A review by hikemogan
St. Marks Is Dead: The Many Lives of America's Hippest Street by Ada Calhoun

5.0

This hyper-local (St. Marks is only three blocks long) history that begins in pre-colonial times and ends at present day never gets bogged down in sentimentality or nostalgia. Calhoun clearly brings a native St. Marks resident's lifetime of research and first-hand experience and this book is just so densely packed with stories big and small that it moves at a lightning pace. These stories could probably only be collected by a lifer; I doubt ever the most diligent outsider historian could pull off something as intimate and thorough. That's saying something considering she covers such a huge timeline, from the earliest settlement by the Stuyvesant family farm up to 2010s gentrification. Having grown up there, she also brings the perspectives not just of the dilettante punk rockers or hipsters after them (visiting for a day or for a year), but Calhoun brings the stories of lifelong Ukrainian and Puerto Rican families, children, the homeless, local business owners, and artists. She also closes with several of the oldest residents on the block-- including one who has lived on St. Marks since 1940-- saying that the best time to be there is right now. This is a beautiful book that I'm definitely going to re-read again sometime, maybe when/if Calhoun provides an update as time moves along.