Friday Funny: Pining for the Good Old Days of 'Slight' Gentrification

Do you treasure the good old days of $6 drafts, fancy drinks in Mason Jars, and less-snazzy Starbucks? Than you'll sympathize with Dan Hopper, who laments the changes to his neighborhood as 'slightly richer people' move in.

1 minute read

May 24, 2013, 2:00 PM PDT

By Jonathan Nettler @nettsj


"Farewell, slightly gentrified, dirty-in-a-couple-parts neighborhood I fell in love with. Hello, sterile, impersonal, fully gentrified neighborhood of today," bemoans Hopper. "I'll never forget what a cool, character-having but still completely safe neighborhood this used to be back when I was growing up in the aughts (growing from age 24 to 28)."

"When I moved here, yeah, there was a Starbucks, but one time I saw a homeless dude asleep in it. (Was he on heroin? Who knows). And sure, there was a Jamba Juice and a Pinkberry and a Quiznos, but they were interspersed with weird, often-shuttered businesses that I never entered or understood, which really helped me continue believing that this was a cool, gritty, 'developing' neighborhood instead of some incredibly uncool 'developed' neighborhood."

Friday, April 26, 2013 in College Humor

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I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

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