Greetings and Salutations
This evening while dining at one of my favorite Manhattan spots- East- home of the never ending sushi conveyor belt (good sushi-great prices, bad service) on Third Avenue in Grammercy, I happened upon another borobred Manhattanite.
Marjorie, a recent law school grad (Congratulations!) was born and bred (and YES currently resides) in Greenwhich Village. I happen to strike up a conversation with her as she was sitting next to me at the sushi bar.
Over the course of some good sushi we had a great conversation about growing up borobred. It appears that Im not the only one who has had the same run-ins on vacations, and with transplants pretty much everywhere. We talked briefly about going to high school in NYC, and the passage of time in Gotham and how unique we are in general.
While I won't recap the entire conversation, I am not ashamed to admit that I felt a certain bit of kinship with her.
Now, as promised is my list of favorite films set in or about Manhattan, in no particular order:
Igby Goes Down
and
Kids- Have any two movies so perfectly described growing up gotham on both ends of the economic spectrum
Night Falls On Manhattan-Andy Gracia, Richard Dreyfus, James Gandolfini, and Ian Holm wrestle with law, justice, and morality in a corrupt world.
Night and the City- the consummate love letter to the village, by its most ubiquitous resident- Robert DeNiro- another borobred you may have heard of...
King Of New York-Abel Ferrara's masterpiece which had a star studded cast: Christopher Walken, Laurence Fishburne, David Caruso, Wesley Snipes, and Steve Buscemi was the precursor to the next film (where Wesley Snipes swapped roles)
New Jack City- No explanation necessary
Manhattan, New York Stories, Annie Hall, Broadway Danny Rose, Manhattan Murder Mystery and Mighty Aphrodite- Woody Allen's films are all masterworks, and truthfully I have trouble choosing between them so I will put most of them them on the list. (He also, I've heard is from these parts...)
When Harry Met Sally- The Casablanca of my generation
Carlito's Way- Al Pacino, John Leguizamo's breakthrough performance, Puerto Rican Gangsters, East Harlem in the 70's. Need I go on??
Serpico- Gritty view of police corruption. Has a scene in the French hospital where Yours Truly was born
Taxi Driver- "Are you talkin to me?"
Notable Mentions: Gangs of New York (automatically DQ'ed due to the DiCaprio factor) Sex and the City (I am a hetero), Mean Streets and The Pope of Greenwhich Village (too depressing and generally insulting to Italians)
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Welcome "You mean people are actually FROM here??"
Urban Dictionary defines boroughbred:
1. boroughbred
Noun. 1. An inhabitant of New York, New York that was actually born and raised on Manhattan Island itself.
1a. One that is a native of the borough of Manhattan, with intentions to continue living in Manhattan, alongside fellow boroughbreds, imports, and non-boroughbred New Yorkers.
Greetings
I welcome you into a select club. If you are like me (and there are damned few of us left) then you were born and raised here on Manhattan island in the city of New York. You and I are relics. A myth. People think of Manhattan as the ultimate destination, but for some curious, short sighted reason-never a point of origin. We smile when we hear a hipster marvel-"You mean people are actually FROM here?"
You, very much like me have seen vast changes in our fair city. We were born here. (Polyclinic in Hell's Kitchen welcomed me to the world)We went to school here. (I attended PS 187 from K-8 grade. I graduated from Bronx Highschool of Science, then Brooklyn College for undergrad)
People and trends have come and gone, neighborhoods have been gentrified, and the fortunes of our local sports teams have crested and fallen.
The only constant seems to be us- apart from the cliche-
"The more things change, the more they stay the same." Patterns appear to the random seeming changes, if only one steps back far enough.
You and I are authentic. We aren't the people we meet when traveling that claim to be from New York City, but really mean Louwongeye-land, as their accent betrays them. Nor some performance artist from Des Moines who has lived in New York (Williamsburg)for 8 whole months! Now before I start to sound like " Bill The Butcher" from "Gangs of New York" and spout the Nativist agenda of hatred towards anyone coming to "our" lands, let me take a step back and say that without these Hipsters, Transplants, Emigres, etc, I wouldn't feel nearly as unique nor ubiquitous. Besides, like most natives, my parents were immigtrants to New York. They came to Manhattan by way of Piacenza Italy and Buenos Aires, Argentina.
They settled in Washington Heights in the very early seventies (which I will go into in my next posting on evolution of neighborhoods) before it was "Hudson Heights" - a term I will NEVER use.
People have come to the shores of this city for centuries now looking for the same things- Freedom, opportunity, a shot at prosperity.
Transients are as New York as Lady Liberty, muggy summers, and class strife.
Natives (or the group that came before) have looked down upon transplants since the Dutch got here. http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/kingston/colonization.htm
This article gives some great perspective on the whole thing.
The difference is that we consider New York and more specifically Manhattan- our home town. We love where we are from.
And based on results- We mean it. We never left. If we have we have come back. We were here in the lean years of the 70's and 80's- when it wasn't "cool" nor chic to live in Manhattan. We remember muggings, crime, unemployment, inept politicians, drugs and police corruption. We stayed through it all. What do I want, you ask? A pat on the back? A medal? A rent stabilized apartment?
Nope. None of the above.
A tax exemption however would be nice. Sort of like a "loyalty incentive" that car companies give for repeat buyers.
What do you think? Hit me up. My next posting will also touch on the great works of film set in or about Manhattan.
Stay Tuned
1. boroughbred
Noun. 1. An inhabitant of New York, New York that was actually born and raised on Manhattan Island itself.
1a. One that is a native of the borough of Manhattan, with intentions to continue living in Manhattan, alongside fellow boroughbreds, imports, and non-boroughbred New Yorkers.
Greetings
I welcome you into a select club. If you are like me (and there are damned few of us left) then you were born and raised here on Manhattan island in the city of New York. You and I are relics. A myth. People think of Manhattan as the ultimate destination, but for some curious, short sighted reason-never a point of origin. We smile when we hear a hipster marvel-"You mean people are actually FROM here?"
You, very much like me have seen vast changes in our fair city. We were born here. (Polyclinic in Hell's Kitchen welcomed me to the world)We went to school here. (I attended PS 187 from K-8 grade. I graduated from Bronx Highschool of Science, then Brooklyn College for undergrad)
People and trends have come and gone, neighborhoods have been gentrified, and the fortunes of our local sports teams have crested and fallen.
The only constant seems to be us- apart from the cliche-
"The more things change, the more they stay the same." Patterns appear to the random seeming changes, if only one steps back far enough.
You and I are authentic. We aren't the people we meet when traveling that claim to be from New York City, but really mean Louwongeye-land, as their accent betrays them. Nor some performance artist from Des Moines who has lived in New York (Williamsburg)for 8 whole months! Now before I start to sound like " Bill The Butcher" from "Gangs of New York" and spout the Nativist agenda of hatred towards anyone coming to "our" lands, let me take a step back and say that without these Hipsters, Transplants, Emigres, etc, I wouldn't feel nearly as unique nor ubiquitous. Besides, like most natives, my parents were immigtrants to New York. They came to Manhattan by way of Piacenza Italy and Buenos Aires, Argentina.
They settled in Washington Heights in the very early seventies (which I will go into in my next posting on evolution of neighborhoods) before it was "Hudson Heights" - a term I will NEVER use.
People have come to the shores of this city for centuries now looking for the same things- Freedom, opportunity, a shot at prosperity.
Transients are as New York as Lady Liberty, muggy summers, and class strife.
Natives (or the group that came before) have looked down upon transplants since the Dutch got here. http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/kingston/colonization.htm
This article gives some great perspective on the whole thing.
The difference is that we consider New York and more specifically Manhattan- our home town. We love where we are from.
And based on results- We mean it. We never left. If we have we have come back. We were here in the lean years of the 70's and 80's- when it wasn't "cool" nor chic to live in Manhattan. We remember muggings, crime, unemployment, inept politicians, drugs and police corruption. We stayed through it all. What do I want, you ask? A pat on the back? A medal? A rent stabilized apartment?
Nope. None of the above.
A tax exemption however would be nice. Sort of like a "loyalty incentive" that car companies give for repeat buyers.
What do you think? Hit me up. My next posting will also touch on the great works of film set in or about Manhattan.
Stay Tuned
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