Edge parents reminisce about “Wild West” Williamsburg

From left: 22 North 6th Street and the Williamsburg Bridge circa 1990
From left: 22 North 6th Street and the Williamsburg Bridge circa 1990

Williamsburg, that gentrified land of financiers and well-funded hipsters, wasn’t always such a posh land of plenty, as parents at the Edge recently mused.

A member of the online group “ParentsAtTheEdge” sent Gawker snippets of the online conversation, fondly remembering the good ol’ days.

“Believe it it not, two to three years ago when many of us moved into our apartments, we were pioneers and this section of Williamsburg was still the Wild, Wild West,” one group member wrote. “We were surrounded by warehouses, vacant lots, empty retail stores and half-finished/abandoned condo projects.”

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Another replied that navigating Kent Street once required ninja-like skills.

“I remember looking out my window here and they were literally creating the extension of The Street Past Kent Avenue in front of our bldg [sic],” the online group member wrote. “I also remember hoping that they would put in a traffic light at the intersection because crossing felt like a game of Frogger!”

Happy hopping. [Gawker]Julie Strickland