is New York City dead?

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NYC seems genuinely out of fashion for the first time in my life, and maybe its history? Williamsburg is a punchline, Manhattan both above and below 14th St is just rich fuxors, seems like everything that used to happen in only NYC or LA now happens in LA or some other ascendant metropolis. I am not particularly worldly or sophisticated or mobile these days so I can't offer much more evidence, this is just my lay observation. What u think?

trife's rich padgett (rip van wanko), Tuesday, 6 February 2018 22:10 (seven years ago)

New York isn't dead.
There are still lots of great things about this city.
The things I value might not be the same things others value, of course.

ian, Tuesday, 6 February 2018 22:12 (seven years ago)

https://saysomethingvague.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/lcd-soundsystem-t-shirt-losing-my-edge.jpg

mookieproof, Tuesday, 6 February 2018 22:12 (seven years ago)

no you're dead

Fedora Dostoyevsky (man alive), Tuesday, 6 February 2018 22:13 (seven years ago)

okay

trife's rich padgett (rip van wanko), Tuesday, 6 February 2018 22:16 (seven years ago)

I mean, IDK, I was out in bushwick recently on a saturday night and it still seemed happening and teeming with young artsy cutting edge types brimming with energy. However it's been rough for a good amount of time now as far as being a city that young people without a bankroll or a professional job can live in, and that definitely cuts into the creative energy of the city some. I mean I don't even think the bronx offers the kinds of rents today that could be had 20 years ago in brooklyn.

Fedora Dostoyevsky (man alive), Tuesday, 6 February 2018 22:18 (seven years ago)

like if you mean "dead" as in "no longer can birth a 'scene' the way it could in the 60s/70s/80s/90s, that might be true just because rents are so high.

Fedora Dostoyevsky (man alive), Tuesday, 6 February 2018 22:21 (seven years ago)

I think that is what I mean. Although "scene" sounds a little tinny/reductive, scenes kind of matter. A city births a scene which creates stuff that matters.

trife's rich padgett (rip van wanko), Tuesday, 6 February 2018 22:23 (seven years ago)

Is Paris dead? How about London? Those cities are pretty expensive too, and have been for some time. New York is still a place that attracts ambitious young people, including artists, and I don’t expect that to change anytime soon.

o. nate, Tuesday, 6 February 2018 22:25 (seven years ago)

well yeah, I mean a scene as in the beats or the greenwich village folk scene or disco or no wave or whatever. Like the combination of cheap living and high density and educational and arts institutions and economic activity that allows for a scene that actually produces something of worth. Like I just don't think there are many corners of the city left where a bunch of musicians could live close to one another and work more or less full time on their music and pay rent waiting tables part time or whatever. And to the extent such pockets exist, they're scattered at the edges of the city instead of centralized.

Fedora Dostoyevsky (man alive), Tuesday, 6 February 2018 22:28 (seven years ago)

All cities are dead because culture travels faster through the Internet than it ever could geographically.

treeship 2, Tuesday, 6 February 2018 22:28 (seven years ago)

Rising rents making it hard for young people to live there unless they're being bankrolled is basically true for all major international cities now. Even Berlin's getting expensive these days.

Zelda Zonk, Tuesday, 6 February 2018 22:29 (seven years ago)

But hey, there are always aspiring artists with trust funds, so the city will never die

Fedora Dostoyevsky (man alive), Tuesday, 6 February 2018 22:29 (seven years ago)

i don't know the deal w/rents in NYC but i find it funny when people come out to L.A. from there and rhapsodize about how comparatively inexpensive the rent is here.

omar little, Tuesday, 6 February 2018 22:30 (seven years ago)

I don't go out much anymore, so maybe there's some lively cheap shit I'm missing out on.

It's also really hard for some people in late middle age (w/out a LUCRATIVE CAREER) to live here.

ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 6 February 2018 22:30 (seven years ago)

I'm also old and have a family and work a lot, and I just don't really know what's happening anymore. When we went out in Bushwick, we saw some local DJs/electronic artists in a little club and it was absurdly packed and seemed pretty alive.

Fedora Dostoyevsky (man alive), Tuesday, 6 February 2018 22:31 (seven years ago)

I guess another thing I've noticed is that galleries tend to show artists from all over the US and world, and I'm guessing that's more true than it used to be. But that's also an internet-erasing-borders thing.

Fedora Dostoyevsky (man alive), Tuesday, 6 February 2018 22:33 (seven years ago)

All cities are dead because culture travels faster through the Internet than it ever could geographically.

― treeship 2, Tuesday, February 6, 2018 3:28 PM (thirteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is pretty otm

sleepingbag, Tuesday, 6 February 2018 22:43 (seven years ago)

it's all about the rust belt, my friend

we eat the cheeses here too

they are artisanal

our cities are the envy of all, their livability is primo

j., Tuesday, 6 February 2018 22:48 (seven years ago)

Here's how I think about New York, after my last visit there last summer:

New York is good and the only actual large city in America on the metric of everything existing there. Big cities are the ones where there is everything; you can tell Seattle is a small city because there are things that are not here.

New York is bad in that it smells of garbage. In the summer, hot garbage.

If more American cities grow to populations in the millions, New York will be more dead by comparison due declining uniqueness. Is this going to happen? Who knows.

direct to consumer online mattress brand (silby), Tuesday, 6 February 2018 22:52 (seven years ago)

i kinda want to leave, but i have a job i like okay and an unusually fortuitous living situation. there's no real reason for me to be here; i don't partake of the cultural opportunities available

it'll probably be the subway that finally drives me away

mookieproof, Tuesday, 6 February 2018 22:57 (seven years ago)

NYC: where if you can make it there as a successful artist, you can also have a successful time crowdfunding your medical bills.

Yerac, Tuesday, 6 February 2018 23:21 (seven years ago)

Telecommuting will finish it off.

omar little, Tuesday, 6 February 2018 23:23 (seven years ago)

Less of a joke, not as dead as San Francisco?

Feels like people have been waiting for a rust belt/flyover city to take over since our traditional metropolises are more 'playground for the rich' than ever but I still don't hear kids looking to move to Columbus or Pittsburgh.

louise ck (milo z), Tuesday, 6 February 2018 23:27 (seven years ago)

Have the media decided where the New Portland is?

louise ck (milo z), Tuesday, 6 February 2018 23:29 (seven years ago)

There was a Tooze tweet recently, where he showed stats on how professional actors in the USA, vastly outnumber coal miners. I forgot by much, but it was significantly much.

calzino, Tuesday, 6 February 2018 23:30 (seven years ago)

I do hear murmurings about ppl aspiring to move to Pittsburgh, Detroit, Denver, a few others

trife's rich padgett (rip van wanko), Tuesday, 6 February 2018 23:31 (seven years ago)

According to @BLS_gov and @TheEconomist there are 51,200 people employed as coal miners in the US v. 785k in 1920. In 2017 there are more florists, actors and personal fitness instructors than miners. pic.twitter.com/m913tHokI2

— Adam Tooze (@adam_tooze) January 2, 2018



I was misquoting it slightly

calzino, Tuesday, 6 February 2018 23:33 (seven years ago)

Less of a joke, not as dead as San Francisco?

Feels like people have been waiting for a rust belt/flyover city to take over since our traditional metropolises are more 'playground for the rich' than ever but I still don't hear kids looking to move to Columbus or Pittsburgh.

― louise ck (milo z), Tuesday, February 6, 2018 6:27 PM (seven minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I hear rumblings about Pittsburgh now and then. Also tons of my friends moved to Philly over the years and it did seem to be producing bands at a good clip for a while.

Fedora Dostoyevsky (man alive), Tuesday, 6 February 2018 23:35 (seven years ago)

And no one talks about how many administrative assistant, secretarial and receptionist jobs were lost in NYC due to automation, because... women, a lot of woc. Breadwinners for their families. Fuck coal miners and their sooty tears.

Yerac, Tuesday, 6 February 2018 23:37 (seven years ago)

I’m moving back to new york soon bc of my job but it’s not a nice place to live.

treeship 2, Tuesday, 6 February 2018 23:39 (seven years ago)

I still have my apartment in Astoria. But I really don't want to go back. I dread having to deal with the subway.

Yerac, Tuesday, 6 February 2018 23:41 (seven years ago)

The subway is inexcusably unpleasant

treeship 2, Tuesday, 6 February 2018 23:44 (seven years ago)

i get more anxious/aggro in nyc in my old age. i don't know what it is. impatient. people bug me more. i think its just a case of the olds. i will always love the city though. in general. i've loved hanging out there my whole life.

it really is me being set in my ways. we stayed in brooklyn one summer with the kids and i seriously didn't want to leave the hotel room. get on a subway to go to a museum in manhattan? kill me now.

scott seward, Tuesday, 6 February 2018 23:45 (seven years ago)

Everything here is comically more stressful than any other place.

treeship 2, Tuesday, 6 February 2018 23:45 (seven years ago)

I car commute to the suburbs now and it's glorious to not be taking the subway anymore

Fedora Dostoyevsky (man alive), Tuesday, 6 February 2018 23:45 (seven years ago)

Why is the ceiling always dripping down there?

treeship 2, Tuesday, 6 February 2018 23:47 (seven years ago)

Second and third tier cities could attract people by just showing how messed up the MTA is in their promo material.

I haven't lived in nyc full time for almost two years now. I miss it, but I really don't miss it. Just the thought of having to take the subway to work gives me anxiety.

Yerac, Tuesday, 6 February 2018 23:48 (seven years ago)

Part of me really regrets accepting another job here. As a teen my dream was living here but it’s not that fun.

treeship 2, Tuesday, 6 February 2018 23:49 (seven years ago)

NYC misses Yerac and Znarf

ian, Tuesday, 6 February 2018 23:52 (seven years ago)

Fix the subway and get rid of GOP madness and I am there!

Yerac, Tuesday, 6 February 2018 23:55 (seven years ago)

fuck the subway, i drive most places now. and when i do take the subway it's in the middle of the day.
sorry can't do anything about the GOP.

ian, Tuesday, 6 February 2018 23:57 (seven years ago)

Do you have to go in and out of manhattan a lot or no?

treeship 2, Tuesday, 6 February 2018 23:59 (seven years ago)

I remember taking the subway maybe 1-2 times a month when I worked in Williamsburg. It was the best. My tweety truck got sold like 3 years ago.

Yerac, Wednesday, 7 February 2018 00:00 (seven years ago)

i've honestly not experienced the subway horrors that many have, but i will say that the subway is nearly unusable on nights and weekends

hoooyaaargh it's me satan (voodoo chili), Wednesday, 7 February 2018 00:01 (seven years ago)

just not enough trains

hoooyaaargh it's me satan (voodoo chili), Wednesday, 7 February 2018 00:01 (seven years ago)

I want to get myself to love it again.

treeship 2, Wednesday, 7 February 2018 00:03 (seven years ago)

Not the subway—the city

treeship 2, Wednesday, 7 February 2018 00:03 (seven years ago)

The last job I had there, I almost had a breakdown every time I took the subway. I would sometimes using the plodding R so I wouldn't have to deal with the insaneness of the 4,5,6 during rush hour. That train really has the worst people to be stuck with in the tunnel.

Yerac, Wednesday, 7 February 2018 00:03 (seven years ago)

I do drive into the city regularly. Many mornings I drive in and drop my wife off at work and then drive home. It helps that we live near the Manhattan Bridge and her office is in chinatown. We also might drive in and park for any number of special events.

ian, Wednesday, 7 February 2018 00:06 (seven years ago)

Also what J0rdan already said but with 200% more soapbox.

Ima Gardener (in orbit), Monday, 30 June 2025 18:23 (one week ago)

sure would be nice there was enough housing to go around

lag∞n, Monday, 30 June 2025 22:07 (one week ago)

Full mayoral primary vote results are released: Mamdani beat Cuomo 56-44 and it only took three rounds. The 2021 primary took eight rounds to resolve.

Instead of create and send out, it pull back and consume (unperson), Tuesday, 1 July 2025 16:31 (one week ago)

I didn't realize this last week, but it seems like it was always going to be three rounds based on the initial results. The second round distributed the 2nd place votes for the ballots with a write-in candidate at #1 (only a few hundred, so the effect was negligible). The third round eliminated all candidates except Mamdani and Cuomo because the cumulative number of votes for those other candidates was less than the amount Cuomo received.

jaymc, Tuesday, 1 July 2025 16:54 (one week ago)

Perhaps having been beaten by 12 points will convince Cuomo to fuck off back to whatever golf course suburb he lives in.

Instead of create and send out, it pull back and consume (unperson), Tuesday, 1 July 2025 16:59 (one week ago)

imagine if it were actually close and we had to wait a week for this lol

gestures broadly at...everything (voodoo chili), Tuesday, 1 July 2025 17:04 (one week ago)

btw good posts laurel thx for the on the ground reporting

lag∞n, Tuesday, 1 July 2025 17:38 (one week ago)

Perhaps having been beaten by 12 points will convince Cuomo to fuck off back to whatever golf course suburb he lives in.

A know a couple of people who basically live their lives in Brooklyn as if it's a golf course suburb and vote accordingly, and I don't know why the fuck people like that don't just move to the suburbs instead of ruining the city. They actually hate traveling beyond their block, and the only thing resembling culture in their lives is going to a fucking sports game.

birdistheword, Tuesday, 1 July 2025 21:25 (one week ago)

do they drive to the grocery store and to work?

ɥɯ ︵ (°□°) (mh), Tuesday, 1 July 2025 23:01 (one week ago)

i find his insistence on 'we' odd but understandable. but he's pretty good at this stuff

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjgI-nK1PHE

mookieproof, Tuesday, 1 July 2025 23:13 (one week ago)

imagine if it were actually close and we had to wait a week for this lol

how old were you in autumn 2000?

mookieproof, Tuesday, 1 July 2025 23:14 (one week ago)

also that graph about the ages of ZM voters was wrong because the nyt is garbage. this correction took six days!

A correction was made on June 30, 2025
: An earlier version of the chart in this article showing voters by age incorrectly identified the age group with the largest turnout. It was voters aged 30 to 34, not those aged 18 to 24.

mookieproof, Tuesday, 1 July 2025 23:21 (one week ago)

millennial power!

slob wizard (J0rdan S.), Tuesday, 1 July 2025 23:23 (one week ago)

do they drive to the grocery store and to work?

Both work from home. One actually has a car, but they never use it unless they take a road trip out of the city, like upstate.

birdistheword, Wednesday, 2 July 2025 00:36 (one week ago)

i had a car 15 years ago and tbf it was nice going to fairway and loading everything up. also for going to play hockey at chelsea piers.

for a while, after the car died, i took the subway/bus to/from chelsea piers with my stick and horribly smelly bag in tow. on the bright side, i met a whole bunch of canadians in the subway

mookieproof, Wednesday, 2 July 2025 00:42 (one week ago)

inspired by an in orbit post elsewhere: a true new yorker knows which and in what combination one can use electricity without tripping the fuses/circuit-breakers

mookieproof, Wednesday, 2 July 2025 02:18 (one week ago)

My apartment doesn't have that problem, which I never realized I needed to grateful for but I am now! I already had to flip the breaker here once when I tried to boil the kettle with the AC on, two rooms away.

Ima Gardener (in orbit), Wednesday, 2 July 2025 02:22 (one week ago)

Every time my wife wants to iron I have to turn the lights off in my office. We can run any other combination of lights/devices, but the one outlet situated in a good spot to set up an ironing board blows the breaker about one time out of three.

Instead of create and send out, it pull back and consume (unperson), Wednesday, 2 July 2025 02:35 (one week ago)

you are a true montanan

mookieproof, Wednesday, 2 July 2025 02:37 (one week ago)

(unless it's something absurd like montanahn)

mookieproof, Wednesday, 2 July 2025 02:38 (one week ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hp2_39Fjai8

sleeve, Wednesday, 2 July 2025 02:40 (one week ago)

oh there's a map. but that doesn't mean it corresponds to reality

mookieproof, Wednesday, 2 July 2025 02:48 (one week ago)

i didn't even know there was a sub-basement until i had to wade through ten thousand xmas decorations to get to the circuit breakers

mookieproof, Wednesday, 2 July 2025 02:51 (one week ago)

Can’t use the ac and hair dryer at the same time. Can’t use the toaster and microwave at the same time.

I do drive many times a week though and it’s totally awesome.

dan selzer, Wednesday, 2 July 2025 11:18 (one week ago)

can't use microwave and coffee maker

fpsa, Wednesday, 2 July 2025 14:13 (one week ago)

electric kettle + instant pot here

duolingo ate my baby (Jon not Jon), Wednesday, 2 July 2025 14:59 (one week ago)

At least those things are in the same room! My friend's whole 4-room apartment is on one circuit. (It's rent stabilized and she's lived there for 20 or 25 years with no maintenance/upgrades which is truly dire.)

Ima Gardener (in orbit), Wednesday, 2 July 2025 15:15 (one week ago)

I bet her rent is insanely cheap though.

Ima Gardener (in orbit), Wednesday, 2 July 2025 15:16 (one week ago)

dang man
how is the bathroom

duolingo ate my baby (Jon not Jon), Wednesday, 2 July 2025 15:20 (one week ago)

luckily in our house the only issue is vacuum and microwave on the same breaker, which is rare enough that we haven't had many issues.

czech hunter biden's laptop (the table is the table), Wednesday, 2 July 2025 15:54 (one week ago)

Surprisingly okay but the biggest problem throughout the place is how old and yellowed the wall paint is. My friends aren't DIYers, apparently, or not enough to spend their time reno-ing an apartment that they don't own. (Maybe they're not allowed to paint?) I thought there was a rule that even if you don't move out you're entitled to a new paint job every 5 years but that might have changed.

Ima Gardener (in orbit), Wednesday, 2 July 2025 17:05 (one week ago)

Maybe the landlord is in a war of attrition about doing maintenance or repairs to the apartment because the renters have a protected tenancy and if they left, LL could make more income. I’m freaking out reading about all these unsafe electrics!

einstürzende louboutin (suzy), Wednesday, 2 July 2025 17:11 (one week ago)

it's only unsafe if the breaker doesn't trip ;)

sleeve, Wednesday, 2 July 2025 17:12 (one week ago)

Zohran appeared onstage with a Haitian artist (Bayo?) to an apparently sold-out majority Haitian crowd at the Barclay Center a few days ago and said that as the next mayor of NYC he would "fight to get Haiti off the travel ban" AND he pronounced it "Ay-ti" which is the Haitian way that honestly most people probably don't know/use--and that he would fight to protect people who lose TPS, AND THEN he said "We're going to stand up for Haiti because you taught the world about freedom; it's time for us to return the favor" which honestly slays me every time I hear it.

https://✧✧✧.tik✧✧✧.c✧✧✧@descenda✧✧✧.r✧✧/video/7521214115386248461

Ima Gardener (in orbit), Wednesday, 2 July 2025 17:52 (one week ago)

Local tiktoker Widlin (who I absolutely clocked on the shuttle platform at the Franklin stop lol) made a jokey but still very moving statement about it that came across my FYP maybe this morning.

Ima Gardener (in orbit), Wednesday, 2 July 2025 17:54 (one week ago)

The comments on that Barclays footage are ON FIRE. I'm verklempt just reading them. I just realized the link doesn't work, maybe let me try this but all as one url with no spaces.

https://www.tiktok.com/
7521214115386248461

Ima Gardener (in orbit), Wednesday, 2 July 2025 18:00 (one week ago)

that didn't work either but you can search for it with Bayo + Mamdani probably.

Ima Gardener (in orbit), Wednesday, 2 July 2025 18:01 (one week ago)

some election numbers from zohran https://bsky.app/profile/anildash.com/post/3lsw5k6wvik2p

lag∞n, Wednesday, 2 July 2025 18:23 (one week ago)

https://www.instagram.com/p/DLm0E1PuqsK/?igsh=bHNmenhqdGpmNHh5

Boys keep swinging

Its big ball chunky time (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Wednesday, 2 July 2025 18:24 (one week ago)

focus on turning out new voters payed off, something conventional consultant wisdom considers not worth the trouble

lag∞n, Wednesday, 2 July 2025 18:25 (one week ago)

"Give them something to vote for, not just tell them what to vote against." Hell yeah.

il lavoro mi rovina la giornata (PBKR), Wednesday, 2 July 2025 18:34 (one week ago)

but then they'd have to win, idk seems easier to act righteous and collect paychecks esp since that's already who they are to their core

five six seven, eight nine ten, begin (map), Wednesday, 2 July 2025 18:47 (one week ago)

.........?

Ima Gardener (in orbit), Wednesday, 2 July 2025 19:05 (one week ago)

This is a Zohran thred

Its big ball chunky time (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Wednesday, 2 July 2025 23:39 (one week ago)

(It's rent stabilized and she's lived there for 20 or 25 years with no maintenance/upgrades which is truly dire.)

this is pretty much my situation except it's not legally rent controlled

mookieproof, Thursday, 3 July 2025 01:03 (six days ago)

I’ve heard three 7/4 m 80s this year. Last year was like forty

calstars, Sunday, 6 July 2025 00:55 (three days ago)

Another day, another great Mamdani video:

https://bsky.app/profile/zohrankmamdani.bsky.social/post/3ltg7ymzrn22a

Instead of create and send out, it pull back and consume (unperson), Tuesday, 8 July 2025 03:02 (yesterday)

I wonder if he’s behind this:

https://mamdanitimes.com/

einstürzende louboutin (suzy), Tuesday, 8 July 2025 17:40 (yesterday)

This is a Zohran thred

― Its big ball chunky time (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Wednesday, July 2, 2025 6:39 PM (six days ago) bookmarkflaglink

What Are Zohran Mamdani's Flaws?

jaymc, Tuesday, 8 July 2025 17:44 (yesterday)

Another day, another great Mamdani video:

https://bsky.app/profile/zohrankmamdani.bsky.social/post/3ltg7ymzrn22a

― Instead of create and send out, it pull back and consume (unperson), Monday, July 7, 2025 11:02 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

bsky/twitter mutual makes these, it was cool to learn about a long shot mayoral candidate from him

https://bsky.app/profile/boringstein.bsky.social/post/3lqt5niyqoc24

lag∞n, Tuesday, 8 July 2025 21:17 (yesterday)


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