What Do You Miss About OLD NYC?

The couple in Central Park that dressed in matching purple sweatpants and sweatshirts and rode a tandem bicycle all around the park all weekend collecting poop (don't remember if it was horse or dog) and hauling it in bags on the back of the bike.

And I will 2nd the mention of street-fairs-that-didn't-suck.

Affordable B'way plays

Shakespeare in the Park when it wasn't controlled by organized scalpers.

Concerts in the Park before the Sex and the City days when few knew about it.

O'neils on 79th St. when few knew about it. As late as 2000 you could go down there on a friday evening and not wait for a seat by the water. The food still stunk but the environment was quieter and more romantical-like.

The planetary scales in the old planetarium. Big honking metal things with huge dials, not some digital display.

Blowing up the balloons before the Thanksgiving day parade. They still do it, but it was mostly unnoticed until it became national in a Seinfeld episode. Now it is a zoo.

> Concerts in the Park before the Sex and the City days when few knew about it.

Remember they stopped the concerts for years because of safety issues. I don't miss that new york.

I love that there are more concerts than I can recall ever before...

I miss the funhouse-like experience whenever we were being processed at the Tombs.

Nostalgia's a funny thing -- and I think it's a lot like what people say about New York: it's a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there. (I've never understood that, by the way. I've BEEN to where they live...)

So I agree that old New York wasn't really all that nice -- but that's not how memory works. In your memory, you can cruise through old Times Square without fear of being propositioned or harrassed, you can go through the Lower East Side and recall the bohemianism without the risk of someone vomiting on your shoes. Yeah, it wasn't like that in real life, but...

Nostalgia's a funny thing -- and I think it's a lot like what people say about New York: it's a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there. (I've never understood that, by the way. I've BEEN to where they live...)

So I agree that old New York wasn't really all that nice -- but that's not how memory works. In your memory, you can cruise through old Times Square without fear of being propositioned or harrassed, you can go through the Lower East Side and recall the bohemianism without the risk of someone vomiting on your shoes. Yeah, it wasn't like that in real life, but...

"So I agree that old New York wasn't really all that nice -- but that's not how memory works. In your memory, you can cruise through old Times Square without fear of being propositioned or harrassed, you can go through the Lower East Side and recall the bohemianism without the risk of someone vomiting on your shoes. Yeah, it wasn't like that in real life, but..."

Bingo.

You can talk about all the things that were available and cheap, but ultimately, people feared for their safety, which caused many to not take advantage as much as is being inferred here. And those things were dirty, broken, etc.

Sure, I'd love a great seat at the stadium for $10 again (and bought right before walking in!), but if it comes with getting mugged on the way there...

BTW, if things were so amazing and great, ask yourself why folks left the city in droves...

@somewhereelse and HK306; Of Course there were plenty of lousy things about old NYC.

We know.

We were there.

But that's not the question we're asking.

>the Papaya King price war with Nathan's when PK dogs came down to 4 for a dollar.

http://streeteasy.com/nyc/talk/discussion/23611

O.K. I miss the great things.

>Missing the "old" New York is just part of being a New Yorker, even if you just got here. My favorite is the t-shirt for infants that says "I miss the old New York." Like banging on the hood of taxis that cut us off in the crosswalk or jaywalking, it is our God-given right as New York denizens to complain about what we miss.

If you are a 45 year old living in Midtown East in a smallish 1 bedroom apartment, and are a virgin, have you ever truly lived in NYC? Even if you've been here for 45 years?

>I miss the funhouse-like experience whenever we were being processed at the Tombs.

I'm sure you and Bernard K. Kerick are like peas in a pod.

I say fear is too strong of a word to describe the emotion of NYers from yesteryear, as people went out and enjoyed themselves all year. If crime was more evident in those years was this due to reporting? In the days were talking about, people enjoyed themselves more, and neighbors had more respect for one another than they do today. The biggest concern, in the 70s, at parties was watching out for your drink. The issue in the 80s was violence and guns. Today, the 70s and 80s issues are conflated to create a fearful party as they are both prevalent in NYC and I did not mention acts of terrorism by "Islamic extremists." And let's not forget, parties were better in the 70s and 80s than they are today. I would say there was more of a concern than fear, and some people had neither. Today, people live in fear with the heightened terror alerts and constant "failed" attacks by "terrorist," propagated perpetually in the media instilling fear in us. Has quality of life improved in NYC, yes, but everything that glitter isn't gold! I believe people were less stressed in those days than they are today!

Today, it seems as if we accepted a better quality life and terrorism, what a balance, talk about having your cake and eating it too!

Getting into safety, you were more likely not to be robbed in the NYC of old. Some people carry fear on them like Bernard Goetz, who was robbed numerous times.

And the revenue collectors have emplaced fear in NYC over parking, SMH. What about protecting and serving?

Many of these comments are from people who are nostalgic for their youth.

To "miss", in the context of this thread; is the definition of the word "miss":
regret the loss or absence of a person or thing.

It was great to be young.
But N.Y.C. was not great in the "old NYC" days.

To grow older in NYC is not bad. NYC is better in many ways today. If you can afford it.

I miss people, and the places we went to together in the old NYC.
I don't miss things.

It's best to specify when discussing a topic such as this.
I miss the great music venues. A few restaurants.
But I don't long for those things.
Only for the friends that aren't here to enjoy the current NYC.

mutombonyc: People were in fact more likely to be robbed, as it was called back then (and now): "mugged".

Never happened to me, thank goodness; but to many NYCers back in the OLD NYC.

Truth,

Today, what if more people are robbed in NYC, but due to reporting manipulation it makes numbers seem smaller? I know you remember how packed 34th & 42nd Street was back in the day on a Saturday, and compare it to today, it's obviously fewer shoppers and people hanging out, today; which can not be totally blamed on technology. What I'm saying is, the fear was not as great as made out to be. Too many people where in the streets to truly be scared. Today, I will buy, people are more scared than in the decades before as the media commercialize terrorism. The better quality of life is good but an illusion.

I've noticed less people on the weekends too.

It's actually a lot easier to drive in the city than it used to be.

Was just reading in the NYTimes about Thompkins Sq Park riots--20 years ago! Is that possible? And I started recalling that area around the late 1980s when I moved to NYC. I hated it. When dragged there by friends, I'd take off my watch and put it in my pocket rather than flash it for some drug-addled herion fiend to try to mug me for. Gentrification couldn't come fast enough for me. I hated the hippie-wanna-be's, the wasted lives laying all over, the vague sense of lawlessness, then tension. Do not miss it. Neither do I miss the daily stories of police abuse, crack, and carnage of AIDS that was seemingly everywhere. The finger writes, and having writ, moves on. Like sands through an hour glass, so are the days of our lives....

Not fear then, a sixth sense. We had eyes in the back of our head and never missed a beat. That coupled with the fact that I was too young to know any better how really dangerous it might be. Oh yeah, never robbed or mugged. Not even close. At this point of life experiance, I would not enjoy that now. Although there is much to miss, it is impossible not to bring up the old "vibe" of yesteryear. What gives me comfort is to look at an OLD picture of me at age four in my coat and cap standing on East 73rd. The only thing different now would be the cars parked as the block looks exactly the same. How many people return to origin and find it either gone or unrecognizable?

And, Bill7284, for so much of NYC, to return or continue to live in the City is to see a thriving metropolis layered with meaning and excitement and lives of the past and still going strong. Best city in the world. How lucky are we to live here?

Oh, old New York, I love how well our memories work. What do I miss? Since most of you have already posted the easy ones, here's some you might have forgotten about.

I miss having to escort my Aunt to go grocery shopping in Chelsea during the day.
I miss that you had to be a well-off white person to live in a safe neighborhood in Manhattan.
I miss being able to get away from all women who weren't hookers by going to 42nd street.
I miss seeing white women get visible shaken when a black or latino male walked into their subway car after at night.
I miss people hearing you're from Alphabet City and having them look at you like you put the flag up at Iwo Jima.
I miss riding the subway for free.
I miss knowing that the police would leave you alone unless you shot or stabbed someone.

kylewest: Very lucky.
And I know what you mean about hiding your watch back in the old NYC. Hide any neck chain under your shirt. Felt safer in the winter with rings concealed under gloves.

mutombonyc: 34th st. was THE shopping street in Manhattan back then.(14th St.was a smaller alternative along with some shops on W.8th St.) Now there's Soho, Nolita, Century21, many vacant storefronts on 57th st. and those upscale mostly empty shops on Madison Ave.,
TimeWarner and Broadway UWS, assorted West Village/East Village small boutique shops...
I think that there are fewer people there these days because the shopping is spread around town.
Also, less income. A feel a few bars of "Low Budget" coming on. ("Low Budget", Ray Davies The Kinks).

42nd st. was full of those xxx places, and the people who frequented them.
Now, it's nice and clean family fun. For families not on a low budget. Like Swiss tourists. (I've been seeing them a lot. I know because they stop to ask me for directions.)
Porn is widely available on the web now anyway.

New York media reports on terrorism, but I would still be aware without the reporting.
Go out of New York, and people hardly give terrorism much thought.
Except at the airports.

Truth,

I mentioned 34th St as I frequented it more often than other shopping districts. On a weekend 14th St was crowded too, 125th St was crowded too, Graham Ave was crowded too. Times Sq was infamous for the live sex shows too, which is now gone, LOL. I totally stand by people had more fun in the years when NYC was more dangerous.

mutombonyc: We're Sat. night Live here on se.

It's costly to have fun now! The Mayor loves fining fun. $100,for infractions.

Truth,

Parties were easy to find, do you remember ballroom parties in hotels? LOL.

I remember the last "dime-a-dance" hall.
Really. Ahmet Ertegun used to go there with Bill Graham.

Truth,

Not only the reports on terrorism but the failed terror attacks creates fear in people too.

Truth,

Point I'm making is, people coming up today, only know that clubs are proper places to party, and don't know about the many locations parties took place. The ballroom scene was a big scene for parties. Too costly, BYOBB!

I remember The Corso, on E.86th St.
I used to go there with Bill. He was an excellent dancer.
Ever see the movie about Bugsy Siegal? Bill played Lucky Luciano. That was really Bill, cutting a rug in that party scene. It went on for much longer than what appeared in the edited movie scene.

Truth,

You were a street runner in you day! ;-)

I ran with the best of 'em, mutombo.
Sounds like you danced it up too.

I did! Dancing relieves stress!

You type much faster than me!
The failed terrorist attacks are scary.

You've built an underground fall-out shelter in your backyard, right?

Truth,

Did you go to David Mancuso, The Loft?

Yep. Checked it all out.

There's still ballroom dancing parties here in Manhattan.
For debutants. At The Waldorf.

Sorry to have to go, we're having such a good time mutombo.
I'm going out to dinner at the restaurant Weiner's brother co-owns.

Hoping to see a dancing Weiner.
Or a Weiner eating a weiner.

>I miss knowing that the police would leave you alone unless you shot or stabbed someone.

Broken windows.

I agree, we do miss our youth in NYC more than we miss the old NYC.

Truth,

Too many weiners, LOL!

>Too many weiners, LOL!

Oh, I guess we aren't talking about columbiacounty. No weiners there.

Dinner was a Weiner-roast.

Waiter: "and what would you like that with?"
Truth: "With certitude."

There was a sing-along out in the parking area after dinner:

Oh I wish I were an Oscar Meyer Weiner
that is what I'd truly like to be
cause if I were an Oscar Meyer Weiner
everyone would be in love with me

It's only early June. I figure this is going to be going on there all summer.

lmao!

mutombonyc, for shame ... laughing at her is very cruel when you know this will be followed by a comparable depressive episode.

but i bet she won't liveblog her psychotic episode unlike some people around here

alanfart,

Get lost!

mutombo: Alanhart has nowhere else to go. He already is lost. Trolling and disrupting discussions on se is all he has.

Just click on the report abuse.

Thanks Lucille. alanhart gets angry whenever others on se get along.
Just click on the report abuse.

Truth,

What the heck is a, "comparable depressive episode?" LMAO.

He's loaded on Sidecars in the afternoon.
He can't even get his pathetic attempts at insults.

He's angry at us, mutombon!

don't include poor motobo...

columbiacounty, with the distance between Columbia County and New York County, I'm surprised that with your dial-up modem you can reply to Truth so quickly.

aboutready, seriously, given what you told us were your father's problems with alcohol, shouldn't you be more sensitive on this topic?

Of course, here's aboutready.
You know -- the one with "the career in journalism".
It was too difficult for her to write a once-a-month article for brickunderground.

Get to the Betty Ford rehab, aboutready. You've been going on alkie rampages here on se for years.
Long before I ever posted a comment on se.

truth, it's not the history, it's the now.

huntersburg: You know as well as most people on se:
She goes off on her alkie rants. Had an alkie meltdown on se last summer -- for all to see.

Then the se editor cleans up her mess.

so...truth...your gang of slaves.

yes, truth is trying to gather her slaves. huntersburg, and a few others. riversider comes to mind.

truth, when you tell people that they need to do various things to people's various things are you sober?

you classy thing, you.

Hey aboutready

oh no..

its hfscomm1

pretending to be alan.

btw, truth, i've seen the se editor eliminate a number of your rants, sweetness. and when they've done it it has ONLY been your comments removed. think about the distinction, if your brain isn't too addled from years of drug consumption.

>pretending to be alan.

Interesting

Seriously aboutready, given what you told us about your father, given what you've told us you were compelled to do after your daughter was born - shouldn't you be more sensitive on this subject?

seriously, hfscomm1, given the number of identities that you have started here, don't you think you have a major problem?

According to Google Maps, it should take over 3 hours to get to Columbia County.

1. Head northwest on W 102nd St toward Amsterdam Ave
417 ft
2. Take the 1st right onto Amsterdam Ave
262 ft
3. Take the 1st left onto W 103rd St
479 ft
4. Take the 1st left onto Broadway
0.4 mi
5. Turn right onto W 96th St
0.2 mi
6. Take the New York 9A/Henry Hudson Parkway ramp
312 ft
7. Merge onto New York 9A N
Partial toll road
8.7 mi
8. Continue onto Henry Hudson Pkwy
0.9 mi
9. Merge onto Saw Mill Pkwy N
15.7 mi
10. Take the ramp to Taconic Pkwy/Albany
0.7 mi
11. Merge onto Taconic State Pkwy
95.7 mi
12. Take the NY-203 exit toward Austerlitz/Chatham
0.2 mi
13. Turn left onto NY-203 S
0.4 mi
14. Turn left onto County Rd 9 N/Red Rock Rd
0.8 mi
15. Turn left onto Raup Rd
0.8 mi

ColumbiaNew York

as noted, huge problem.

get help

why would someone bother to create multiple identities?

Noted? Where? By whom? The County Clerk of Columbia County? What time do they open tomorrow morning?

why have you created multiple identities?

i'm starting to seriously reconsider, cc. i may have been wrong again. cc:2 1/2, ar:1.

Another thread ruined. Thanks guys.

you're more than welcome, KW.

maybe brownstoner?

lucille, is that you?

Kudos to Kylewest, someone had to say it. The same names every time. Boy, they must have had some night! Back to the thread, I miss Food City and Luv Drugstore. Also, here's a good one, I wretch whenever I look at Nevada Plaza at 70th and Broadway as I remember the Nevada Hotel that was there. I even have a picture of it somewhere. It was an amazing 19th century sturcture with probably only seven floors. If I had been older at the time, I would have protested the demolition. Ok, anyone else?

Kylewest: mutombo and I were having a very nice discussion. We didn't ruin this thread.

I come on a thread and one of the bully gang members is on within minutes. They bully, insult and then try to defend themselves with the worst offensive displays. I was long gone at 8:30pm and she was still at it.

A new day has begun, Bill7284. Would like to see that photo of the Nevada Hotel. I found a photo of it recently. It was taken from across the street. A beautiful exterior.

Kylewest and Bill: It didn't take long.

Zap!

alanhart: You probably remember that "homeless" began when the SRO's closed. I just realized, before gentrification, there was no homeless. A cop once told me that he and his peers used to refer to West 70th between Columbus and Broadway as "Murder Alley" with 44 murders in 1977, as the cop said, I don't know. I was on 69th at the time and one block over was a different world. West 70th had a rough SRO on each end of the block. One was the Walton Hotel that became a condo in 1980. My Food City became a Banana Republic and that's when I knew the party was over!

Yes, absolutely ... but the SROs didn't just "close", they were encouraged to renovate and convert to housing under the J-51 program. And the prequel is that psychiatric hospitals were emptied out in favor of "assisted" situations like halfway houses in the Rockaways and SROs on the UWS, among other places. Then the medical and supportive staffing got their budgets cut sharply. Enter J-51, and suddenly lots of people with chemical lobotomies (I'm not talking about Truth, btw) are roaming the streets: the screamers, the rotters, the Republicans, the knife-attackers if you look them in the eye, the soliloquists, the bubble-buyers.

"I just realized, before gentrification, there was no homeless"

I don't remember that at all. There have been homeless in NYC as long as I can remember, which begins in the mid-70s

That said, very bad Upper West Side blocks existed prior to the psycho emancipation. I never tire of posting this (from 1961) again and again:

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0Bxa36gOi94JQZTQ3M2FkNTgtYzM1Ny00ZjcwLWI5ODMtMDI1YjVjZjA4MjBm&hl=en_US&authkey=CJ2yo_cE

J-51 dates back to 1955, so maybe I'm wrong about the chronology regarding SRO shutdowns resulting in increasing homelessness later on.

lowery: That's just it; they started dumping the people out of the hotels in the mid-70's. Before that when a "bum" or "hobo" appoached one for money, they lived in a flop house or SRO hotel. Also, one night at 1:30AM I was going home (1976)? and at Columbus and 70th was a mini-bus letting people off and giving them a little white bag as a parting gift. I thought that strange until a neighbor told me the mental institutions were dumping people with prescription in bag on the streets late at night.When the first outdoor cafes opened on Columbus Ave, it was like "Cukoos Nest" meets "Snake Pit" while eating quiche at the same time. Most of them ended up on the concorse on Broadway, which I was told helped the social workers to find their people to help them.
alanhart: When I started reading newspapers the first thing I noticed was that if the person they were writing about was not white, then they made it a point to let the reader know what race they were. I will keep your link as evidence the next time someone says that I must be mistaken. HA!

Alan -- Fascinating article, but I am pretty sure the fight started because the Sharks were being taunted by the Jets.

Ah, yes, "West Side Story."

Bill, yes, I remember having heard at the time that the psychos were being dumped, altho it was worded euphemistically by the government idiots who thought it up. It was also hard to miss - the bag ladies in payphone booths at Grand Central talking to themselves into payphones, etc. But I think the sidewalk cafes on Columbus started in the '80s, didn't they?

I also remember a Life magazine photo-story that showed the sad day in the life of a poor family whose landlord skimped them on heat, so they turned the oven on and warmed their hands up in it, etc., etc. That was on the Upper West Side.

Bill: ah and his fellow gang members are the racists here on se.
You are not mistaken.

Ah, yes - the rent-controlled apartments on Central Park West, but around the corner:

ROOMING HOUSES!

But, of course, we know there's no such thing as rooming houses in NYC anymore, right? Well, don't we?

lowery: Please don't include yourself in the "we".

You know what most know.

Those who don't know live in PCV and co-ops on the UES.
Drinking the days and nights away.

well, at least they don't see the rooming houses - I don't usually either, but I've been aware of their growing presence in odd places for quite a while - ch-ch-ch-changes

Superwoman, stop talking to yourself, or at least go back in your phonebooth where you belong to continue your "conversation".

lowery, the Columbus Avenue cafe scene began in earnest in the mid-70s, and really hit its stride around 1980.

Rooming houses are pretty much gone from Manhattan, but there are many rent-regulated apartments, particularly in Dominican neighborhoods, that illegally rent out rooms (many many per apartment, included those illegally divided into "rooms" ... also common is renting out per bed).

also common is renting out per bed"

Until there's a fire and city hall feigns indignation as to how this could have happenend? Yeah, get ready.

it's been going on a long time
remember the NYTimes article exposing the basements in apt buildings that supers subdivided into closets where people sleep on floors and cook on hotplates?

But by rooming house I meant the two and three-family homes in the outer boroughs that have been split up into rooms. The rent is per week, and everyone shares bathroom and kitchen.

Truth,

Might be of interest to you.

http://vanishingnewyork.blogspot.com/2011/05/dime-dance.html

Thanks mutombo.

NYCMatt
about 24 months ago
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Member since: May 2009
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>I miss the World Trade Center.
soon again

>I miss being able to walk into any office building without being forced by a Rent-A-Cop to leave a DNA sample and show "proof" that I have an appointment with someone in the building.
Matt, can't believe you would stoop so low as to leaving a DNA sample with all the security men.

>I miss the $750/month Manhattan studio (and for those of us on a "budget", $350 in Park Slope!).
Thought you owned?

>I miss Coliseum Books. Hell, I miss BOOKSTORES in general (not super-centers like Borders and Barnes and Noble).
Borders is a "super-center"?

>I miss Bendix Diner.

>I miss real meat in the Meatpacking District, complete with blood running between the cobblestones.
Did you eat a lot of real meat in the Meatpacking District?

>I miss The Lure, The Vault, and Mike's in the Meatpacking District.

>I miss Bleecker Street being BLEECKER Street, not Rodeo Drive East.

>I miss Bradlee's on Union Square.
I'm with you there

>I really miss Barney's on Seventh and 17th.

>I miss subway tokens.
If you have subway tokens, you can't be monitored by Bloomberg.

>I miss coffeehouses (REAL coffeehouses, not Starbucks).
They are coming back

>I miss being in restaurants, bars, and lounges surrounded by people who are *present* and open to socializing, rather than buried in their iPhones, iPads, Blackberries, and Kindles.
Eh, real people are overrated.

>I miss being able to take a cab pretty much anywhere in Manhattan, handing the driver a $20, and always getting back at least $5 in change ... AFTER the tip!
How much is it now to WaHi?

>I miss the big yellow NYNEX trucks.
Good stuff

>I miss Manufacturer's Hanover.
There are here, just a different logo.

There is so much about old NYC that I do not miss. So many folks who claim to "miss" some of it just weren't here, or have faulty memories...

I miss garbage cans in the 8th Street/NYU BMT train station (that's the "N" train for those who only speak modern subway).

I don't miss...

crime

subways that worked very little of the time, and when they did, you were assaulted by something... people, smells, radios

only being able to live in certain neighborhoods for fear of death

having to escort girls to/from the subway depending on what neighborhood you lived in

daily reminders of corruption

services that didn't work (it was most of them)

not having a decent movie theater

not having a usable waterfront

I was definitely here and there is nothing wrong with my memory.

I miss trains instead of tourists on the High Line.
I miss "bums" (even though I was afraid of them on as a child) instead of hipsters on the Bowery.
I miss neighborhood working peoples' bars that weren't "ironic dives".
I miss the absence of ultra-rich foreigners.
I miss the garment district (with hand carts), the flower district, the printing buildings around Hudson Street, the docks and all the jobs that went with them, many of them perfect for people trying to get a leg up on the economic ladder.
I miss housing meant for working and middle class people.
I miss Mom and Pop stores for everything from dresses to underwear to separately: meat, cheese, bakery, produce and appetizing).
I miss Mr Softee being able to play his annoying song in every neighborhood, not just the ones north of 110th street.
I miss kids playing in the street or hanging out all day in the summer--without supervision or "organized activities".
I miss the 1973 Knicks.

I don't miss pay phones.
I don't miss having to step over homeless to leave my apartment.
I don't miss the Times completely ignoring sports (aside from the sainted Red Smith.
I don't miss John Lindsay or Abe Beame.
I don't miss having to go to Penn Station to get a timetable to know when the train leaves for Philadelphia or any other manifestations of life before the interweb.
I don't miss the 1965-1974 Yankees.

I miss UrbanFetch.com