The Gutter Punks Take Manhattan Brooklyn!
Maybe Brooklyn hipsters are all skinny as a bean poll cause they’re junkies living in abandoned condo developments and panhandling for food? Probably not, but a cutting Daily News expose delves into a developing subculture of gutter punks migrating to Williamsburg to live off the area’s newfound prosperity. The existence of squatters in the hood ain’t exactly a new development — our friends at Williamsboard have been threading about it for awhile now — but the News crew unveils some juicy details about the life of a homeless wanderer named “Johnny” who claims he makes $150 a day panhandling to pay for his heroin addiction and crashes at a stalled construction project on North 9th Street off Bedford Ave. “I’ve squatted all over the place,” says the 21-year-old who roams the streets with a mangy mutt. “I’ve never made as much money as I make here.”