Like other manufacturers, many large clothing makers have moved their factories out of New York City, in search of cheap real estate and cheap labor.

There are several different ways to get to Fort Greene’s Whitman/Ingersoll Housing Development. It can be approached through the Metroplex Center, taking one past Einstein Bagels, where office workers stand in the leafy courtyard area smoking; or through Fort Greene Park, a nicely hilled area with a large field and tennis courts. Such tranquility, however, is far from the norm inside the development.

In Bay Ridge after September 11th, families put out an outstanding display of their patriotic loyalty, with the stars and stripes waving from every house and apartment doorway. Every storefront sported this look as well, an admirable and probably necessary gesture amidst this sudden surge of patriotic fervor.