City of Islands

NYC Cigarette Commercials

Growing up in the 1980's and '90s I saw a lot of cigarette ads in magazines, on top of taxicabs, and various other places all over NYC. The most memorable one of which was this:

As old as I am, however, I grew up too late to see cigarette commercials on TV. But there used to be some interesting ones, includes some set in NYC. And even though cigarette commercials have been banned in the USA for over 50 years, that hasn't stopped foreign countries from using NYC for their TV cigarette commercials. 

Fascinating stuff.

But NYC was actually one of the leaders in anti-smoking commercials and, don't forget, this was the first big city in the world to ban public smoking. Now that's ... Kool.

Jean-Pierre Dorleac RIP

In the depths of COVID back in 2020 I had the luck of finding the Emmy-winning, Oscar-nominated costume designer Jean-Pierre Dorleac on social media. He was an funny, outrageous "shit poster", telling stories of his Hollywood past and his raw, unfiltered opinions of the various people he knew and worked with.

Most of all, Dorleac was the costume designer on the early-1990s show Quantum Leap which was, and remains, one of my favorite shows ever.

When I contacted Dorleac in those dark days to see if he would do an interview for Mr NYC, I was happily shocked when he agreed. And he gave a lively one for this little blog and for that I'm eternally grateful. Most of all, I was interested in how he costumed the Quantum Leap characters in different decades, especially bringing NYC to life in the 1950s, 60's and '70s.

Sadly Dorleac has passed away at the age of 83. He certainly had an interesting life and he made a great contribution to the culture. Heck, just the costumes he designed for Dean Stockwell on Quantum Leap were enough to burn him into legend! 

RIP.

NYC Crime Spot

I recently came across this YouTube channel called NYC Crime Spot that tells (or retells) the stories of the city's most infamous crimes and criminals. 

For example you can learn about the real Stacks from Goodfellas or about the Mafia Cops. Fascinating, old-school stuff.

Even though NYC is safer than ever with crime at record lows, it's always fascinating to learn more about the sometimes sordid underbelly of the worls' greatest city.

"Saturday Night Fever": Watch Da' Hair!

 

Mets, Movies, Cookies, the Japanese & Fireworks!

Last night I went to the Mets-Dodgers game and, yeah, the Mets lost. 

Still, it was one of the more interesting games I've gone to because there was a lot of "extra."

First, it was "Japansese Heritage Night" so there were lots of Japanese people there. And there were also a ton of Dodgers fans. I've never been to a New York home baseball game with that many fans from the other city's team. I didn't realize there were that many Angelinos in NYC but apparently there are. It was weird.

Second, they were shooting a movie at this game. This announcement greeted us as we made our way into Citi Field:

This movie, The Catch, stars Emma Stone and Chris Pine and is slated for release next year. I don't know if the double Oscar-winning and pretty boy were at the game but apparently they shot some of it at the stadium earlier that day. 

And we saw some movie camera guys shooting during the game:

Also, upon our arriving we were given this wristbands. Stay tuned to find out why!

Then we sat down to watch the game. It sucked. But I did manage to get a cookie bucket and record one of two Mets' homeruns.

And once the game was over, we were treated to a East Coast-West Coast Hip Hop fireworks show -- presumably in honor of the East Coast-West Coast baseball game we'd just witnessed. 

And the lights in our wristbands began to glow and yours truly got to be part of a massive rap fireworks lightshow. I managed to keep it real, get jiggy with it, and illuminate the NYC night sky. Yeah boyeeeeeee!

So I got to be part of Japanese heritage, appear in a movie, eat out of a bucket, and partake in a bad-ass fireworks show. Aww yeahhhhhh!

Mr NYC by Copilot AI

Mr NYC is a long-running personal Blogspot blog that describes itself as: “Blogging the soul of the world's greatest city. Part of the NYC underground.” 

Main Topics

Based on recent and historical posts, the blog focuses on:

• New York City culture and history 
• Local politics and current events 
• Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and other neighborhood stories
• Transportation, architecture, and landmarks
• Personal travel observations 
• Photos and videos from around NYC and beyond 

Notable Characteristics

• The blog appears to have been active for many years, with posts dating back well over a decade. 
• It presents itself as an independent voice covering both popular and lesser-known aspects of New York City life. [
• Recent posts include topics such as: Central Park horse carriages Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site Yankee Stadium history Little Neck Bay photography Travel writing about Kennebunkport, Maine.

Social Presence

The author also appears to maintain related social media accounts, including:

• A Bluesky account associated with the blog name and content. 
• A Facebook page describing the project as “Capturing the spirit and psyche of the world's greatest city.”

Overall Impression

The blog is best described as a local-interest NYC culture blog that mixes: 

• urban history,
• commentary,
• neighborhood observations,
• photography, and
• personal essays,

with a strong affection for New York City and its unique character.

Sgt. Angel Rampersad from Ozone Park RIP

Who Runs NYC?

These people, for now. City and State has published this exhaustive list of the people working in the Mamdani administration.

It's an impressive group of experienced public servants -- and it's a good reminder that the most important thing mayors and all good leaders do is to hire people to run an organization. All the greats also have great deputies -- Augustus had Agrippa, Henry VIII had Cromwell and Wolsey, Catherine the Great had Potemkin, Martin Scorsese has Thelma Schoonmaker, and Mayor Z has Dean Fuleihan. 

Just a reminder that A's hire A's, B's hire C's, C's hire D's, and so on (look at the Trump administration, an F president hiring F- people). Mayor Z is an A!

NYC's Weirdest Subway Station