(also, um, some people grew up here)
― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 7 August 2003 16:15 (twenty years ago) link
― Ally (mlescaut), Thursday, 7 August 2003 16:15 (twenty years ago) link
― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 7 August 2003 16:15 (twenty years ago) link
(Tracer, Felicity, Mary, bnw--look familiar?)
― Ally (mlescaut), Thursday, 7 August 2003 16:17 (twenty years ago) link
http://forgotten-ny.com/Alleys/GREENWICH%20VILLAGE/pamela1.jpg
― Asymmetric Cocktails (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 7 August 2003 16:18 (twenty years ago) link
― Ally (mlescaut), Thursday, 7 August 2003 16:18 (twenty years ago) link
Then why make the case for how great it is for all the random googlers who will eventually read the thread! ;-)
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 7 August 2003 16:19 (twenty years ago) link
― Texas Sam (thatgirl), Thursday, 7 August 2003 16:19 (twenty years ago) link
― Asymmetric Cocktails (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 7 August 2003 16:19 (twenty years ago) link
..says the Phoenix native?
Sorry, Ally, didn't mean to be flippant. No one should be made to feel guilty about moving to any place if they just feel it suits them. But I think NA's indirect point is that there is nagging "NY is the only place" vibe that gets tiring after a while. (not accusing you of that)
― donut bitch (donut), Thursday, 7 August 2003 16:20 (twenty years ago) link
http://www.norfolkwindmills.com/images/apple.jpg
http://www.norfolkwindmills.com/images/wbridge.jpg
http://www.norfolkwindmills.com/images/littlelighthouse.jpg
http://www.norfolkwindmills.com/images/coney3.jpg
― gareth (gareth), Thursday, 7 August 2003 16:20 (twenty years ago) link
http://www.essentialbigapple.com/graphics/66stsign.jpg
Gareth's pix are lovely :)
― Ally (mlescaut), Thursday, 7 August 2003 16:22 (twenty years ago) link
I'll say this, though. I certainly wish fuckin' less people would move here and leave the city for those snobby shits like myself who were actually born here, goddammit!
Just kidding......sorta.
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 7 August 2003 16:22 (twenty years ago) link
― amateurist (amateurist), Thursday, 7 August 2003 16:23 (twenty years ago) link
And some elsewhere! And that's a large part of it too, what feels like 'home,' wherever it is. I had the best of both worlds, I think, in that I grew up moving around to various places -- including upstate New York, let us not forget! -- but kept coming back to San Diego as a home. I'm used to SoCal, its weather and its ways and its atmosphere, and I dearly love it still. For all the cases that can be made for NYC and all the comparative inconveniences that may occur -- the whole 'how do you live in SoCal without a car' thing, f'r instance -- there's as much captivation and potential magic here as there is there. I wouldn't make the case for it being better than NYC but I *would* make the case that it's more equal than either side would realize, and you could make similar comparisons for many other cities and NYC at that.
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 7 August 2003 16:23 (twenty years ago) link
ha, nativism, gimme a break.
― g--ff c-nn-n (gcannon), Thursday, 7 August 2003 16:24 (twenty years ago) link
To me, the western states are one big vacuous hole of hellpit.
So yeah, to me, people move to NYC for personal reasons. Other people might be here for other reasons, but since I never ask them, I don't speculate why they might want to be here.
(massive xpost)
― Ally (mlescaut), Thursday, 7 August 2003 16:24 (twenty years ago) link
― donut bitch (donut), Thursday, 7 August 2003 16:26 (twenty years ago) link
― Asymmetric Cocktails (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 7 August 2003 16:26 (twenty years ago) link
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 7 August 2003 16:26 (twenty years ago) link
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 7 August 2003 16:27 (twenty years ago) link
(I'm going back to posting pix, I want to scan in the rest of my photography tonight and upload! So now I am relying on others)
(I thought the west coast was boring before I had a whole lot of shit happen to me)
― Ally (mlescaut), Thursday, 7 August 2003 16:27 (twenty years ago) link
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 7 August 2003 16:28 (twenty years ago) link
(hahaha everyone on ILX can figure out exactly where I live from my pictures on this thread, it's great)
― Ally (mlescaut), Thursday, 7 August 2003 16:28 (twenty years ago) link
I think I may move to SF at the end of the year Sam, so if you want to visit...
― luna (luna.c), Thursday, 7 August 2003 16:29 (twenty years ago) link
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 7 August 2003 16:29 (twenty years ago) link
Can we admit it's all about stereotypes (and ones which pretend the rest of the country doesn't exist)?
East Coast on West: 'Shallow, obsessed with surfaces losers!'
West Coast on East: 'Pretentious, snobbish idiots!'
Truth of matter: 'There are things to like and dislike about both places, actually. D'oh.'
Rest of country: 'Fuck you and your ocean-moderated weather.'
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 7 August 2003 16:30 (twenty years ago) link
ALSO my NYC is covered in snow at all times.
― Ally (mlescaut), Thursday, 7 August 2003 16:30 (twenty years ago) link
― Ally (mlescaut), Thursday, 7 August 2003 16:31 (twenty years ago) link
― Asymmetric Cocktails (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 7 August 2003 16:33 (twenty years ago) link
― donut bitch (donut), Thursday, 7 August 2003 16:35 (twenty years ago) link
― Texas Sam (thatgirl), Thursday, 7 August 2003 16:36 (twenty years ago) link
― Asymmetric Cocktails (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 7 August 2003 16:36 (twenty years ago) link
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 7 August 2003 16:36 (twenty years ago) link
1991 to thread!
Okay, I can only talk from my experience. I've lived in the Midwest for all my life, but because my grandparents lived in NYC and my parents grew up there, it has always felt like my second home. When I was young, it was completely intimidating and overwhelming and I used to have panic attacks trying to walk down the street. When I reached high school and college, it suddenly changed and made sense.
New York is impractical. This is why I love it. There is more going on there at any given moment than anywhere in the world, and the thing is, it's all accessable.
That's because, what 8 million people pack themselves into 25 square miles or something every single day? (i'm pulling these numbers out of my ass but I'm sure they're not too far off). That's one of the biggest reasons I have for no longer living there.
This is also why I love it and can't wait to move. Somehow, when so many people have been crammed into the same space, their underlying humanity comes out. I know it's hard to believe and most won't believe it, but I've experienced it every time I visit.
So, anyway, I'm going to law school with an eye to go into media/entertainment law... that's why I'm moving.
― Aaron W (Aaron W), Thursday, 7 August 2003 16:37 (twenty years ago) link
http://www.rushmillerfoundation.org/FOA%20-%20FDNY%20L-35.jpg
― Ally (mlescaut), Thursday, 7 August 2003 16:39 (twenty years ago) link
― Nordicskillz (Nordicskillz), Thursday, 7 August 2003 16:40 (twenty years ago) link
― Ally (mlescaut), Thursday, 7 August 2003 16:41 (twenty years ago) link
After that I left NYC because it became extremely tiresome, increasingly difficult to afford (and still have money to have a life and things I want), and generally anxiety-inducing. I will be the first to admit that my inability to deal with anxiety well was the most important part of the decision and a factor in both of the other reasons I state.
That said, if one enjoys the constant buzzing of activity 24 hours a day, seven days a week, I cannot think of a place in the US that will deliver quite as well as NYC. Aaron's right... there is something magical about how insanely active the place is, but the other side of that is that it's extremely difficult for some people to relax in that city no matter how badly they want to.
I have severely ambivalent feelings toward NYC, but I definitely don't hate it. I just wouldn't want to live there again.
― martin m. (mushrush), Thursday, 7 August 2003 16:42 (twenty years ago) link
― bnw (bnw), Thursday, 7 August 2003 16:43 (twenty years ago) link
― Asymmetric Cocktails (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 7 August 2003 16:43 (twenty years ago) link
Yeah, I'm being a devil's advocate, but for a point. ;-)
As you say, you speak from your own experience -- speaking from mine, the humanity in a place that's more spread out than compacted is no less present and no less affected. And stepping away from where I live to even quieter areas...I've found it's there. Not in the cliched Ray Bradbury-as-misinterpreted-by-morons fever dream of some sort of rural purity of spirit, but just in casual "Hey, what's up? How are ya?" attitudes.
Humanity is where you find it, and I find it everywhere, compacted or diffused. Thank goodness for that too.
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 7 August 2003 16:44 (twenty years ago) link
― Ally (mlescaut), Thursday, 7 August 2003 16:45 (twenty years ago) link
― Asymmetric Cocktails (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 7 August 2003 16:46 (twenty years ago) link
Look, I never denied I was a dated fuckhead. ( ;-) )
Moving anywhere is "selling out." Do people really care about this stuff?
Heh, I pointed this out earlier. But apparently, people still do...(although in Washington and Oregon states, there might be some valid arguments as to why there's a tradition of hating Cali immigrants.. i'm guilty as charged, your honor)
― donut bitch (donut), Thursday, 7 August 2003 16:46 (twenty years ago) link
― lawrence kansas (lawrence kansas), Thursday, 7 August 2003 16:50 (twenty years ago) link
― Asymmetric Cocktails (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 7 August 2003 16:51 (twenty years ago) link
(and if you don't find some of the photos in this thread idyllic and peaceful, you're not looking hard enough)
― Asymmetric Cocktails (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 7 August 2003 16:53 (twenty years ago) link
― KING KONG, Thursday, 7 August 2003 16:53 (twenty years ago) link