13 Comments
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Pete Rodriguez's avatar

Great read. You're right in a lot of ways, but I think that spontaneity, that "vibe" is still there if you look hard enough for it. More difficult to find, but possible. Hop on a Citi Bike and turn down a new street, take a subway one stop further than you usually would, and you might surprise yourself.

Maybe just me being optimistic but, hell, what other choice is there?

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meat stevens's avatar

Came here to say this! Great read but the spontaneity is alive and well. Let’s go Knicks!

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Allen's avatar

fun read. even boiling down to the subway, people don't know how to act anymore. let people off before you get on!!

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Cole Henderson's avatar

Heavy…

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Magnetic S.'s avatar

Loved the part about Aime De Leone having guys from West Village dressed like extras from Mean Streets lmaoooooo that was too spot on

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Neil McEnerney's avatar

Great read. let’s go Nets

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Nick Simon's avatar

This can’t be the takeaway

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grace's avatar

Good read. Grew up on LI, spent a lot of my childhood in Queens at my grandmas house. Theres so many people here now, none of whom have memories of this place older than the 2 years ago they moved here. Its different now, and its a hard pill to swallow. Man I still love those Knicks though.

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Alex's avatar

Great analysis. What's "cool" gets affirmed as "cool," but that affirmation consists of re-packaging that "coolness" to others until it's no longer as "cool." Unfortunately that's the breaks. When it comes to culture, heavy is the head that wears the crown. The fear is keeping the city affordable. When New York's just a playground for the finance bros, what do we have?

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What Ever Happened's avatar

New York has Kith and Austin has Yeti! Sadly idk what’s worse.

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Jax Preyer's avatar

Best thing I've read all week, you hit the nail on the head.

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Magnetic S.'s avatar

Nah this was a great read, feel like you said what a lot of us have been thinking for a while. I remember being away at school being disgusted by the way New York was represented on Twitter. It’s like the internet turned us into a comedy style and we see it being mimicked in a lot of popular media by people who don’t understand it at all.

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Andrew Boryga's avatar

This is excellent and put into words a lot of reasons I left NYC in 2016. I'd been a born and bred dude from the BX who figured I'd spread my ashes on my block, but after a certain point the vibe started to get very weird. Wonderful writing. Looking forward to more of it.

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