Dixon Carter Lee
Headliner
- Joined
- Nov 22, 1999
- Posts
- 48,682
Don't you hate going home, and seeing all the changes? It feels sort of sacrilegious, doesn't it? How dare they not preserve the place as a shrine to your memory?
I haven't really been back to New York since it got all cleaned up, so I'm very curious what home looks like now. I'm leaving Friday for five days, and staying at a hotel in Midtown, just blocks away from any one of four apartments I had in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood over the years.
I wonder if the same local loonies are still there? There was a pathetic creature who used to stand outside Carnegie Hall singing Opera, about as well as Bill Murray would sing Opera, hoping for money. There was the woman in the 42nd Street station who'd chant "Spare some change? Spare a Quarter? Spare some change? Spare a Quarter? Spare some change? Spare a Quarter? Spare some change? Spare a Quarter?" for hours on end. There was the Homeless Giant, a real Viking looking guy, who walked menacingly from one end of Times Square to the other all day. There was the old woman who shopped on 8th who was permanently bent over like an upside-down "U" and dragged her groceries behind her in a carboard box she pulled with a string. And a host of others that I'm sure are gone, or dead, or pushed out of the newly tourist friendly Times Square to fend for themselves in Chelsea, Herald Square or, God forbid, Hoboken.
Of course, in New York, it's just plain stupid to expect things to stay the same. New York is the city that they're never quite finished building. Even while I lived there the stores, people and buildins would come and go with alarming frequency. I was there BEFORE the giant Times Square hotels like the Marriott came in, before they tore down half a dozen old Broadway Theatres, before Ninth Avenue got all trendy, before graffiti-proof subway cars, before Ed Koch, even. I suppose if I was able to deal with the burning down of Jimmy Rays, my favorite bar on 8th, I can deal with The Lion King.
And the best things never really change. I get in around 10pm. First thing I'm gonna' do is get me a slice, jump on the A train to West 4th, visit a few Village comedy haunts and make sure my damn picture is still on the wall. Then it's a sesame bagel and cream cheese in the morning, with a walk through Central Park to check out the ice skaters. Later a stroll down 5th (absolutley requisite in December), a quick homage to the Tree, and maybe some shopping for my kids at FAO Schwartz.
Anyone going home for the holidays? What's the worst change in your town?
I haven't really been back to New York since it got all cleaned up, so I'm very curious what home looks like now. I'm leaving Friday for five days, and staying at a hotel in Midtown, just blocks away from any one of four apartments I had in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood over the years.
I wonder if the same local loonies are still there? There was a pathetic creature who used to stand outside Carnegie Hall singing Opera, about as well as Bill Murray would sing Opera, hoping for money. There was the woman in the 42nd Street station who'd chant "Spare some change? Spare a Quarter? Spare some change? Spare a Quarter? Spare some change? Spare a Quarter? Spare some change? Spare a Quarter?" for hours on end. There was the Homeless Giant, a real Viking looking guy, who walked menacingly from one end of Times Square to the other all day. There was the old woman who shopped on 8th who was permanently bent over like an upside-down "U" and dragged her groceries behind her in a carboard box she pulled with a string. And a host of others that I'm sure are gone, or dead, or pushed out of the newly tourist friendly Times Square to fend for themselves in Chelsea, Herald Square or, God forbid, Hoboken.
Of course, in New York, it's just plain stupid to expect things to stay the same. New York is the city that they're never quite finished building. Even while I lived there the stores, people and buildins would come and go with alarming frequency. I was there BEFORE the giant Times Square hotels like the Marriott came in, before they tore down half a dozen old Broadway Theatres, before Ninth Avenue got all trendy, before graffiti-proof subway cars, before Ed Koch, even. I suppose if I was able to deal with the burning down of Jimmy Rays, my favorite bar on 8th, I can deal with The Lion King.
And the best things never really change. I get in around 10pm. First thing I'm gonna' do is get me a slice, jump on the A train to West 4th, visit a few Village comedy haunts and make sure my damn picture is still on the wall. Then it's a sesame bagel and cream cheese in the morning, with a walk through Central Park to check out the ice skaters. Later a stroll down 5th (absolutley requisite in December), a quick homage to the Tree, and maybe some shopping for my kids at FAO Schwartz.
Anyone going home for the holidays? What's the worst change in your town?
