Who here is originally from New York City and where in the city are you from?How long in SC? (Greenville: transplants)

[senecaman]

I was born in Rego Park Queens and have family there ( Italian on my father's side)but I moved to Upstate SC in 1974 near Clemson University and have family here ( mother's side of the family).There where times in the past when I wanted to move back to NYC but as I got older and more people moved in and there were more things to do in cities like Greenville I changed my mind.Now for the most part I am happy to be here. I like a certain amount of urban amenities but I have outdoor activities I like as well(fishing and camping ).One thing that still amazes me after all these years is that the Upstate and the Lowcountry are quite different in temperament and culture but are just a short drive from the other. I like to go on long trips but just going to the Lowcountry on vacation is nice too.

One thing that seems to get better over time is our choice in food. I love southern cooking-it has always been great- but its also great that that we have places like Vic's Pizza in Greenville (pizza addict here) and the bagels are decent too.

One thing I did come up against after moving to SC with kids I went to school with,particularly from elementary school through high school ,was that they could never seem to understand that I had relatives back in the city that I visited and that to a degree I had a whole other life that they never saw. In high school if I had spent the summer in the NY working , once I was back in high school in the fall I hardly talked about what I had done. So no talking about Met games ,"Crazy Eddie" commercials, white castle hamburgers, things I did or saw in the city. Most of the students then hadn't been outside the Upstate and it came off like bragging to talk about NYC(I worked with my uncle's construction company out on the Island). I had duel lives that were mutually exclusive and had little overlap. Back then(late 70s to the mid 80s) the Upstate was more rural and many people I went to school with had never been to a major city, so to them I was a bit of an oddity. After high school ,as more people moved here , it wasn't as much of an issue.

So if you are from NYC what have your experiences here been like-good or bad.

[NDL]

Experiences here have been good.

The City is NOTHING like it was in the 70's/80's. Many Southerners have, in their minds, ideas of what New York(ers) is (are) like, but many neighborhoods in NYC were very conservative; quite traditional; there was a strong remnant of NY'ers who were strict Constitutionalists.

That New York is LONG dead.

Fast forward to present: I live on the cusp of what most folks consider the Country; folks in the Country are great; I love many of the time honored customs of the folks here.

Many folks are considerate and kind.

In other words, in some ways, I have gone back to the place of my youth.

I have heard it said that some transplants aim to "change things" here. Only a lunatic would want to do that.

[senecaman]

Originally Posted by NDL

Experiences here have been good.

The City is NOTHING like it was in the 70's/80's. Many Southerners have, in their minds, ideas of what New York(ers) is (are) like, but many neighborhoods in NYC were very conservative; quite traditional; there was a strong remnant of NY'ers who were strict Constitutionalists.

That New York is LONG dead.

Fast forward to present: I live on the cusp of what most folks consider the Country; folks in the Country are great; I love many of the time honored customs of the folks here.

Many folks are considerate and kind.

In other words, in some ways, I have gone back to the place of my youth.

I have heard it said that some transplants aim to "change things" here. Only a lunatic would want to do that.

Good to hear from you. The city is definitely different than the 70s and 80s and not only that but so many people in the city are young enough to consider even the 90s ancient history. Back in the 80s and even in the 90s if you asked someone from Rego Park if they remembered the library on 63rd Drive burning down they would almost always tell you it was 1972.No one under a certain age even knows who Crazy Eddie is anymore.NYC then was more like what you saw on Saturday Night Fever-still very Italian and Irish.Some things are the same although the house I lived in was torn down to put up a high rise apartment building. Rego Park on the whole looks about the same as it did in 1974 accept it seems cleaner now than then. The whole city seems cleaner now than then. I felt like I was a kid again when I would stay with relatives and wins news 1010 would come on. That's one constant in the city. That and getting White Castle Hamburgers on Queens Blvd (I even remember Wetsons !). In 2002 I had a job for about 9 weeks working in the city at 26th St and Madison Ave. What I noticed was that Manhattan had become yuppie heaven since no one else could afford to live there but you could walk around at night with so many police officers out and it was clean. One thing I noticed-more people eat at chains than they used too like Subway sandwiches(which is ok and I eat there too) and Pizza Hut and Dominos(which I cannot understand at all if you live in NYC-greatest pizza in the world).

As for my area here in SC it has changed here to a degree. Its still rural-just not as rural as it was but its still quiet. The towns around here have grown pretty fast. One thing that's so different now from then is the communications we have now. Living here in the 70s you were isolated to a certain extent but now with cable tv ,cell phones and the internet we are as connected as anyone in a large city. Now even in the small towns you meet people from all over the country. I like it here a lot and I couldn't leave SC now, although I would like to be able to visit the city more often .But I like the space and nature here and cities like Greenville have a lot going on for a lot less money.

[senecaman]

A list of some things that created the image of NYC in the 70s for better or worse. Feel free to add to it.

All in the Family

The Dog Day Afternoon robbery

Ford to City: Drop Dead - President Ford denies the city federal assistance to avoid going broke ,October 1975

Operation Sail July 4th 1976 (A cousin from the city was here in SC that 4th of July and he still reminds me that he missed the best Operation Sail ever)

The original Saturday Night Live group

Saturday Night Fever and Tony Manero (add Vinnie Barbarino from Welcome back Kotter too)

The Son of Sam

The Blackout of 1977

The Bronx Zoo Yankees (Steinbrenner, Billy Martin and Reggie Jackson)-I am a Mets fan but I watched Reggie hit his 3 home runs against the Dodgers in game 6 of the 1977 World Series in my parents living room here in SC.

John Lennon shot in front of the Dakota Building 1980