Thinking about NYC
My girlfriend found this on Craigslist and emailed it to me. It was written by an Ex-NY'er who now lives in Chicago. It really made me think about some of the things I take for granted:
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The next time you feel like ranting about how rotten the city is and how it's losing its former glory, think about this:
- I miss being able to drop off my laundry
- I miss buses that come more often than every 35 minutes
- I miss people who put some thought into their personal style (not matter how self-conscious or outrageous) instead of buying whatever's in the window display at GAP
- I miss my corner deli, my god do I ever...I miss ALL corner delis!
- I miss people who walk across the street when it makes sense to regardless of what the light says
- I miss people who say "I don't know" when you ask them for directions and they don't have an answer, instead of stopping in the middle of the sidewalk for 3 minutes to say "Well....it's kinda that way near the Marshall Field's kinda, but on this side of the river and sorta near Wabash...or maybe Rush Street"
- I miss cheap manicures
- I miss subway systems that have more than 6 lines, and allow you to transfer in more than one location
- I miss people who don't stare at strangers speaking foreign languages
- I miss Century 21
- I miss clubs that play music NOT written, performed or co-produced by Eminem, Snoop or Diddy
- I miss bars that are open past 2AM
- Heaven help me, but I miss bankers. My friend told a chick the other day that he worked for a hedge fund and she said, "Hedgehog?!!"
- I miss being able to walk down the street for a full 15 minutes without seeing a white Abercrombie hat
- I miss summer in Central Park
- I miss brownstones
- I miss those guys in the yellow vests handing out flyers for "Flashdancers" on the corner as though strip clubs were just another form of entertainment (which they are) and not some horrible, shocking den of sin
- I miss seeing corny carriage rides confined to the Park where they belong instead of clogging up city traffic
- I miss unabashedly gay men being unabashedly gay in every corner of the city instead of the one, weird little Disney-gay neighborhood that was "set aside" for them
- I miss people who no longer care whether their college football team wins
- I miss restaurants that don't have chains in the suburbs
- I miss doing my banking at the corner ATM
- I miss being less than 2 hours from the next closest city (and no, Milwaukee doesn't count)
- I hate the Yankees. But I miss baseball teams that occasionally win a penant.
- I miss sample sales
- I miss random celebrity sightings that you never admit to being excited about while inside your heart is racing like a 13 year-old at your first concert
- I miss New York Magazine
- I miss good Chinese take-out
- I miss seeing people of every possible race, ethnicity, religion, nationality and persuasion waiting on the same corner for the light to change
- I miss mixed race people
- I miss busy streets at 4AM
- I miss people who say "fuck you" when they mean it and only smile when it's sincere
- I miss jokes about New Jersey
- I miss women who know how to walk in their impossibly high heels
- I miss my New York slice!
- I miss people who know that you don't have to speak louder when you're on a cell phone
- I miss people who occasionally drink something other than beer
- I miss being able to get around without a car
- I miss Buttercup Bakery and non-franchise coffee shops
- I miss subway performers
- I miss those oh-so-New-York moments where you feel like you haven't had human contact for weeks and suddenly you make eye contact with someone on the downtown 4 train and you both know that you're secretly laughing at the person asleep with their mouth open
- I miss people who actually get excited for the opening of an indie film or documentary
- I miss hotel lobby bars
- And I really really truly miss being able to talk about how much I love New York without some paunchy ex-Notre Dame frat boy in Dockers and a Cubs hat slurring into his plastic cup of Old Style that New Yorkers are all freaks and snobs.
I miss the freaks and the snobs.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next time you feel like ranting about how rotten the city is and how it's losing its former glory, think about this:
- I miss being able to drop off my laundry
- I miss buses that come more often than every 35 minutes
- I miss people who put some thought into their personal style (not matter how self-conscious or outrageous) instead of buying whatever's in the window display at GAP
- I miss my corner deli, my god do I ever...I miss ALL corner delis!
- I miss people who walk across the street when it makes sense to regardless of what the light says
- I miss people who say "I don't know" when you ask them for directions and they don't have an answer, instead of stopping in the middle of the sidewalk for 3 minutes to say "Well....it's kinda that way near the Marshall Field's kinda, but on this side of the river and sorta near Wabash...or maybe Rush Street"
- I miss cheap manicures
- I miss subway systems that have more than 6 lines, and allow you to transfer in more than one location
- I miss people who don't stare at strangers speaking foreign languages
- I miss Century 21
- I miss clubs that play music NOT written, performed or co-produced by Eminem, Snoop or Diddy
- I miss bars that are open past 2AM
- Heaven help me, but I miss bankers. My friend told a chick the other day that he worked for a hedge fund and she said, "Hedgehog?!!"
- I miss being able to walk down the street for a full 15 minutes without seeing a white Abercrombie hat
- I miss summer in Central Park
- I miss brownstones
- I miss those guys in the yellow vests handing out flyers for "Flashdancers" on the corner as though strip clubs were just another form of entertainment (which they are) and not some horrible, shocking den of sin
- I miss seeing corny carriage rides confined to the Park where they belong instead of clogging up city traffic
- I miss unabashedly gay men being unabashedly gay in every corner of the city instead of the one, weird little Disney-gay neighborhood that was "set aside" for them
- I miss people who no longer care whether their college football team wins
- I miss restaurants that don't have chains in the suburbs
- I miss doing my banking at the corner ATM
- I miss being less than 2 hours from the next closest city (and no, Milwaukee doesn't count)
- I hate the Yankees. But I miss baseball teams that occasionally win a penant.
- I miss sample sales
- I miss random celebrity sightings that you never admit to being excited about while inside your heart is racing like a 13 year-old at your first concert
- I miss New York Magazine
- I miss good Chinese take-out
- I miss seeing people of every possible race, ethnicity, religion, nationality and persuasion waiting on the same corner for the light to change
- I miss mixed race people
- I miss busy streets at 4AM
- I miss people who say "fuck you" when they mean it and only smile when it's sincere
- I miss jokes about New Jersey
- I miss women who know how to walk in their impossibly high heels
- I miss my New York slice!
- I miss people who know that you don't have to speak louder when you're on a cell phone
- I miss people who occasionally drink something other than beer
- I miss being able to get around without a car
- I miss Buttercup Bakery and non-franchise coffee shops
- I miss subway performers
- I miss those oh-so-New-York moments where you feel like you haven't had human contact for weeks and suddenly you make eye contact with someone on the downtown 4 train and you both know that you're secretly laughing at the person asleep with their mouth open
- I miss people who actually get excited for the opening of an indie film or documentary
- I miss hotel lobby bars
- And I really really truly miss being able to talk about how much I love New York without some paunchy ex-Notre Dame frat boy in Dockers and a Cubs hat slurring into his plastic cup of Old Style that New Yorkers are all freaks and snobs.
I miss the freaks and the snobs.
Comments
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Subject: Re: Thinking about NYC
most of those things are really apt -- i don't so much need reasons for no longer living in chi-town in the WINTER, but when i do need reasons, those are some of my go-tos.
these ones, though, make me think the writer needs to get out more:kosherdave wrote:
- hate to say it, but while obvi transit is 1000x better here, the buses are better in chicago. (although perhaps not since the cta's recent $ woes)
- I miss buses that come more often than every 35 minutes
- I miss people who put some thought into their personal style (not matter how self-conscious or outrageous) instead of buying whatever's in the window display at GAP
- I miss cheap manicures
- I miss doing my banking at the corner ATM
- I hate the Yankees. But I miss baseball teams that occasionally win a penant.
- I miss mixed race people
- I miss women who know how to walk in their impossibly high heels
- I miss subway performers
- I miss people who actually get excited for the opening of an indie film or documentary
- of course there are ATM's all over the place. it is AMERICA.
- i'm not a fan, but the white sox did win the series in 2005
- plenty of mixed race people. it is way more segregated in general than NYC, but my neighborhood stat's compared to jackson heights'. this person needs to leave lincoln park (think: UES) once in a while.
- not as many subways, but yes there are performers. i miss the woman who sang flamenco songs while playing the guitar and the harmonica and tap dancing with one foot for rhythm.
- high heels, film lovers, and fashionable folks do exist, in fair numbers. but you do have to leave the snotty neighborhoods. cheap manicures exist everywhere.- I miss people who say "I don't know" when you ask them for directions and they don't have an answer, instead of stopping in the middle of the sidewalk for 3 minutes to say "Well....it's kinda that way near the Marshall Field's kinda, but on this side of the river and sorta near Wabash...or maybe Rush Street"
^ this one is totally true but unfair. giving directions is the official town sport. asking a chicagoan to say "i don't know" in this situation would be like asking a ny'er to avoid opining on real estate. -
Hey folks- This is a cool discussion that goes way past PS so I'm gonna move it over to the Lounge.
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In Minnesota, I basically learned that there is NO POINT AT ALL in asking anyone for directions. If they don't live there or work there, they have no clue how to get there, even if it just a couple of blocks away. At one point, I took to calling Minneapolis, City of the Directionally Impaired, and St. Paul, City of People Without a Clue.
But the worst is if they don't have a clue, and they know they don't have a clue, but yet try to bullshit that they really know how to give directions about where you're going. Now I've had people do this maliciously in New Jersey, but in Minnesota, there is no maliciousness meant. They just fear appearing as clueless as they actually are.
I do miss the coffee shops in Minnesota, though. In NYC, there is hardly a non-franchise coffee shop LEFT. It's ALL Starbucks now. While I get the writer's gripes, some of his kvetches made me wonder which NYC he actually left. -
I disagree with her slam on Milwaukee. anywhere with several breweries, a chocolate factory and the Usingers factory store should be respected, especially if it is your compatriot in fly-over-cityness.
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local pride is SO boring.
i'd pick up and leave nyc, brooklyn, park slope and the united states in a second if i could get an eu work visa.
cool places that are NOT nyc:
BERLIN --- sorry all, but it's like 10 x cheaper and 100x cooler - wanna talk about fashionable freaks... it's a better city, all in all
paris
krakow
prague
rome
budapest
warsaw
sarajevo
belgrade
ljubljana
and in some cases, cities are more interesting if people don't brag about the all the time -- belgrade for instance... not bad at all.
and i haven't been to africa or asia so i cant add to the list, but i'm certainly sure there's others
yeah maybe i wouldn't have some of that stuff, but you know what ? it'd be a deal in the end...
left nyc for 4 yrs and you know what i didn't have?? the most absurd rent for the most absurd living space in the world. -
Subject: Re: Thinking about NYC
kosherdave wrote: - I miss Century 21
This alone would make me lose my mind! -
cizinka, all that means is you're not a NY'er. Some people are and some aren't, whether they were born here or moved here. I couldn't imagine living anywhere else and I'm proud to live in Brooklyn. I find it amusing how many people talk smack about NY, yet they chose to move here. And I think I'll stop there before I say anything else. I've been sick and that tends to make me less careful about what I say. Hope you get your visa!
-
i do think it's one of the better places in the united states to live... and actually as i write that i'm not sure why i would say that since the living standard in nyc is much lower than elsewhere... i've had conversations with people in line at the supermarket who've been here all their lives as well... and what strikes me is HOW EXPENSIVE IT IS ...
MOST of my friends don't have health insurance (a LOT of americans don't) and one of my friends, not from nyc obviously, works in publishing. he moved here from abroad. "i like ny," he said a little sadly, "I think it's a cool city. i wish i could SEE more of the city and appreciate it, but it's so expensive i can't do anything here. you absolutely have to have a lot of money here. i look at my boss and he's been here all his life... and i don't want to be like him when i'm 50."
i'm not from here and i have chosen to live here, overwhelmingly. because i'm young and it's fun when you're young. but for really LIVING...
europeans say americans live to work. and when you look at new yorkers it's true. there's a certain pride that people take in being new yorkers - namely because it's difficult here, but at the end of the day, it's difficult. that's about the first thing you can say about it.
and you have to have money. or be young. and both is ideal.
i didn't say it was a bad city, i just don't relate to people who think it's THE ONLY city. thank god it's not.
i -
caseopele, how do you know you would never live anywhere else? have you tried?
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cizinka wrote: local pride is SO boring.
Um, you realize this ENTIRE WEBSITE is devoted to this city, right? Why, then, are you chagrined at a thread about people loving New York? -
lilbangladesh wrote: In Minnesota, I basically learned that there is NO POINT AT ALL in asking anyone for directions. If they don't live there or work there, they have no clue how to get there, even if it just a couple of blocks away. At one point, I took to calling Minneapolis, City of the Directionally Impaired, and St. Paul, City of People Without a Clue.
this is rude and uncalled for. it is no more okay to call a group of people "clueless" on the basis of where they live than it is to malign a group on the basis of skin color or religion. it's nasty and narrow-minded.
But the worst is if they don't have a clue, and they know they don't have a clue, but yet try to bullshit that they really know how to give directions about where you're going. Now I've had people do this maliciously in New Jersey, but in Minnesota, there is no maliciousness meant. They just fear appearing as clueless as they actually are.
PLUS, it's pretty rich to complain about people being "directionally impaired" on the basis of not being able to tell you where something was that you couldn't find yourself.
minnesotans are in a close race with iowans for being the nicest people in the country. (i'm not from either place.) i can only hope they don't think of all those in new york as this rude.
edited for typo control. -
sweet tea wrote: [quote=lilbangladesh]In Minnesota, I basically learned that there is NO POINT AT ALL in asking anyone for directions. If they don't live there or work there, they have no clue how to get there, even if it just a couple of blocks away. At one point, I took to calling Minneapolis, City of the Directionally Impaired, and St. Paul, City of People Without a Clue.
this is rude and uncalled for. it is no more okay to call a group of people "clueless" on the basis of where they live than it would to malign a group on the basis of skin color or religion. it's nasty and narrow-minded.
But the worst is if they don't have a clue, and they know they don't have a clue, but yet try to bullshit that they really know how to give directions about where you're going. Now I've had people do this maliciously in New Jersey, but in Minnesota, there is no maliciousness meant. They just fear appearing as clueless as they actually are.
PLUS, it's pretty rich to complain about people being "directionally impaired" on the basis of not being able to tell you where something was that you couldn't find yourself.
minnesotans are in a close race with iowans for being the nicest people in the country. (i'm not from either place.) i can only hope they don't think of all those in new york as this rude.
My reply was much less polite. To the point of being removed, as you can see. I didn't think it that harsh. Well, not undeservedly so. -
The clean version -
lilbangladesh wrote: In Minnesota, I basically learned that there is NO POINT AT ALL in asking anyone for directions. If they don't live there or work there, they have no clue how to get there, even if it just a couple of blocks away. At one point, I took to calling Minneapolis, City of the Directionally Impaired, and St. Paul, City of People Without a Clue.
Um, you're the one asking scores of people for directions and they're the ones without a clue? Are you kidding me? Maybe they're trying to give you a hint - get a map. Be self-sufficient. That's like posting on a message board asking for people to hand deliver phone numbers for delivery places when, damn, you're online and you could look'em up your self. Oh wait - that's because of the "googlefu." Think about that - you're not proficient with google, the company that built an empire off of being an easy-to-use information resource, and they're the ones without a clue. Next thing you'll tell me is that you can't use a one-button mouse to play a game designed for a one-button mouse.
But the worst is if they don't have a clue, and they know they don't have a clue, but yet try to bullshit that they really know how to give directions about where you're going. Now I've had people do this maliciously in New Jersey, but in Minnesota, there is no maliciousness meant. They just fear appearing as clueless as they actually are.
Yeah, and I'm from St Paul - I'll tell you where to go. -
WhyFi wrote: The clean version -
Um, you're the one asking scores of people for directions and they're the ones without a clue? Are you kidding me? Maybe they're trying to give you a hint - get a map. Be self-sufficient. That's like posting on a message board asking for people to hand deliver phone numbers for delivery places when, damn, you're online and you could look'em up your self. Oh wait - that's because of the "googlefu." Think about that - you're not proficient with google, the company that built an empire off of being an easy-to-use information resource, and they're the ones without a clue. Next thing you'll tell me is that you can't use a one-button mouse to play a game designed for a one-button mouse.
[quote=lilbangladesh]In Minnesota, I basically learned that there is NO POINT AT ALL in asking anyone for directions. If they don't live there or work there, they have no clue how to get there, even if it just a couple of blocks away. At one point, I took to calling Minneapolis, City of the Directionally Impaired, and St. Paul, City of People Without a Clue.
But the worst is if they don't have a clue, and they know they don't have a clue, but yet try to bullshit that they really know how to give directions about where you're going. Now I've had people do this maliciously in New Jersey, but in Minnesota, there is no maliciousness meant. They just fear appearing as clueless as they actually are.
Yeah, and I'm from St Paul - I'll tell you where to go.
sing it sister! -
cizinka, I've lived in a few other places briefly and traveled as well. (Unfortunately, not outside of the US.) I wouldn't want to live in any of the other places I've been, even though some of them were perfectly lovely. I love NY, it's in my blood. I'm not saying NY is THE best place to live for everyone, just that it's the only place where I want to live.
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I lived there before google existed and sometimes you are trying to find someplace and whoops! you don't have a map handy! Even when people gave me directions (who did work there and should have known) their directions were so vague I usually got lost. And thus had to depend on the kindness (much in evidence) and sense of direction (not much in evidence) of strangers.
I didn't mean to be rude about Minnesotans. I lived there for four years and I will agree with SweetTea that they are some of the nicest people. Definitely, if you want to find a sweet person to date, THAT'S the place to go. Really. I dated some of the greatest people while I was living there. Just don't ask them for directions. -
lilbangladesh wrote: I lived there before google existed and sometimes you are trying to find someplace and whoops! you don't have a map handy! Even when people gave me directions (who did work there and should have known) their directions were so vague I usually got lost. And thus had to depend on the kindness (much in evidence) and sense of direction (not much in evidence) of strangers.
Yeah, let's apply Occam's Razor to the situation -
Which explanation is more simple and thus most likely?
A) Numerous locals are horrible at giving directions and/or just don't know where the hell anything is, even in their own back yard.
The only person in common in all instances (you) is not very good at following directions.
If I were a bettin' man, I'd say that the safe money's on B. If any more evidence is necessary, see previous post on "googlefu" and the inability to control a one-button mouse.
Okay, back to the regularly scheduled thread. -
Hey, you may be right that I'm a tad logistically impaired, but I never had problems getting good directions elsewhere. It's just that blank look you get whenever you ask a Minnesotan for someplace they don't live/work. It's basically, if anything, a comment on how insular they are. (This is true. Apparently during the Tianneman Square crisis, one newscaster turned to another and said, "Gee, Bob. Any Minnesotans involved?") They don't get out and about their city like we New Yorkers. To be fair, for two months out of the year, it's too damn cold to do anything.
I loved living there, but I learned I had to be more directionally self-reliant. Hell, Boston is much more confusing in its layout, but anytime I asked, I got GREAT directions. -
Didn't anyone teach you when to quit? How do you eat with your foot constantly in your mouth?
Oh, and here's a quick google lesson for you -
Google: Tiananmen Square "Any Minnesotans involved?"
*directions for the challenged - click the blue underlined text above* -
This was something I was told by OTHER Minnesotans who were complaining about how insular Minnesotans were. I didn't personally witness this as I was in Wyoming at the time.
Ever see Fargo? That movie captured Minnesotans to a T. -
Okay, lilbangladesh and WhyFi! We get it. Lilbangladesh clearly believes that Minnesotans can't give directions, WhyFi disagrees strongly, neither of you appears to be able to convince the other of your position, and yet another Brooklynian thread has gone totally off the rails due to bickering.
Let's drop it and get back on topic, please. -
What was the topic again?
-
Carnivore wrote: What was the topic again?
century 21: can you live without it?
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