A New York State of Mind

I like New York City in the summer. I may be the only one who does. Everyone else hates the sticky heat and the egg-boiling sidewalks. I focus on the positives. The crowds decrease, the sun stays out longer, the women wear less clothing. My favorite part of a NYC summer is sitting outside at a bar or café and having a cool beer of Vodka Tonic as the sun recedes from view. There are a whole series of bars (Beer Garden, Riveria) that take on new meaning because of their outdoor seating, and some very beloved bars (The Frying Pan) that only operate in the summer. Yes, an AC is necessary and brownouts are not infrequent in the outer Boroughs, but the pros in my mind outweigh the cons.

I will talk about summer more, probably when it is actually summer. I mentioned all this because this weekend was the first time the weather got nice. I took a drive upstate to drop some stuff off in storage, which was beautiful. After getting back and returning the car to its Upper East Side garage, I declared the evening too beautiful to spend at home. I tracked down the Banker, and we wandered the UES looking for a pub with some available outdoor seating. We found a place on 85th, grabbed some beers, and took in the night. We discussed, among other things, various neighborhoods on the Island. I have long bitched to Banker about his own turf, the UES, where he now lives and we both grew up. We then began talking about how one defines a neighborhood, and how often it is a shallow attempt to re-brand a neighborhood to make it cool. Here are some examples.

1: Nolita: the rape of Little Italy by the Lower East Side. A great historic neighborhood dying out, and being renamed something goofy. A mini-tragedy.

2: Noho: Again, the rise of the Lower East Side causes areas to get stupid names. It’s part of the goddamn East Village, just call it that. The whole remodeling of that entire part of Lower Manhattan pisses me off.

3: Clinton: This one pisses me off the most. Why would you change arguably the coolest name any neighborhood has ever had, Hell’s Kitchen, and change it to something so boring?

This goes to Outer Boroughs as well. Anyone who went to look at an apartment in East Williamsburg knows what I am talking about.

Yes I know bitching about gentrification is old hat, but as someone who recently was looking for a new apartment, the tricks people use to rename and re-shape neighborhoods piss me off. I actually love all those neighborhoods, but hate the way they are being misrepresented.

This will probably come up more as we move into summer, and take more full advantage of the city (I hope). I will be spending much of my time this summer on the Upper West Side, so expect some commentary on that neighborhood. More hilarity as it develops!