The NY Times has an article this weekend that focuses on the overused and so over H word. Hipsters! They're still here, in all their b&w print glory. This time they're settling down in Staten Island to make babies.
The new slow-growing hipster mecca has been a nearly silent Siren for a few years, drawing the hipster crowd over from Brooklyn -- the Times even tells us that at least one resident there wears "black nerd-chic glasses, skinny pants and an Army cap." He also plays the harmonium and owns vinyl! SI has managed to fend off the hipster crowd for the most part, but they're ever so slowly beginning to colonize the North Shore. St. George, Tompkinsville and Stapleton are low-rent, indie friendly neighborhoods -- though most South Shore residents look at the area as "the ghetto". Slightly dangerous + cheap + small artist community + L'amour seems like it may be an equation for future luxury condos.
Recent talk of a light rail on the North Shore may also help draw attention to the area and bring over even more 30-somethings that are through with their now overpriced Brooklyn rents. As a snapshot of what you can get with your hard earned cash, one couple in the Times article pay $375 a month to rent a cottage on a farm in Stapleton, and another rent a two-bedroom apartment in a Victorian house for $950 a month. Ready to buy into the Island? Check out some of these prices.
Photo via ststeve80's flickr.
