This is the thread where we complain about New York.

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Assholes. You think youre SOOOO special... and you are... but you go around thinking it! What nerve!

― sunburned and snowblind (kenan), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 07:33 (twenty-one years ago)

This is the thread for people in other places to argue for why they are better than New York.

― sunburned and snowblind (kenan), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 07:43 (twenty-one years ago)

I'd like to see you argue that you're better than new york.

― RJG (RJG), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 07:46 (twenty-one years ago)

p.s. New York City is for sellouts

― RJG (RJG), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 07:46 (twenty-one years ago)

In my city it is legal to dance.

― Good Dog (Good Dog), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 08:00 (twenty-one years ago)

My only beef with New York is actually not its fault: Toronto is trying to make its downtown like yours and this results in some pseudo-Times Square action like giant light-up billboards and other things supposed to attract tourists.

― scout (scout), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 09:02 (twenty-one years ago)

Kenan, come on man, it's like you WANT to seem this LAME. RESIST the URGE, dude.

― hstencil (hstencil), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 09:04 (twenty-one years ago)

Yes. We 'go around thinking it'.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 12:01 (twenty-one years ago)

now i feel dumb for responding to this "thread"

― scout (scout), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 12:04 (twenty-one years ago)

the payphones are really crap in new york.

― ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 14:03 (twenty-one years ago)

(i mean, this is not to mention confusing! gareth to thread)

― ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 14:04 (twenty-one years ago)

YOU CAN'T *BUY* COOL, YOU RICH NYC FUCKS!

― Hurting (Hurting), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 14:07 (twenty-one years ago)

we don't go around thinking it. we just do.

― cutty (mcutt), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 14:08 (twenty-one years ago)

cool can totally be bought, dude.

― ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 14:28 (twenty-one years ago)

my only complaint about new york is that bloomberg et al are trying to kill off any sense of character and history it might have and turn it into all those other, more boring, non- new york cities.

― jody von oy (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 14:50 (twenty-one years ago)

It should be easier to get to. If it were round the corner, Id definetely go, I can't say that about everywhere.

― jel -- (jel), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 14:52 (twenty-one years ago)

(xpost) i mean chelsea piers is garish enough already! leave the west side waterfront alone, you greedy fuckers.

― jody von oy (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 14:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Having been to New York multiple times, I can say this:

New York is big.

Most cities are smaller.

I don't have enough money to live large in either.

― sugarpants: kind of blurry, kind of double (sugarpants), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 14:57 (twenty-one years ago)

On behalf of my hometown: Fuck all y'all.

Actually, I think NYC's been the epicenter of the universe for so long that it's virtually impossible for it to take itself too seriously, unlike...say....Seattle in the early 90's, which was deplorably high on itself. That party's over. HA!

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 14:58 (twenty-one years ago)

And, not to put too fine a point on it, most of what made NYC so damn cool to begin with has been sanitized, exterminated and/or gentrified beyond recognition, so it's not even that cool anymore.

But, it's invariably better than your hometown, haterz!

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 14:59 (twenty-one years ago)

When you have shit like this happening,....cool is over.

http://homepage.mac.com/alexinnyc/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2005-03-30%2008.00.52%20-0800/Image-F65DA8A7A13311D9.jpg

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 15:01 (twenty-one years ago)

what's so confusing about nyc payphones? pick up the receiver, wait to make sure there's a dial tone, insert money, dial number.

― lauren (laurenp), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 15:03 (twenty-one years ago)

B-b-but Lexington has a pretty cool fountain in Triangle Park! And a goodly amount of noize shows!

― sugarpants: kind of blurry, kind of double (sugarpants), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 15:03 (twenty-one years ago)

bah i have not been over for so long i saw alex's pic and thought YAY NEW YORK I LOVE YOU!!

― mark s (mark s), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 15:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Alex OTM about everything, including the "fuck all y'all" comment.

― Je4nne ƒury (Jeanne Fury), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 15:09 (twenty-one years ago)

cool can totally be bought, dude.

-- ken c (pykachu10...), March 30th, 2005.

I know. *Rich* is the new *bohemian*.

― Hurting (Hurting), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 15:11 (twenty-one years ago)

No, seriously, I like New York. I didn't move across the river from it for nothing. But it every time I go there, I leave with holes in my pockets. When I hang out with friends in Philly, we make our own fun.

As far as losing a sense of "history" -- I dunno, blame Robert Moses? I'm not sure NYC ever held onto any sense of history for very long.

― Hurting (Hurting), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 15:15 (twenty-one years ago)

very true.

― jody von oy (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 15:22 (twenty-one years ago)

my only complaint about new york is that bloomberg et al are trying to kill off any sense of character and history it might have and turn it into all those other, more boring, non- new york cities.

OTM.

haha xpost

― Allyzay Subservient 50s-Type (allyzay), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 15:23 (twenty-one years ago)

it's true though! "new york is too new york for tourists. if we make it more like suburban peoria, people will want to come here!"

― jody von oy (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 15:25 (twenty-one years ago)

"let's tear down chinatown and put up a p.f. chang's!"

― jody von oy (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 15:26 (twenty-one years ago)

I bet people are allowed to dance and smoke and go to stripclubs in suburban Peoria, jody, don't take things too far!

What I don't understand is the handful of tourists ("handful") who do seem to do that. Like, the ones that go to TGI Friday's or the Red Lobster instead of one of the real restaurants, a few blocks over???

xpost I'M SURPRISED THEY HAVEN'T DONE THAT YET but OTOH Chinatown is a "safe" "wholesome" curiousity, so it's safe. Until, like, the Mets wanna move to downtown NYC or something.

― Allyzay Subservient 50s-Type (allyzay), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 15:30 (twenty-one years ago)

I can't say I'm fond of the theme-restaurant/theme-store direction many areas are going in, but this has been going on for years. The more *cutting edge* art and music seem to have moved to the other boroughs, and continue to move further out.

Sometimes I hate Brooklyn just as much -- the way someone can move there from Arkansas and then scoff at me for living in New Jersey. But I don't really hate it. It's a fucking great place. I'm just jealous.

― Hurting (Hurting), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 15:32 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah! NYC could always use a few thousand more fattened cows from the midwest walking around in a daisy glaze. Where's Ground Zero again? No wait, this is uptown...

I used to give tourists wrong directions when I was younger, and chase tour buses all through Soho with my friends, giving the finger all the way. Ah, those were the days.

― 57 7th (calstars), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 15:34 (twenty-one years ago)

oh they don't really move to brooklyn -- they move to wburg/greenpoint/one of about four neighborhoods in brooklyn it's "okay" to live in. if you suggested that they move to mill basin or dyker heights they'd recoil in horror.

― jody von oy (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 15:35 (twenty-one years ago)

New York is great but it should really be in California.

― Poundstretcher (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 15:38 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah and don't even bring up the idea of even VISITING queens or the bronx, dude.

― Allyzay Subservient 50s-Type (allyzay), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 15:38 (twenty-one years ago)

i mean people, millions of people even, DO live in the far-flung parts of the boroughs and they commute into manhattan every day and maybe the commute is more than 15 minutes but they manage, right? what makes hipster kids so special?

― jody von oy (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 15:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Has anyone heard the funny new WNYC spot with the cop? It goes something like this:

"I'm a New York City cop. I think that's an important part of the job, not just being a cop, but being a New York City cop. The other day, I responded to a complaint, and there was a man on his doorstep holding an avocado. He wanted help getting a refund because the avocado he bought was too ripe. I told him, 'Sir, there are certain risks we take every day when we buy fruit.' I'm a cop -- sometimes I respond to robberies, sometimes I respond to people with avocados."

The way this cop talks embodies the essentialized New York that I'll always have in my mind. I get it from Woody Allen movies, from my parents' stories about living there, etc. Even though everyone comes there from somewhere else now, people still have this idea of being a "real New Yorker," talk about the moment when the first felt this.

― Hurting (Hurting), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 15:41 (twenty-one years ago)

gotta watch out for those fruit dealers -- they'll rob you blind!

― jody von oy (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 15:42 (twenty-one years ago)

I think there's some Baudrillard essay also where he talks about NYC becoming more and more like itself (due to people coming there with this idea of New York and acting it out).

― Hurting (Hurting), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 15:43 (twenty-one years ago)

heh, i dunno, go ask the people on the Washington DC thread about hipster kids, apparently anyone who doesn't totally hate MTA is one of 'em.

HAHAHASHAHAHAHAHAHAHA that story is great.

― Allyzay Subservient 50s-Type (allyzay), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 15:43 (twenty-one years ago)

"fuhgedduboudit"

― jody von oy (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 15:44 (twenty-one years ago)

People walk really fast there.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 15:44 (twenty-one years ago)

Tourists: Little Italy is in the BRONX, not Manhattan. Go to Arthur Avenue. Not Mulberry Street. K thx bye.

― Je4nne ƒury (Jeanne Fury), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 15:46 (twenty-one years ago)

if i had a car when i lived in new york, i would have been all over mill basin.

― lauren (laurenp), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 15:46 (twenty-one years ago)

i am, as i have always been, profoundly ambivalent about NYC. but hey, i'm from NJ so of course i am a dumbass who cannot appreciate the greatness that is NYC ...

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 15:46 (twenty-one years ago)

je4nne, will you marry me?

― jody von oy (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 15:47 (twenty-one years ago)

nj is great too! did i ever say nyc was better than nj? no i did not.

― jody von oy (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 15:48 (twenty-one years ago)

Dude, I grew up in DC. I didn't notice an overabundance of hipster kids at the time though -- I mean no more than any other city. If anything, I always thought the hipster kids there were less stylish, more understated then elsewhere, maybe somehow mirroring the conservative dress of the city in general.

― Hurting (Hurting), Wednesday, 30 March 2005 15:48 (twenty-one years ago)

Skipping 608 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Katrina Vanden Roffle = best moniker yet

― Hurting (Hurting), Sunday, 23 October 2005 14:35 (twenty years ago)

roosevelt island tram = part of mta?

I missed this before, but yeah, I used my unlimited metrocard thingy and got on for nowt.

― JimD (JimD), Sunday, 23 October 2005 19:13 (twenty years ago)

here's a complaint--i'm still looking for an apartment! if anyone knows of an open room or share or studio or something anywhere in NYC, lemme know.

― geeta (geeta), Sunday, 23 October 2005 22:30 (twenty years ago)

emailed you geeta

― jw (ex machina), Monday, 24 October 2005 00:17 (twenty years ago)

cool! i emailed you back!

― geeta (geeta), Monday, 24 October 2005 00:50 (twenty years ago)

I missed this before, but yeah, I used my unlimited metrocard thingy and got on for nowt.I missed this before, but yeah, I used my unlimited metrocard thingy and got on for nowt.

they only just recently switched over to metrocards. for a long time they were the last station in the city (well, last two stations if you count the roosevelt island side) that used subway tokens. meaning if you had an unlimited-ride metrocard you'd still have to pay $4 for two tokens. which was dumb, but it was cool for people who'd never actually held a subway token in their hand to experience a bit of old-school.

― katrina vanden roffle (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 24 October 2005 01:23 (twenty years ago)

I'm not sure what thread this goes on, but I found it really fascinating:

http://www.themorningnews.org/archives/photography/changing_new_york/

― Paunchy Stratego (kenan), Monday, 24 October 2005 03:42 (twenty years ago)

three months pass...

where can one meet one's New Jersey cousin for Sunday brunch -- somewhere between Houston and 59th, pref -- that won't break the bank?

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 17:18 (twenty years ago)

mars bar

― senseiDancer (sexyDancer), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 17:23 (twenty years ago)

FOOD BAR = NICE FOREARMS

― ShawShank Rambo Connection (Carey), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 17:26 (twenty years ago)

mamoun's.

― Special Agent Gene Krupa (orion), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 21:13 (twenty years ago)

shopsin's, as long as your party isn't more than 4.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 21:20 (twenty years ago)

where can one meet one's New Jersey cousin for Sunday brunch -- somewhere between Houston and 59th, pref -- that won't break the bank?

how about IN new jersey?!?

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 21:21 (twenty years ago)

I don't drive!

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 21:27 (twenty years ago)

two months pass...

Shopsin's was fine, btw.

Straphangers.org just found that 29% of subway payphones don't work, which is about a third of what I've found. (I know the rest of you carry phones, Luddites roar)

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 2 May 2006 14:16 (twenty years ago)

www.cingualr.com

― Jimmy Mod is a super idol of The MARS SPIRIT (The Famous Jimmy Mod), Tuesday, 2 May 2006 14:22 (twenty years ago)

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 2 May 2006 14:29 (twenty years ago)

another new york neighborhood that appears ready to be ~~ruined~~ discovered by yuppy gentrifiers. oh well.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 00:25 (twenty years ago)

As usual, mixed feelings. I mean, trees! How can you be against trees?

― Man Man (kenan), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 00:43 (twenty years ago)

Does anyone know who coined the phrase "Suburbanization of New York" or when it started popping up? I feel like I'm hearing it all over the place lately.

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 01:19 (twenty years ago)

the constant hum of complaint about yuppies ruining neighborhoods is one of the most annoying things about new york. usually the complainants are early adopter types who are just as much a part of the gentrification ecosystem as the yuppies.

― jhoshea (scoopsnoodle), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 01:49 (twenty years ago)

That's kind of true, though NYC has always been a city that people move to from all over, whether or not they're yuppies and even in periods of non-gentrification.

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 01:51 (twenty years ago)

Besides the Yankee Stadium thing, which is questionable for numerous reasons, what, exactly, is bad about the activities being described in that article, Tad? I haven't heard/seen much of a Harlem-scale "Let's destroy any local culture and move in an H&M" "rebuilding" of that area and I fail to see how historical restoration (yeah, including the park areas) and fixing up, like, the courthouse is some sign of "ruining" a neighborhood. Everyone I know who lives in that area has been dying for this to finally go underway.

Do you know anyone who lives in the Bronx?

― Allyzay Rofflesbot (allyzay), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 14:08 (twenty years ago)

I'm honestly not trying to be a bitch but that's just horseshit, the implication from your post is that neighborhood improvement and restoration should not occur because of some weird vendetta you have towards yuppies, the vast majority of which still wouldn't consider the Bronx a place to live in a hundred years (it's a place to rush out of, top speed, after the game is over, amirite etc).

― Allyzay Rofflesbot (allyzay), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 14:09 (twenty years ago)

But but but...the GRAND CONCOURSE! I'm all for the preservation of sunken living rooms and art deco/moderne linoleum, people. Bring it on.

― Laurel (Laurel), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 14:13 (twenty years ago)

man, i wish h&m would move into one of the ugly abandoned buildings on the next block over from my apartment.

― phil-two (phil-two), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 14:14 (twenty years ago)

H&M can go fuck itself recently, every time I go in there all of the clothing, EVERY SINGLE PIECE LITERALLY, is size 10. WTF? No offense to size 10s or anything but seriously you guys apparently aren't shopping at H&M, maybe they should expand their "Other Sizes Besides 10" division. Maybe it's just the shitty one in Downtown DC.

― Allyzay Rofflesbot (allyzay), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 14:16 (twenty years ago)

I personally think neighborhood restoration is awesome when done appropriately, you run the risk of NYC repeating the basic demolition of wholesale parts of Harlem but I don't see anything here that indicates they're doing something like that on the Concourse. I would hope that the city planners wised up a little bit, at least in some vague way, from the problems that erupted when they UMEZ poured money into outsider corporations and building demolition companies (basically) to "restore" Harlem. Maybe I'm freaking naive.

― Allyzay Rofflesbot (allyzay), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 14:18 (twenty years ago)

OMG THE NEIGHBORHOOD HAS CHANGED SOOOO MUCH! WHEN I MOVED HERE...

― jhoshea (scoopsnoodle), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 14:20 (twenty years ago)

the worst was living in williamsburg in '99, all these 40 year old gentrifiers yapping yer ear off with "IT USED TO BE SO DIFFERENT". i always wanted to go "FUCK OFF GRAMPS", fortunately, they had no idea what was later in store for them.

― jinx hijinks (sanskrit), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 14:26 (twenty years ago)

it would actually be better if they knocked down the projects across the street and put in an h&m, barnes & noble, trader joes, a record store, a marc jacobs, a cupcake shop, a soba shop, a korean bbq, a vietnamese sandwich maker, and a gay bar. oh!!!!

― phil-two (phil-two), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 14:27 (twenty years ago)

WHEN I MOVED TO FT GREENE IN 2000 THERE WERE ONLY LIKE THREE FRENCH RESTAURANTS THIS SHIT IS REALLY GETTING OUT OF CONTROL AROUND HERE!!!

― jhoshea (scoopsnoodle), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 14:42 (twenty years ago)

two months pass...

http://www.ofthesky.net/bb_files/captures/alive/BEASTIE_BOYS2-41.jpg

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 28 July 2006 02:57 (nineteen years ago)

we even complain better than you do

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 28 July 2006 15:06 (nineteen years ago)

three years pass...

so what date do the landlords have to turn the heat on? is it Oct 15?

fucking premature 40-degree weather (you coldies can stifle yourselves).

― Your Favorite Saturday Night Thing (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 15 October 2009 16:28 (sixteen years ago)

seven months pass...

Feb 2014: get me the FUCK outta here!

― kind of shrill and very self-righteous (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 26 May 2010 11:43 (sixteen years ago)

maybe we can make Super Bowl weekend the occasion of our first Cranky Politics Thread Regulars cruise to the Bahamas

― in which we apologize for sobering up (underrated aerosmith albums I have loved), Wednesday, 26 May 2010 12:48 (sixteen years ago)

subterranean homesick cruise

― kind of shrill and very self-righteous (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 26 May 2010 13:49 (sixteen years ago)

I don't understand, what about Feb 2014?

― the soul of the avocado escapes as soon as you open it (Laurel), Wednesday, 26 May 2010 13:50 (sixteen years ago)

NB: I don't watch the news so....

― the soul of the avocado escapes as soon as you open it (Laurel), Wednesday, 26 May 2010 13:50 (sixteen years ago)

The Super Bowl is coming to Giants Stadium.

― jaymc, Wednesday, 26 May 2010 13:55 (sixteen years ago)

Rent out your flat and make $$$.

― Excelsior the Facebook (kkvgz), Wednesday, 26 May 2010 13:56 (sixteen years ago)

YOU GUYS THE SUPER BOWL IS COMING TO THE GREATEST CITY ON EARTH. NEW YORK SUPER BOWL. AFTER ALL THESE YEARS IT'S COMING TO NEW YORK CITY! NEW YORK! NEW YORK!

― iatee, Wednesday, 26 May 2010 14:20 (sixteen years ago)

oh wait it's in new jersey nvm

― iatee, Wednesday, 26 May 2010 14:21 (sixteen years ago)

this is a thinly veiled attempt at getting lebron to sign with nyk/njn, yeah?

― Face Book (dyao), Wednesday, 26 May 2010 14:23 (sixteen years ago)

why would NFL owners want that? if anything, the NY football industry probably benefits from fewer basketball fans.

― iatee, Wednesday, 26 May 2010 14:25 (sixteen years ago)

dyao w/ non sequitur gag of the week.

I don't know whether this news is heavier on Roman Empire-style elitism or terror-baiting stupidity.

― kind of shrill and very self-righteous (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 26 May 2010 14:47 (sixteen years ago)

three years pass...

Our time has come, apparently via an asshole Yankee fan.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ACJqCecCUPE/U1FHqw4f-SI/AAAAAAAC0OM/U-v12MWGsAU/s1600/JudgementalMaps.jpg

― images of war violence and historical smoking (Dr Morbius), Friday, 18 April 2014 19:05 (twelve years ago)

'bagels' is not otm

― mookieproof, Friday, 18 April 2014 19:23 (twelve years ago)

one year passes...

Now endangered in NYC: grocery stores.

http://ny.curbed.com/maps/map-nyc-grocery-stores-disappearing

― we can be heroes just for about 3.6 seconds (Dr Morbius), Monday, 14 March 2016 18:23 (ten years ago)

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