In a New York Minute, Everything Can Change
Time Out New York is just shy of its tenth birthday. But the London mothership has been around for at least 35 years, and it's been putting out the Time Out guidebooks for a good chunk of that time. Our West Coast correspondent recently (and inexplicably) happened across a copy of Time Out's New York Guide from 1990. Some hi-larious highlights, from the section on neighborhoods:
East Village: The East Village is regarded by some New Yorkers as a no-go area. Which is a bit cautious of them, to say the least. ... The street is is packed until the early hours, and incorporates an odd mix of cheap chic, Ukranian immigrants, the homeless, students and 'young professionals' who have been attracted to the East Village by reasonably priced housing.
Heh: "Reasonably priced housing." Find out what our NYC time capsule says about other nabes after the jump.
Lower East Side: Orchard Street is the reason most uptowners venture south of 14th Street. As it has been for the last century, the street — from Hester right up to East Houston — is lined with discount clothing stores, selling everything from shoes, shirts and suits, to designer lingere [sic] and fashionable leather clothes.
Tribeca: Although it's supposed to be as fashionable as neighbouring SoHo, much of what used to be known as the Lower West Side, and is now TriBeCa — which, of course, means Triangle Below Canal (south of Canal from Broadway to the Hudson, and north of the Financial District) — seems to have escaped gentrification, although it's the favoured by such loft-livers as Cher, Robert de Niro, Wall Street bond dealers and a few artists who can still afford it. ... Yet the neighbourhood is quite wind-swept, grit gets in your eye as cars speed past on Sixth Avenue, and many of the marvellous cast-iron buildings show signs of rust under their shabby coats of paint.
The Outer Boroughs: For many Manhattan-centric New Yorkers the city's four outer boroughs are as distant as California and as different. But together they represent a rich ethnic and cultural mix.And, in the "Brooklyn" subsection, not a single mention of Williamsburg. Ah, to dream.
