What Do You Miss About OLD NYC?

What I miss the most about Old NYC is 20 something years that I've lost since then! Somehow, when you are younger, the danger, non-air-conditioned subways, bullet riddled stripped abandoned cars, squeegee men, fantastic late night clubs,etc. are are easier to deal with. If someone asked me heave my @$$ to the subway in platform shoes and bell bottoms...or bike shorts and combat boots (10 yrs later) at 1:00 AM and scurry through the projects just to go "out"...I'm sure I'd fall over and break a hip in the process.

No, you wouldn't, if clubs (and other scenes) were as good as they were then. And that is precisely why there were (then) more than a few quite elderly regulars on the club scene -- Disco Sally, Nightlife Ironman Anthony Haden-Guest, Rollerena, et cetera. The occasional nonagenarian, even, and I'm not exaggerating.

Rollerena (and I always thought it was spelled Rollerina) was amazing. I wonder what happened to her? I hope she lives in well deserved retirement in Fort Lauderdale or Palm Springs surrounded by handsome young manservants.

I saw her at the disco (in New York, not either Gay God's Waiting Room) as recently as two years ago, sporting her Viet Nam Veteran patch (or pin or something) on what I believe was a wedding dress.

Remember Billy's Stopless?

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/16/nyregion/a-police-roll-call-reminder-women-may-go-topless.html

Yes HB, Billy's was the only true "neighborhood topless bar" I can recall. (The Baby Doll Lounge in what's now Tribeca was similar but it always seemed much sleazier than Billy's). Rather than the rip off strip clubs of today with bottle service, lap dances etc, Billy's was a place where a guy could have a beer at just a tad over the price of any other neighborhood bar and LOOK (never ever touch) half naked women. Sure the dancer's got tips but it was totally voluntary.

For those who don't know Billy's, at 19th street (I believe) and 6th Ave, was called Billy's Topless. When Giuliani sterted to crack down on adult entertainment, the name was changed to Billy's Stopless.

The proprietor of Billy's was a great guy, with a gentle sense of condemnation and apology for his regulars. (I don't think he was Billy; not sure.)

The judge's decision 20 or so years ago, if I understand correctly, made the shocking determination that gazongas are not genitalia ... I think that's the basis for the non-commercial free speech thing.

The Stopless thing had to do with local zoning regarding signage, rather than the activity going on nonstop inside. The display of non-genitalia, for commercial purposes.

Please note that you should seek legal advice from your own attorney before baring your bazooms, rather than putting any faith in my opinions herein.

Great, alanhart is yet another armchair lawyer.t

The old Channel 11, graffitti, Canal ST Jeans Co, Woolworth's, record stores

alanhart is a beanbag lawyer

"I miss UrbanFetch.com"

Wow, so I guess you weren't actually here for old NY. That's more new NY... dot com boom, come on...

I don't know if "miss" is accurate but my happiest memories include St Marks Place in the 70s, the Palladium and other venues long gone, browsing record stores for hours, dr pepper concerts in central park ($2 for the Talking Heads, Blondie etc), the graffiti, the smell of weed, checker cabs, just the general edge and sense of adventure ... there really was some beauty in the decay ...

But wow today -- the waterfront, the parks, the bicycle lanes and outdoor seating, the general lack of tension --

Ny changed but so did I -- loved it then and love it today.

I didn't say UrbanFetch was part of "Old New York" -- I'm just saying it's a blast from the past that I miss.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/30/nyregion/new-york-city-wants-to-revive-old-voting-machines.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Bernie Goetz. http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2013/11/subway_vigilante_bernard_goetz_arrested_on_drug_charges_in_nyc.html

Glory Holes!!!!!

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I miss the possibility to make it without high-income jobs, or alternatively what I'm hearing now all the time is three jobs. I was paid very little ($13,000 in 1985 in publishing) but with modest help from my parents I could afford (barely) a three-person share in a two-bedroom apartment in an area of Chelsea that was still considered fairly sketchy. Now, no way.

And now 30 years later you had to move out of New York to Bburg.

Does anyone remember the stuffed horse in the first floor window of the Dakota (on the 72n street side)? The first time I saw that (in the late 70's or early 80's, I just couldn't believe that such a sight could be beheld in such a classy, prestigious building! Then I went to an open house a year later and was shocked at how run down the halls seemed. I've learned a lot since those days! But I still ADORE New York in all its magnificent glory! (Sorry for the mush)

Does anyone remember the stuffed horse in the first floor window of the Dakota (on the 72n street side)? The first time I saw that (in the late 70's or early 80's, I just couldn't believe that such a sight could be beheld in such a classy, prestigious building! Then I went to an open house a year later and was shocked at how run down the halls seemed. I've learned a lot since those days! But I still ADORE New York in all its magnificent glory! (Sorry for the mush)

I miss when parking was only $300 per year: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/19/nyregion/mayor-de-blasio-to-announce-plan-for-shoring-up-new-yorks-public-housing.html

I guess I'm just a nobody. No one ever responds to my comments, not even morons like fieldshester and truth. So, all you New Yorkers and this insipid site, FUCK YOU!!!!!! No worries, I'm through. All you haters are jealous because I have one of the most beautiful apartments in one of the most beautiful cities -- SAN FRANCISCO!!!!!!

P.S. Did Io say FUCK YOU to the ignorant SE staff????? Consider it said.

I miss when the crazy people weren't online because there was no online.

Nonsense. They were online at Daitch and Bohack. Now you're online here on StreetEasy. So not a big change.

No one wants to live in OLD New York. Only the OLD live in OLD New York. The young are in Dumbo, Williamsburg, Greenpoint & LIC.

CarolSt

about 3 weeks ago

Posts: 361

Member since: Jun 2009

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No one wants to live in OLD New York. Only the OLD live in OLD New York. The young are in Dumbo, Williamsburg, Greenpoint & LIC.

When you say "young" do you mean funny-looking angry people from Tacoma, Washington?

When you lived in a "neighborhood" and were part of it. Not like the Disney/Epcot NYC has become

Before he died, my maternal grandfather wrote a letter to us (his grandchildren) about what is was like growing up in Little Italy at the turn of the last century. By the time we all came along, he had fully assimilated, and there were few, if any, traces of the Italian immigrant left visible to the naked eye. I was not aware until I was an adult that his mother never even learned English. In any event, he missed quite a bit about Old New York in his final days. His Little Italy was significantly to the north of the Little Italy that is currently barely hanging on by a thread around Mulberry, but it would appear from his letter that what he missed most about Old New York was a real Little Italy where the adults spoke Italian, where the children spoke both Italian and English, and where pastry peddlers roamed in abundance. That's probably not the Old New York OP had in mind, but interesting nonetheless. Along the lines of eriegel's comment, it seems like even the rapidly disappearing Mulberrry Street version of Little Italy that has existed in my lifetime is/was an Epcot version of what my grandfather described in his letter.

The Copter Club at the top of the then Pan Am building. The Pan Am sign. Helicopters flying from the Pan Am building roof. Studio 54

NYCNovice, what do you think of this?
http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Little-Italy-Grandmother-Faces-Eviction-Rent-Dispute-297575521.html

What's the real story behind that court case?

I am with alanhart; there must be more to the story. My grandparents were outraged when federal agents swarmed the house of the nice little old lady (actually she was young in their eyes, since they were in their 90's) who lived down Rio Lisbo Court from them, until they learned what she had been doing in their sleepy retirement haven. http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2000-03-02/news/0003020090_1_cocaine-kilos-dea

@MCR Is that really your first instinct? Maybe she is a drug lord? How about a little compassion for Nonny?

I just mean why can't she prove continuous occupancy? Did she move back in only after her parents died, without the proper year or two of cohabitation? Was she using it as a pied-à-terre? Other reports say the apartment is not eligible for rent control, which is unlikely.

I pine for the days of w67th and friends. now a bunch of hacks on the boards continuing to sell their wares.

W67th made you feel just a little like the man you always wished you should be, right?

swing and miss. he was the counterbalance to all the "pros" on the boards. I am doing just fine in life though but thanks for thinking of me.

@keithB - Lol, that actually was the first thing that came to my mind. I feel like she must be gaming the system somehow because I cannot believe anybody would evict an innocent 85 year old.

I wasn't thinking about you. Nobody was thinking about you. You appeared, longing for w67, and I saw your name and responded.

I was commenting on the banality of these boards fieldy, catch up...

You are really into banal, aren't you?

your like a ghost who continues to haunt the remains. unfulfilled, wanting, longing, agonizing but nobody to connect with in reality. textbook.

And here you are. Pining for w67thstreet.

I hope he got out of Sprint in time. In 2012, when it was $5.40, he was going to double down. It hit $11-something in 2013, and then downhill from there to $4.60 today.

It was just in the low $3s earlier this month, Sprint may be the best performer in the stock market this month! Rangersfan, did you double down on August 5th?

nope, have most of my cash in a global fund, re and restricted stock. sure much better prospects for me than you trolling for "wrongs" from yesteryear. sad, sad, sad....but how exciting it must be for you to think you have someone on the hook. hahahaha. not.

NWT, are you watching and participating in your own investments? or are you just hoping beyond hope that you can recount on others "failures" because you have no other option? you should start a blog with fieldy, gothamsboro, Greensburg, etc, etc.

No, that would be too stress-making.

I've kept half an eye on Sprint since then, since we were hearing so much about it.

alanhart, that's why Housing Court is so frustrating. Decisions aren't online, so you all you have to go by is what's reported. That tends to go with loaded words like "grandma evicted". One of the old NYT stories said she'd lost in Housing Court and lost with DHCR, and had agreed to be out by June 30th. Apparently she'd also been tenant-of-record with her husband in some other apartment during the relevant period.

I miss both old NYC and old Streeteasy. Full disclosure for recent additions: I am both NYCNovice and Multicityresident - you’d have to know full history of Streeteasy to fully understand.

Does anybody know where NWT is these days? I know the other old posters IRL, and while I miss them in these discussions, I can still discuss with them offline, except for NWT.

I miss the gorgeous Central Park South streetscape which is now marred by all those hideous, super tall buildings on "Billionaire's Row" a few streets south. They look like ugly smokestacks when viewed from afar. Sigh. Sigh.

And sorry for another post, but I really miss NYCMatt. He was brilliant and fabulous, in no particular order!!!!!! Anyone know where he went? Hopefully not to heaven (or God forbid, hell!).

8 years after this thread started and I can certainly say now what I never could have ever imagined saying, .............................I miss David Dinkins :)

Does anyone miss AnalFart?