is New York City dead?

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

Telecommuting will finish it off.

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.

Have the media decided where the New Portland is?

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

The subway is inexcusably unpleasant

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.

Everything here is comically more stressful than any other place.

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

Why is the ceiling always dripping down there?

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.

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

NYC misses Yerac and Znarf

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

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.

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

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.

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

just not enough trains

I want to get myself to love it again.

Not the subway—the city

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.

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.

I had the same commute. Bushwick to East Harlem. L to union square than the green line. Sometimes I found myself wishing I would just spontaneously die.

Interesting, ian. I don’t have too much experience driving in manhattan but when I’ve done it I didn’t have a good time.

Last time I tried to take the L train during rush hour I almost had a panic attack trying to change from the G at Metropolitan; just a slow moving mass of people slowly slithering thru the tunnel. Really grim.

I used to drive in the city all the time. It's fine. It was parking that was the issue.

I miss DUMPLINGS! and pizza. And things not being closed on Sunday, Monday, half of Wed. or for whatever random holiday/break pops up.

driving from Queens to Manhattan is not terrible, although sometimes you wind up having to park in a garage that costs more than whatever you're actually going to the city for.

Agreed that the real issue with driving into the city is the parking. Ive gotten used to cruising the grid to find street parking; even if it's metered it's way better than paying a garage imo.

I commuted into the city every weekday for work from roughly March 2000-May 2016. Since May 2016, I've been into NYC maybe 20 times - roughly once a month, on average - and I don't miss it at all.

Uptown is really nice and feels weirdly timeless, both the east and west sides.

new york is obv dead bc we are now just talking about the subway

subway complaints otm though it really is awful

I’m planning to move to east williamsburg soon — with friends — but maybe that isn’t my scene.

tbh i've never lived in ny, just visited a ton over the 15 years i lived on the east coast. i love visiting. there is a manic creative energy there, i enjoy being around all different kinds of people, and last time i visited (a month ago) it really struck me how globally, ethnically, socioeconomically diverse it STILL is

claims of a rust belt migration are overblown, though i do meet a fair share of folks who moved back to cleveland like i did after spending time in more expensive cities. there is a cool art scene in cleveland, there is stuff happening. but come on as cool and livable as rust belt cities are (and i do genuinely love them) they are provincial compared to a place like new york

Caputo’s Bakery on Court has closed w/i ceremony

Caputo's bread oven – part of which I guess is built into the concrete foundation – finally failed and they didn't want to deal with the giant endeavor of replacing it. Sound like they're happy to be done w/ the 24/7 stress at least.

was in the east village yesterday. Took my daughter on a tour of St. Marks and showed her which dumpling spot replaced which record store.

So Mamdani balanced the budget which was $12b in deficit when he took office

perhaps but was it worth literally murderering rich ppl with pied-à-terres

their multi-colored entrails oozing onto the pavement as zohran hussein mamdani pisses on the bible

these guys, outraged at paying more tax on their $25m+ homes. it beggars belief.

perhaps but was it worth literally murderering rich ppl with pied-à-terres

i've been informed that the proper phrase is in fact pieds-à-terre. also i added an extra -er into murderer. i regret the errors

Never regret killing rich people.

Caputo's bread oven – part of which I guess is built into the concrete foundation – finally failed and they didn't want to deal with the giant endeavor of replacing it. Sound like they're happy to be done w/ the 24/7 stress at least.

― ヽ（´ー｀）┌ (CompuPost), Monday, May 11, 2026 7:39 AM (two weeks ago) bookmarkflaglink

watched a video about a pizza place over there with a similar set up their oven extends half way under the street what a crazy idea

Maybe Jonathan Richman can put in a new one.

watched a video about a pizza place over there with a similar set up their oven extends half way under the street what a crazy idea

― lag∞n, Sunday, May 31, 2026 9:10 AM (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Lucky Charlie? Supposedly the oldest pizza oven in the States.

yup

turns out the caputo's had their license revoked over a myriad of repeated health code violations and the dude was like, i'm just not gonna deal w/ this

yeah if youre getting shut down over health code violations youve already decided to not deal, unless something insane is going on inspectors will always give you a chance to fix things

Violations “ranging from mold to mouse droppings” plagued the bakery for more than a year, the Post report says.

https://thecarrollgardenstimes.substack.com/p/caputos-bake-shop-had-license-revoked

That's how you know it's authentic.

otm

https://imgflip.com/gif/at9z56

whoops meant for that to link here

Any recommendations for things to do this weekend, especially tomorrow day and Monday?

Sunday is Queens Pride in Jackson Heights.

Are you interested in clowns?

***** Also on SATURDAY *****    
Draw-a-Clown: Buffoon Art Bazaar  
Join Draw-a-Clown at Herbert Von King park for our first ever art fair, the Buffon Art Bazaar. Sit down, relax, and let the muses in to inspire you as you draw! Our muse this month, Jesterbug! (@sarcasticsnail)
Between rounds, walk about the fair and support some of the most talented clown artists in New York City. Please bring your own art supplies and seating arrangements.
Model: Jesterbug (@sarcasticsnail).
Host: Sir Cuss (@sir._.cuss).  
Herbert Von King Park, Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn
noon-5p;
$10 suggested donation
rain day: June 7
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/draw-a-clown-buffoon-art-bazaar-with-model-jesterbug-ticket s-1989198171278?aff=oddtdtcreator

Hope that doesn't format weird.

that sounds insane

They should form a posse

this looks pretty good

https://pioneerworks.org/programs/going-in-at-pioneer-works

I think it may be Duchamp at MOMA for me, maybe the Performing Arts Library.

Just saw Mamdani at queens pride. Good energy. Ramos got yelled at for backing a sexual predator. That was more awkward.

trump attending game three (which he doesn't care about and may not be able to stay awake for) -- and therefore making every attendee's life much harder ('show up two hours early'), and forcing the cancellation of the watch party outside is just incredibly on the nose

Especially when people are spending tens of thousands of dollars for tickets.

inviting him the purest james dolan move i can even fathom

an absolute piece of shit on so many lavels

the knicks will lose tonight and it will be Trump's fault.

I'm going to see Maya Rudulph in Oh, Mary. I heard she sings a Belle and Sebastian song.

wow, 10 block radius around MSG closed off

feel bad for the bars in that area hah

Just walked out of oh Mary. Thought it’d be smart to walk to Bryant park for the 7. Insane crowds in the streets. And no train to queens due to struck person. Taking f instead. Wish me luck.

Good luck! I was in midtown Manhattan today and didn't notice anything, weirdly.

How was Maya Rudolph? We saw it with Jinkx.

She was great but also seemed very Maya. Like I could hear Cole in it too but can’t imagine anybody else.

Earl the Pearl Monroe lives In Harlem, has had lots of surgeries , and does good things-

From NY Times article about former Knick Earl the Pearl Monroe-He had facts and figures to share about the Earl Monroe New Renaissance Basketball School a charter high school in the Bronx, founded in 2021 by the Peabody Award-winning New York filmmaker Dan Klores, with Monroe as its patron. Monroe said that 75 percent of the roughly 40 students come from single-parent homes, and 15 percent live in homeless shelters. He pointed out that last year’s graduating class, the first from the school, had a 100 percent college acceptance rate. When they entered the school, those students had an average reading level five grades below that of their age group, but by the time they graduated, they had jumped six and a half grade levels.
In a testament to its success, the school will open a shiny new campus in August in the South Bronx, in the poorest congressional district in the United States

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/09/nyregion/knicks-nba-finals-earl-monroe.html?unlocked_article_code=1.o1A.I2Bp.g3IHplNDkJhq&smid=nytcore-ios-share

looool the clown art thing is at my local-ish park. I went to the community board meeting last week (for a different reason--rat infestation on my block), but one of the agenda items was that the Brooklyn Parks commish (or whatever the title is) was there to take questions, and people had A LOT to say about what kinds of activities get approved for the park and the performance space there. There's community sentiment that activities and event requests coming from longer term residents/long-standing community groups are being denied or de-emphasized.