Culture Shock NYC

Bemoaning about gentrification in NYC has become a constant for New Yorkers -- and yours truly is no different. "This city ain't what it used to be" has probably been a refrain since Colonial times. Twenty, thirty years ago it was all about how the city was falling apart and raging with crime. Today it's about how the city is too expensive and how neighborhoods are being taken over by high-rises and chain stores.

Whatever's going on in NYC, its citizens will complain about it.

So that's what makes this article by Village Voice columnist, and early Mr NYC interviewee, Michael Musto so interesting -- he doesn't complain about gentrification, instead he looks at it from an historical perspective. Basically, he posits that the city is always changing, has always been changing, and businesses and buildings are always coming and going -- at first we hate them, then we fall in love with them, then we weep at their demise.

For example, as Michael writes about, the Astor Place K-Mart. When it opened in the 1990s, it was a hated example of encroaching corporatism, a vile chain store in the middle of the hipster community. But over the years it became a very convienent, and beloved, neighborhood staple. Now it's gone -- and Astor Place denizens are bummed.

Michael perfectly captures the feelings we have about the constant churn of NYC -- what was once new becomes old, what was once viewed with suspicion finally get embraced, and when it vanishes we get sad. 

Plus ca change, plus ca meme chose.

But one place that has remained strong in NYC for the last 50 years, and shows no signs of vanishing, is Film Forum. The downtown revival movie house is deeply beloved by many New Yorkers, and its survival and resilience in an era of streaming and COVID is all the more impressive. Prior to having kids, I went there all the time with friends and loved ones, and saw old movies by Goddard and Orson Welles, and many others. I even spent my 30th birthday there for a Woody Allen festival -- it's such a great place and, in a midst of constant economic and cultural change in NYC, it's still going strong.

In fact, my most popular blog post ever is about Film Forum -- this over 13-year old post has been viewed over 17,500 times! I can't explain it or understand why but, for me at least and in so many ways, Film Forum is the gift that keeps on giving!

So the culture is always changing in NYC -- and sometimes we experience culture shock -- but some culture remains the same ... which is somewhat shocking in and of itself.