Friday, December 28, 2007

Greeks: Save Astoria from hipsters

Formed a few weeks ago on the social networking site Facebook, the Save Astoria group urges members - about 150 as of late Thursday - to prevent the hipsters from turning churches and cafes into "wasteful art exhibits."

Save Astoria from hipsters say Greeks

Its five organizers, all former or current students at Fordham University, note Greeks' history of banding together and becoming "a formidable force" during tough times. They ask followers to support only Greek businesses.

29 comments:

Anonymous said...

Don't forget those fearless 300 Spartans
at the battle of the "Hot Gates"!

The Greeks around St. Nicholas' church
on Northern Blv'd in Auburndale
have banded together to keep it culturally intact
from invading Korean real estaste speculators!

Anonymous said...

churches contain pews and also "pee-yews" when hipsters' artwork is displayed in it.

Anonymous said...

Hipsters are very much
like self loving speed daters.

Highly mobile and very fickle....
they go from one fad or girl to another.....
tossing each aside
after they're "finished" with it!

They often BREAK....
they DO NOT MAKE a solid community!

Anonymous said...

Astoria ia a part of the USA and anyone can live there!!!
Diversity is a great thing and that's what makes Astoria great.
All of the diverse characters.

Anonymous said...

How diverse is Astoria? Parts of it look like a slum.

Anonymous said...

Lot of pressure building in the community to get away from those tiresome cafes. Their clientale increasingly doesn't live in Astoria anyway.

Its about time that the community starts to cater to a broader population (no, I don't mean 99 cent stores or yet another Mexican restaurant)

Anonymous said...

You should have seen the expression on the face of the old codgers at Athens Cafe on 30th Ave when the Brazilians hijacked the
30th Ave festival last summer at started booming out their music.

Equal measures of shock and awe.

damienpagan said...

I think its a bit near-sighted to cast the so-called 'hipsters' as antagonists in an imaginary culture war propped up to rise the long vested community interests into fighting for the status quo, whatever that all means. As with most Social/Demographic issues the reality is usually more complex than the arguments being put forth by any interested party. I myself am a Long Islander, but a majority of my friends are in fact, young members of the creative class living in Astoria, currently engaged in creating art and music and culture that trancend the interests of any monolithic diaspora (Greek or other). The fact is that as we become further removed in time from the roots of those entrenched cultures, they will necessarilly become diluted and will ultimately constitute a part of a larger culture that is uniquely Astorian in its character. The trends and attitudes of our times are both secular and modernist so it's no wonder, to me at least, that ideas of religious orthodoxy and cultural purism will be overshadowed by holistic integration, and that will be the lasting legacy of the rich cultural history seeded by the Greeks in that area.

viva la revolucion.

Anonymous said...

Astoria becoming hipster?

Hey morons, those $1500/month basements have Mexicans sleeping in shifts.

Astoria is well on the way to become yet another 3rd world Queens neighborhood like Corona.

Anonymous said...

F*** You Jerk!!!

And say. How are you so familiar with the sleeping patterns of "Mexican laborers?"

Are you sleeping with them maybe?!

Anonymous said...

Because they come and go at all hours of the night and make noise while doing it. They don't wait until they get inside to use the bathroom, and when its their holidays they blast music all night and keep the whole neighborhood up. But it's ok because we should embrace this "diversity".

Anonymous said...

Between the Asian comments on another post and the Mexican comments here, this must be "Bigot Day" on Queens Crap.

Anonymous said...

Oh, it's like that, eh? Well okay, it sounds like you know what you're talking about. But you didn't have to go calling us "morons." Opinionated or hot headed would've done better, if you were set on issuing insults.

Well anyway, no hard feelings...

Anonymous said...

hey its only bigoted if its untrue, and even you know that its true.

Anonymous said...

Great idea. I'm starting a group to boycott any business not run by Caucasian English-speakers. Then, we'll start boycotting Jews. Then, Catholics.... what? This is wrong you say? Of course it is! Change is inevitable.

Anonymous said...

Change is inevitable.
-----------

Great, I will remember that the next time a clubhouse clown stands up to speak.

Anonymous said...

Between the Asian comments on another post and the Mexican comments here, this must be "Bigot Day" on Queens Crap.

-----------

Nothing is Bigot Day like listening to a pol discuss voting habits the Wednesday after elections.

Anonymous said...

Remember, most of us here proud offspring of immigrants. We can say any damn thing we want, because we ain't tweeded.

We all know about the immigrant experience.

Besides, who complains about more about the exploitation of living accommodations and working conditions of immigrants than Queens Crap?

Their advocacy groups? 'Massive population shifts under the guise of affordable housing.'

'Shape up halls.' Like that will stop sub-union wages and cutting corners on safety?

Anonymous said...

what is a hipster?

Anonymous said...

To the bozo above who called it bigot day here ...

Thairp! as Archie Bunker would say i say to you and twice!


Hello, I live in flushing for 20 years, 1 block from the stupid train and walk the whole hood every day, week and month....including further up northern...


and what the hey, i was under the impression that the new community would start to welcome its older inhabitants(me) with english signs, some time ago..well....NO Way

I am astounded by the signage all along main and roos...and northern, I really cannot believe they're all non-english...hey a small store opened the other day, and besides the main sign,,...the signs in the window were 100% korean....this was a restaurant too!

Then how about queens center....a few weeks ago the lobby was decked out in the taiwan and korean flags, they were having some dedication function...many people all dressed up going in...monks holding court, I try to enter and am told the building is closed, and private....I took pictures. Big H.

Anonymous said...

a Hipster is:

a person who dresses like an artist and adopts the stereotypical attitudes and temperament of one. Some hipsters even go so far as to paint, too, though like their attire the images they produce are just superficial reproductions of real artwork, and literature, they've studied and viewed in libraries or at the Met.

The most offensive thing about hipsters is that they try to transform the neighborhoods they move in to in the same way, turning them into bohemian communities that have the look and feel of artistic communities, w/o any of the substance. As a result the nabes become like Hollywood movie sets: fake, hollow, and utterly lacking in substance.

a Real Artist, by contrast:

dresses and behaves like an ordinary everyday citizen and doesn't put on any false airs. The only thing remarkable or distinct about them is what they put down on their canvases, which is always original, honest, and real.

Anonymous said...

Young members
of a "CREATIVE CLASS" (whew...hubba, hubba)....
and what exactly does that mean.....
another group of wanna-bees (hipster/yuppies)
feigning masturbatory artistic orgasms
in lieu of "doing"the real thing?

Anonymous said...

a Hipster is:

A person who dresses in scruffy black thrift clothing, nose piercingsand Purple/green hair. They live bunched up in working class gritty areas soley for the low rent and pronounces it to be desirable to gloss over the fact they rather be elswhere. They generally are professional students of the arts and most likely big time educational failures just trying to skirt around the difficult requirements of traditional degrees. They abhor and are unequipted to secure a real job. They travel in packs in search of cheap eats and booze and act haughty with superfical ways. Their goal is to latch onto a rich patron to finance their lazy druggie ways or secure a path out of their present lifestyle misery. Frequently they band together to hold exhibitions in support of the trash they produce and proclaim as art or film.

Anonymous said...

Considering how many of the Greeks from Astoria have moved out of the area NOT due to gentrification but instead to move to a nice house in the suburbs, I really don't think hipsters are a problem. Astoria has been gradually evolving for the last 10 years(possibly longer but I wasn't paying attention at that point.) Gentrification is a real problem in this city. People are loosing their homes. People are loosing their businesses. But here in Astoria, it's just evolving like an area should and becoming far more diverse than it ever was.

Anonymous said...

There are some guidebooks that describe Astoria as Greek, Ridgewood as German, and Ozone Park as Italian. This is not Disney's Epcot!

Within Astoria alone, you have Italians, Egyptians, Serbs, etc. Instead of being labeled a Greek polis, Astoria should be praised for diversity.

Hipsters have no clear identity, they do not contribute to diversity because they do not belong to stable communities.

Anonymous said...

Hipsters
should be really called "hopsters".

They jump from one "host community"
(like a flea) to another......no staying power....
like a lousy lover that can only do it once.

They've replaced "generation X"
for their lack of will and general invisability!

They leave no trace when they leave.....
only a vacuum to be filled with
something much more substantial.

Matter is scientifically defined as....
occupying space and having weight.

The hipster, in the end, really doesn't matter.

They wind up being relegated
to a lowly footnote in the history
of those who've made some!

Anonymous said...

Here's a link to check out what the hipsters on bedford avenue in williamsburg are doing......

I think this is what is gonna become of Pinky when he has his term limit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzUaWrCpgLY

Anonymous said...

I'm Greek and I'm also hipster....so yaaaay!

Anonymous said...

Got to love the hipsters. ! They will pay $8 for a half pint of beer and think it's cool to sit on a dirty wooden bench/sofa whilst drinking it. Just check out Williamsburg. They seem to gravitate towards used/run down looking establishments to eat and drink. They look like they shop at the thrift store, but those pants actually cost $75 at a store in the village. HOw does it cost so much to look so bad...