Tuesday, April 08, 2014

Y I H8 NY

Y I H8 NY
These are places I remember that are no longer there. The smell is gone. The Mars Bar at Second Avenue and E 2nd Street. It was still there in 2010...now just a memory. The Second Avenue Deli up at a East 9th Street. It was a cultural landmark for over 60 years. Then the owner was gunned down in a robbery and the family just sold it for the offer they couldn't refuse. Then, there was CBGB. Now, there is the zombie ghost of CBGB in a pop museum in a casino in Las Vegas. No one who is interesting can even think of being able to afford to live in  The East Village in Lower Manhattan anymore. To be fair, I have a few friends who have managed to hang onto their rent controlled apartments, but most of my friends who live in NYC now live in Brooklyn or even further out....I lived there for over 25 years in an apartment on Avenue B and East 5th Street that I paid 125 bucks a month in 1979. I finally gave it up in 2010 and let the land lord buy me out. I think the 5th floor walk up railroad apartment I lived in with the bathtub in the kitchen it is renting for over $2,600 a month now. I spent a day wandering around the neighborhood trying to find anything that reminded me of of why I loved living there for so long. It was all gone, just humvees double parked and pudgy dudes with cigars giving each other attitude. 

2 comments:

bj said...

Ahhh viva the OMFUG!

microdot said...

I played there about 25 times and with my trusty lime green Toyota pick up truck, I moved many bands...you haven't lived until you had to use the toilettes at CBGB...get your hip waders on! Though, one of the most unpleasant nights of my life was when my wife's, before she was my wife, friend who did fashion make up insisted I had to have my eyes made up before I went on stage....I squirmed, I hated it, but true love won out in the end. It did work, though, with my trademark black shirt and florescent neon pink skinny tie!