One of my favorite blogs about NYC, Lost City, has decided to call it quits. Brooks, the blogger who ran Lost City, used his blog to celebrate "Old New York" - notable old restaurants, shops, stores, and buildings. But recently he spent most of his time railing against the economic and political forces which have destroyed Old New York - making the city one big homogenized shopping mall for tourists and the rich. I guess Brooks couldn't handle the disappointment of chronicling the loss of so many New York City landmarks, so he just gave up trying.
I completely agree with Brooks point of view, that economic interests shouldn't necessarily trump history every time. I fell in love with sleazy, gritty Times Square (above and below) when Mama Bunny took me on a one-day theater bus trip from PA when I was about 13. When I saw the unpolished, in-your-face, dirty (in many ways) city on that day, I KNEW it was where I wanted to live.
I know a preserved-in-the-bad-old-days Times Square wouldn't do anything for the economic development of the city, but there has got to be some kind of balance between "progress" and preservation.
If you have a chance, visit Lost City and say goodbye to Brooks and to the New York City I fell in love with as a kid. And while you're there, you can explore Old New York as seen through one Blogger's eyes.
Unfortunately "progress" seems to come in chunks, and we always seem to get a big chunk of "progress" whenever the economy gets bad. That's when people get desperate and release buildings, land, and property at values low enough for corporate America to move in. New York is not the only place it happens, but the older a city is, the more evident it becomes. An improved economy will help: developers will demand higher prices and create more luxurious renovations that require higher end tenants, but the only way to prevent it is for the public and the city to come together to create historic districts in the most sensitive areas. The Vieux Carre Commission in NOLA is a perfect example of what a string district can accomplish- you can't so much as paint a shutter there without an approval!
ReplyDeleteyou brought back memories when i was a teenager -- around 17-18 -- and in the old dirty perverted times square is where i first looked at and watched gay porn, and had sex, in those dirty old porn shops. i miss that so much!!!!!!!!!!! i was young and had lots of older guys giving me --- you know -- oral enjoyment in the booths.
ReplyDelete