Brooklyn's poly housing project: video doc looks at how it's turned out

Remember Leon Feingold's poly-friendly redevelopment of an apartment building in Brooklyn last year that made runaway news across New York?

Bushwick filmmaker Brian Vines, of BRIC-TV, just released a video documentary on the people now filling Hacienda Villa and how this idea has worked out. Spoiler: mighty well, thank you.

It's in two parts (12 minutes total):





This afternoon The Gothamist put up a short article about the documentary, with pix. Excerpts:

Step Inside This Bushwick Polyamory House

What is there to say about this BRIC TV video on Bushwick's polyamory house that wasn't already said with lingering shots of curved faucets and supple hands wrapped around goblets of wine?

"What's the garbage situation?" the embedded reporter asks the group, comprised of comely 30-somethings all lounging on a mattress covered in fake (?) furs. It's collected on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, but look! Poly houses: They're just like us.

"I thought it was going to be like a bad MTV reality show," says housemate Deniz Akyurek, who said he first became acquainted with the place as a subletter. "It was better than any roommate situation I've ever been with."

The buried lede is that the inhabitants of the home — called Hacienda Villa — don't actually sleep with each other, which actually makes perfect sense and shame on us (fine, me) for making the snap judgment that "polyamorous" is just a euphemism for "relentless sex parade." The Bushwick abode is simply a community of people who practice non-monogamous relationships, within whatever context that fits into their particular lives.

...In all seriousness, everyone seems very sane and well-adjusted and happy. Who knew that anything so positive could exist in rat-infested Bushwick?

And since it's Friday, ditch your spreadsheet and give in to the allure of the Casual Sex Project. It's all you get for now: Hacienda Villa is full and has a waiting list.

The backstory is that a creative developer gutted an old building and rebuilt the interior to a more communal plan with polyfolks in mind. The private spaces are small but spiffy, the community spaces are large, and residents select new members from applicants. I haven't learned the economics of the project, but if it filled immediately and has a waiting list even when priced to make a New York profit, it must be a financial success.

So will the Hacienda Villa model spread? There must be a hundred thousand people in New York pining to live like this.

[Permalink]