Is McCarren Park Scary?

Is Brooklyn's McCarren Park scary? A discussion has been started up on the topic over at Street Easy, and while the area isn't like it used to be, some in the thread are wondering if it's "dangerous, or only like Central Park is scary to non-city-dwellers." One commenter sections the park off into three parts, and further separates it into areas reserved for the Polish, the Mexicans and the Hipsters. The area closest to the condos is deemed the safest and calmest, boasting an "excellent running track, handball and bocce courts." The biggest concern amongst the potential condo-buyers in the thread seems to be The Hipsters (the baseball field is "overrun by hipsters playing kickball"), but as one points out, the renovated pool will host "classical and opera concerts, [which is] a good sign that hipster influence is waning here." Though we hear the hipsters are getting way into Le Sacre du printemps' complex rhythmic structures as of late. [via Curbed]

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By Jen Carlson in Arts and Events on April 10, 2009 2:35 PM

Comments [rss]

robingee

Oh no, not KICKBALL! How uncouth!

mrouge

I vote to arbitrarily replace the word hipster with Twirts .

the_stu

Dude, even non-hipsters get over "The Rite of Spring" by the time they get out of high school. It was in Fantasia, for Christ's sake. How edgy can we possibly consider it these days? Or is that the only classical/opera piece you know?

grifforama

Fucking Hell Gothamist, and for that matter, Curbed.

Can't we please stop using the word hipster ? You do realise that with the opening of Top Shop in Soho, every fucking kid from 14 to 30 is gonna look like one. They're everywhere now. Stop referring to Williamsburg as full of Hipsters.

ddvrom

here, here.

Dude69

Okay, Billybrug is full of stroller moms and their brats. Bushwick is full of hipster retards.

endlessummer

Can someone explain to me what a hipster is?

Seems to me it just means ppl under 35

jaycjay

As used by Gothamist commenters, it means "anyone my age or younger who performs any activity in public that I do not participate in myself."

Rob T Firefly

It could be worse. They could be playing hacky sack.

grandeur

agreed!

bucephalus

If you're so bothered by hipsters, why would you ever want to live in Williamsburg?

ddvrom

Exactly. Fucking ridiculous. SOO CRAZY, hipsters gathering in the one big park in Williamsburg- I mean, CAN YOU IMAGINE??

Give me a fucking break.

Besides the fact that I don't know how that's "scary."

jaycjay

Besides the fact that I don't know how that's "scary."

It's clear if you read the linked page that that's not what the original poster was asking when he asked if the park is "scary." But apparently that site is like Gothamist in that any mention of anything in or near Williamsburg is followed by the obligatory helpful, enlightening, and original "there are hipsters there" responses.

gtraindelay

I agree - they kind of put the place on the map as far as the newer transplants are concerned...

ixvnyc

And by "Mexicans" I assume they mean Puerto Ricans.

Why don't they just say "the brown people"?

Guest

No talk of muggings / violence?

jaycjay

There are, in fact, a handful of muggings reported in or near the park every week... "mugging" usually meaning a Sidekick, iPhone, or iPod is grabbed. During the warmer months, the occasional unattended bag or wallet being stolen even during the day while the owner is distracted playing soccer or tennis or whatever.

It's not a particularly dangerous or scary place, just another place where you should remain aware of what's happening around you if you're going to be out at 2 am, and like everywhere else a place where you shouldn't leave valuable items laying around for the taking any time of day.