Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
It's funny though has 8th Avenue has remained gritty and a little sketchy. I briefly worked on 35th Street between 7th and 8th, and I really kind of hated working in the area. Just an overall unpleasant mix of people walking around - weird tourists, hustlers, beggars, not to mention crappy stores and not too many good places to eat.
Although, in a way it is oddly nostalgic to still have that in Manhattan, actually. I remember up through the 90s you really didn't want to go west of 7th Avenue after dark.
I wonder what it is about that area (Garment District - west of 6th Ave between 28th and 40th, really) that attracts a seedy crowd?
Wasn't Lou Reed's "Dirty Boulevard" about 8th Ave? Or was that 9th Ave?
I use to work for a printer who was on 36th btwn 8th & 9th - I used to have to pass that free newspaper (AM New York? ) distro/shipping warehouse and right next to that was a methadone clinic. Hell of a view on my way to work. lots of able bodied men milling around. lot of people trying to hawk their methadone. really sketchy. i quit after a few months.
drugs are everywhere.
What if those guys were undercover cops fishing for buyers?
I know, it sounds pretty, but that's what accounts for almost 50% of all arrests in the city.
Quote:
Originally Posted by likeminas
What if those guys were undercover cops fishing for buyers?
I know, it sounds pretty, but that's what accounts for almost 50% of all arrests in the city.
Homeless looking Times Square drug dealers????
Somebody needs to inform JayZ, Fifty Cents, and all the other rapper/dealer/players, 'Thug Gear' is passe!
What if they were 'Beat Artists'? Dressed up to fit dumb white guys/Transplant fantasies of what a drug dealer or drug user looks like. Selling sugar pills as Percoset, Oregano as Pot, THIS was 90% of the drug trade in Times Square, Beat Artist, doing stupid people from the suburbs. Guess today, the naive suburbanite has been ereplaced by even dumber stereotypically thinking Transplants!
Then and now, only the stupid buy drugs off the street---!
I live in San Francisco. Yes open air drug market. Open air sex trafficking market in our tenderloin neighborhood and Mission neighborhood. Haight st you are guaranteed to get a few offers no matter who you look like. Mission district if you are dressed anyway other than businessman you will get offered. Tenderloin you will get offers no matter who you are. Many other spots too.
Seriously. There was a big game of musical chairs there a few weeks ago, and I regularly see big yoga sessions. Haha, what a difference.
I read about that musical chairs thing. Oh, and two years ago when my daughter was going to Fordham in Manhattan, she told me that she and some other people who do yoga were going for this big mass yoga thing in BRYANT PARK. I am thinking, "WTF?" and flashing back to ol' "JC", the tall black guy with the hat and long coat who gave me credit on weed. I remember seeing guys in suits sitting on benches and opening a briefcase and a dealer would sit next to him, toss something into the briefcase, the suit would slide over some bills, close his case and walk away. And then you had an assortment of drunk, nodding, and passed out characters decorating the bushes and lawns and benches.
Of course, I couldn't tell my daughter about all this, because she is a geek who does yoga and rolls her eyes when she talks about 'stoners'. But I watched the yoga thing on the news and got a big kick out of seeing all the changes.
Interesting. I just booked a place on airbnb on 44th st. between 8th and 9th. Thought the only drawback was the Times Square vibe...
How about 54th at 7th ave? I was up pretty close to their over the weekend. That can't be bad, can it?
Not bad at all. The only problem you'll run into are starry-eyed tourists or groups of High School students on their way to Times Square or to see a B'way show.
Today when I was walking up Eight Avenue somewhere between 37th & 42nd, a disheveled, stocky black guy with blood shot eyes, battered jeans and a black tee-shirt, approached me in a discreet/clandestine manner. He immediately asked me if I was interested in 'scoring' Percocet, MJ, oxycodone, cocaine or adderall. I simply smiled and shook my head hoping that this possible hussler would conceive that I wasn't interested. It worked and after asking where I was from, he told me to have a blessed day. I gawked back to witness him approach three other individuals, I can safely assume that his ideal clientele were wealthy appearing males, based on their similar characteristics. Each, like me, wore sunglasses, exhibited their smart phones and dressed in formal business attire. Although there are a few and far between willing to purchase drugs if approached in public, it seemed as if this guy's only possible hot iron to strike were caucasian males that flashed some sort of visible wealth. Upon nearing the NYT building/Port Authority Bus Terminal, I mistakingly made eye contact w/ another chancy loiterer. As I'm passing and staring, he culled out a wrinkled bag from his baggy jeans and then pointed at me followed by pointing down at his bag. I was pretty surprised that this was my second drug related encounter so I decided not to even look back at his face. It was pretty interesting that I felt slightly intimidated by these likely drug pushers, especially in this area. Now I was born in 1992 so I don't have any memories of the old seedy theater district (#1 phenomenon would be time travel) during that relatively long stretch of history when NY was down and out but I've watched documentaries and seen movies based in that era to know what did exist. Prostitutes, Rampant and nearly open market drug transactions, Adult stores etc. Please answer these questions with the best input you can give...Is there an increase in dealing going on in the Garmet/Theater district? May it be a recent trend? What would the police have done if I told them my account? Are more ppl resorting to selling drugs due to the crappy economy and/or are there more drug operations infiltrating NYC? Do you think that NYC is deteriorating due to the economy? Any additional broad feedback would be much appreciated! THX!
Perhaps the drug dealers never went away, they just became more discrete. Maybe the neighborhood patrols have thinned out where the dealers feel more comfortable being out in the open? Just a thought, I'm not an expert on any of this.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
