I'm 46 now - moved here in '86  - and didn't have Gershwin fantasies then or now.

The place had an edge and was a just the tiniest, tiniest bit scary.  And everybody was fine with that unless you had a drug dealer living directly above you upstairs.

Yes, there have been successes, the reclamation of a few derelict spaces. Gotta give Jackie her props for Grand Central. Unfortunately the Old Penn Station never made it.

My family came here on vacations in the 70's.  It's fascinating to see the changes to Madison Ave.  Everyone should watch Popeye's namesake movie, 'The French Connection', to see how things have changed.

The area or even the storefront at which they filmed a few scenes, Ronaldo Maia Flowers, on 67th street, is now the location of one of the city's most expensive furniture dealers showing the astounding works of Ruhlmann, Frank and Dupre-Lafon.  That's not too bad of a trade off.

I just wish more of the newer things had soul. Instead we get national and international brands which sell the same stuff in every location around the world

In another thread I mentioned or recommended Rem Koolhaas's 'Delirious New York'. It pretty much lays out how Manhattan is a self fulfilling prophesy of it's theme park self.

The trouble with a lot of so-called 'regeneration' is that it wipes out whole areas of perfectly sustainable buildings and replaces them with brutalist-style pre-fabs guaranteed to be replaced in 25 years.

Last edited by Quay (2011-06-19 19:16:13)

I bow !

http://www.askandyaboutclothes.com/forum/showthread.php?112456-Where%92s-Cruiser&p=1221545#post1221545

Thanks, noble Cruiser, father of my life!
    How proud I am of thee and of thy gifts
    Andyland shall record, and when I do forget
    The least of these unspeakable deserts,
    iGents, forget your fealty to me.

http://www.askandyaboutclothes.com/forum/showthread.php?112529-New-USA-TV-Series-quot-SUITS-quot-The-AAAC-verdict...
"As soon as I saw the promo for this new TV series (set in a high-powered NY law firm) I thought of our little group here."

http://www.askandyaboutclothes.com/forum/showthread.php?112401-Comfortable-sandals-appropriate-for-Italy
An old thread on the highly technical footwear demands of a vacation in Italy re-emerges. Look for talk of "go-to" shoes and denigration of sandals; Kabbaz shows his Italian high-fashion bonafides by advising the OP not to bring loafers to Milan (population: 1.3 million). I have heard Rome described as "a wilderness of tigers," and the only shoe I could possibly imagine holding up to that is the Alden Indiana Jones Commemorative Officially Licensed Indy Boot.

http://www.askandyaboutclothes.com/forum/showthread.php?112522-Father-s-Day-haul&p=1221562#post1221562
The Rambler experiences the Lovecraftian horror of aging. Judging by his pictures I assume that his father was one of the rugose cones of the Great Race from "the Shadow Out of Time."

Last edited by Big Tony (2011-06-20 10:36:43)