Remembering Silicon Alley

New York City neighborhoods are world famous -- Wall Street, Harlem, Park Slope, Flushing, Greenwich Village, and many others. They have identities all their own, little cities within the big city. These neighborhoods have been around and evolved and changed for centuries.

But there's one neighborhood that only lasted for about eight years -- a fleeting few blocks that had a big moment before it vanished (not literally but figuratively) completely.

In the 1990s, as the Internet and tech sector conquered the world, the capital of it was (and is) Silicon Valley in Northern California. Here in NYC a mini-tech sector sprang up at the same time on Broadway between the Flatiron Building on 23rd Street and Union Square on 14th Street.

It was called Silicon Alley. 

Most of the businesses there were "dotcoms", burgeoning Internet companies that helped new users do things like buy groceries and pay bills and other stuff. Their business plans were dubious but held promise. The Internet then was still very disorganized, you didn't have an "everything store" like Amazon yet -- and these new companies were trying to claim the parts of the Internet that Amazon would eventually conquer.

But then, between 2000 and 2003, the original "dotcom bubble" burst. Many of these companies, turning no profits, vanished, and the buildings they occupied fell vacate (for a while) -- and Silicon Alley ceased to exist.

Silicon Alley RIP, 1995-2003. 

I hadn't thought about Sililcon Alley for a long time until I discovered that the great author Thomas Pynchon wrote a book in 2013 called Bleeding Edge about Silicon Alley circa 2001 and during the events of 9/11. (There's a new movie based on another book by Pynchon that's opening soon called One Battle After Another that I can't wait to see.)

You see, yours truly actually worked on Silicon Alley for about nine months, from the Summer of 2000 to the Spring 2001. I blogged a little about it back in March, and it was, hands down, the WORST job I ever had. It was such a horrible place with such loathsome people that I'm shocked that I lasted there for almost a year. And not long after I vanished from the job, Silicon Alley vanished as well -- altough the company seems to have been bought by some other company later on so I guess it did okay.

What's interesting to me is to realize that my time in Silicon Alley corresponded to the same time as Pynchon's novel -- and to the same time when Silicon Alley was starting to fall. Believe me, it did not feel like I was living through a historical epoch at the time (I had left before 9/11 happened). And I hated working there so much that I just wanted to get out ASAP. But it seems that I was a part of a fleeting moment of Manhattan history, I was there, I was a witness ... even if I didn't want to be.  

And it's a reminder that today's torment is tomorrow's anecdote, yesterday's misery is today's good story. Life is truly strange.

Clocking the Passage of Time

 "Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives ..."

Thus spake Saint Augustine. Or an old soap opera. Either way time has been passing quickly lately because life has been quite hectic lately and blogging has gotten away from me lately -- until now! 

But as I compose my first real post in over a month, the passage of time is very much on my mind -- and a couple recent events and remembrances have focused my mind on how people and things come and go, and either leave a lasting impression ... or don't. 

First, a passing: the brilliant screenwriter and movie director Robert Towne recently died at the age of 89. He wrote and directed several films but the movie that catapulted him to cinematic greatness was his script for the 1974 classic Chinatown (which I've blogged about here several times). Besides being the most perfect screenplay ever written, Chinatown is also probably the best American movie ever made about the dark soul of a city and the forces that shape it. While it's about LA and not NYC, the movie has echoes of the real-life works of Robert Moses in NYC and how, to quote Chinatown, "he made this city." Towne understood the giant, secretive, menacing forces that surround and suffocate us, how cities are largely the products of deeply corrupt and powerful men, and how all of us are subject to their will and live within their warped creations. Hence the movie's iconic final line "Forget it, Jake, it's Chinatown." But we'll never forget Robert Towne, his great legacy, and what "makes" our city. 

Second, another passing but one nowhere near as sad. As I've also blogged about several times, one of my favorite shows ever is the early 1990s sci-fic drama Quantum Leap -- about a brilliant scientist who travels back in time, "leaping" into the life of various people and "putting right where once went wrong," changing history "for the better." It had many great episodes, including several in NYC. A couple years ago it had a reboot that I had high hopes for -- only to see them dashed. The show was a mess. Instead of focusing on the humanity of the characters who were to be saved, it chose to be some kind of weird thriller with numerous and confusing storylines, too many poorly developed characters, and no real chemistry between the actors. It failed completely. Now it's been cancelled, put out of its misery, and hopefully it will be forgotten -- while the great original show will hopefully be remembered and rewatched for decades to come. 

Third, it's hard to believe but it's been over a quarter of a century since Sex and the City first hit our airwaves. It's now become a part of NYC's culture and identity but, back in 1998, it was just a little show struggling to find an audience. The pilot was directed by Susan Seidelman who also made the funky 1982 NYC movie Smithereens which I reviewed back in 2017. In this recent big interview, Seidelman remembers the making of Smithereens, the S&TC pilot as well as her classic 1985 movie Desperately Seeking Susan. In many ways these movies and TV shows define late 20th-century NYC -- and Susan Seidelman's vision made them happen.

Fourth, an anniversary, a big one: WNYC radio is 100 years old! Yes, broadcasting in this town has existed for more than a century. Probably the most powerful public radio station in the country, WNYC has had a tremendous legacy -- and present day relevance -- to the life of this city. Besides going back and reading my numerous posts about WNYC, you can also listen to a history of the station here and also a recreation of the station's first July 8th, 1924 broadcast here.

All things and people pass, come and go -- but so much else lasts (like this blog!). And, for that, yours truly is truly grateful.

Review: "Motherless Brooklyn" (2019)

Private corruption leads to public corruption -- the personal venality of those in power is inflicted upon the masses in terrible ways. We are seeing this in extremis with the morally rotten and massively corrupt presidency of Donald Trump. Although this reality horror show will end a week from today, its stench will linger over us for a long time afterwards.

And that's the overarching problem -- even when bad powerful men go away, we the people remain stuck with their corrupt works for years and decades to come.

If you've ever read The Power Broker, Robert Caro's biography of NYC "master builder" Robert Moses, or seen the movie Chinatown, a fictional retelling of engineer William Mulholland bringing water to Los Angeles, the central concept within both is that the personal corruption of these powerful men fueled and warped the development of our nation's two biggest cities -- and, even now, decades after their deaths, we are literally living in the crime scenes i.e. the cities they made. 

And that's the basic idea behind Edward Norton's 2019 movie Motherless Brooklyn: the city is a crime.

A very liberal adaptation of Jonathan Lethem's 1999 novel, Motherless Brooklyn is Norton's attempt to take the basic framework of Chinatown (a private detective investigating a weird crime) and marry it with the facts in The Power Broker (an unelected master planner who builds in NYC with dictatorial power) to make a 21st-century fable about the corrupt shaping of our city. 

A thumbnail of the plot: a private detective with Tourette's syndrome named Lionel Essrog investigates the murder of one his partners. His investigation leads him to Harlem where he meets a woman named Laura Rose who works with someone named Gabby Horowitz (based on Jane Jacobs) who is fighting the redevelopment plans of city commisioner Moses Randolph (based on you-know-who). Essrog eventually meets up with a man named Paul, another brilliant but failed city planner, who turns out to be Randolph's brother and who knows a dark secret that could bring him down. Essrog discovers that Randolph's redevelopment plan is just a scam to kick poor black people out of their homes and sell their property to private developers. Paul explains to Essrog how Randolph's power is beyond anyone else's in government and how, as the head of an unelected public authority, he is totally unaccountable to anyone. Events ensue and Essrog comes to realize that Laura's life is in danger -- unless he can somehow get to Randolph and blackmail him with his secret. There's lots of double-crossing and complexity that makes this a very noirish yarn. 

It's a story about the power behind the power, the secret history of NYC, and the darkness behind it all. Also, it's a tale about the basic evils of gentrification and how the "public good" is often a cover for private greed.

The cast is excellent: Norton is compelling as Essrog, Alec Baldwin is ominous as Randolph, and Willem Dafoe is the standout as the tortured Paul. The cast includes Michael K. Wiliams, Bobby Cannavale, a cameo by Bruce Willis, Cherry Jones as Gabby, and a very good actress named Gugu Mbatha-Raw plays Laura. 

Norton is a fine director and the movie holds your attention to a point but, ultimately, the story feels slight in relation to the heights of its ambition. You can tell, in a way, that Norton is suffering from the classic "anxiety of influence" -- he is cleary in awe of, and has great reverence for, Chinatown and The Power Broker and the original novel, that his efforts with this film feel stunted, as much as influenced, by them. Also, I think there's an inherit problem when you're trying to make a movie that's partly inspired by a novel but also trying to incorporate plot lines and factoids from another movie and another book. It's just too much -- and while a noble attempt it makes the story and its themes feel more jumbled than inspired.

Still, it's an interesting concept for a movie -- and it's more of a concept than a movie in my opinion -- but that's why I recommend people see Motherless Brooklyn along with enjoying it's wonderful cast.  

Cities of the Dead

There are many cities within NYC -- the public housing projects, jails, hospitals, public schools, ports, airports -- that, along with NYC's 300 neighborhoods, make you realize that we are many cities joined and commingling together.

But there's one city within NYC teaming with residents that they literally do not live in -- the cemeteries.

The five boroughs are replete with them. Every borough is full of dead bodies under the ground or within the tombs of these places. There's even a big article and new book about these "cities of the dead" in NYC -- and the fascinating stories these corpses tell, the history of their lives, the places they lived, and their final resting places. These people may be dead, they may populate the cemeteries across the city, but their history and impact and legacies are very much alive and well in NYC today.  

At the moment the cemeteries of NYC are getting a great deal of attention -- but the dead have always been with us and always will be. 

And the dead don't "only know Brooklyn" -- they also know the Bronx, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island. Each borough has multiple cemeteries with a large number of people permanently taking up valuable NYC real estate -- forever. Here's a list of NYC's cemeteries and some of the notable people who are resting for eternity here.

In fact, if there's one borough that the dead probably "know" best, it's the Bronx. Woodlawn Cemetary is practically a rioutous party scene of famous dead people, a green carpet for deceased celebrities throughout history -- Herman Melville, Irving Berline, George M. Cohan, Fiorello LaGuardia, Robert Moses, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Lionel Hampton, Max Roach, Charles Evan Hughes, Joseph Pulitzer, FW Woolworth, and many more. 

They, and everyone buried in NYC, are all equal now. 

The Jails of NYC

One of the unofficial features of this blog is discovering the cities, big cities, that fall within the Big Apple.

NYCHA, the harbor, the airports, the parks, the public schools, etc., are all sprawling organizations that make up important, if unseen and unacknowledged, systems across our city.

This is most true of our city's jails.

Right now NYC is in the process of closing Riker's Island over the course of the next decade. One day, if all goes according to plan, that little rock off the coast of Astoria will be vacant -- and probably turned into luxury high-rises. 

The prisoners of Riker's are moving elsewhere and, surprisingly, there are lots of places for them to go. I was shocked to discover that there are approximately thirty-two jails within the five boroughs that house the city's criminals. This article gives provides more info about them as well as a multi-media map showing the location of each one. It's a fascinating look at this city within NYC that most us are lucky enough to (and hope we never will) visit. 

Welcome to NYCHALand!

This blog is dedicated to the NYC of our hearts, minds, and souls as much as to the real city of metal, concrete, and pavement.

One of the fun things about this blog is exploring the undiscovered places -- both literal and figurative -- that exist within the city we love. Cities within the city, if you will, that thrive around us, next to us, and in which many of us live too.

But there is one city within NYC that most readers of this blog don't know about, including yours truly. It's a place that almost 92% of New Yorkers -- let alone tourists -- never go to. It's a city that exists in many neighborhoods but is separate from just about all of them. And it certainly doesn't thrive.

It's called NYCHALand -- otherwise known as "the projects", those enclaves of poverty.

NYCHA is short for New York City Housing Authority which runs all of the public housing projects across the five boroughs. It houses over 400,000 people, almost 8% of the entire city's population, but those are just the official figures; unofficially almost 600,000 people live there. 

Think about that for a second: while 8% might not be a huge share of the city's people and 400,000 a small slice of the 8 million plus folks in this town, NYCHALand houses more people than New Orleans or St. Louis. In fact, you could transport the entire population of the state of Wyoming into NYCHALand and still have room left over for more people. It's that big.

The Queensbridge Houses in Long Island City, one of the bigger neighborhoods in NYCHALand.

The projects have long been a controversial aspect of American urban policy. Initially they were seen as an improvement over the slums and tenements that used to warehouse the poor, places where people could live in a certain amount of dignity while they worked themselves into the middle class. But it all went wrong: the projects basically became exactly what they were might to replace, and became new warehouses for the poor. Few worked themselves into the middle, instead caught in a cycle of dependency on city housing and services, members of the permanent underclass. The projects became havens for gangs and drug dealers and violence. The sound of gunshots became a daily a occurrence for the young and old alike who lived there. When one thought of the projects, one could only think of menace.

The "projects" became a symbol for everything that was wrong with 20th century compassion.  If the road to hell is paved with good intentions, the projects seemed like their final destination.

Many cities in the last decade tore their projects down and developed new housing policies to deal with the poor. But here in NYC, the projects remain. NYCHALand exists today much as it did forty, thirty years ago. Over the last 20 years, people have talked about how NYC has come back, better than ever, from the turbulent time of the 1970s and 1980s. Yet when you go to NYCHALand, it's like stepping into a time machine back to that time in the city's history that so many of us want to forget. 

However, NYCHALand might not be much longer. This long, very informative article from this week's New York magazine tells us about ideas some have to permanently change the landscape of the projects. The costs of maintaining them has ballooned and many are saying that perhaps it's time NYC develop a 21st century housing policy.

But what will that look like? What will happen to the people who, as miserable a place NYCHALand is for most, feel like it's the best home they could hope to have? Will a new housing policy for the poor help or hurt them? 

In the years to come, NYCHALand might became yet another relic of the city's past, a place most of have never gone to and hope never to go to but that will be, for good or for ill, a city within a city that was part of the character of the greatest city in the world.

 

Ghosts of Past and Future

Two fascinating articles from this week's Times illustrate how life in NYC both changes but also stays the same.

First, an article about people who have lived in their apartments or in the same neighborhoods for decades -- and, in the case of one woman, for 100 of her 102 years of life. This woman has lived on East 84th street since 1911 and has, to say the least, seen her block and her city change quite a bit. She is a living, breathing memory bank. 

As someone who has lived in two different places in this city in my life, I've seen both my neighborhoods change -- for the better (cleaner, less crime) and for the worst (mom and pop stores going out of business, rising rents and prices) -- and it's always fascinating to see the new up against the old. That, in many ways, is the story of NYC and all great cities -- new and old people, new and old buildings, new and old businesses, living side by side; lifelong New Yorkers existing along with recent transplants and immigrants, preserving old traditions and practices while creating new ones, the old timers giving lessons to the "new" timers, the new timers teaching the old timers a thing or two. 

My mom has lived in the same building for over 40 years. Her friend has lived in the same building for over 50 years. Growing up, I remember elderly residents telling me about living in the same building since the 1920s and 30s. When you live in an old building in NYC, you can feel the ghosts of the past living with the occupants of the present -- who are, after all, the ghosts of the future. A little creepy maybe, but also kind of magical. 

What isn't magical, however, what is rather kind of tragic, are when old school businesses disappear. And I'm not just talking about the aforementioned mom and pops, the decades old drug stores and restaurants that gave neighborhoods their character and that, when they vanish, lessen the neighborhoods character. I'm talking about big businesses too. 

Remember Pan Am? If you're under the age of 20, probably not. Pan Am used to not only own the American airline industry but the Pan Am building on 42nd street used to rise proudly in the NYC skyline, the worlds PAN AM visible to anyone within miles site of the building. Today, Pan Am is long out of business, and the Pan Am building is now the MetLife building. When Pan Am went, it was like a part of Americana vanished. Part of the NYC skyline certainly did. It was the first big airline (it was for a long time) and most people took their first flights on Pan Am. Heck, being a Pan Am stewardess (now called flight attendant) was such a glamorous job that they even made a TV show out of it recently (called Pam Am but, like its namesake, the show went out of business too). And when a piece of Americana goes away, it can never really be replaced. 

Here in NYC, a huge law firm called Dewey and LaBoeuf is on the verge of collapse. It used to be called Dewey, Ballantine and this isn't just some law firm. This used to be the creme de la creme of NYC law firms, the kind of place where any lawyer dreamed about working at. It was big, rich, represented powerful clients and companies, and had cache to burn. What it also did, in recent years, was burn through all its money. An ill timed merger in 2007 (hello 2008 financial crises) along with ridiculous compensation packages and mismanagement has not only put the firm on the brink of extinction but has also opened it up to criminal investigations. The firm was named after Thomas Dewey, who used to be a governor of New York and was twice the Republican nominee for president in 1944 and 1948. This firm history had a proud, fine heritage, and was a solid piece of the NYC legal firmament. But greed and stupidity by otherwise smart people has wrecked it. When Dewey goes away, it will dishonor the legacy of a great New Yorker and diminish a part of the NYC legal and business community. Ghosts will be dishonored by its future ghosts. And that is something that can never be replaced.

So I hope that we New Yorkers will preserve as much of our past as possible while, at the same time, smartly look to the future.

NYC History in 10 Objects

Last month I blogged about an upcoming segment on WNYC's Leonard Lopate show called The Story of New York in 10 Objects. Ten objects -- both man made and natural -- that encapsulate the history and identity of our great city. They were taking nominations from listeners and whittled them down.

On today's show they revealed the final list. You should listen to the segment but here, in short, is the list:

#10-The NYC Subway Map: the nexus for transportation in NYC, how the 8.2 million people in our town get around. Without it, we'd be stuck.


#9-The Manhattan Shist: this city wasn't built on rock'n'roll but on rocks. And rocks don't just exist underneath our city but within our buildings too. Without the rocks, we'd be on the rocks (ha ha).


#8-The Wall Street Sign: not only does it tell you where you are but this sign is the masthead for the entire American financial system and, by extension, the entire American economic system. People love Wall Street, hate Wall Street -- much like capitalism itself. Without Wall Street, a huge part of our city's identity and economy wouldn't exist. 


#7-The Brooklyn Bridge: easily the most beautiful bridge in the city, it was also the first bridge to nail the city together. (Actually, when it was first constructed in the last 19th century, it nailed two cities, NYC and Brooklyn together before they became part of the same city). After this bridge was built, making transport between the cities (now boroughs) became a lot easier and the fate of both were sealed. Without this bridge, our city wouldn't be the city as we know it today.


#6-Frank O'Hara's Lunch Poems: easily the oddest thing on this list. I've never read it but the it is apparently a collection of stories about our city. Without it, well, our city's voice would be diminished.


#5-18th Century Ship Excavated from the WTC Site: this old boat was apparently used as part of the original WTC site and was uncovered during its reconstruction. It's an amazing example of our city's past and future coming together -- the past and the future always co-exist in this most dynamic of towns. Without this discovery, a part of our history would still be unknown and our city would be the lesser for it.

#4-The Oyster: before bagels, before Chinese food, before hot dogs, the oyster used to be considered the quintessential NYC food. Tourists came here to see our shows, go to our museums, and eat our oysters. For obvious reasons, the oyster is no longer NYC's main culinary selling point, but it helped pave the way to make our city the restaurant capital of America. Without the oyster, our city's food history would not quite be so sterling.

#3-The Food Cart: it was invented here! You can get a hot dog, a pretzel, some nuts, a soda, some water, a donut, some coffee, even tacos and felafel's! Food carts represent the great efficiency of NYC -- little stores on the sidewalks that feed, literally, our food needs. Without food carts, we'd all be a lot hungrier and thirstier (and that wouldn't be good).

#2-Subway Token: though they no longer exist, the token was NYC's own currency. New Yorkers loved their tokens. They were an over sized, yellow, funny looking coin that was unique to NYC and actually made people excited (somewhat) about taking the subway. Without the token, a sentimental part of NYC's identity would never have existed and wouldn't be so fondly remembered today.

#1-The Greek Coffee Cup: remember these? The gorgeously designed blue Hellenic cups that contained a good old fashioned cup o'coffee (as opposed to a latte). You used to be able to see New Yorkers from all races, all nationalities, all classes, both genders, clutching their Greek coffee cups on their work, getting their much needed caffeine fix. (Doubtless these made us all a little more neurotic). Without these Greek cups and the coffee they contained, New Yorkers, well, wouldn't be New Yorkers.  

Mr NYC in Portland, Oregon

One of the reasons for my not blogging lately is that last weekend I was out of town -- in Portland, OR.

I'd never been out there before and had no idea what to expect. (Being from NYC, most other cities are underwhelming, to say the least.) However, after spending just a couple of days in this Northwestern ville, I can happily report that Portland, OR shoots right to the top of the list of my favorite American cities (along with San Francisco and New Orleans).

So here's a brief recap o' my trip.

Unlike those other cities, which are fun and colorful, Portland is fun and ... chill ... It's also very beautiful. Driving from the airport, we saw the huge, gorgeous Douglas-fir trees that make the Pacific Northwest famous. There aren't a lot of tall buildings in this town but the architecture is pretty, contextual, and tasteful. Like NYC, Portland is very compact -- even more compact, actually, because it's smaller and only has a population of two million people. Portland is divided into four quadrants and people there talking about living in either NW, SW, NE and SE. Driving across the city takes about twenty minutes from end to end, and about it's half an hour from any spot in the city to PDX (the airport). Unlike a lot of American cities, Portland has decent public transportation -- no subway but trolleys and a very good bus system. Apparently you can get from most sections of the city to downtown in about twenty minutes. All in all, a pretty easy city to navigate.

Our time in Portland was busy. We actually got out of town and drove up into the mountains nearby. The views and vistas there are stunningly beautiful. We drove to the top of the Columbia River Gorge which inspired us to do "downdogs" and "sun salutations" and other yoga moves, so Zen was the experience. Then we went hiking up several trails, passing several lovely waterfalls (one of which sprayed us and felt wonderful).*

Later we went to dinner at a very good restaurant in town called The Farm Cafe. They serve fresh, organic food along with excellent cocktails (this is a very popular spot so either go early or make reservations).

We then hung out for a little while at a great, great place called Voicebox Karaoke, easily the most upscale, classy karaoke bar I've ever been too. You can rent private rooms, each one very comfortable and unique, and they have great drinks and dumplings on tap.

Then we saw a show. Not a concert or a play exactly but what is apparently a live action sitcom called "Fall of the House." It's basically a raunchy version of Friends set in Portland but with lots of different characters and wacky situations. Shocking thing? It was good! And funny! And very well written! The characters were well developed and dimensional and we really enjoyed it. If you are ever in Portland and this show is on, I suggest you go.

Next day we went downtown and walked along the waterfront. Portland is cut in two by the Willamette river and bound together by several bridges, each one distinct and interesting. Then we had brunch at Mother's Bistro, a popular restaurant with very good food. After that, we went to Powell's, the largest bookstore in the country. Simply put, Powell's has lots and lots and lots of books. If you go, make sure you get a map. It has nine rooms (each with its own designated color) and four floors. We bought a few books, including a huge history of the world for our friend and host, and even managed at one point to get lost in the huge place.

After this, we went rollerskating ... and even did the hokey pokey!

Dinner that night was pizza taken out from a place called Dove Vivi. A very good organic pizza place, we had a sausage pizza and one covered with corn and red peppers. Mmmmmmm.

On our way the airport, we stopped by Voodoo Doughnuts for dessert. This is the first time I've ever had donuts made by punk rockers but they ... were ... awesome! We went there at 5 PM on a Sunday evening and there was a long line outside the store and it took almost half and hour to get in. I had a basic jelly doughnut but you can also get things like the Maple Bacon donut (you read that right) along with other exotic pastries. It goes without saying that if you like donuts -- and I love 'em -- and you're in Portland, you must go to Voodoo Doughnuts.**

And then, after a wonderful whirlwind trip, we came home to NYC on the red eye.

So, to sum it up, Portland is great. If you love NYC, you'll really like Portland. What impressed me most is that Portland still has vibrant neighborhoods and a downtown that doesn't shut up at night. We stayed in a neighborhood called Clinton which has lovely small homes with beautiful lawns but is also within walking distance (literally, just minutes away) of bars, restaurants, movie theaters, grocery stores, banks, and park space.

Portland is a real city, not just a "metro area," and if you live there you feel like you're in a community. It's a very chill, relaxed city, where people work to live, not live to work, where time is as important as money, where the cost of living is reasonable, and where you feel like everyone is a good neighbor.

Cheers.

*For those of you who might hike these trails with a significant other, there's a book called Pokin' Round the Gorge that suggests secluded spots that are good for a little outdoor nooky. I have not read this book nor did our hike include this activity but I thought both of my readers might like to know about this publication.

**Voodoo Doghnuts is next door to a place called The Paris Theater. Unlike our Paris Theatre, however, they show different kinds of movies.

Interview: Cheryl Harris Sharman and Russell Leigh Sharman of "Nightshift NYC"

My recent post on Nightshift NYC has happily yielded a short interview with scribes of this book and blog, Cheryl Harris Sharman and Russell Leigh Sharman. As you might remember, Nighshift NYC is about the men and women who labor through the night so that the rest of NYC can sleep comfortably and wake up with civilization still intact. Below Cheryl and Russell tell us about what made them pursue researching and writing about this unusual topic, and about some of the interesting things they've discovered about New Yorkers who work the night shift.

Considering what an intriguing topic the night shift in NYC is, it's hard to believe that no one else wrote a book about it until now. What inspired your book as well as the blog?

It is hard to believe that no one has written a book on the workers who make possible the city that never sleeps. The idea for the book came from two or three different all-night businesses within a block of where we living at the time, in East Harlem, and wondering how difficult that life would be. There was a 24-hour bodega, a 24-hour laundromat, and a 24-hour taxi mechanic. None of these sites made it into the book but they sparked our interest in the topic. As writers and researchers, we’ve always been interested in telling the stories of people who are often overlooked. In some ways, that’s what led to the blog, because there were so many stories that didn’t fit in the book, and we’re still meeting more night shift workers with equally interesting lives, so the blog allows an ongoing exploration of New York at night.

What are people's biggest complaints or favorite things about working such exotic hours?

Most of the people we interviewed worked the night shift because it was the first job they were offered. In 24-hour businesses, the day shift often comes with seniority. On the one hand, the kind of person who works the night shift is someone who will eventually switch to the day shift once they’ve gained some experience; we’ve already seen that happen to some of the folks in the book. On the other hand, many choose the night shift or to remain on the night shift because they come to see its many benefits. The benefits include things such as sharing childcare with a day shift spouse, a night pay differential, more autonomy and, especially in the service sector, fewer customers. Of course some people are just night owls, and may as well be at work when they’re most alert. Then again, there are those who never adjust to the taxing lifestyle and will take a day shift the first time it’s offered.

Do you think working overnight in NYC is different than in other cities?

We think that working overnight in NYC is similar to working the night shift in other cities all over the world. We’ve heard from night shift workers in other places about the lack of sleep, the strain on social relationships, the lack of seniority, the cherished autonomy, the benefits for childcare, and many of the same things we found in NYC. We just did a reading in Chicago where we met a former night shift nurse who felt the book resonated with her experiences, and a current night shift auditor at a hotel who wrote a guest blog for us on his experiences, many of which find overlap in our book. That said, there are aspects that are unique to NYC. New York has one of the only train systems in the world that runs 24 hours, so there’s always someone out, no matter the hour, creating a sense of safety and community that you don’t necessarily find in other cities.

Tell us something about the night shift in NYC most of us don't know.

Most people don’t know that NYC feels much like a small town in the wee hours of the morning, because of that sense of safety and community that comes from working nights in such a densely-populated city. In a city with a car culture, for example, everyone is insulated from everyone else and 24-hour businesses are few and far between. In New York, every block has several arenas of all-night activity, whether a doorman or a drugstore or a diner, making it safe to walk down just about any street at any hour. This sense of NYC at night feeling like a small town was a surprise even to us and was one of our favorite discoveries of writing Nightshift NYC.

Thanks!

New Yorkers in the White House

Tonight may or may not decide whether a city-boy, a native of these five boroughs, has a shot at becoming the President of these here United States (yes, that whole country outside NYC which crosses multiple time zones).

Whether or not you care for our former Mayor, it would be interesting to see if a NYC Mayor has a shot at living in the White House. In other countries, the Mayors of the biggest cities have gone on to run the entire country (Jacques Chirac was Mayor of Paris before becoming President of France; the wacky President of Iran was once Mayor of Tehran - okay, maybe they're not great examples but they're examples nonetheless).

But for some reason, no Mayors of NYC and few Mayors of anywhere have gone one to become President. And only one native New Yorker, one man born within this town's limits, has gotten the job. Lucky for NYC and the USA, that man was Teddy Roosevelt, one of our nation's greatest leaders. Funny enough, he actually did once run for Mayor ... and lost!

If you've read Mr NYC enough, you know what I think of Rudy Giuliani. And to him I say, on this night that will decide his political future, "Rudy ... you're NO Teddy!"