Gone are the days when graffiti tags marked almost everything in the New York City subway system.
Now there's a new kind of vandalism on display at the 14th Street station on the F line: a sticker on the "Downtown & Brooklyn" sign that tweaks the spelling of the borough's name to that of the Dutch community incorporated in 1646.
Hipster vandalism? Spotted this at 14th St @MTA station yesterday; stickers have been affixed/removed for years. pic.twitter.com/66o0ZFmKJK
— Michael Paulson (@MichaelPaulson) October 19, 2015A little history lesson for you: in 1636, about 12 years after the Dutch colonists of New Netherlands began settling the southern tip of Manhattan island, some pioneers crossed the East River to set up plantations on the western tip of Long Island, in what is today Brooklyn Heights. They called their community Breuckelen, after a town in the Netherlands.
But the village of Breuckelen was only one of six towns the Dutch would establish within what are the now the boundaries of Brooklyn. In the nineteenth century, the rapidly expanding village annexed its neighbors, becoming the third largest city in the nation. Brooklyn was incorporated into New York City in 1898.
The name "Breuckelen" lives on, lending itself to every other "artisanal" product that Brooklyn-based businesses make, from gin to Brooklyn Industries T-shirts.
Twenty-five bucks says the sticker is a marketing ploy.
UPDATE: Another "Breuckelen" sign was seen at the L train entrance on 1st Avenue on Saturday afternoon, reader Ellen Scordato pointed out.
Credit: Mark Rifkin
