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Yeah. I'm certain that my being uncomfortable was almost entirely due in part to my complete lack of familiarity with living in a large, densely populated urban area. It was definitely a different atmosphere than what I grew up in.
one man in particular, with a group of acquaintances, was performing some kind of magic trick/card trick. He attempted to grab our attention, but we kept walking.
Good for you. It's a rip-off game. Just keep walking, that's the attitude.
The Fordham strip is a bit of a throwback to the pre-Disneyfied Times Square. In look and in general feel. For instance it is not uncommon to see 3 card monte games. Something I rarely see in other parts of the city these days.
I think that the group you encountered are the Black Hebrew Israelites, since I think that they set up shop on Fordham Road. It could have been Nation of Islam as well, but I don't recall seeing them in the vicinity of the university. Then again, I tend to avoid certain stretches of Fordham Road at all costs when I am driving, since the traffic is horrible.
The area is a dense, sometimes chaotic, transitional urban environment, and sometimes nervousness keeps one's wits about them. I certainly would not be complacent if I were to stroll down that stretch of Fordham Road.
One trick with the three-card monte/shell games, both of which are short-cons, is that there can be other members of the group, other than the shills playing, who pickpocket the crowd as people are engrossed in watching the action unfold.
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All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.
~William Shakespeare (As You Like It Act II, Scene VII)
Yeah. I'm certain that my being uncomfortable was almost entirely due in part to my complete lack of familiarity with living in a large, densely populated urban area. It was definitely a different atmosphere than what I grew up in.
I'm sure the Bronx is worse, but it's obviously not uncommon to be approached by creepy people in LA. Most are in Venice, Westwood, and Santa Monica. I'm pretty used to just walking by them, but it's probably worse in the Bronx.
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