We paid a neighborly visit to Open Air Modern, a new store on Manhattan Avenue in Greenpoint. Matt, the owner, used to run the show over at Airstream Books outdoor market in Williamsburg. He's relocated and expanded the operation a bit further north — but for good reason.
The new storefront features a wall of industrial windows that makes for a great view from the street. Beyond the physical space, the well-curated merchandise varies from vintage records, to affordable mid-century furniture, to a large selection of rare and out-of-print design books. Open Air Modern also sells contemporary best-selling novels for cheap, so forget trekking to faceless stores in the city for your subway reading material.
If you're looking for just the right thing as a gift for someone (or for yourself), check out the carefully-considered selection at this new neighborhood dispensary of special.
It looks lovely but, my, how Greenpoint has gentrified since I lived there.
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Not to be insulting, but is there not a chance you are part of that gentrification?
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*were
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It's not insulting. My family has lived there for 100 years. I don't think my couple of years there were part of the gentrification, just following the decades-long trend of landing in Greenpoint after leaving Poland, and staying with relatives before moving on.
Neighborhoods change -- it's just strange to me to go back there now and not hear Polish 24/7. And now, to see vintage furnishings! [Which I love.]
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