refused, some with a wave of the hand and dismissive comments like "you see what it's like out here". To be clear - none of them were doing anything but standing around as this occured. There is no excuse for cops not doing their duty, especially in a city-wide crisis.
By the way, thanks Gothamist for your stellar blackout coverage. Thanks to Verizon this is the first time I've been online and I have been dying to hear Gothamist's take. Wonderful work.
by the way, that scary NRA post? what the hell?
i wonder if it was JEST getting beat up at ALIFE- and I wonder if all those punks would have really been looting the place if they realized who owned it... i mean, they would definitely not be the first people i'd choose to rob.
As I wrote, our reader Matt suggested that looting was "etc etc etc" - it's simply someone's hypothesis, one that has some merit...I don't know if there's any acceptable time for looting.
And, clearly, as I feel a kinship to Larry David, I hate people. But I'm an optimist in spite of being a cynic, still holding out hope for mankind. That's why I love pandas. They are usually pretty innocent - just lazy and smelly.
yeah, AND if people would read, they'd see that jen wrote "Really, we really hope it hasn't come to that." hello, before berating gothamist for its opinions, read what is written.
re: scary NRA post
I like the bit about authoritarian/fascist/socialist governments, especially since the NRA supports the Bush administration. Who cares about human rights when you've got guns?
I realize John Galt sounds like an asshole but he does have one point: looting is wrong in all forms. Looting is stealing, plain and simple. I think people forget that.
i think it should be made clear that rivington club has never sold GOLA kicks, and if they did, it prob wouldntve been looted by anyone.
Okay, fine. The Golas are swipe. Sue me, sue me, what can you do me...
Also, loosting has never been as scary or interesting a topic as looting.
Its a commonly known fact that Americans and feet style dont mix. Theres only one New York kid with any trainer (and it is trainer NOT sneaker)style and thats London's Marc C Ellis. During this blackout you should have taken time to reflect that the feet style light shines brightly from the East.
Crap I had no idea they were looted. I was near there having brunch at Essex and walked over with a few friends to look at sneakers. That explains why it was closed on a Saturday.
Oh yeah, Ponyboy, take your trainer and go away.
Sam are you hitting on me?
The whole looting thing is just wack, but that's the type of stuff that goes on during a black out I guess...
The main problem is that someone got their head cracked open and the police response was, "Be a man and protect your property." then when asked for his badge number and name he says," Don't worry about my name and number, once we do the paperwork you will get that." at this point the cop wonders into the darkness and disappears. The cops, for some strange reason would not or could not get an ambulance to come to the scene. The cops wanted the injured people to take a cab to the hospital.
They did not ask one question to any of the people that were on the scene, no police report untill we went and got a lawyer and the news broke in the paper. Now we have Police up the ass.
Lot's of stupid shit...
Jest
There is a lot more to the story than what everyone is seeing on TV.
We'll be back in effect within a week.
It's
does no one see the irony. alife co-ops urban youth style with their retro b-ball and hip hop kicks and their graffiti accesories and the kids who really have claim to the style, urban youth loots their store. so rich white kids and europeans who think they're so down with american inner city culture don't think its that cool now. and now those shitheads sue. give me a break!
Irony? Alife is a store that gives opportunities for people that are doing creative shit. Who said anything about America??? We are from New York, we represent things that we know. I'm sure that you are one of those rich white kids or European that is hear on visitor status...
Give me a break!!!
whats wrong with white kids or europeans?
you don't need to be a certain color to enjoy sneakers.
CD must stand for crappy dialogue or clearly dumb
hey, I agree with CD, alife is representative of those who try to aesthetisize street culture in a very white-euro way and yet fear genuine street culture when it comes face to face with it..street culture is low-economic, that's why it's cool..it's much cooler to be the opressed than the opressor, if you don't get that, you just don't get it.