5th Avenue Sidewalk Card playing?

raw wrote: [quote=ljnd]I think it's great - I love stoop-sitters.

I once stepped outside and discovered an entire family of two adults and three plus kids having a goddamn pizza party on my stoop. Their near-by car, parked with open doors, had more people spilling out. They looked like tourists with pizza dripping out of their mouths and terror in their eyes as I erupted with the snarls of a rabid raccoon.

Part of the nyc street culture has to do with stoop etiquette. Unless you own the building (or are at least renting in a building) you have no right to sit on anyone eleses stoop for any reason (don't tell me you felt a little faint!!) unless you are invited by the stoop owner.

raw wrote:
ljnd wrote:
I think it's great - I love stoop-sitters.


I once stepped outside and discovered an entire family of two adults and three plus kids having a goddamn pizza party on my stoop. Their near-by car, parked with open doors, had more people spilling out. They looked like tourists with pizza dripping out of their mouths and terror in their eyes as I erupted with the snarls of a rabid raccoon.


Part of the nyc street culture has to do with stoop etiquette. Unless you own the building (or are at least renting in a building) you have no right to sit on anyone eleses stoop for any reason (don't tell me you felt a little faint!!) unless you are invited by the stoop owner.

Totally agreed. Me and the folks in my building sitting on our stoop - that is one thing. The teenagers headed down the street to MS 51 to sell pot, taking a break and bickering on my stoop - something else entirely. As for that family of pizza-eaters - ye gods. I can't imagine having that kind of nerve. There are plenty of little parks around - or restaurants - to do that.

"I've walked by and they've never bothered me" is sorta like "I never used a condom and I've never gotten AIDS" thinking. Puh lease. And they prefer to be called roughnecks, not hooligans m'aam.

First of all, you must be talking about a different location - because the building in question (just North of the Bagel place) has no stoop at all - it opens directly onto the street, which is one (of a few reasons) why all these people who are talking about "stoop sitters" have no idea what they are talking about.

You're right, I was wrong by saying "stoop." I think I just wrote it subconsiously because I keep reading it. I know the guy just sits in his doorway, or on a chair right outside.

I also agree that everyone talking about "stoop sitting" is talking about something else. People sitting on their stoops doesn't bother me either, but it is different than what you first brought up.

Maybe you've passed by at a time when they were really out of hand. All I've been trying to say is that I walk there every day and night, and while I sometimes see the guy who sits in his doorway, I've never even heard a peep out of him. Maybe I do just have good timing...

I'm in no way advocating public drunkeness, people harassing passerbys on the street, staying up screaming until 3am, etc. That's not "culture" or "quaint" and I would never mean to imply otherwise. I was just responding to the idea of a card game, which didn't really sound that bad to me. And it did sound a little bit like you just happened to pass by that strip of street and see this happening, and it really bothered you. I was just giving the input that I live there, pass by often, and have never seen any problems.

fyi, I passed by that exact spot last night, and there were 2 ladies just sitting and talking in their plastic chairs. I guess that's what I think of when I think of that spot, is all.

Fifth Avenue was covered in degenerates yesterday--sitting, eating, drinking. As far as the eye could see. Loud as hell, too. Damn them!

Subject: Re: 5th Avenue Sidewalk Card playing?

seven24 wrote:
I myself am trying to keep that "culture" alive. I am that stoop sitter, nosey/noisy neighbor who screams out and up to the window and just because of this thread I will be outside this weekend playing domino or since I'm watching my neice and nephew this weekend maybe monopoly.

If I yelled up to my parents' window the way everyone did when we were kids, I think the block would have a heart attack.. but then again, back in those days, broken bells were the norm, especially in apartment buildings!

Another thing that these yuppies seem to have absolutely no concept of is parking space etiquette.. one of the newer Martha Stewarts on my parents' block was bringing groceries and "the most beautiful children in the world" from a double-parked car into her brownstone, while my father sat at the hydrant waiting for a spot (he was there first, BTW). Someone starts to pull out, my father makes the move, and Martha comes running out yelling "MY SPOT, THAT'S MY SPOT!!".. the funniest part about it is that she couldn't manuever her Volvo Wagon into it so my father took it anyway, lol... On a side note, this is the same woman who lets her 5-6yr old son out in front of the house butt-naked (seen it more than once).

Different occassion was backing into a spot on one of the upper aves when the light turned and I had to pause for the rush of traffic, at which point some Katie Couric sees me, dives into the spot, jumps out, looks at me blankly, and wanders off. Needless to say I got my revenge later on her car :-' (no permanent damage, just a lil something to make her think twice next time)

oy. on the AIDS metaphor bandwagon. You know what I meant to say. If it didn't happen to "ME" it doesn't happen.

"I drive drunk all the time and nothing's happened to me!"

Yeah... that still doesn't make any sense to me... but sure, go with it.

Anyway, I never said it doesn't happen. I don't think the OP is making the story up... I just don't agree that it's the four-alarm-fire situation that it seemed to be presented as.

WTGirl wrote:

There are many ways to be obnoxious in this world. Entitled is one and ignornant is another. My landlord was not acting entitled when he would play dominos on the sidewalk at 1:00 in the morning under my bedroom window. He was acting like a drunken idiot. But still it is amusing that attacking exhausted mothers is fair game but don't say anything bad about drunken idiots.

Drunken idiots are an occasional fact of life just about anywhere you go in the world. Pretentious Park Slope Yuppie "Smartmoms" however are indigenous to really only one place, and there is something about their uppitiness and lack of common sense that just grates on mine and countless others' nerves. I could write a book about the idiotic parenting practices I've witnessed on 7th Ave alone:

- letting baby "Caile" or "Harbour" crawl on FILTHY shop floors while putting hands in mouths, etc
- letting kids engage in anti-social behavior i.e. kicking ice across a busy sidewalk, knocking over groceries, running wild through places of business
- holding up long lines in bagel/coffee/bakery shops to let 3yr old children 'choose' what they want to eat (wtf is with this, my father used to hand me a plain bagel and chocolate milk and I'd be ecstatic)
- not holding children accountable for anything they do

Park Slope moms are only exhausted because they are incompetent parents. My grandmother, a little Russian lady, raised TEN KIDS practically alone and did a superb job.

Take a look on 7th Ave in front of Pino's Pizzeria on any given Fri. or Sat. night if you want to see the results of Park Slope's 'unconventional' parenting..

Not sure if anyone has made this point or even tried considering....The "degenerates" you speak of have in most cases been sitting in that same spot years before you even thought about walking along 5th Avenue. At least when I was growing up (mid-70s) in Park Slope... we didn't go near 5th ave. So last night I'm walking along 5th Ave and see a slew of open bars, restaurants, etc with a bunch of loud, smoking, drunk folks sitting out on the sidewalk (these outdoor seating spots didn't exist back then) and I wondered.... how do these "degenerates" feel about those "dengenerates" doing the same exact thing . The only differnece is one group can afford to sit in a restaurant while the other sits outside in front of the home they have been in for years.

lmboogie wrote: So last night I'm walking along 5th Ave and see a slew of open bars, restaurants, etc with a bunch of loud, smoking, drunk folks sitting out on the sidewalk (these outdoor seating spots didn't exist back then) and I wondered.... how do these "degenerates" feel about those "dengenerates" doing the same exact thing . The only differnece is one group can afford to sit in a restaurant while the other sits outside in front of the home they have been in for years.

The irony amuses me, in a darkly comic way.