Artists acted as unwitting advance guard for neighborhood gentrification

Evidence

Some years later New York Times jazz critic John S. Wilson cited the Five Spot as an example of what would come to be seen as artist-driven gentrification: “When the El came down, the appearance of open skies, fresh air, and sunshine brought new residents into what had been a drab neighborhood where Cooper Square joins the Bowery. Many of the newcomers were artists and musicians.” A “fever spot of coolness” per Voice arts editor Jerry Tallmer, the Five Spot tolerated artists and oddballs like Harry Smith who just came to listen. — J. Hoberman, Everything Is Now, 85

Categorization

• SEED: This is the core of the reader’s stated turf-wars interest — the Five Spot as the earliest named instance of artist-driven gentrification, worth an essay tracing the pattern to modern displacement.
• XREF: Directly relevant to the reader’s reading purpose: this is the test case for artists-as-advance-guard-of-real-estate. Connects to any shelf claims about gentrification origins. — connects to: Artists unknowingly trigger gentrification that displaces poor racialized residents — Max Haiven, Cultures of Financialization, 462