Does anyone actually know what anthropology is?

What does Evo love more: nationalization of oil or speaking at Columbia?

Should GS deans be chosen in the same way as GS students--far too late?

Did you know that, like, East 116th is TOTALLY less gentrified than, like, Columbia? I think she actually saw a poor person!

Can Columbia sports only win through not telling anyone about injuries to players?

From the November issue of The Blue and White, we bring you a piece about the growth of chain stores in Morningside Heights written by Lydia DePillis, James Downie, and Eliza Shapiro. Hard copies will be on the (nonexistent) racks on Monday!

"How many banks do you need on one block?" asked Morningside Heights Assemblyman Danny O'Donnell. The answer—judging by the Washington Mutual, Citibank, Chase, and Banco Popular, all of which are stationed on Broadway from 116th St. to 110th St.—is about one per block.

O'Donnell has lived in Morningside Heights for more than a decade, and has become increasingly concerned about what he calls the "drugstorization" and "bankization" of the neighborhood.

Lately, an increasing number of Morningside's independent businesses have closed or relocated and been replaced by chain outlets that you might find in Nolita or New Jersey, Staten Island or San Francisco. The Wrapp Factory is now Empanada Joe's. Casbah Rouge is now Chipotle. Kim's Video is now Ricky's. The bars Mona and Roadhouse are now Pourhouse, an offshoot of the original Village Pourhouse, located near NYU. Two years ago, the West End became Havana Central, which has branches in Times Square and Union Square.

The prevalence of chains cuts both ways: It can be a natural consequence of neighborhood development, as businesses and new franchise owners decide that the consumer base can support the outlet. Harlem crossed a threshold in 1999 when Starbucks opened a store on 125th St., and the growth of chains has spread to West Harlem and up to Hamilton Heights.

The rumor mill is spinning with reports that upmarket grocery chain Whole Foods is set to move into a new condo development to supplant Park West Village, along Columbus Ave. from 97th to 100th Streets. New York real estate blog Curbed notes that, "because something about these Whole Foods rumors always seems to play out, we're calling this one a done deal." Bwog speculates that this could spell salvation for Whole Foods fans otherwise disinclined to trek down to the Columbus Circle store for fancy foodstuffs, not to mention competition for uptown mainstay Fairway and nearby newcomer Citarella. With the long-departed West Side Market set to reopen at 110th and Broadway soon, our area's grocery store wars could be heating up again.

Meanwhile, the new luxury high-rise Fifteen Central Park West (designed, incidentally, by architect Robert A.M. Stern C'60, who also left his touch on our very own Broadway Residence Hall) will bring electronics megastore Best Buy a little closer to campus when it opens in the tower's Broadway base. The neighborhood's certainly come a long way ever since Meg Ryan learned, in that quintessential 90s romantic comedy, You've Got Mail, to stop protesting, and fall in love with chain stores- or at least their proprietors' charming online personas.

-CJS