"The Godfather Part III" @ 30

Yours truly had yet to be born when the first two Godfather movies were released in 1972 and 1974. However, I clearly remember when, early in my teenage years, The Godfather Part III came out in December 1990.

The first two movies were huge critical and commercial successes, became cultural phenomena, and are widely regarded as some of the greatest movies ever made. Obviously the third movie had A LOT to live up to, with expectations nearly impossible to meet. The movie's production received lots of press attention and controversy -- actors were cast and then uncast, it cost a lot to make, etc. etc. I remember wondering why this particular movie was such a big deal but then my brother showed me the first two movies on videotape (remember videotape?) and then I was as excited as anyone to see this one. 

Godfather III received a mixed reception from critics and audience upon its release -- some liked it a lot more than others -- but almost everyone agreed that it was nowhere near as good as its illustrious predecessors. I basically agree but, unlike some, I don't think this movie is as bad as some believe.

Normally when a classic film hits a big anniversary date, its gets some media attention and then that's that. But this year, this December, The Godfather Part III has been resurrected in a new form -- director Francis Ford Coppolla has recut the movie and is releasing it this month. It's basically a brand new movie and it even has a brand new title: The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone. The reception for this new version has been great and, much like thirty years ago, I can't wait to see it ... all over again.

And while The Godfather story is sprawling -- across decades, across countries -- it's fundamentally a New York City story. It's a story of immigrants, of strivers, of people wanting a better life, of people turning to crime so that their children can live the American dream. It's a story of how this city is a place of both great opportunity and great danger, of great possibilities and great pitfalls. It's a quiteseential NYC story, spiritally capturing this town as any story told before or since. 

A City of Neighborhoods

 

We Remember

Nightlife and the Nuyorican Cafe

Nightlife is a quintessential part of the NYC identity, especially the clubs -- from the Stork Club and the Copa to Tunnel and Limelight to 1Oak and Butter, this town has always been the defining capital of American nightlife.

It goes without saying that COVID-19 has been a huge hit on the nightlife industry in NYC. The waiters, bartenders, managers, bus boys, hostesses, etc. have seen their jobs vanish, their professions decimated. Bars, clubs, lounges, restaurants, you name it, have been crippled and some may never recover. But some will. Like everything in post-COVID NYC, some things will survive, some won't.

This city has been transformed by the pandemic, and so will the nightlife business. 

One NYC nightlife impressario who won't be part of post-COVID nightlife is Miguel Algarin, founder of the Nuyorican Cafe, who died recently. Unlike many nightlife hotspots that come and go, his place has stayed in business since 1973. And unlike many places that are devoted to drinking, dancing, drugging, debauchery, the Nuyorican Cafe is devoted to poetry. It hosts poets reading their work or "poetry slams" where random people get in front of a mike and read their self-composed poems. The Nuyorican Cafe was and is a vital part of the NYC culture scene, and Miguel Algarin was a great visionary. He will be missed.

I've gone to the Nuyorican Cafe twice in my life. About a week or so after I moved back to NYC from college, a relative took me to my first slam where an excitable guy named Flaco read some wild stuff. Then, a few years later, I went with my then-fiance and her sister, where a friend of ours engaged in a slam and another guy did a very funny poem about Fox News. Both visits were quite memorable.

As soon as this pandemic is over and the Nuyorican Cafe reopens, I'll go again -- in tribute to Miguel and his vision, in tribute to the great culture of NYC, and in tribute to the great nightlife of NYC.

What Makes a Mayor?

New York City will be electing a whole new swath of municipal office-holders next year, thanks to term limits. Most of the city council, the borough presidents, and the city-wide office holders will change -- including, first and formost, the mayor.

The mayor of any city is a real-life human being and human beings, as we know, aren't perfect. Yet New Yorkers love the idea of a "perfect mayor", someone who not only runs the city but also embodies it.

The mayor of New York City is expected to be many things: a day-to-day manager ensuring the smooth delivery of government services as well as taking charge in an emergency; a long-term visionary and leader who moves the city into a better place (less crime, more affordable housing, better schools, cleaner streets, etc., anything that improves the quality life and experience of living here); an advocate and cheerleader who promotes the city's image and interests to the rest of the country and the world; and a big personality, a larger-than-life character who is as much a showman (or showwoman), a performer, as much as a politician or a leader. 

The qualities that New Yorkers want in mayor are many -- it's a tall order to be come Hizzoner. The perfect mayoral DNA hasn't been generated yet. 

Fiorello LaGuardia is, for many, the model of a modern NYC mayor and many of his successors (like Koch and Giuliani) have aped his big personality style if not his decency and competence. Others have been a conscious reaction to that type of mayor -- Lindsay, Dinkins, and, in their way, Bloomberg and De Blasio have shown that this city can sometimes elect a more genteel and down-to-earth mayor. 

It's also axiomatic that mayors are destined never to rise to higher office (governor, senate, president) and that they better not show that they are anything less than 200% focused on just being mayor (leaving town, running for another office, brings mayors a cropper).

It's impossible to tell what makes for a successful mayor because the times they govern in, and the challanges they face, are so different. But it's almost inevitable that, after years of controversy, tough decisions, bad luck, whatever, NYC mayors often leave office unpopular. History can sometimes, however, be much kinder to them in the long run. And their personality, their mascot role, become less important -- it's what they left their successors to build on that's deemed most important.

The recent death of Mayor David Dinkins is a huge case in point. When he left office in 1993, and for years afterwards, the common wisdom is that he left the city crime-ridden broken down mess that Rudy Giuliani came in and fixed. But a closer look at the record shows that Dinkins bequeathed the man destined to become an adulterous, bankrupt, impeached one-term loser president's lawyer a much stronger city than was previously appreciated: under Dinkins the police force increased, crime was actually falling greatly, Times Square was alreay changing, the city was improving. But the perception of it hadn't yet changed, and Rudy sucked up all the credit.

Thus it has been and will always be so. Life isn't fair, politics is less than fair, and being mayor of this town is both the greatest honor and one of the most unfair jobs any New Yorker can possibly get.

A (Virtual) Walk Around NYC

As COVID-19 has made enjoying NYC more difficult, The New York Times has taken upon itself to create virtual walking tours around town. These tours are curated by the chief architecture critic Michael Kimmelman who provides each tour with beautiful photos of the area he's exploring plus short histories and information about the streets, businesses, and attractions of the neighborhoods being shown.

This is a continuing series but, so far, Kimmelman has provided tours of Chinatown, Harlem, the Financial District, Jackson Heights, the East River, and more. I hope that he also explores some of the more remote parts of the city like City Island, the Rockaways, Bayridge, and many others. This is a project that I hope has a long life.

Gotta Love New Yorkers

History Will Decide

When the history of COVID-19 in NYC is written, there will be lots of stories about how people broke the rules of quarantining and social distancing to keep doing the two things that were most miserably impacted by it -- making money and partying.

Back in the 19th century, in the horrific days of slavery, there was the Underground Railroad; a hundred years ago, back in the days of Prohibition in the 1920s, there were speakeasies and bathtub gin. Now, in 2020, in the year of the plague, there are secret parties where people hang, dance, rage, do drugs, hook up, and act like nothing has changed since last year. Sure, these are "superspreader events" (another word added to the popular vernacular this year) but these people don't care if they get sick or get anyone else sick. 

They're partying -- and no one will stop them!

History will, of course, have the final word. The Underground Railroad is now properly celebrated as the great act of rebellion, of liberation, against the evil institution of slavery. The legacy of prohobition is more mixed -- the speakeasies are romanticized as places where people escaped the moralistic tyranny and stupidity of prohibition, who showed how dumb and unworkable it was, even though doing so unwittingly led to the rise of organized crime in America. 

But how in the hell are people engaging in risky behavior that spreads a virus, blatently ignoring medical and pubilc health advice, going to be viewed by history? Probably the same way it looks at the people in black and white photographs protesting the racial integration of public schools in the South -- shameful and stupid. 

Mary Fowkes RIP

It feels like forever ago but, earlier this year, as COVID-19 bore down on NYC and the world, medical professionals of all stripes were trying to figure out what this virus exactly was and how to treat it. One of them was Dr. Mary Fowkes of Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan. She performed autopsies on COVID-19 victimes, examined their damaged organs, and figured out that using blood thinners could help treat the disease. 

Dr. Fowkes' conclusions were correct, and many COVID-19 patients were helped as a result of her work. She had a long career in medicine but this was probably her biggest achievement. 

Sadly Dr. Fowkes died very recently of a heart attack (and not, mercifully, COVID-19). The city and the world is better off for her work. 

NYC Strong

The holidays are now upon us, and this bizarre year begins to wind its way to its bizarre conclusion. After 2001 I hoped we'd never have to live through another year like that but 2016 and 2020 have given that long ago year a run for its figurative money.

COVID-19 in 2020 turned the world upside down and, hopefully, fingers crossed, deep breath, a Trumpless/vaccinated 2021 will start the process of turning it right side up.

New York City got hit real hard with infections, death, people fleeing, and businesses closing in 2020. But NYC has gotten hit hard a lot in the last 50 years -- bankruptcy, the crack & crime epidemic, 9/11, the financial crises -- and its always come back better than ever. This will happen again because this city never quits, never stops trying to better itself, no matter what obstacles are thrown its way. 

Choose your cliche -- that's the truth.

Recently the hoity-toity magazine Town & Country ran a series of articles by and about a series of high profile New Yorkers about why they still love NYC in this time of trouble -- and will love it forever. It's fun to read the thoughts of people like Sarah Jessica Parker, Branford & Wynton Marsalis, Rosie Perez, Jay McInerney and others about how COVID-19 has made their love for this city stronger than ever. 

This city, despite what some might say, is not done yet.