Like so many Brooklyn neighborhoods around it, Crown Heights is in the midst of rapid gentrification. Traditionally a mix of African-American, West Indian, and Hasidic Jewish populations, the neighborhood has seen a surge in pricey housing in recent years, which has pushed out many longtime inhabitants.
In that time, the White population has nearly doubled. All of which is to say that it’s a delicate time right now in a neighborhood where new residents and businesses are trying to establish themselves in places that they wouldn’t have just a decade ago. That kind of shift can lead to questionable choices when it comes to how the new population claim and commodify the region’s history.
The “bullet hole” wall at a recently opened restaurant in town might be the perfect distillation of that.
The self-proclaimed “boozy sandwich shop” Summerhill recently opened its doors on Nostrand Avenue in Crown Heights and immediately got to advertising its cocktails in front of a “bullet hole-ridden wall.” In a press release, they added that the shop was formerly “a rumored backroom illegal gun shop.” That caught the attention of Gothamist, who interviewed owner Becca Brennan, who admitted it’s unknown if the holes in the wall are actually caused by bullets and that the promotional usage was “cheeky.”
Had this trendy cocktail and sandwich bar opened up someplace else, it might be written off as a business having a little fun. But couple the bullet hole with the fact that the shop described itself as an “oasis” on Nostrand Avenue and you’re already pretty close to winning on your Gentrification BINGO card.
And that’s before we even get to the Forty Ounce Rose, a wine brand that’s bottled to look like a 40-oz. Colt 45 and, according to Brennan, would be served in paper bags in the shop. When Gothamist asked her to explain why she wanted to do that, she passed the buck, saying “I’m not an authority so don’t feel comfortable commenting on anything other than my business.”
By that line of thinking, she doesn’t even understand (or want to take the time to learn) why that might be offensive. And that sums up the problem perfectly.
As one Crown Heights resident told Gothamist, “[Summerhill is] making money off of… negative aspects in our community which, you know, you’re happy when these things go on because you can make money off of it. And it’s like you’re not thinking about the black people or the long-term residents in the community. Or maybe you are thinking about them but they don’t matter.”
Just like the white sushi chef who would speak to his customers with a Japanese accent or the bar that, knowingly or unknowingly, named itself after a derogatory term for a large portion of the surrounding community, there is a level of understanding and common sense that is often lacking by those aimed at appealing to the new at the expense of the old. Especially when it comes to a bar that is positioning itself as a laid-back hangout for high-income customers in a neighborhood none of them would have set foot in until recently. There are larger issues at stake when it comes to gentrification but the lack of compassion and common sense at the core of Summerhill’s decision-making set a bad tone from the start.