The view from my desk in 2007 vs today. This one is the most dramatic. It's almost hard to find the throughline here. But I assure you this is lined up pretty well. It’s just that almost every visible thing has changed, including the lamp post.
2010 vs 2018.
Before shows 2008, just as they were about start tearing down the building that used to be there. And today. They built a big building next to it, but the old building has been a hole in the ground ever since.
Totally real, I promise. N 6th and Kent Ave looking at the skyline across the river circa 2007 vs today. Lined up as best I could given how basically nothing is the same.
N 7th and Kent Ave circa January 2008 vs today.
N 6th St and Kent Ave in January 2008 vs today. (Fun fact: There's a very similar "MOVING" sign taped in the same spot on the light post.)
Kent Ave in 2008 when it was an awful speeding two-way mess vs today, when it's an entirely different kind of mess, but one with an awesome bike lane!
Williamsburg Dental Arts used to be Golden Calf (a vintage decor shop). The building used not to be covered in stucco. 2007 vs 2018.
At least Academy Records and Flying Squirrel are still going strong up in Greenpoint. 2007 vs 2018.
Mikey's Hookup is the only thing that hasn't changed.
The north-facing side of National Sawdust is now Rider. Next door to it is construction of boutique condo building by the same architects.
2010 vs today. Many more expensive strollers now than back then.
2010 vs 2018.
2010 vs 2018.
For more than a couple of decades the only grocery store the neighborhood had was Tops. The stock was inconsistent and the hours weren't that long, but they had a massive refrigerated section, which was really wonderful in the summer time to go cool off in. Now the area is brimming with grocery stores and quirky old Tops couldn't compete with the big chains. R.I.P. Tops. 2007 vs 2018.
Tops closed a couple of years before Whole Foods came to town. But now I wonder if the stores that shuttered Tops will be able to make it in a post-Whole Foods world? Time will tell. 2010 vs 2018.
I love that Aurora is still around. 2010 vs 2018.
Making our way further east we find some of the most extreme transformations other than the waterfront itself. Unfortunately I don't have many photos from over there. But this one sums it up pretty well.
Basically the entire block between Bedford and Driggs and N 10th and 11th was a parking lot for decades, then abruptly a massive condo building shot up. All rentals. I went to look at them once during an open house. They weren't great. 2009 vs 2018.
The other side of the massive rental condo development mentioned above. This was after they put up a fence around the parking lot to start building something. 2009 vs 2018.
This one isn't great, but it's all I could find in my library of this view. The comparison isn't really fair since the old one is in the winter and the new one in the summer, but also this particular angle doesn't really reveal most of the taller buildings that have been added. So it's last.