New York

Ah, the glorious Kensington melting pot/mixed salad. Arabs on Coney Island Ave, black kids on Church, Chussids on Foster, big ol’ discombobulating suburban houses with well-tended lawns in Ditmas Park (Alright, that went beyond the borders of Kensington, but I’m talking a general NFT Brooklyn Map 13 here). What this place needs is an out-of-place bookstore/coffee shop. Hello, Vox Pop! A shortening of the Latin phrase vox populi (voice of the people), Vox Pop is a lot of things to a lot of people, all of them white and artistically-minded (J/K..). A world away from every other barbershop/sweet store/Islamic Center around it, Vox Pop is a coffee-serving, meat (and vegetable)-grilling, relatively upscale publishing house and performance space. And unlike that other shining beacon of gentrification in the area (Farm on Adderley), Vox Pop is all Marxist, all the time. The books and newspapers on display are the likes of The Post-Petroleum Survival Guide. The hummus plates and free-range chicken sandwiches have names like The Chomsky and The Gonzo. Alongside its many leaflets and fliers on freeing political prisoners is a children’s play space and promises (in notice-form) of a weekly children’s story hour. Though it clearly risks falling into cliché, the motives seem sincere, the staff seem respectable and the whole idea just unpretentious enough that I don’t mind. Books Coffee Democracy!

Photo:  Jane Pirone

The year-old Vox POP - Books, Coffee, Democracy is the best neighborhood shop in the city these days. Serving 100% fair-trade coffee with unionized employees, the cafe offers free wireless access, an excellent selection of political books, readings, and performances that give the place an activist vibe but real neighborhood feel. Vox Pop is another brainchild of Sander Hicks (Soft Skull Press infamy), who lives and operates the press above the store with his wife and new son. The Ditmas Park/Cortelyou area just keeps getting better and this store alone would be reason to move on in!

Photo:  Jane Pirone