After graduating from college in the New York suburb of Long Island in 1979, I returned to New York City and got an apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan with my then-boyfriend. Every now and again I'd make the trip down to the Lower East Side to visit my aunt and uncle, who had raised me after my parents died when I was 15. Though I took the subway there, by the time I left it was dark and my aunt insisted that I take the bus across the street rather than walk to the subway. They'd watch anxiously from the window to make sure I was okay as I waited for the crosstown bus that would first take me to 14th Street and 1st Avenue, where I'd transfer to the second bus that would transport me on the long but pleasant ride back home to the East 80s.
At the time, my aunt had a subscription to New York magazine, which came out weekly. She'd save up the old issues and present the bundle to me when I came to visit, along with jars of homemade chicken soup, to take home to my cramped one-bedroom fifth floor walk-up. From perusing the magazines and observing the street scene on the bus, I learned a lot about how neighborhoods can change over the years — in a gradual but inexorable metamorphosis from seedy to trendy to unaffordable.
Manhattan was a somewhat different city back then. Though the "hellhole" days of Manhattan (think Taxi Driver or Midnight Cowboy) and the concomitant dirt-cheap rents had started to wane, by the time the '80s hit it was still possible to emerge fresh out of college and get an apartment in the city. And indeed, the Upper East Side (or the far East side of it, at any rate) was a kind of ghetto for young singles back in the day. It was reasonably safe, and had all the city amenities I craved — bars, restaurants, bookstores, and all-night delis where you could grab the Sunday Times on Saturday night on your way back from dinner or a neighborhood movie.
The Lower East Side, however, was a different story. It seemed to have been suspended in time, its roots as the starting point for countless 19th and early 20th century European immigrants still very much apparent with its ancient tenements and unhip demeanor. To me, the Lower East Side didn't even seem to be part of Manhattan at all, but a dowdy enclave where many working and middle class predominantly Jewish families, my aunt and uncle included, had settled in the big apartment complexes on Grand Street that offered affordable coop living. But after dark, when the local shops closed, if one ventured down the nearby tenement side streets, one's only purpose (or so it seemed at the time) would have been to risk life and limb to buy drugs.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Arch Conservative
Why is it that every pretentious, superficial, liberal, NYT reading, New York city asshole thinks that the whole world revolves around their city and that the rest of us are just pining to make the trip to live there ourselves.
The fact is that the rest of us in "flyover country" want nothing to do with your city, your "scenes" or your "hip factor." Is New York over? The only thing that needs to be gotten over is most of the people that live in New York and other big cities. "OOOHHH look at me.....I'm so liberal.....I'm so sophisticated.....I live in a big city and am so much better than everyone else...oooohhh I'm so superior in every way to you ignorant rubes that live outside the city." it's you people that need to get over yourselves and your grossly inaccurate sense of importance.
2 - Celeste O.
Archie Conservatory says "it's you people that need to get over yourselves and your grossly inaccurate sense of importance."
So if that's right, then calling someone an asshole for writing a demographic opinion in the Culture section (not Politics, mind you) is not shouting from a high horse, eh?
Get over yourself AC, and stop being jealous that you are stuck living in the sticks where kissing cousins and monster trucks help get your kicks.
Nice article, EB. Looking forward to reading Part II.
3 - Mohjho
hhmmm..New York..lets see..thats on the other side of Nevada, right?
4 - Elvira Black
Arch:
If you think this is bad, Part 2 will be even more obnoxious, because it deals in part with New Yorkers' "grossly inaccurate sense of self-importance" in some detail.
Yes, it is true that many New Yorkers are very proud to live here--and some can be insufferable about it. It may not be the center of the universe, but you've got to admit that it's got a little something going for it (or in your case, I guess you don't have to admit it--lol).
The phenomena I describe here is true of a lot of cities across the country--at least in terms of the way neighborhoods can change over time. In that sense, it seems more "universal" to me--something that, perhaps, non-New Yorkers can relate to as well.
So now I'm curious, Arch--where y'all from?
5 - Mayank Austen Soofi
I’m in New Delhi. Never been to New York. Read NYT everyday. The latest New Yorker is always on my desk. It was a great piece and one day I wanna live in NYC. Thank-you.
6 - Elvira Black
Celeste:
LOL and thanks!
I do feel a little awkward when I write about New York, since I can see Arch's point in a sense. But I'm the first to admit (as I do in other articles in this series) that New Yorkers can be the most xenophobic folks on earth. Some are so snobby that they dismiss every area outside of their own neighborhood. For example, some downtowners pride themselves on never going above 14th Street. Others feel that any NYC borough aside from Manhattan is a cultural wasteland.
Yeah, New Yorkers can have a bad attitude--fuhgeddaboudit!
7 - Elvira Black
Mohjho:
Consult this map.
8 - Elvira Black
Mayank:
Thanks so much. The New Yorker is a great mag, but for a slice of New York in all its (as Arch puts it) "pretentious, superficial, liberal" glory, New York magazine is the way to go.
9 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Elvira,
Much of what you write resonates with me. For years, I held onto an article from New York about how corporate execs were the modern equivalent of cavemen hunters (accountants and bookkeepers being the equivalent of women and children) and which co-related the size of military units to how many people one can recognize, going from the squad to the platoon.
We come from roughly the same generation, you and I, and share many of the same memories of the same haunts.
New York has been "over" for a long time, dear. In twenty years, assuming that the world will not have been totally changed by some messianic event by then, the city you and I grew up in will be totally gone, remembered only in an occasional "Thoid Avenue" out of the mouth of a senescent fellow who still hasn't gotten the drift.
But the nastier part of all this is that America is over too.
10 - Mayank Austen Soofi
Oh, is it? I always imagined New York magazine has some paparazzi version of The New Yorker. I confess of never really reading it. Now, I'll try it out. Anything to be in the New York state of mind…
11 - Elvira Black
Ruvy:
Oy vey--are you trying to burst my New York bubble here? (lol).
It's hard to say what might be in 20 years...especially in light of 9/11. When I was trying to sell my coop, a small plane crashed into an apartment in a fancy East Side building. A few months ago, a fellow who didn't want his wife to get his townhouse blew the whole thing up. I was hoping that no similar disaster befell my building while it was on the market.
In all seriousness, though, I don't see New York as quite over yet. When we were younger, the city was in bad shape. Now it's the safest large US city (despite the above) and more international than ever. But I think I get where you're coming from.
12 - Elvira Black
Mayank:
You can pretty much get the gist of New York mag from their website, which includes a lot of their main articles and other features--as well as great reading from their archives. Probably better (and cheaper) in a way than actually subscribing!
13 - Mayank Austen Soofi
Elvira:
Thanks. I do appreciate your suggestions and I guess reading the magazine online is a sensible idea. American magazines are very expensive in India. By the time The New Yorker reaches in New Delhi's Khan Market, it is 5 times of what it would sell for in NYC. But I still buy it!
I love The New Yorker. Its fiction, its "Talk of the Town” pieces, its cartoons, its David Remnick opinions, its book reviews, its covers, including the nice “New Yorkish” feel the magazine gives to me when I turn its pages….I guess New York will be a good accompaniment. Thanks again.
14 - Elvira Black
Mayank:
Though I think of the New Yorker as a much more literate/literary magazine which takes more time to absorb and digest, New York is more like a light "nosh" with a decidedly New York flavor--like a bagel with a "schmear."
Some of the pieces I've read of yours remind me of how universal all this can be--for example, the contrast of different classes and generations brought together in the Central Park you described so eloquently. Though I'm assuming that America may be more "classless" in theory than India or Pakistan, in reality folks here can be very conscious of "status"--especially in New York--but all manage to coexist for the most part in harmony. On the other hand, the current issue of New York has a feature on how the great middle class are being screwed royally, while CEO's here are making out like bandits. I don't know if that's an apt comparison, though, since I'm so shamefully ignorant of your country, being a myopic New Yorker and all (lol).
15 - Mayank Austen Soofi
Elvira:
Every nation, every culture, every race is essentially the same. Young people are lusty " both in Baghdad and Berlin; and old people are fussy " both in New York and New Delhi. But America (or is it the New York City?) has a pull that no other land has. Class differences lurk everywhere but what is different about your place is that it divides people according to what they are, and not what their parents were. That’s what makes America great, I guess.
16 - Elvira Black
Mayank:
Wow, that was beautifully put. Thank you!
'it divides people according to what they are '
Hmm...I wonder how one would divide someone like Arch, and define what he is? (Sorry, just couldn't resist).
17 - Eric Berlin
Elvira, great piece as always. I experienced some of the transitions that you mention when living in New York (Astoria!) in the mid- to late '90s. Manhattan was way too expensive for the likes of I, but Astoria was still a sleepy and safe and cheap alternative that was a quick N train ride into midtown.
Throughout the '90s it was easy to see the East Village transition from truly fringe to somewhat manufactured/commoditized/gentrified fringe. Ludlow and Essex streets were just becoming hot spots for hipsters.
Everytime I return to NYC, it's a different city. And that's the great thing about it. But I do miss the New York -- my New York -- of the '90s!
18 - sr
Excellent read Elvira as always. Im afraid Ruvy is right however. Consider Israel. I am. HAPPY NEW YEAR ELVIRA.
19 - Arch Conservative
I'm from NH Elvira and other than San Fransisco there is no place I'd rather live in less than NYC. I can barely stand the Devall Patrick loving reds and how they think their shitty little city is so great when I have to go into Boston nevermind NYC. As for reading the NYT or the New Yorker.....well you might just as well be reading Pravda to get your news.
What is it about large cities that attract the most superficial, pretentious, arrogant, smug, smarmy, ignorant, hypocritical, uber liberal jackasses?
And what is it about elitist, northeastern psuedo- intellectuals that think they are smarter than anyone they come across who happens to have a Southern accent? It was quite comical and enjoyable watching a president embroiled in the middle of an unpopular war and having historically high job disapproval ratings manage to beat the so called war hero, champion of the left/progressive movement in our last presidential election.
20 - Michael J. West
I congratulate Arch on his attack on the liberal elitism of an article that had not the slightest trace of liberal politics and a great deal of speculation that New York is becoming too elitist! Archie, my dear, you are proving my belief that you are, indeed, a caricature, a piece of online performance art.
Now! To the article at hand. I'm a little biased, because I only visit New York a couple of times a year and cringe at the prospect of living there...but yes, I am getting the impression that it is, indeed, over.
More and more, Manhattan feels like a Newport or a Beverly Hills: places that only the very, very wealthy and/or famous live. And Brooklyn? Not long ago I saw a tiny 2-bedroom, 650 square-foot condo there, selling for over a million dollars. My wife's best friend still works at a midtown law firm, but six months ago she gave up on living in the East Village and moved out to - guess where? Yup...Jersey City.
But you know what really seals the city's fate for me, Elvira? I live in the smaller-but-still-major city of Washington, D.C., a place that is becoming increasingly cosmopolitan, diverse, and--well, hip--with every passing year. (That is, the D.C. that is not involved with the federal government, which actually constitutes most of the city.) And there's a feeling in its burgeoning artistic/musical/theater/culinary scenes that it's possible to come in and really make your mark. You can still own this town by coming in and doing something really special and original.
That's what New York City was when I was growing up, in the 1980s and most of the '90s. It was the place where you came to conquer the world: it was where you had to pay your dues and make your name.
New York City in 2007? It's where you come when you're the newest media sensation and want to be photographed hanging out with Gwyneth Paltrow and Stephen Sondheim. I still know fresh-faced young kids who get their start there...but they're fresh-faced young kids who are getting their starts with six-figure entry-level salaries at JPMorgan Chase.
I'm sorry to sound so cynical and dismissive about a place I know you breathe and love, Elvira. It's just that what I see is no longer the place you go to pay your dues and make your name. I see the finish line for people who have ALREADY paid their dues and made their name. It's hard to see that as the hip place.
21 - Arch Conservative
"I congratulate Arch on his attack on the liberal elitism of an article that had not the slightest trace of liberal politics and a great deal of speculation that New York is becoming too elitist! Archie, my dear, you are proving my belief that you are, indeed, a caricature, a piece of online performance art."
The article is rife with examples of the typical smug, smarmy, condescending liberal attitude Micahel. All the talk of what's the hippest place to live, what's the best scene to be part of......... and the rest of the trendy superficial bullshit that one dimensional big city liberals concern themselves. If we were to ask the author I am sure she'd say that the only life worth living is the NYC life.
I hate liberals and I hate big cities, mostly because they are full of liberals. So maybe you didn't see anything particularly offensive in this article Michael but I can read between the lines.
22 - Matthew T. Sussman
Toledo liberal elitism > New York liberal elitism
23 - Col. Mustard
"the rest of us in 'flyover country'"
Planes from New York to California don't fly over New Hampshire. Stop trying to glom onto a group you aren't a part of, poser.
24 - Arch Conservative
Flyover country isn't a term used to refer literally to a specific geographic area you dunce.
Rather it's a term used to describe the vast majority of this nation that exists outside it's largest cities.
I'm amazed you can even tie your own shoes in the morning Col.
25 - STM
Arch wrote: "OOOHHH look at me.....I'm so liberal.....I'm so sophisticated.....I live in a big city and am so much better than everyone else...oooohhh I'm so superior in every way to you ignorant rubes that live outside the city."
Yes, good work, Archie old boy. What a lovely piece of outside-the-envelope, lucid thinking.
Elvira's New York: Somewhere a bit north of Sydney, I think, judging by Elvira's map and the view across the Pacific.
Some time, I must do a story on trendy, liberal Hobart (Tasmania), so that I can justify putting a nice Map of Tassie on the site.