The Market

The best thing about NYC in the '80s was not Madonna

Teri Rogers Headshot - Floral
By Teri Karush Rogers  |
May 23, 2011 - 1:08PM
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Observing that these days, "you can't fall off the bus from Oshkosh without a letter stating that you earn 40x the annual rent," some StreetEasy-dot-commenters are sharing what they missed most about "old" NYC, circa 1980s and 1990s. Our favorites so far:

  • I miss the days of the $350 per month rental studio that came with a doorman.
  • I miss being able to walk into any office building without being forced by a Rent-A-Cop to leave a DNA sample and show "proof" that I have an appointment with someone in the building.
  • I miss real meat in the Meatpacking District, complete with blood running between the cobblestones.
  • I miss being in restaurants, bars, and lounges surrounded by people who are *present* and open to socializing, rather than buried in their iPhones, iPads, Blackberries, and Kindles.
  • I miss when people who came to new york were not inspired to do so by a vapid tv show about co dependent girl power and shoes and witty gay bffs and sparkly things.
  • I miss when people wanted to live in New York because they loved it and felt a connection to it. not because it was the most expensive status symbol for assholes who define themselves in such terms, having little detectable personality beyond ambition. 
  • I miss the nice police officer who politely asked that we smoke our pot across the street, where (he gingerly explained) it's a different precinct ... and not on the church steps where we were doing so at that particular moment.
  • Street fairs that were actual STREET FAIRS run by informal neighborhood organizations.

But at least one commenter finds little to cry over: "Old NYC sucked. The only thing to miss is lower rents and affordable housing."

(StreetEasy.com)

Related posts:

16 Things I Have Learned Since Moving to Manhattan

15 ways to tell a real New Yorker from a poser

I am a New Yorker and I want my $19,000 back


 

Teri Rogers Headshot - Floral

Teri Karush Rogers

Founder & Publisher

Founder and publisher Teri Karush Rogers launched Brick Underground in 2009. As a freelance journalist, she had previously covered New York City real estate for The New York Times. Teri has been featured as an expert on New York City residential real estate by The New York Times, New York Daily News, amNew York, NBC Nightly News, The Real Deal, Business Insider, the Huffington Post, and NY1 News, among others. Teri earned a BA in journalism and a law degree from New York University.

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