October 4, 2011, 11:45 am

Authentrification (n.)

By DANIEL MAURER

Bowery Boogie points to an interesting piece on This Recording about “authentrification.” Author Alexandria Symonds defines it as “seizing on elements that represent the area’s past and repurposing them as a design scheme,” in the way the John Varvatos store nods to CBGB and its neighbor DBGB nods to kitchen supply stores. Needless to say, local bloggers aren’t exactly big fans of authentrification, even calling it “ghoulish,” but a neighboring shopkeeper insists that “John Varvatos is the best thing that could have happened to CBGBs.”