McKibbin Dorms Get Front Page Treatment from Times

The Gray Lady slums it out to far East Williamsburg to report on the hipster bohemian squalor of the sprawling McKibbin Street “dorms;” two hulking buildings converted from garment factories to lofts in the late nineties by a trio of savvy Stuyvesant alums. It’s since become a filthy, bed-bug ravaged rite of passage for the young DIY arts set, who pile on top of each other in warren-like lofts more crowded than one of Dan Deacon’s dance-a-thons.

The walls are paper thin, and the surrounding neighborhood still crime-ridden, but the appeal for many is in the sense of post-collegiate community and cheaper rent – though even that’s changing. We spoke to Jeff Seal, a McKibbin veteran who recently moved out after an 18-month stay in building 248. He says his rent for a tiny, low-ceilinged cubby in a loft with seven roommates was costing him $700:

The walls are so thin I could literally hear the person next door rustling his sheets. And the other neighbor would play electronic music every night until 4am; even with earplugs the bass would haunt my dreams. One of my roommates was mugged in the loading dock of my building, and after one party some people spray painted swastikas around the building, which our Jewish landlord was understandably upset about.

Maybe he didn’t get that they were supposed to be ironic swastikas? The Times article characterizes the McKibbiners as care-free twenty-somethings who admit they “don’t really speak to the locals,” many of whom live in less romantically squalid housing projects.

But Seal counters that some McKibbin kids have been active in building bridges to the local community in East Williamsburg and Bushwick. His group, Arts in Bushwick, organizes outreach programs with neighborhood groups to try and address the issues of gentrification and displacement, while also working with local businesses to help them profit from the demographic change by stocking products the white artists want. So hold tight, McKibbiners; bodegas with day-glo fanny-packs are just around the corner.

Photo of 255 McKibbin St. from the roof of 248 McKibben courtesy Thatsplenty.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By John Del Signore in News on May 7, 2008 12:04 PM

Comments [rss]

benbours

I used to pay $2,200 for a two bedroom in the lower east side. I've moved to Mckibbin so that I'm now paying $400 a mo. for a huge loft in a three bedroom. Down the block from me is a high school, and down the other way is a very friendly bodega and an amazing pizzeria called Roberta's. I'm a recent graduate with a corporate job. My neighbors are a grad student that was just featured in the new york times and a family with a kid. I don't care what this neighborhood is called.

You can all go fuck yourselves.

sqg

East Williamsburg is a made up neighborhood.

All neighborhoods are made up.

neckbeard

my girlfriend and I pay $1600 (total, not each) for a two-bedroom with a backyard in a nice (read: quiet) area in Williamsburg.

These kids choose to live like this. If you look hard enough, you can find a good deal in New York. For some reason New Yorker's take pride in paying too much (getting ripped off).

Gentrifier

Film screenings and jam sessions are encouraged, and television watching is frowned upon as too commercial; these people, after all, create art.

Pay an extra hundred or two, get a studio in a workingclass neighborhood -- NOT the ghetto, a workingclass neighborhood -- and you can do more or less whatever you like with your space and your time.

I mean, I hate teevee too but ain't no way I'm letting a bunch of strangers dictate how I spend my private time when I'm contributing rent to the place.

Gentrifier

“It’s rare to have so many scenes stacked like they are here,” said an 18-year-old poet living in 255 who gave his name as Eirehan Failte. “Even when it’s really loud, it’s still better than some terrible stock-trading roommate listening to Fox in the next room.”

Dude, you live in New York. You have choices. You have options. You have options other than "filthy overpriced squalor" and "republican mook roommates."

Really, you do.

Ah, well. You'll learn.

emilydickinson

Any New Yorker will tell you, in 'Old New York' you stayed out of bad neighborhoods as much as possible, and you certainly didn't live in the ghetto if you could help it. What I don't understand is why people choose to pay more and live in squalor. If you can pay $700-800 USD a month for a 9 share loft in Brooklyn, you can afford to get a studio in Kensington or Astoria. There are plenty of great neighborhoods in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx that are inexpensive, safe and interesting. They might be another 20 minutes further away from GPT or wherever the kids are hanging out at this hour, but the difference in quality of living is tremendous.

East Williamsburg is a made up neighborhood. I'm not saying that neighborhoods shouldn't change and adapt and morph, only that it's a new way to refer to that part of BillyB.

sonyactivision

Ten years from now, you'll all be clamoring for tickets to the Broadway version of this stupid fucking place with all the bathos of "Rent" and all the depth and introspection of "Dreamgirls".And your money will go to the one Columbus Ohio transplant in that dump who can write.

unsunghiro

i'm glad these "mckibbiners" get all this press. that way my cute affordable neighborhood goes unnoticed by all the hype, and i can continue to afford my bohemian urban life, albeit without all the petty obnoxious and pretentious people in my face.

i like to visit williamsburg once in a while, and my band does practice there, but i have no idea why in god's name anyone would want to live there.

tho i can't be totally judgemental. when i first moved to nyc i did seek neighborhoods that were cheaper and a bit grimy, but that's because i can't stand sterile starbucks neighborhoods. but to me, williamsburg/bushwick is sterile in its own way. it's a little bubble. i feel so suburban whenever i'm there, just seeing how clueless most ppl there are to the general pulse of the city.

ihateallbrokers

more muggings, rapes, murders, robberies, burglaries, to scare away the whiteys!

please leave hipsters, gentrifiers, yuppies, stroller moms, get out.

bclm

That's not real NYC-that's their facsimile of what they think it was like 'back in the day' Real NYC is not that brutal-don't delude yourself. Their squalid surroundings are a choice, which makes it doubly insulting to actual poor people who have no choice but to live like that. And I don't think ending up hardened and cynical is a good thing for anyone-that's nothing to boast about.

Dude69

As much as I hate hipsters, it's probably a valuable experience for these young, naive transplants to experience real NYC. Those who survive would be hardened and cynical NYers who ends up in corporate jobs and voting Republicans.

They have to realize that NYC doesn't need as many "art" as they think.

matty

lol@700 a month for that dump. People in nyc have seriously deluded ideas of what they should be getting for their rent checks.

stereotypical

For your health.

Kevin Bracken

I'll be quite honest: I wish I lived there.

I have visited plenty of times, and buildings down the street, and yeah, I wish I lived there.

And yes, I have been robbed there. Although I chased the kid, and by yelling really angrily, was able to get him to return my girlfriend's glasses while running at top speed.

zstone

I have friends in these buildings and wouldn't for a second think about living there. Sharing a couple nasty bathrooms among eight to ten people, having only a few walls that go all the way to the ceiling, and the crime - not worth $800.

jimmylegs

Ostergaard is correct, it's not bushwick until you cross flushing. if all that area was in bushwick, it would be the biggest neighborhood in the whole city. would it help if we just called it 'eastern williamsburg'?

amsci

I prefer "Playin' Possum."

For your health!

zodak

i'm glad these hipsters are in bushwick, it's only a matter of time until they price out the criminals from my city: so long suckers.

Outter Burrougher

here, here, bclm! I live in a three bedroom apartment with it's own patio and pay less, but get dumped on by people who live in Williamsburg and East Williamsburg for living in Queens (Astoria, for the record). I have college friends who live in Brooklyn and who I only see occasionally because I can't stand their W and EW friends constantly looking down their noses at me for living in Queens when, quite frankly, I've got a better apartment in a decent neighborhood for which I pay less than they pay.