YJ's Snack Bar

[LindseyLohan]

Inferiority complex?

and thank you for diagnosing my psychological problems. Maybe we should start a thread? I need help. I think this all goes back to the father/no-no touchy place thing.

[Jess]

I can generally tolerate hipsters, although I more often than not won't frequent places where folks glare you down if they don't know you or if you don't look counterculture enough to the naked eye.

[Midtownkid]

Oh, I wasn't specifically talking to you, just sounded like a lot of people were feeling that way.

[chrizow]

once you realize that the supposed "judgment" of hipsters is nearly always a function of their crushing shyness/awkwardness, you will fearlessly be able to enter record stores, dive bars, and places like yj's with a new skip in your step. 

[AJoD]

once you realize that the supposed "judgment" of hipsters is nearly always a function of their crushing shyness/awkwardness...

Either that, or they think you're an asshole and a moron.

[WSPanic]

I can understand not liking the "hipster" crowd (whatever that includes these days), but being intimidated? Seriously? Someone looks in your direction and you run and hide because they think they're somehow judging you?

Between the "hipsters" and "striped shirt guys", I'm surprised anyone on this board ever leaves their home for fear of possibly running into a gang of stereotypes.

[loftguy]

Hell, my shrink says that my agoraphobia stems from the realization that I might actually share space and time with about half of the posters on this forum.

[Gretz]

I've been in this place maybe five times both dressed in hipster-friendly garb and in full-on biz casual Sprint campus atire.  I didn't get the feeling that people there were oozing disdain at having their space violated by a bouergouis invader in dress pants and likely a striped shirt (can't remember precisely) when visiting in biz-casual attire.  Neither did I feel that the regulars were beaming approbation and good will at me upon seeing my skuffed up Chuck Taylors and ealry seventies sports coat with elbow patches/print T-shirt combo.  In both cases I got the impression that the people there, much like the people at an Applebees, or a Mexican place, or Michael Smiths, were probably pretty neutral and unconcerned about me, one amongst many total strangers that they had no doubt encountered that day did in public, and were instead more interested in talking to their friends/reading etc.  I would agree that any uncomfortableness that one feels at YJ's is probably one's own perception and not the result of the collective power of judgment of the regulars being focused on the casual patron from behind the oversized glasses, hand me down textiles and asymetric haircuts.

once you realize that the supposed "judgment" of hipsters is nearly always a function of their crushing shyness/awkwardness 

I nominate this statement for keen observation of the day!

[mean]

Either that, or they think you're an asshole and a moron.

Yeah, but thinking that is simply a defense mechanism to preemptively screen people out of their lives before they have a chance to be rejected by them...and, bacon.

[drumatix]

Just an observation that I've had, completely unrelated to anyone who's posted on this forum:

Has anyone else ever met any extremely vocal hipster-haters who were themselves the very epitome of hipsterdom? It's a weird phenomenon that I've noticed on more than one occasion. Most of the time, in my experience, "I hate hipsters" really translates as "I hate hipsters... other than myself".

Also, YJ's is indeed loaded with bacon. And about to have a big four story parking garage behind it.

[KCKev]

Take a look:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_q ... type=&aq=f

[trailerkid]

Let me get this straight...

YJ's just had a feature on Food Network, but people are complaining about it being hostile to those of us that don't have every Mission of Burma record memorized. Please think about what you're saying...

I also don't get this "pre-gentrified" Xroads crap. Nothing new has even been built except more parking. Buildings are more expensive, but the untrained eye is till going to see the Xroads as a complete dump-- rest assured self-described hipsters.

[chrizow]

I also don't get this "pre-gentrified" Xroads crap. Nothing new has even been built except more parking. Buildings are more expensive, but the untrained eye is till going to see the Xroads as a complete dump-- rest assured self-described hipsters.

i agree with what you're saying. the Xroads is still gritty, sparse, kind of dumpy, etc.  but it is still 50x more "gentrified" than it was, say, 10 years ago when it was truly an urban wilderness.  no wine shops, no (or very few) 400K condos, no $28/plate restaurants, etc.  it was 99% grit, 1% art and artists.  now it's probably 75% grit, 24% yuppies, 1% artists.  it didn't turn into the Plaza overnight, but the difference in vibe is palpable.  not saying that's a bad thing, it just is.  by contrast, the crossroads east of, say, Oak or Locust remains ca. 2000-gritty.

[trailerkid]

i agree with what you're saying. the Xroads is still gritty, sparse, kind of dumpy, etc.  but it is still 50x more "gentrified" than it was, say, 10 years ago when it was truly an urban wilderness.  no wine shops, no (or very few) 400K condos, no $28/plate restaurants, etc.  it was 99% grit, 1% art and artists.  now it's probably 75% grit, 24% yuppies, 1% artists.  it didn't turn into the Plaza overnight, but the difference in vibe is palpable.  not saying that's a bad thing, it just is.  by contrast, the crossroads east of, say, Oak or Locust remains ca. 2000-gritty.

Hmm...

Usually gentrification implies that many viable tenants were forced out by Starbucks or whatever. Didn't the city freeze the taxes for all the arts-related businesses down there?

You talk about vibe, but what specific vibe-inducing businesses or residents have been lost in the last 10 years? Habitat, Sarah's, Magazines and Coffee, et. al were more representative of the yuppie wave of the last 5 years. The arty stuff is still there. I'm assuming a handful of the industrial  businesses left, but many are still there. Was anything at all displaced in the mid-rise freighthouse buildings? I'm not going to deny that there aren't more people with money there, but that area has about 200 miles to go before I fully classify it as gentrified. I just don't buy all the hype about gentrification in an area with crumbling sidewalks everywhere, a mainstay business called "yj's snack bar" and not one condo infill project u/c.

[Midtownkid]

We lost Dolphin.  Big loss.    Does Becco still do the cube?  Last time I walked by it seemed like it was all just flowers now.

[chrizow]

the only reason why tenants haven't been pushed out yet is b/c of stalwart landowners like the leedy's and the folks who own the 18th street block basically giving away space for very little rent to keep the feel of the area.  those people have become very squeezed through rising "values" and property taxes.  i don't know how they hang on, but for the feel of the crossroads i am glad they are. 

[Gretz]

I tend to agree with TK.  The Xroads is pretty far from becoming gentrified.  There is still plenty of unused building stock and vacant retail/commercial space around.  The property value surge has proven to be ill supported by demand and I would expect that building/land prices will correct themselves sharply and in a year or two peoples tax bills will become much more reasonable again.  Hard to justify doubling or trebling the prices of property that one still can't get a rent-paying tenant into or sell as residential.  If the expected future demand implicit in the surge in property values actually materializes, then you might be looking at a situation in which gentrification begins to occur, but for now I just see an over-zealous market in for a big fall back down to earth and some businesses/landlords caught up in the probably temporary side effects.  If prices don't correct themselves downward, I invite the property owners to go cry about their new taxes on the giantic piles of money they have made.  As far as non-owner tenants go, it's a renters market out there.  You can drive a pretty hard bargain with the property owner when there are abandoned store fronts every direction you look.

[staubio]

If prices don't correct themselves downward, I invite the property owners to go cry about their new taxes on the giantic piles of money they have made. 

Problem is, that is only hypothetical money. They don't make any more unless they sell, which would be the turnover and instability that we fear for the neighborhood. Increased values just mean a higher tax burden if they don't intend to bail.

[loftguy]

If prices don't correct themselves downward, I invite the property owners to go cry about their new taxes on the giantic piles of money they have made.  As far as non-owner tenants go, it's a renters market out there.  You can drive a pretty hard bargain with the property owner when there are abandoned store fronts every direction you look.

You've got a twisted view about this topic Gretz.  Your post has a "fuck the man" vibe to it.    Hyperactive tax increases have caused long-term owners to sell, and at a deflated value in part due to the increased taxes.  Tenants (see Habitat, Shiraz, Tanners, etc...) have closed in no small part as result of property tax increases that they ended up sharing.  Increased taxes have put properties out of the reach of many smaller desirable businesses and reduced the value and viability. That's the reality.

No problem with periodic increases to taxes as result of real market changes.  What occurred in downtown was a destructive act of government with no care as to the appropriateness or impact.

[Jess]

once you realize that the supposed "judgment" of hipsters is nearly always a function of their crushing shyness/awkwardness, you will fearlessly be able to enter record stores, dive bars, and places like yj's with a new skip in your step. 

It's not so much a matter of fear as annoyance.