Is 'Sex And The City' To Blame For New York's Gentrification?

With its portrait of glamorous living in Manhattan, some New Yorkers can't help but blame the television series for fueling the city's gentrification. Even the show's star, Sarah Jessica Parker, laments Manhattan's loss of 'grit'.

1 minute read

May 8, 2008, 8:00 AM PDT

By Christian Madera @http://www.twitter.com/cpmadera


"Sarah Jessica Parker is bemoaning the loss of a city that many say she helped push out.

As trendy bars and boutiques take over Manhattan's corner bodegas and laundermats, the famously stiletto-heeled "Sex and the City" star laments the loss of grit for glamour in New York.

"I don't know if you do this with your husband," Parker told New York magazine in an interview that hits newsstands Monday. "But say one of us is walking down the street, I'll call him and say, 'You know, the Laundromat is closed!' And he'll say, 'What?' I'll be like, 'The Laundromat at 11th and W. Fourth St. is closed!'"

In the article, titled "Sarah Jessica Parker Would Like a Few Words with Carrie Bradshaw," Parker tells writer Emily Nussbaum that she and her equally famous husband, actor Matthew Broderick, keep a running tab on changes in their West Village neighborhood.

An actress-turned-fashion brand, Parker acknowledges that people blame her and the hit HBO series for the near-complete, high-end gentrification of the West Village."That's your fault!" Broderick says when he spots "a thong poking up from low-slung jeans," Nussbaum recounts."

Wednesday, May 7, 2008 in New York Daily News

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