A Stroll Down Fulton Street

By on August 1, 2010 3:31 pm in Downtown Brooklyn, History

Photo: Chuck Taylor/SmokingNun

Homer’s pal/Brooklyn Heights resident/ Celine Dion expert / journalist/ biographer/ census worker Chuck “the Smoking Nun” Taylor takes a walk down Fulton Street and contemplates.  He also Photoshops a few pictures (above) to look like Superfly-era snapshots:

Smoking Nun: Its gentrification is an ongoing work in progress, but for now it is still inundated with electronics vendors, 99-cent stores, wig & weave stores, bargain emporiums and pawn shops. It is truly a snapshot of what Manhattan resembled in the 1970s—which I look back upon with fondness. The opportunity to surround myself with a strip of retail that has not be overrun by chain stores and Mayor Bloomberg’s clean sweep of the middle class is a daily fascination. I simply cannot pass by without camera in hand.

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  • Teddy

    I could be wrong, but I have a feeling that in 5 years Fulton St. will look pretty much the same it does today. Actually, maybe in 5-10 years more commercial streets/avenues in the city will look more like Fulton St.

  • Steven

    aero is coming in fall, new bench and sitting area by hoyt street, and alot of renovations.. it will not look like this in 5 years.

  • ashton

    Such nostalgia for the awful seventies. I was there too and am thrilled to see it disappear.
    Once the reconstruction of Albee Square is finished and the new paving and lighting goes in, you will not recognize Fulton Street in five years. It will be transformed like Smith Street was in the late 90’s. You will need to buy your wigs and knockoffs on Canal Street in Manhattan.

  • jorale-man

    I have mixed feelings about gentrification there. Like many Heights residents, I’d welcome a cleaner, less grimy and seedy strip that had stores I’d actually want to shop at. On the other, low-income people need a place to shop too, and many such districts have disappeared as the city’s fortunes have risen. Could there be a middle ground – a place that caters to a diverse mix of residents but is also not a total eyesore? I don’t know the answer but one suspects this area won’t stay the same much longer.