I have recently returned from a trip that took me through the US mid-West, New York, and the UK. I was carefully watching for cultural/societal changes since my last visits to those areas. All of the areas had changed, and none of it was for the better, perhaps with one exception. I finished my trip with little interest in pursuing any further overseas trips for the foreseeable and indefinite future. The pain was too great and the cultural gain, and pleasure, too little.
The Mid-West
My first stop was to drop my second-born off at college. The college is located in a small to mid-sized mid-Western city. My first reaction was “Holy mother of God – will you just look at all the fast food joints!” We arrived fairly late in the day, and didn’t get to see a whole lot until the next morning.
I mean, I have never seen anything like it. Every street corner had a place serving poison. There were Hardees, Taco Bells, McDonalds, Burger Kings, Sonics, Kentucky Frieds, IHOPS, Dennys, etc. etc. etc. everywhere. And I mean everywhere.
The next thing I noticed was huge pick-up trucks. Pick-ups were everywhere, by the thousands. And inside each pick-up was a family of whales. Watching those fat suckers trying to get in and out of the trucks was truly enthralling. Some of them needed several attempts to haul all the lard up into the truck. Some of them had little ladder things to help them. You could see the fear on their faces when trying to get out of the truck – obviously the 9 inch drop could result in broken bones or dislocated ankles. Sometimes they would make several tentative tries to exit their trucks. We would watch this with our mouths hanging open.
The next morning, we got our student registered, and then had to go to a Walmart to collect the required bedding and assorted necessary items for a college student. Walmart was the only place that had the required bedding sizes. I had not been in a Walmart for years, and so was somewhat looking forward, nervously, to the experience.
Well, boy howdy, did my first impressions – fast food joints, pick-up trucks, and whales – translate into what I saw at Walmart. The parking lot was full of – you guessed it – pick-up trucks. By and large, it was full of new or newish pick-up trucks. And there were whales of all sizes, colors, and ethnic backgrounds tumbling, rolling, and oozing in and out of those suckers. Once their feet hit the pavement, they would waddle their way toward the entrance, perhaps 50 yards away, having to stop to catch their breaths a time or two on the way to the door. Once inside, the most whalish (whale-like?) would commandeer one of those motorized ride on carts, and off they would go. A lot of them were toting oxygen bottles. Some were so fat that their asses covered the seats and came near to dragging on the ground on either side of the carts – and I kid you not. My family watched this with our eyes bugging out. And as an aside, we also noted the following – the bigger the whale, the more likely they were to be covered in tattoos and to be sporting purple hair, nose-rings, and those ear-thingies where the holes are the size of silver dollars.
But here is the thing – we had some opportunity to talk to these folks, being unfamiliar with Walmarts in general. And here is what we found. Those fat, tattoo covered, purple haired, nose-ring wearing whales were …… nice. I mean REALLY nice. Helpful. Eager to be of assistance. They would walk (or ride ) with us to whatever we were looking for, they would describe what they buy, what they use and why, and what was the best value for money. They were polite – almost universally. We liked these people.
With respect to the general community, and the surrounding areas, we did have a chance to drive a few hours out of town, and around town, to the rural areas and such, as we were delivering a family friend to another college a few hours away. What we saw was a mixed bag – there was quite a bit of commercial building going on, but in general the overall impression was of a struggling economy. Our conversations with the residents seemed to reflect the same – that folks were generally getting by, with dual incomes, but that things were tight, and getting worse.
So my overall impression of the mid-West is of a god-fearing, lovely people who are killing themselves with rotten habits, and who are making horrible life-choices through their eating habits, their spending habits (new cars they can ill-afford), and their general long-term decision making. They are trusting souls that bought into the American dream, but are slowly awakening to the new reality. And they are compounding the problems of the new reality with their personal decision-making. It really is quite sad. We really do like those folks.
Next Stop: New York City
It had been quite a while since I had been to NYC. I really did not know what to expect. We flew into New Jersey, and took a New Jersey cab to NYC. A more disgusting, dirty, nasty car you would never have seen. It was a disgrace. The driver was on the phone the whole way, he drove like a maniac, and we came to realize that one hand constantly on the car horn was mandatory for driving in NYC.
We drove through some old parts of town to get to our hotel, and I was pleased to see, in general, that it looked pretty safe. The other thing we immediately noticed was that the people were not whales, unlike in the mid-West. In fact, we saw very few whales at all in NYC, despite seeing throngs of people. The why became more apparent over the next few days. The fact is, in NYC, a person HAS to walk. There is largely no choice. You simply have to do a fair bit of walking in NYC. Cars are few and far between, save for taxis (very clean taxis in NYC, as compared to the New Jersey shitboxes), and you simply must hoof it a fair bit to get anywhere. This is in comparison to the mid-West, where the folks waddle 20 feet from their front door, hoist themselves into their pick-ups, shoot through the drive through fast food joint, and then head home. I am convinced it is the walking that keeps the New Yorkers relatively less obese than those from the mid-West.
New York was, of course, bustling. We met almost no one who lived in Manhattan – almost everyone commuted from surrounding boroughs. The cost of living in Manhattan was extreme, and a lot of property was being snapped up by foreign investors – Russians, Chinese, Kuwaitis, etc. This was a theme we would see again.
There was a lot of building going on in NYC. Mostly what we saw, of course, were shops. I do not know what people really do for a living, but we were advised by the people we did speak to that things were not easy. A great many of the folks we spoke to were not native to NYC, but had been there for a number of years. And of those, the majority were trying to figure a way to get out. NYC was not their golden ticket.
We did go to Wall Street. It is singularly unimpressive. And we did not see a single person with horns and pitchforks. Admin made all that up. Along 5th Avenue, we were shown shops that were renting for $1 million per month – Chanel, etc. It is nearly impossible to believe. Their rent was in excess of $10 million per year for 5th Avenue storefronts.
Apartments along Central Park were going for many many millions of dollars. Apparently the old money is located on the East side, and new money (actors, athletes, etc.) on the West. The buildings, especially on the East side, are held such that the residents can prevent anyone they want from buying into the buildings.
I had opportunity to go to a local doctor (I picked up a third-world disease somewhere along the line that is still giving me grief. Apparently my vaccinations wore off after these several decades. I can assure you that some of the diseases that folks are vaccinated against are ones that you really do not want to get. I may still have some weeks or months before I am fully recovered. Without divulging the disease, I will say that it kills hundreds of thousands of children a year, and it has reinforced in me my belief in vaccinations. This disease is infectious BEFORE any symptoms occur, and I could have come in contact with an unvaccinated child before I knew I was even sick, and it could have been life threatening for the child.). I was seen for around two minutes, the quack shrugged, did not know the cause, prescribed some antibiotics, charged me an outrageous sum, told me I was not contagious, that I could travel, and sent me on my way. I mention this as I had the opportunity to visit several more doctors in the UK for the same reason, and will relate the different experiences later. But suffice it to say that this doctor was a quack.
In general, here were my overall impressions of NYC. First, the good point: since my last visit, NYC has become much safer. Harlem and all other areas appears to be rejuvenated. I did not see a single place I felt was unsafe. That is a spectacular change.
But much of the rest of my impression of NYC is negative. The people are distant and not friendly. There are far too many people. Streets are too narrow and cramped, and it is not much fun to walk around. There are a lot of folks hustling for money – mostly targeting tourists. Things are very expensive.
But mostly what I saw was a huge disconnect between the haves and the have nots or have littles. The people you see and interact with do not live in Manhattan – they live elsewhere, by and large. There is great wealth concentrated in areas of NYC – a lot of it is old money, elite money. A lot of it is also new money – actors, music personalities, financial people, etc. I do not find the stratification of haves from the have nots very appealing. There is a disjoint that I find unpalatable, largely I suppose because I cannot see that those with wealth have actually created anything of value. Perhaps they have – but I do not see it. They seem to have manufactured their wealth out of thin air, and I simply do not like the way that feels. It looks to me to be unearned. Those that do not have wealth seem to be beholden to those that do – that the rich of NYC seem to be the reason for the entire existence of the city. I get the feeling that crumbs flow continuously down the hill, from layer to layer. And that the whole city is essentially producing nothing of value.
So in the end, I do not like NYC. I do not like the crowds, the cramped streets, and the general feeling I get in the city.
I hope this is of some interest to folks. I do not think I have offered any great insights here. I will post the next part of the story, which will begin in London, when I get a chance.
Rules that I know 1.No belittling of anyones family (children , Spouses )
2.No nudity
I am not aware of anymore rules that govern behavior or speech on the BP.I have never been given a rule book.Therefore if there’s anymore rules that I should know about pls tell me.This what I like about the BP.*Very much a free for all.
Lipoh I will not shit on your post ever again. I may take a piss but I will not shit.Fair enough?
Now about your post. What was your point besides not likely NYC.?That you discovered how much you now like fat people. Especially fat people in a mid western Wal-Mart? I’m looking forward to hearing about your London adventure. Have a nice day.
Llpoh
It’s as if we are the same person when I read your viewpoint. Your Midwest trip echoes exactly what I see in Altoona when we would take my son up to Penn State. Fast food joints, land whales, pickups and a decaying society. The people are harmless, nice and ignorant. They would have no interest in 99.9% of the things we talk about on this site.
I’m attempting to write up a post about our trip to NYC last weekend. Your thoughts are virtually identical to mine. There are 90% less land whales and the real fatties are tourists. It does feel safe. But, something doesn’t feel right.
That’s why the title of the article is Uneasy in NYC.
I’m looking forward to your European thoughts.
I think your insight is for the most part people are a product of their environment.
Midwesterner’s may be nice but they are ignorant that the convenience of their lifestyle is killing them. The fatter they get the more they have to depend on good old american medicine to keep them alive rather than getting them healthy.
New Yorkers are subjected to the constant hum of all that humanity, scurrying around for the scraps just so they can work in the city, they probably have to become introverted to remain partially sane.
I wonder what would happen if you took a Midwest fatty family and switched them with a NY neurotic family.
Would the Midwest family slim down, become withdrawn and cope the best they can with the hordes of other phobics.
Would the NY family buy a Ford, fatten up, loosen up and spend lazy afternoons driving electric scooters at the Walmart.
New reality TV show!
bb
You are truly a dick.
Having just spent time in both rural Louisiana and central Virginia I can attest to the empty, vacant ghost towns with strips on the out skirts filled with all the poison restaurants and made-in-china emporiums visited by the overweight locals – there had to have been a Dollar Store everywhere I went – it was all so hideous and depressing.
When I got off the highways and drove through the actual main streets the original down-towns were all but abandoned and all I saw were black people milling about – and the once proud “high” street where the original wealthy had built their beautiful old homes was run down and shabby – god knows what they do for money or how they’re staying put.
In a few years all this “land” is going to be good for nothing but plowing up – much like Detroit – turning it back to nature because no one is using it.
What did floor me as well was the number of brand new pick-up trucks everywhere I went – large, shiny and well maintained. Very, very weird.
I use to have my doubts about Agenda 21 – herding people into cities – but from what I’ve seen small town America is not long for this world.
BTW – very nice read and I’m looking forward to the next installment
Here is why you see all these brand new pickups. Subprime loans to deadbeats and leasing at an all-time high.
Having been a Midwest (IN and MI) and NJ boy pretty much most of my life, I found your impressions of both to be most interesting.
You obviously do not wish to disclose the college location … not even the state … but it sounds to me like Iowa or Arkansas (technically a southern state). Although Wisconsin is know for it’s fatties … must be all that cheese eating.
I would just say that the 8-12 states (depending on who is counting states as being “midwest” … there is no hard and fast ‘rule’) occupy to great a geographic area whereby one can definitely, or even generally, say “the midwest is this or that”. There are significant differences even within a state. Northern Indiana (more industrial and cosmopolitan) is quite different from Southern Indiana (rural and hick-ish).
That being said, my biggest “shock” moving there from NJ was, as you stated correctly, how friendly everyone was. Good Lord! Total strangers — guys even — would actually nod their head and say “Good Morning” to me when I got my coffee at Dunkin’ Donuts! At first I thought everyone in town was a homo.
But, it is like the Beach Boys song says it is —- “The Mid-West farmer’s daughters really make you feel alright”.
Thanks Ll, very astute observations. Mrs RM and I just returned from Europe and what we saw was entirely different from your experience. 1 pickem-up-truck in 2wks. The only fast food joints were Chez Macs and the occasional BK. People walk everywhere and seem to be very fit. The food in the local cafes was fresh and excellent. Locals were friendly and helpful. We can’t wait to go back! Olga: a new pickup starts at about 50K(diesel) and if properly maintained should be good for 300K miles or so. Speaking of diesel: $8/gallon in Germany. We rented a BMW Turbo diesel and I drove it on a number of Autobahns. Doing 160KPH and having a local pass with 50+ MPH overtake was a bit unselling until I got used to it. Am also looking fwd to your UK assessment.
You didn’t mention the UK.
A few years ago I went to the UK with a Welsh friend of mine for the Christmas holidays, we flew into Heathrow from Moscow.
The first thing I met at British passport control was a huge stadium filled with thousands of travelers snaking along in the queue, and my customs inspector was some sort of Muslim person in a full black burqa with only the slit for the eyes visible. Needless to say I was surprised? YOU are going to question ME?
We took the train to Paddington station. There I was amazed that everyone spoke English, but I could understand almost none of it. People were polite and helpful and after years in Moscow, I felt rather put off by it. Unnatural.
We took another train to Swansea, Wales. Our seats were in the ‘silent’ car but we were laughing and giggling. Someone reported our noise to the conductor and we admonished to keep quiet.
In Wales I stayed with my friend’s four generation Welsh family. Exceedingly nice people, extremely clannish, they spoke Welsh as a first language, the grandmother barely spoke English at all. I took the dog ‘Bonnie’ out for a walk every day. One day when asked where we’d been, I explained we’d walked up the road past the sheep and over the hill to the village there maybe 1/2 mile, and gone to the pub. This was met with disbelief “You went to THAT village?? No one talks to THOSE people.” It rained the entire time.
After my stay I took the train back to London alone. I had an afternoon to kill before my flight back to Moscow so I went shopping on Oxford St. It was lined with Pakistani street vendors and it became quickly apparent to me that I was being set up on the barking chain for a pickpocketing ( I was wearing all my Russian winter gear). I dashed into a clothing store, shoved all my money and passport and airline ticket down my winter boots and went back out onto the street. No doubt in my mind I wouldn’t have gone one more block without a hit if I hadn’t done.
Flew back to Moscow and landed at Domodyedevo about 3AM. The first train into the city wasn’t for hours so I went outside for a smoke. There, in proper Russian fashion, the nearby trash can was on fire, the pavement was piled with dirty snow, and an airport babushka with a broom came out to yell at me for something, I don’t know. It was like music to my ears – the flaming garbage, the complaining babushka, the filthy snow piled up – HOME! No more of that British bullshit.
I would never go back to the UK voluntarily, not even for free. Dreadful dreary place.
But I would welcome the chance to live in Russia again. Much more suitable. And nobody gives a shit what you do.
Stucky , I’m just trying to figure Lipoh .You post people comment. This was very much a free for all.I didn’t know I was breaking Lipohs rules. Criticism of what you write hurts and going off topic is disrespectful . I get it .Want happen again on your original post .Yours or His.
I do for the most part enjoy what you guys write. Sometimes I forget others across the internet are also reading what you guys write and the comments that follow.
That’s where my confusion lays – I have a decent job in a booming city and I’m not about to contemplate a 50K vehicle, how is it that in rural, dying filled-with-shitty-jobs America you can’t swing a dead cat and NOT hit a brand new truck?
Admin says it’s the sub-prime loans but damn – between the mileage and payments what are these people doing for the rest of their expenses?
NYC is a special case …. and you won’t “get it”. That’s not an insult.
NYC is a city that grows on you. The more you go, the more you know where to go, the better you’ll like it. It takes time … something tourists don’t have.
One of the wonderful things about NYC is it’s ethnic diversity … and that REALLY comes in handy if you’re a food lover, as I am. I’m not exaggerating in the least when I say some of the best restaurants I’ve ever enjoyed are in The City, and not all of them will charge you an arm and a leg. Some will only take your arm.
NYC is just too big to take in casually as a tourist. There are places in Greenwich Village that are so quiet and green, it’s hard to believe you’re in a huge crowded city. The museums are fantastic. Broadway plays are awesome. And don’t forget NYC is more than just Manhattan. You got the boroughs, like Staten Island. Oh, wait, nevermind.
I do take issue with it being an unfriendly town. What does one expect? A small-town atmosphere in a huge crowded city? I’ve been to London also, and I don’t think it’s SUBSTANTIVELY friendlier than NYC … Londoners are better at “faking it”, though. NYC isn’t a “tourist friendly” town, imho. It just isn’t. They can spot you tourists a mile away, and the LAST thing they wanna do is entertain your silly-assed questions … cuz they got SHIT to do, places to go, people to see … and you ain’t one of them! lol
If you stayed longer, got to know them by breaking through that rough protective barrier …. you would likely find they are just as nice as those Midwestern folks. Most of them KNOW they live like rats in a cage in an almost unbearable rat race … they are human after all, and given the opportunity to let their humanity come through, they will do so and often enough they’ll spill-the-beans like a raging waterfall. That’s been my own personal experience.
All that being said I have two loves when it comes to NYC. I love visiting. I love leaving. I’m a guy who values peace and quiet at this age.
“You didn’t mention the UK.” ——— whatever
Duh!
“I will post the next part of the story, which will begin in London, when I get a chance.” —Llpoh
there are loads of fatties in ny, just get out of manhattan which attracts the upwardly mobile set who want to look good. go into the bronx or queens, jersey or long island, or go upstate, more than enough ignorant land whales out there.
Stuck – I thought about you when writing this. I did not dislike the people, who were just basically distant, so much as I found the entire system distasteful. As I said, it just seemed as an entire pyramid based on megawealthy at the top and everyone else at various levels of servitude to them.
It is not something I would want to be involved with. Plus the confined feeling having skyscrapers everywhere was unpleasant.
I’ve got family in NY and NYC, been there three times. Had fun but when it was time to go I was ready to go – just too many people for me. Of all the cities I’ve been to though, and I don’t know why, I like it the best. If you want a shit hole that bakes in the sun, go to L.A. – unless you’re loaded and are living the high life, its just nasty (at least to me).
How many times have you heard NYC described as “the greatest city in the world”?
That self-aggrandizing horse-shit has annoyed me ever since I was a teenager, when I was a true patriot.
Llpoh
Good post, and I’m sure it will generate many comments and discussions.
I am fortunate enough to have traveled to most areas of the US including many major cities including NYC (several times) and have lived in rural northern CA, San Francisco, and urban SoCal. I have also lived in Wyoming, Louisiana, and even New Jersey for a few months. I spent a summer in New England. I’ve enjoyed great trips to England and France as well as the Caribbean, the Philippines, and Mexico.
Despite the cultural differences in all of these amazing places, I found one thing holds true: if you are curious and friendly and a little humble, you will invariably be treated with kindness at a minimum, friendliness and humor quite often. I think I could count the number of rude natives on one hand, whether they be poor or rich, young or old, male or female.
As far as NYC goes, I love love love to visit, but would hate living there. Except maybe if I was very, very rich.
Nicely done Llpoh, thank you for this.
Poor people and the reality of landwhales and pickup trucks. Here is my quick take.
1. We have been told for 30 years to eat more carbs and less fat. Look around, THIS is probably the #1 reason our appetites are out of control and we are becoming landwhales on our way to early, supersized, graves. Poor people are generally poor for a reason. I’ve found that fear of change, grossly magnified feelings of inadequacy, fear of embarrassment and general laziness are some of the biggest reasons. Laziness equates to pre-packaged, processed, convenience foods, which tend to be HIGH carbs, LOW to NO natural fat and lots of chemicals. It isn’t our willpower, it IS our examples and choices at the market. The “recommended” American “healthy” diet is a starvation diet that forces our bodies into overeating mode. Most of our brains are being actively STARVED of the natural fat it NEEDS to function properly. Mrs. O’s school kid diet has created a situation where our children go all day without ANY natural fats – all high carbs – then we drug the little bastards when the results of the diet become apparent in the kids’ behaviors.
2. Pickup Trucks: Pickups went from work vehicles, primarily bought by contractors, farmers and those that needed to actually haul things, to symbols of manliness (overcompensation) and importance.
When the newly re-engineered Dodge Ram hit the roads in the ’90s, it took pickups from workhorses to stylish and status symbolish. Luxury pickups then really took off.
Thanks to the end of dotcom/Y2K, the end of easy money to buy things like flashy trucks – which are inherently more expensive per mile to drive – to slow down. As the pickups were basically the only non-luxury vehicles being sold that actually brought huge profit margins, the car companies have constantly fed the marketing push to keep math-challenged ‘murkins buying.
Now, for the first time in automotive lending history – that I know of – the pickups and luxury vehicles are being leased for very little money (comparatively) than ever before.
So, all these pinhead douchenozzles that can no longer be respected and admired on a face-to-face level, plop down a couple grand and then drive around in trucks they don’t need for a couple hundred in payments a month.
Because “math is hard” most people refuse to do it and these truck buyers are never able to figure out the true cost of ownership. Which is the same reason they pursue poverty through reproduction without a clue they have done/are doing it to themselves.
At least that’s my take.
Fun tidbits …..
How Wall Street got its name
The Dutch settlers built a large wooden wall across the island in order to protect themselves from the British and Native Americans who inhabited the rest of Manhattan, and formed New Amsterdam’s northernmost border.
The wall began as a picket fence in 1653 before the Dutch slowly expanded it to a 12-foot-high barrier over the years. At the time of the fence’s construction, the settlers let their livestock run loose around the settlement, and the hogs often uprooted orchards and gardens. Many of the animals foraged in areas along the wall, interfering with its construction. In a letter addressed to the city government in March 1653 (during the wall’s construction), Dutch Director General Peter Stuyvesant urged the government to take precautions against the pigs at nearby Fort Amsterdam. He detailed with “great grief the damages, done to the walls of the fort by hogs, especially now again the spring when the grass comes out.
Upon renaming the island New York and colonizing it as their own, the British took down the wall but referred to the street parallel to it as “Wall St.”
Bulls, Bears ….. how ironic, that PIGS almost destroyed Wall Street 400+ years ago. (I wish they succeeded.)
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Damn it. What a lousy dopple I am. Forgot to change it back after being a smartass.
I now return y’all to your regularly scheduled doom. Sorry!
Really enjoyed this, Llpoh, and am looking forward to the next installment. Also yours, Jim.
Having lived in Indiana, NYC, then Singapore / Hong Kong and back to Chicago, I can relate to all this. Stucky, you are so right with your insights above, as well.
Looking forward to reading more. Hope your recovery progresses.
Times Square in 1911
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In 1904, Long Acre Square was renamed Times Square in an effort to create a clear and unique name for the new subway station. Because “42nd St. Station” and “Broadway Station” could easily be confused with other subway stops along 42nd St. and Broadway, the head of one of the subway systems at the time suggested the name “Times Square” as the city center’s new name, as the train station was to pass through The New York Times’s new headquarters, underground. The newspaper’s building, then under construction, was completed the following year.
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Park Avenue
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Park Ave. is a predecessor to the High Line. Beginning in the 1830s, the avenue was home to the New York and Harlem Railroad, whose tracks were eventually covered with grates and grass. This section of the road passing through the “park” received the name Park Ave. while its continuation down south was named in accordance with the rest of the city – 4th Ave.
“Hope your recovery progresses.” ——- Thinker
+1000
Jeezus, how could I forget to mention something about that??? I know it sounds trite, but I wish you a full and speedy recovery. Don’t go croaking on us. Maybe you should visit a Sweat Lodge. Smoke some Wacky Tobaccy. Boink a squaw. Anything … to get better.
God speed.
I’m from Pennsylvania, settled in Minneapolis many years ago.
Midwestern people have no taste in food. They eat this fast food shit, quicker than the Sysco trucks can haul it in.
The home cooking is just at bad and bland. Well done beef – to the point where it’s gray, Casseroles that start with ‘2 cans of cream of mushroom soup’. Tater tots.
NYC sucks, Philly sucks, Chicago sucks. All the big cities suck.
Having lived in NJ then Cali and Vegas, and finally moving to Indiana, I would say the assessments Stucky made are spot-on.
OK … just a few more
Broadway, 1930 postcard
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Broadway is one of the main north-south thoroughfares in Manhattan … and its oldest. The name is a translation from the Dutch phrase “Breedeweg,” or “broad road”. “The Great White Way” became one of the nicknames for Broadway in the late 1890s, back when the street was one of the first to be fully illuminated by electric light. (Broadway not only runs the length of Manhattan but continues through the Bronx and even 18 miles beyond the City, ending just past Sleepy Hollow, New York.)
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The Bowery ———— Bowery is the English version of “bouwerij,” … Dutch for “farm.” It connected the farmland on what was then the outskirts of the City to the Wall Street area.
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Avenue of the Americas —— the official name of Sixth Avenue since 1945, when City Council renamed it at the urging of Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia. The idea was to bring some gravitas to what was then a run-down avenue by honoring the Organization of American States, an international organization with headquarters in Washington, DC, whose members include the United States, Canada and Mexico.
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Canal Street —– one of Lower Manhattan’s major east-west thoroughfares. It takes its name from a canal that was dug in the early 1800s to drain Collect Pond into the Hudson River. In the 1700s, Collect Pond, which was located between where City Hall and White Street are today, was a popular picnic area and wintertime skating rink. It also provided drinking water for the growing City, but by the early 19th century had become polluted. The pond was filled in 1811, and Canal Street was built along the path of the drainage system.
Madison Avenue —- named after President James Madison.
Lexington Avenue —- named for the Revolutionary War’s Battle of Lexington
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The Manhattan Project —— produced the world’s first nuclear bomb … with the principal research and design laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico. However, there were at least 10 sites in Manhattan …….. they included warehouses that held uranium, laboratories that split the atom, and the project’s FIRST headquarters, a skyscraper hidden in plain sight right across from City Hall … and employed at least 5,000 people.
Ok, OK … this will be the last history lesson.
In 1711, a law passed by the New York City Common Council made Wall Street the city’s official slave market for the sale and rental of enslaved Africans.
Between 1890 and 1896, Mary E. Lease was a “stump” speaker for the Farmers’ Alliance and the Populist Party. (Stump speakers actually stood on tree stumps so they could be seen over the crowd.) Some scholars believe Mary E. Lease was the model for the character Dorothy in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. She toured the country making speeches telling farmers to “raise less corn and more hell.” This is a portion of one of her better known speeches;
“Wall Street owns the country. It is no longer a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, but a government of Wall Street, by Wall Street, and for Wall Street. The great common people of this country are slaves, and monopoly is the master… Our laws are the output of a system which clothes rascals in robes and honesty in rags.”
Same shit, different century.
AMAZING! Isn’t it??
Good stuff Stucky, I enjoy the history lesson. A good fictional account of the rise of the city is in the book “Forever.” Having been to NYC many times, my aunt lives on the Upper East Side, I find it very much as Stucky describes it great plays, museums and food. It is nice if you have a place to stay. I’m not sure I could live there, but it is a great place to visit.
Gayle, right on about being curious and humble with a bit of humor will endear you to almost any stranger with a sense of decency.
Lloph, great read I look forward to the next installment Thank you.
Bob.
I apologize for this post. Not trying to “hijack” it. But, it’s a popular thread, and I hope this gets read.
“Viagra could cause blindness in men with eye problems, and even those with seemingly normal vision, a new study has found.”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2776190/Viagra-cause-blindness-Ingredient-drug-permanently-affect-sight-doctors-warn.html
This post is meant for The Holy Triumvirate: Admin, SSS, and Llpoh
Stucky
Well that pretty much eliminates any future posts about vision problems on TBP.
Great read thanks
I was in NYC in 2009, went there on AmTrash, and saw some really crappy real estate via the train ride. My wife is in NYC at this moment with a Bay Area German cousin, picking up a German German cousin and staying for the week.
I will take San Francisco any day over NYC, but do agree with Stuck, that when you know where to go, it makes a visit more enjoyable. My wife was born in SF, and I lived there for seven years.
I don’t know this for a fact, but read that 90% of the people in NYC are foreign born. As for walking,
Llpoh is right on, just like SF, people in big cities walk more. The tourist in SF are the fatties, same as NYC.
NYC reminds me of a police state, I have never seen so many copfuks in one place. Won’t be going to many places anymore, as I hate the shit I have to go through at the airports.
@Llpoh, glad you survived and are back.
I was vaccinated and contracted three of the illnesses. Three. Mumps,measles, chicken pox. Also pretty sure I had rubella but the doc insisted it was an upper respiratory infection, nearly killed me, figured it out before he did, but never admitted the real cause. As for chicken pox I let the bastards re-vaccinate me in ’03, ’04 and ’05 – after discovering I was pregnant. The day I gave birth they tested me and guess what? My blood work shows NO vaccination and NO proof of the chicken pox I KNOW I had as a child.
Everytime I get a flu shot, I come down with the full blown, miserable, flu. Last time I had a flu like illness was the last year I got a flu shot, so, 6 years ago.
You are incredibly smart, please spend some time researching some health/immunity building alternate/herbal/natural help in gaining your full vitality back. Please.
I am living proof that alternatives can fix things that modern medicine is still stuck treating symptoms.
Hugs. Welcome back, and again, thanks for this, love your POV. Especially considering my family is made up of a whole lot of the Midwestern rednecks you describe so well.
Flu shots are for fags.
Thanks everyone, special kudos to Stuck. Great background info.
Re the disease, here it is. I got pertussis – whooping cough. No idea where I picked it up. Generally it is very mild in adults, but can be deadly in kids. I did not get mild – I got cough your lungs out, gag and pray you can get your next breath. My doc, now that I am home, calls it the 100 day cough. Or longer if you happen to pick up anything else. Saying it sucks is an understatement. Docs had real problems with the diagnosis since it is rarely seen, and adults do not make the whoop sound. I kid you not there were times I thought I was choking to death. I am past the worst of it, but am unable to work full days as yet. It had been around 7 weeks. It also has a nasty habit of improving one day and worsening the next. It limited my trip experiences substantially. Fortunately the NY quack did do one thing right, by accident – he gave me a dose of the proper antibiotics, by chance only – that killed the infectious period, so odds are I kept the exposure to others to a minimum.
Sounds funny, kinda – whooping cough, how bad can it be? Fucking bad. Uncontrollable coughing followed by fight for air. Kids die because they cannot cough hard enough to clear the crap that accumulates in the throat, and choke when throat seizes up. Also good chance of developing pnuemonia ( Sp?), which I was only a day or two away from, but good doc in London caught in time and fixed that up quickly.
I managed to get out a few hours a day save for an unplanned week layover in Scotland that pretty much kept me in the room the whole time recovering/resting.
For what it is worth, keep an eye out for this shit. It can get nasty, and it lasts a minimum of 6-10 weeks and can go on for many months and even years, I am told.
So that is my sad tale. I will live.
LLpoh
I got whooping cough six years ago. I coughed so hard that I passed out while walking into the bathroom and face planted into the tub. I broke my glasses and had a huge black eye. It took over a month to get rid of it completely.
Things went dark on me a couple of times, and dropped me to my knees a couple times. My wife thought I was kidding when I told her.
Was me.
My youngest son, when he was about 2, caught something called ‘Croup’. When he coughed he sounded like a freakin seal, and he labored greatly with breathing. I was probably never so freaked out in my life before, or since. I thought he was dying. The Holy Roller ex wanted to pray it away. I told her I’d punch her out if she didn’t get out of my way. It was probably the first time I wondered to myself, “What the hell did I marry into??”.
You’re lucky you even got to see the NYC doctor. They usually require a reservation. (bad Indian joke)
I was a long distance trucker for over 30 years. Actually, more than a “trucker”…a trucker/furniture mover. Started with North American Van Lines, went with an independant mover in Hartford CT and then finished my career with United Van lines.
The point of that biography was to tell you that I’ve been to the Five Boroughs many times very intimately. Many truck drivers from around the country bring goods into the city, but none know it as well as a mover.
I respect NYC. I never liked the eternal traffic, but it’s no worse, and in some ways actually better than, other big cities I’ve dealt with. The worst? LA, then Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Boston, anyplace in NJ and the black hole of New Orleans holds a special place in my heart.
Passing though those cities, and many others, is a task with a tractor-traier, but it takes some kind of special finangling to get around downtown neighborhoods with a 53′ trailer, much less trying to park somewhere to work.
I’ve been to a lot of places in this country and my experience was that, at least in NYC, people know enough to get the f**k out of the way when you’re trying to make a turn. The cops don’t care what you do as long as you aren’t screwing up traffic. I’ve gone the wrong way down one way streets, parked in bus zones, and I don’t remember how many double parked cars I clipped, side-swiped or (in one case) crushed in Manhatten. If you park your car illegally, you are mine. I avoided it as much as possible, but if I HAVE to make this turn, and your car is parked on the corner and you don’t come running out from where-ever you are when you hear me blowing my airhorn, well then my friend, your car is toast. And the cops will not give me a ticket as long as the car is illegally parked.
One thing I really liked about the city is that there’s a deli or cafe just about everwhere. I love those great NY deli sandwiches.
The people? If they don’t know you, then they are lukewarm to civil when dealing with you. Once I got to know folks in some areas I went into a lot, they opened up and were the best. I delivered backhauls of paint and stuff to stores in Brooklyn and Staten Island. Over the years I got to see how big of a heart many New Yorkers have. I was in Brooklyn (Lowes store off of 2nd Ave and 12th street) once during a big snow storm. The people I worked with at the store told me not to drive in that weather and invited me to stay at their homes overnight. That is awesome.
So, it’s like I said. I respect NY, and it’s because I know NY.
A quick search says croup is viral and 80% go away in two days. Imagine croup on steroids for weeks or months to get an idea re pertussis. I have seen croup – the barking cough is scary as hell. Anything with a kid is scary. Pertussis apparently kills young kids without a sound at times – they get it, throat closes, and gone before anyone knows they are sick.
Doc was easy to see. At least got the meds.
Been reading up on ebola. One thing about the big cities is that they are the places where folks would be most at risk from ebola. Ebola transmits via direct bodily fluid contact, and is not airborn. Mass transit and folks cheek by jowl are where the real risks lie. So NYC and London, etc. would be hotbeds of risk. Places where folks drive their own cars, etc, not so much.
See Llpoh. Another positive for my two hour commute. I can’t get ebola while sitting in traffic on the Schuylkill Expressway.
Stuck posts above: ““Viagra could cause blindness in men with eye problems, and even those with seemingly normal vision, a new study has found.””
They told us the same thing about spanking the monkey, and they were wrong about that. Why should we believe them this time?
Now that I have had a bit ore time to look through the posts:
Lysander – getting to run over illegally parked cars has GOT to be the best job ever. Seriously. Thanks for that image!
Stuck – I cannot say which state/town as to do so would out me/mine. I dropped bread crumbs on another site re what my kid was up to, so a quick search of the city/town would reveal the college which would reveal my kid.
Whatever – I have never felt uneasy in London or the UK. In any big city you have to take security precautions re pickpockets. A money carrier around the neck is my preferred choice. It is essentially pickpocket proof.
TE as a dopple says “plop down a couple grand and then drive around in trucks they don’t need for a couple hundred in payments a month.” Not to quibble (much) but the trucks I saw were dual cab – large, expensive mofos to carry the whole family of Shamus to the feeding grounds. I doubt very seriously that the payments would have been under a grand a month for most of them.
There were a lot of copfucks around, per Welshman’s observation.
Re bb’s query (yes, I read his posts) about the point to the article – there was not meant to be a point, generally speaking. It was simply my observations. And my observations, in general, support what many hear are seeing – that there is something seriously wrong out there; that a great many people are blind to what is going on, although they are tending to be feeling more and more pain, which may wake them up in the end; that the great heaping mounds of wealth seems (to me at least) to be creating artificial societies that must fail in the end as there is no real substance or wealth being created; etc.
The city produces nothing of value? How is this different from Toronto or Paris or London or the entire nation of Italy or Spain. The wealthy in New York support most of their world class amenities, such as Central Park, the Met, Lincoln center etc… Tops in the nation.
I don’t understand all the gripping and bashing when it comes to New York. Yes, it’s crowed and busy, but thats WHAT A CITY IS SUPPOSE TO BE LIKE. CIties are not for everyone with the crowds and noise, but would you rather have our premier city in the US be like 98% of the cities in this country.
Most cities in the United States SUCK. Downtown consist of a cluster of tall buildings surrounded by blocks of grey concrete parking structures, a bar district of a few streets, maybe a movie theater and if their lucky a sports area or stadium. Generally speaking anytime after 5pm the downtown is dead with exception of a few scattered homeless and people working late. New York is busy all the time and all over the city, it doesn’t die after 5pm. There are museums, movie theaters, live theaters, any type of restaurant you can think of, not just chain or fast food. You don’t have to drive 8 miles out of downtown to the local 16 screen mega plex in the suburban mall to see the latest blockbuster.
If a city is lucky it will have a yuppie enclave and a university to help it from being a complete dump. Generally outside of downtowns you will find 5 miles of blown out ghetto with boarded up houses and vacant lots. Foot traffic consists of students, old people and the poor. In New York you have to make a major effort to find the ghetto. East New York and the South Bronx are hard to get to. The neighborhoods in and around Manhattan are strong and in demand with little or no vacant lots or boarded up buildings. Almost impossible to find, unlike most cities.
People in US cities for the most part dress like shit. Pants falling down, fat people in tight clothes, no sense of real fashion. In New York people actually know how to dress, like in the old days, when everyone had a suit and dressed well for occasions. Not jeans to weddings and funerals like we see today.
Like I said, New York isn’t for everyone, but when it comes to American cities it really is in a class by itself.
NYC is the next best thing to Chicago, only MUCH more expensive. I love NYC, but I will not pay $400K for a ratty studio apt in a “marginal” neighborhood. I did business with a number of NYC denizens, who were native to the place and either Jewish or Anglo, and found them chatty and reasonably friendly, but with an aversion to wasting time.
Chicago is the best of all worlds, if you stay out of the west or south sides, where 97% of the mayhem in this city occurs. If you want to live in an uber-wealthy, uber-trendy city nabe filled with glossy, slender, well-dressed people, you have nabes like Streeterville, Near North, River North, Lincoln Park, or Lakeview. If you want an interesting, urban, cosmopolitan nabe that has a lot of charm, interest, diversity, and great architecture, you have Uptown, Edgewater, Rogers Park, Logan Square, Bucktown, Wicker Park, Rogers Park, West Ridge. If you want a family-oriented, cozy, urban middle-to-upper-middle class urban enclave with great old houses and a small-town type retail district, you have Ravenswood, Lincoln Square, Old Irving Park, Albany Park (still sort of dowdy, but coming along). Jefferson Park is super-nice blue collar nabe that is one of the safest neighborhoods anywhere. Then you have neighborhoods like Edison Park, Peterson Woods, West Rogers Park, that feel just like a gracious older suburb, with beautiful older houses, but cheaper taxes and better public transit. And you have top tier cultural amenities, several top educational institutions, wonderful architecture, a fantastic array of good food, and decent public transportation that runs 24/7.
And, contrary to popular image, MOST neighborhoods are safe. Just stay out of the far south and west nabes, be reasonably alert to what is going on around you, and for Chrissakes, do NOT use an outdoor ATM while drunk at midnight, and you will be fine.
1. So, certain people here are part of the Holy Alliance while relative newbies like Billy, bb, SS and me are considered Asshats and worse? I notice the Holy ones are using all the harsh language they pretend to deplore. Peeps used to have a sense of humor here. I guess the pendulum has swung the other way. Darn it, now I feel like I’m walking on eggshells.
2. It is nothing new that viagra can cause ‘mini strokes’ in the eye, I heard about that in Forbes several years ago, my buddy nearly lost his eyesight from that stuff and I declined to use it, seeing is more valuable than sex, believe me.
3. Traveling and touring is not my favorite past time, I’m not fond of people watching or speaking to strangers. The country used to have charm but now it is all so homogenized with the same eateries and big box retailers that you can find from Juarez to Cancun; walmarts, sam’s club, home depot and the same food chains we have here. thanks, Clinton.
3. Good to know the whooping cough afflicts adults also, there is an epidemic of that happening in N.Cali. I wasn’t concerned but now I will make it a point to ask my Chinese doc.
4. LA, NY, these are world cities, points in between are called flyover states. Sort of like some commenters I know, hi, bb.
I knew i forgot my conclusion, you mentioned the wizard of oz, the author was a proponent of silver (or gold) and Dorothy’s slippers were originally silver slippers.
Chen – here is the deal. People here go through a lot of trouble to create stuff to post as threads. Then people like the ones you mention come along and on those threads they effectively take a big dump, and destroy the thread. It is simple common courtesy that it not be done. Maybe if you spent several hours creating a post, you would understand. You comment, but other than that you have never posted a thread.
Historically, the flamethrowing has not occurred on these types of threads. Even the most incendiary poster ever on this site – Smokey – honored and respected that.
If people want to have a fight, take it to one of the other threads. There are thirty current threads shown on the sidebar, of which maybe three or four are original material posted by TBPers. I am not talking about threads where there are articles from other sources posted, or links. I am talking about those threads where the person has taken the time to actually create the article themselves. I believe they should be exempt from the mud slinging. Disagreement, arguments – fine. but the full on shit-flinging should go to another thread.
I really am amazed you and bb cannot understand the difference. If people keep destroying original threads I for one will not take the time to write any more.
Chen – my doc recommends folks get a whooping cough booster. He says the original often fades out after a couple or three decades. I guess that is what got me.