A ‘moving’ New York story with a happy-ending
At long last, AREA 17 NYC has moved from our “temporary” location to our new and cozy (and somewhat snazzy) Brooklyn home. Back in the day, AREA 17 had a large Williamsburg loft on North 5th between Bedford and Driggs. In October 2005 we were left homeless (but thankfully not toothless) when the ‘men with baseball bats’ showed up to ask us to (kindly) leave. This was so that their bosses could knock down our wonderful home (known to some as Wildfist, known to others as The Blue Kangaroo Ranch) in order to build luxury lofts — had they not realized our loft was already lux?
No more IT-style decor with old computer equipment strewn about
Thereafter we “crashed on the couch” of our dear friends and collegues at Marathon Consulting (see next news item) while drowning out our deep sorrows in our work and dreaming of a better tomorrow. After a period of calm, jealousy ensued. “Not only do our brethren in Paris get 25 vacation days a year and a 35 hour work-week and 2-hour 3-course lunches with wine … but they also get somewhere nice-like to call chez moi!” The sentiment spread and before we knew it, an all-out French-style strike erupted in NYC (sans the Merguez sausage and Riot control).
The demands included, “No more IT-style decor with old computer equipment strewn about, no more tech support team playing speed metal between calls and please please no large inspirational posters of men diving off cliffs.”
The search began … Williamsburg, Greenpoint, and we even considered Manhattan. DUMBO did enter the realm of possibilities, but after a few seconds of silent half-cocked heads, healthy laughter broke out to clear the air.
Time passed with no luck. Then it dawned on us, Williamsburg had changed. It was no longer what it used to be. So we stopped asking our rock star friends for housing advice. No more dreams of an old loft we could “do up” ourselves. Nope, it was time to get with the times, to get fancy as my momma used to say. Yes, finally a posting with “broker-fee” was clicked and next thing you know, we had a place only two-weeks later and one block away on North 10th and Driggs.
Later we realized were were not the only ones “getting fancy” as we are now next door to our friends at Athletics and Volumeone.