Quote:
Originally Posted by minibrings
Because living there for 2 years does not equate to someone born and raised there.. and who spent most of his life there! I have spent exponentially more time in NYC than your measly 2 years. After NYC I moved to Oz for 3 years and became a citizen and no way am I an expert on Oz nor will I be arrogant enough to claim I know it so well. I spent over a year in Toronto and I won't claim to be an expert on the city. NYc on the other hand I can keep my eyes closed on the 1/9 and based on the bumps on the track know when the train is approaching my stop on 110th street. I've fought for parking in many neighborhoods. I've met my neighbors as we sat in our cars waiting for the clock to reach 7pm which meant we could leave the car overnight without fear of a ticket. I've seen neighborhoods gentrify (I remember when Chelsea scared me) and have walked by a drug deal on 125th street before Starbucks and hipsters moved in. I ran down the stairs of tower 1 on 9/11 and was hit by the dust of Tower 2 when it fell. I've even stepped on a dead NYC rat. Now that's local knowledge.
You can be the know it all about Montreal all you want. But please don't claim to be THE expert on NY or the USA. You can do Quebec and Montreal.
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I never said i was an expert on NYC but you are the one who claimed i didn't know NYC beyond Manhattan. There you we're entirely wrong on your assumption.
Plus it doesnt take an expert to realize how NYC has changed over the past 25 or 30 years. And when i mean change i mean slowly going from a well balanced corporate-cultural-bohemian-multi-cultural and obviously commercial city to a much more corporate city with still a big cultural and multi-cultural aspect but one has to admit that the bohemian lifestyle has almost vanished....almost !
Me, my 57 years old friend born and raise Brooklyn friend, my 62 years old born and raise Bronx friend, my 58 years old Upper west side friend and most of their acquantainces who are all New Yorkers as well as long time columnists in the NY Post, the New Yorker, the New York Times and other influential medias have all mentionned about the city going wayyyyyy too corporate.
Have you seen the number of Starbuck's coffee, banks, Pharmacy's, Hotels and other corporate company's replacing good old mom and pops stores ?
Now, if you want to play my ''father is stronger than yours'' then i will keep up with you. Not only have i stayed and worked there for two entire years but i have been going there, since 1985, at least 3 or 4 times a year and some of them including weeks and months of staying in an appartment in Fort-Greene Brooklyn, one place in West Orange (NJ)where i had to take the PATH train every day to go to work but also and especially in ''my'' Upper east side appartement since 1995 (which is owned by my friend who's a born and raise pure New Yorker).
I use to buy my records from Vinylmania on Carmine street which closed definitively a year or so ago. I used to buy my favotire NY style pizza slice on 42nd street way before they changed everything into a corporate disney venue. I used to rent my foreign films on two video stores, one also on Carmine Street (in the village) and one on 1st avenue and 57th street...both are closed now. I used to buy my CD's in some places on St-Marks place in the East Village. Most of them are closed. I used to go to a small Lebanese restaurant on 67th street on the Upper east side, it is also closed and replace with a new corporate donut shops. i used to browse in the Meat packing district late a night with all the weirdo's. Most places have been replace by corporate stuff such as a highrise boutique hotel, a Stella McCartney clothing store, other independant but fancy clothing stores. Even the best Meat Packing District rendez-vous has closed a year ago.....restaurant ''Florent''.
My favorite little cinema's have all closed only to be replace by corporate coffee shops or pharmacy's such as the one in the Village. I used to meet with homeless people in Tompkins Square (Alphabet city), they have been chased away. I used to to eat my little cheap meal on 2nd avenue Deli down in the east Village. It is now Closed. I enjoyed browsing around the Park Slope and Boerum Hill area before they kicked out most of the bohemian or ordinary citizen only to replace them by young trendy yuppies which is the case in so many neighborhoods. Almost every sunday i would go down in Brighton Beach for a good russian meal and atmosphere. I sometimes went and bought my polish sausages in Greenpoint (Brooklyn) or went for a hot dog at the Original Nathan's on Coney Island. I love going to Katz's or Yonnah Schimmel but sometimes i'd go up on the west side for a burger at ''Seinfeld's spot'' (Tom's restaurant). I saw the St-John the Divine almost being ruined by a fire. I took a picture of Hillary Clinton on the Puerto-rican day parade in 2004 (5th avenue). I walked by hundreds of thousands of protesters against the Irak war (That was on Broadway). I almost....almost bought a wine store in the Great Neck area (the limits of Queen and Long Island). I used to go for a walk on Roosevelt Island, across from my friends Apartment and i saw the Manhattan portion of the Queensboro bridge going from a safe heaven for homeless people into a huge sophisticated and super clean food store.....just under the bridge !!!
I had an afternoon by myself inside the Shea Stadium only to take pictures....all by myself ! Thanks to a worker who let me in while he was cutting the grass for a evening game. I had my dick sucked by a prostitutes in Hell's kitchen way before it became corporate....we are in the 80's here. I had my car towed at the Bronx zoo for not paying the parking fee, i then had to pick it up at an awful city building lost somewhere on Long Island city (Queens). I went and bought my first George Dalaras CD in a huge Greek music store in Astoria. I took pictures of a Chinese wedding in Central Park. I have a collection of hundred's of old and new NYC postcards. My ex girlfriend, who's from Trinidad, lived in East Flatbush where many carribean people have settled and where one can find many good spicy little carribean mom and pop restaurants. I wouldn't go there by myself after dark....
The DUMBO ''movement'' where young bohemians fled manhattan for a cheap spot in Brooklyn was somekind of response to that yuppie trend that was and still is invading Manhattan. Even them are struggling to keep it as ordinary and bohemian as possible. Then many young artist have fled to Philly to find a much cheaper rent which. Now all these trends shows how NYC has lost it's bohemian touch, not all....but most of it !
Now, i am not saying it is right or wrong but only saying the Bohemian feel is almost gone from NYC.
I am not saying i know more than you or anyone else i am just saying i know it well enough to be able to criticize and give my opinion about it. If you dont like it and think it is arrogant than that's your problem if you cant deal with other people knowing stuff. You can just buzzz off....
If you wish to keep playing the ''I know more than you'' game just let me know and i'll keep going...we will just have to move this stupid battle to a New York city thread because this tread is about Montreal and Toronto but hey.....
How did New York city slipped beetwen Montreal and Toronto ???
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