Gothamist: 42nd Street Just Ain't What It Used To Be

SONJA

Thu, 05 Apr 2007 00:34:14 -0500

I REMEMBER THE OLD DEUCE, I REMEMBER BUYING THE HOT DOGS, IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BLOCK, I REMEMBER A MAN NAMED BILL, WHO PHOTOGRAPHED ALL OF THE KIDS FROM THE DEUCE, IF ANY ONE HAS ARCHIVES OF PHOTOS, IT'S BILL. HE PHOTOGRAPHED US AT OUR WORST AND BEST, AND HAS MEMORIES, FOR MANY YEARS TO COME. REMEMBER THE OLD CHEESECAKE PLEASE ON THE CORNER OF 42ND. INSIDE THE PORT AUTHORITY BUS TERMINAL, ALOT OF OLD SCHOOLERS FROM THE DEUCE WOULD LOOOOVE TO FIND BILL, HE HAS PHOTOS THAT WE DON'T EVEN HAVE THAT CAPTURES US (OLD SCHOOLERS FROM THE DEUCE)AT WHAT WE KNEW BEST THE HAPPININES OF BEING NATIVE NEW YORKRES

Guy

Mon, 26 Jun 2006 12:46:49 -0500

Nosidedown has it right. It's not looking in fondness for the "bad old days" but lamenting the fact that Times Square and pretty much the rest of NYC has given up it's soul for carpetbagger corporate empires.

Guy

Mon, 26 Jun 2006 12:45:24 -0500

Wayne

Mon, 26 Jun 2006 12:15:26 -0500

Fuck McDonalds Fuck Olive Garden Fuck Toys R Us, Fuck Star Bucks Fuck Wendys Fuck Subways (and fuck Jared the Subway guy) Fuck Foot Locker Fuck Corporate America Wow there's so many things to fuck in this country...I'm lovin' it!

nosidedown

Sun, 25 Jun 2006 18:40:50 -0500

the nostalgia seems to have more to do with a desire to return to a time when Times Square wasn't an orgy of suburban restaurant chains and tourist quick fixes. It seems irrelevant if the area was full of porn or not; the average new yorker is completely disconnected from the what it has been replaced by. symbolic of the large scale gentrification spreading through the city. the locality and voice of the city seems lost with each new home depot, best buy, or target. don't confuse nostalgia for violence, corruption, and crime with the simple nostalgia of individuality.

funland junky

Sun, 25 Jun 2006 16:26:09 -0500

No thrills, just memories. Worked in and around TS since my teens. From a messenger going to offices in TS to working in a 24 hr supermarket. Getting out at 11pm and having to walk towards 42nd for the subway WAS scary. But nothing happened short of being solicited by hookers. This was before 1985. I did get taken at one of the infamous electronic stores. I bought a watch and while it was rung up at the price in the window, the guy then goes, you need a battery with that. That's an additional $5. It got more dangerous during the clean up transition period. the early nineties (1992) was when a friend got mugged at gunpoint on ninth avenue.

jmchez

Sun, 25 Jun 2006 16:02:44 -0500

Those who pine for the old Time Squares always seem to be those who enjoy from afar the suffering and discomfort of others. They get vicarious thrils from knowing that there are people that live in primitive or chaotic (or worse) conditions such as New Guinea tribesmen or hookers on Time Square. However as a Masai tribesman said when asked why his tribe was abandoning the nomadic lifestyle to settle as farmers,"We are not creatures in a zoo for the white man to ogle. We want the good things in life too."

funland junky

Sun, 25 Jun 2006 15:23:10 -0500

Amazing that pic was from 1988, I hope he took some pics of the OLD port authority bus station, now that place was crazy.

mothra

Sun, 25 Jun 2006 14:15:44 -0500

sweet pic.

tim

Sun, 25 Jun 2006 14:04:14 -0500

ah, the goold old pre-guliani days on New York when the democratic party was in charge. Massive corruption, criminal gangs controlled large areas of nyc, ultra high crime rates, subways and TS were no-go zones.. I can't wait for the next elections so we can get "rid of guliani cops" like Ferrero well said. It will be fun in 2008.