"WHEN I THINK OF FULTON STREET..." (Leschea)
Memories of Beat Street Records (1984-2006)
I just heard about this yesterday (thanks for bringing my attention to it, Jose), but apparently the store shut down back in October. In my late-90s vinyl-fiend days, I'd spend hours scanning the endless racks of wax in the legendary cavernous basement in downtown Brooklyn's Fulton Mall. Beat Street was the place to go for hip-hop 12"s. There was always a live DJ (usually someone named Goldfinger) and if you were anywhere near the speakers, the volume was deafening. Of course, it wasn't uncommon to also see lots of famous New York DJs shopping in the store.
You can look at Beat Street's sad closing through a variety of lenses. Of course, like Tower Records, it's one more casualty of the digital age. Some are also seeing it as symbolic of the death of vinyl. But most interesting to me is a non-musical angle: what it means for the future of downtown Brooklyn and Fulton Mall in particular.
The big news for the borough this week was the state's approval of the massive, controversial Atlantic Yards development which includes a basketball arena for the Nets and huge, corporate towers completely out of scale with the surrounding brownstone neighborhoods. Opponents have been challenging the project for the past few years, and the story has generated a great deal of press during this time.
But Atlantic Yards is just one of many gentrification battles being waged in Brooklyn. There is lots of pressure on nearby Fulton Mall to adapt in order to appeal to the more and more affluent residents streaming into the neighboring districts. In other words, goodbye Beat Street, hello Starbucks!
For those of you who've never been to Fulton Mall, let me set the scene. It is not a mall in the typical suburban American sense; it's not an indoor mall, but rather a bustling outdoor shopping strip. Lots of jewelry stores, discount clothing stores, etc. And a mostly black and Latino clientele who come from all over Brooklyn -- but remarkably few shoppers from right next door (Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, Boerum Hill).
So, on the surface, it sounds like the standard New York gentrification trajectory. Rich, white people move in, change the character of the place, make it more desirable, and thus bring more business to the neighborhood. But here's the thing: Fulton Mall does an amazing business as is! According to the New York Times, "it draws 100,000 shoppers each day, rings up more than $100 million in annual sales and commands rents of up to $250 a square foot, among the highest of any retail district in the city." So if it's doing so well, what's the problem?!
Read more about the Beat Street news here...
Daily News
You can look at Beat Street's sad closing through a variety of lenses. Of course, like Tower Records, it's one more casualty of the digital age. Some are also seeing it as symbolic of the death of vinyl. But most interesting to me is a non-musical angle: what it means for the future of downtown Brooklyn and Fulton Mall in particular.
The big news for the borough this week was the state's approval of the massive, controversial Atlantic Yards development which includes a basketball arena for the Nets and huge, corporate towers completely out of scale with the surrounding brownstone neighborhoods. Opponents have been challenging the project for the past few years, and the story has generated a great deal of press during this time.
But Atlantic Yards is just one of many gentrification battles being waged in Brooklyn. There is lots of pressure on nearby Fulton Mall to adapt in order to appeal to the more and more affluent residents streaming into the neighboring districts. In other words, goodbye Beat Street, hello Starbucks!
For those of you who've never been to Fulton Mall, let me set the scene. It is not a mall in the typical suburban American sense; it's not an indoor mall, but rather a bustling outdoor shopping strip. Lots of jewelry stores, discount clothing stores, etc. And a mostly black and Latino clientele who come from all over Brooklyn -- but remarkably few shoppers from right next door (Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, Boerum Hill).
So, on the surface, it sounds like the standard New York gentrification trajectory. Rich, white people move in, change the character of the place, make it more desirable, and thus bring more business to the neighborhood. But here's the thing: Fulton Mall does an amazing business as is! According to the New York Times, "it draws 100,000 shoppers each day, rings up more than $100 million in annual sales and commands rents of up to $250 a square foot, among the highest of any retail district in the city." So if it's doing so well, what's the problem?!
Read more about the Beat Street news here...
Daily News
Brooklyn Record
Idolator
And read about Fulton Street here...
New York Times
* FYI, the title of this post, "When I Think of Fulton Street," comes from the chorus to a Blige-esque mid-90s pop gem by Brooklyn singer Leschea, who was part of Masta Ace Incorporated, along with the Juice Crew vet as well as Lord Digga and Paula Perry.
Idolator
And read about Fulton Street here...
New York Times
* FYI, the title of this post, "When I Think of Fulton Street," comes from the chorus to a Blige-esque mid-90s pop gem by Brooklyn singer Leschea, who was part of Masta Ace Incorporated, along with the Juice Crew vet as well as Lord Digga and Paula Perry.
posted by MC @ 9:58 AM
2 Comments:
Sad. I remember many good times parusing the racks there with my brother, going damn near deaf from one of the stacks of speakers in that place.
I also remember buying records from Beat Street when I was a teenager. I started shopping there in '87. Sad to see it close.
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