The hipster takeover: Before-and-after photos show how Brooklyn's bodegas, shops and garages became slick breweries, brunch spots and hotels in little more than five years

• Photographer Kristy Chatelain started taking photographs of Greenpoint, Brooklyn, when she moved there in 2006 
• By 2008, many of the crumbling buildings and bodegas had already transformed into slick delis and breweries
• Now, the area is one of many famed for hosting Lena Dunham's HBO show Girls - and a fresh crop of hipsters

By Mia De Graaf For Dailymail.com

Published: 11:22 EST, 13 September 2015 | Updated: 16:03 EST, 13 September 2015

New Yorkers delight in bemoaning the hipster-ization of Brooklyn.

The once run-down neighborhoods east of East River have lost their character to vegan cafes, overpriced boutiques, and craft beer, the mantra goes.

And now the slick transformation has been laid bare in a stark series of before-and-after photographs taken across little more than five years. 

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Before and after: Photographer Kristy Chatelain captured the Wythe Hotel in Williamsburg, 2009 (left) and 2014 (right)

122 Greenpoint Avenue, 2008 (left), 2014 (center), 2015 (right)

Some businesses have stayed the same but made slight tweaks to cater for the new community, such as Greenpoint's P. A. Grocery (2007)

By 2009 (pictured) it had become P. A. Deli Grill Grocery, with signs for 'breakfast & lunch', 'coffee', 'hot tea' and 'chocolate'

Photographer Kristy Chatelain began her project just after moving to Greenpoint, northern Brooklyn, in 2006.

She sensed change was on the way so took to the trash and glass-littered streets to capture her favorite crumbling bodegas, graffiti-covered walls, and tower blocks.

Fast forward to 2015 and Greenpoint has the distinction of hosting Girls, Lena Dunham's hit HBO show, and consequently its own crop of brunching hipsters.

In 2007, Chatelain captured a bashed-up red brick building on Greenpoint Avenue. By 2009, it had been remodeled into a white brick 'beer merchants' with its name, Brouwerij Lane, painted in calligraphic writing across the newly-fashioned dome roof.

Up the road, in 2008, the live poultry slaughter house was fire engine red with the word 'nightmares' spray-painted across the door. Taking another photograph in 2014 and one in 2015, Chatelain documents how the building gradually turned into a graffiti-free doorway.

In 2007, Chatelain captured this bashed-up red brick building on Greenpoint Avenue

By 2009, it had been remodeled into a white brick 'beer merchants' with its name, Brouwerij Lane, painted in calligraphic writing

The fairy lights, glass and varnished paint at 33 Havemeyer Street, 2009 (left) and 2015 (right), is typical of the area these days

Before: Chatelain forgot that she had photographed 213 N 8th Street in Williamsburg in 2010

After: It was only after she visited this wildly different Brooklyn Winery at 213 N 8th Street a few times that she realized it was familiar (2015)

Elements remain the same but the atmosphere of 47 Java Street was very different in 2009 (left) to the Naked Dog in 2015 (right)

The wire fence, barbed wire, abandoned retro car, and building site were typical of old Brooklyn (Oak and West Street, 2007)

In 2015, Oak and West Street has an iron fence, vast windows on the completed building site, and a 4x4 parked up on the road

Graffiti and murals remain commonplace in Brooklyn, but now more curated

Some businesses have stayed the same but made slight tweaks to cater for the new community, such as Greenpoint's P. A. Grocery - now, P. A. Deli Grill Grocery.

The convenience store is pictured at first in 2007. It is bright yellow and multi-colored signs advertise 'cold cuts', 'frozen food', 'New York Lotto', 'TROPICAL PRODUCE'.

In 2009, it is an unblemished black with a maroon awning and the words: 'coffee', 'hot tea', 'chocolate', 'breakfast & lunch'.

One of the most stark differences is seen at the Wythe Hotel in Williamsburg, now a trendy hotspot for tourists and affluent locals.

In 2009, the doorway is isolated, the door is dirt-splattered gray metal, with graffiti, posters, and stickers. In 2014, it is a rustic red brick, the door is glass, and outside stand a bouncer in a shirt and tie, next to a man in a blue and pink Topman shirt, with matching blue and pink boat shoes.

193 Plymouth Street, 2009 (left) and 2015 (right)

192 Berry, 2009 (left) and 2015 (right)

214 Water Street, 2009 (left) and 2015 (right)

Speaking to Wired, Chatelain said she does not begrudge the change like many other Brooklynites. 'I see it as all part of the cycle of change that is New York City. It's just sad that long time residents might be forced out in the process of gentrification, or basically have to watch their neighborhood become unrecognizable'.

Brooklyn-born Spike Lee was less forgiving on the same topic. 

'It's changed,' he told an audience. '...motherf****** hipsters.' 

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