Staten Island is Having a Moment

[The St. George Ferry Terminal has new fish tanks! Photo: Flickr/AllWaysNY]

Staten Island?that middle-class suburban enclave of NYC?may one day be known for more than just a boat, a minor league baseball team, a failed NASCAR stadium and the most legendary MTV True Life documentary ever. Sure, it still sucks to get to, but Staten Island is officially having a moment. Witness:

1) It has a hip, gentrifying neighborhood. POW!
2) It has a backlash to its hip, gentrifying neighborhood. WHAM!
3) For the first time, the tourists will come (and not immediately hop on the Ferry and head right back). KABLOWIE!
4) Jim Mamary, neighborhood-making restaurant king of Brooklyn, on his next targets: "I like Staten Island. It's not ready for Manhattan style, but there's room for the kind of establishment we have." AGOG!

Hipsters, hipster-haters, tourists and trendy cafés; soon Staten Island will look just like the rest of the city?which, in itself, is something of a breakthrough, no?
· Curbed's Staten Island coverage [Curbed]