Posted on 01/27/2009 3:36:09 PM PST by xtinct
While many U.S. cities worry that their economies are deteriorating to the level of the 1930s Great Depression, New York City fears reliving a more recent decade that features strongly in city lore.
The 1970s were a low point in city history as a fiscal crisis almost pushed it into bankruptcy, crime rates soared, and homeless people crowded sidewalks as public services crumbled.
Almost a million people fled New York's Mean Streets during the decade for the safer, more stable suburbs, a population decline that took more than 20 years to reverse.
When discussing the current crisis, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, now seeking a third term, promises that he will not allow the city to return to the darkness of those days, although he stresses that it faces "giant financial problems."
"I know some are concerned that city services will erode," he recently told reporters. "Let me remind you that the city went down that road in the 1970s ... I can just tell you that we are not going to make that mistake again."
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
These days, so do Republicans.
Do you mean Horn and Hardets the lunch place?
Ha Ha Ha....Meow......Your wore my size 4’s when I wasn’t around.....And then quickly put them back in the closet before I got home......
Yes I did. How did you find out?
Ah yes, between that remake of Grease with Olivia Newton John where she wore that catsuit and later in 1983, with Flashdance, we all started wearing "Danskin" everything as though we were all professional dancers, completely bewildering our parents.
My dad used to laugh at me, too -- especially when I showed up one night dressed in a catsuit, heels & big earrings. He said, "Where are you going honey? A costume party? You look like a Gypsy!" (My mother had no such sense of humor. With her it was, "Go to your room and change -- you look like a hooker!" And me, "But Mom, I live in LA now and I'm 30 years old!")
I do have fond memories of leg warmers, and Cappezio jazz flats ala Boz Scaggs, torn inside-out & off-the-shoulder sweatshirts which if they weren't torn, we cut the neck off so we could bare a shoulder at will -- wearable all four seasons in LA.
Actually, I think that I like the early 1980's better than the 1970's. I was a bit of a late bloomer and really came into my own early 1980's.
And don’t forget feathers!!!!!! Wore them as earrings along with headbands.....I still have some from the 80’s....
You are absolutely right, Geege! Feather earrings, necklaces. And what goes better with a catsuit than a feather boa? Even had a pair of black high-heeled boots with feathers attached to the pull.
Many a bird died for our fashion whims -- and it never crossed our minds to worry about it!
Well I only didn’t feather earrings.....My bosses at work would look foward to what I was going to wear the next day.....They were amazed at my outfits!!!
Maybe we need a revival, Geege -- or at least, I do.
I remember when -- not only my bosses -- but I also used to "look forward to what I was going to wear" the next day! Today, my clothes only have to pass the criteria of whether "it's clean and it fits". It's no fun anymore, and it should be! I've let husband's "you look fine", become my clothing mantra and that's a bore. Hell, we are old now -- what have we got to lose?
Well I don’t think 40’ish is that old!!!!! I still dress up.....You could definetly tell I’m a New Yawker living out in Western Jersey.....Big Hair Lives!!!!!!!
LOL! You are right. You are still a babe -- don't lose that!
Maybe I’ll put on Saturday Night Fever to relive the memories!!!
My dad's first job as a 16 yr old immigrant back in the 1920's, was washing dishes for a Horn & Hardharts in NYC.
Mostly Chinese and Russian, with a smattering of Mexicans and elderly Italians. Only a handful of shops left on 18th Avenue.
Cobble Hill, Carrol Gardens etc.
Oh Puh-leeze. You are more likely to meet an attorney who grew up in California than you are an Italian American in said neighborhoods. Again, a handful of stores on Court and Smith, but mostly yuppie hell.
There are no "thriving" residentially Italian-American nabes in New York anymore, unless you count Staten Island. For food, NOTHING beats the Arthur Avenue/187th Street strip, however, in the Bronx.
I'm sure the outpost is probably better than anything in Dallas, however. Interestingly enough, Dallas once had a Little Italy of it's own, but it disappeared due to urban renewal, I understand.
Great if your well off and very liberal.
I would advise everyone who comes to NY to live or visit to visit the gorgeous brownstone neighborhoods of Brooklyn, as well as the ethnic areas like Polish Greenpoint, or Russian Brighton Beach (where almost everyone votes GOP)
I was in Bensonhurst this weekend to pick up an Anniversary Cake for a party . At Villabate, the most authentic Sicilian Bakery this side of Palermo... you would think you are in Sunny Sicilia. All the people who work there are Italian, the chefs are Italian, and they use Ricotta and candied fruit imported from Italy daily.
We shop a lot in Carroll Gardens and Cobble Hill. All the behind the counter girls are from the neighborhood, and are definitely Italian.The food is divine, and we are happy that a lot of the culture is being preserved, alongside the invigorating new young popukations that have settled in these areas.
It is obvious that you hate NY, NYers, and everything new and modern that has made NY the world class safest city that it is. Of course, most neighborhoods change; what you neglect to mention is that the change has been 00% positive.
Your dream of the gritty 70’s with crime, drugs, and dilapidated housing is not cool, it is despicable. For every jerk who mourns the passing of the “old” crappu Red Hook, there are lliterally millions who are thrilled to have Fairway, and other great shopping, instead of the nothingthat was there before. Fairway and Ikea have created hundreds and hundreds of jobs by employing locals from Red Hook.
Kinda’ late to the thread, but I LOOOOVE Gino’s!
Best food in Bay Ridge.
I also like La Sorrentina and the meats at Faicco’s across the street, (owned by the same guy, I think.)
Ed
That’s what they voted for.
What’s the problem?
Villabate is pretty good, but the best bakery I’ve ever gone to is Gold Star. Villabate pastries look better than they taste, so I always buy my ribbon cookies from Gold Star, they’re not as fancy as Villabate but they taste better.
Aunt Butchie’s makes good pies, cakes and gelato, Mona Lisa has the best Italian bread anywhere and the Parkway Diner has the best American food.
As fas as there being no Italian neighborhoods, there are places in Dyker Heights and Bensonhurst where every house flies an Italian flag, and if you go to 18th Avenue during one of their feast days, the streets get shut down and there’s nothing but Italians as far as the eye can see...except for me, I’m just a generic anglo-Irish-Scot-German-French Canadian mutt!
Ed
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