Caine Blog

One of the coolest parts of the Lee Avenue rise is Hasidic fashion, which is way different from average, white-bread fashion we all deal with in this boring, fashion-backwards sticksville known as New York City.  When I talk about the Lee Avenue rise, I’m making up a term; here’s what I’m actually talking about:

I often head down to Lee Avenue just to walk around, but not for touristic purposes; rather, I was there for the trendwatching.  But speaking of tourists: a few weeks ago, on a SATURDAY, I ran into two Swedish tourists walking down Lee Avenue.  They looked lost.  The whole street was a ghost town of course, and they ran me down and asked, ”Where are the Jews?”  Uhh, two tall, blond Aryan types looking for Jews?  Had all of the Hasidim heard about the infamous Swedes and decided to hide?

The point is, the Hasidim aren’t a tourist attraction, rather they are the avant-garde.  It’s a tough idea for people to comprehend, because they read stories, like this one, that paint Hasidic groups - and particularly the Satmars - as messianic throwbacks to the middle ages.  But that isn’t the case at all.  Over the next few weeks I will be recording the neighborhood’s fashions, sometimes with words and sometimes with photographs, in an attempt to paint a fuller portrait of my neighbors.

Tomorrow comes volume 1, a more extensive explanation of the Crocs situation.