Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Why people move away



I've noticed a few more people than usual moving from the neighborhood. (Perhaps there's a reason for so many more men with vans signs.) Given the drop in some rentals, maybe these people are just moving a few blocks away to a building with better deals. Or maybe they lost everything and have to go bunk with a relative. Or maybe they came here during the heady days of, say, 2005 and figured to become the next Carrie Bradshaw. (Or at least have the chance to sit on her stoop!) I wish I could go up to these people and conduct exit interviews. Why are you moving? What will you miss about the neighborhood? What are you glad to be leaving behind? I'm always curious about this.

Luckily, I came across a blog written by a young professional living on the LES. After one year here, she is moving to another undisclosed neighborhood. Almost in answer to my questions, she provided a list of things she will miss and not miss about her apartment and the LES. Among the items:

Things I will miss:
--The gym. I hope I can still force myself to go to the gym when it isn’t in my building!
--My stainless steel stove
--Dry cleaning in the building
--The statue of Vladimir Lenin on top of the Red Square building. I can see him from my bed so I wake up to him with his right arm in the air every single morning.

Things I will not miss:
--The girls who scream, “Where’s my boyfriend!?” at 4 a.m. while leaving the Lower East Side bars on any given day
--The symphony of honking on Houston Street that forces me to sleep with earplugs
--The fresh vomit that I sometimes step over while leaving for [work] on any given day
--The smell of pickles from Katz Deli that I am forced to inhale when walking home every day
--The fact that there is not a close enough Starbucks
--The mural of Kiss on the brick wall on the bar across from my apartment

I guess that says it all.

17 comments:

Jeremiah Moss said...

pickles! dear god, how could you hate walking through the smell of katz's pickles? that would be a reason to STAY on the LES.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I'm with you on the pickles. I lived near there years back...and would just stop in front each day just to take it all in. I love Katz's.

Barbara L. Hanson said...

My first reaction, too. A briny, bracing, New York smell.

Anonymous said...

starbucks? really?

esquared™ said...

She'll miss the stainless steel stove and she won't miss the smell of pickles? mmmmm....?

And I'm with Bowery Boogie with the Starbucks, of all the other coffee shops in the LES, she's looking for a Starbucks?

Anonymous said...

Chico's lovingly rendered replication of the cover of Kiss' DESTROYER was THERE BEFORE YOU WERE, SISTER!!! Go choke on a cupcake!

Anonymous said...

Can you link to this blog? It sounds like it might be good for a laugh or two.

-AD

Anonymous said...

So this pampered princess is going to miss all of the amenities of her bland generic glass box (the hideous "Ludlow") and none of the things that make a neighborhood and a city unique. Good riddance to her and let's hope she takes the rest of her ilk with her.
Unfortunately for those of us who are still being forced out of this neighborhood by our greedy landlords, the allegedly new low rents (in non "luxury" buildings) are still way beyond what we can afford.

esquared™ said...

I found the link, but won't give it to you, [to protect the innocent].

(just copy & paste key terms in search engines, EV grievers)

P.S. her #1 thing, she'll miss the most is .....

The guys who work at the front desk. Especially you Daniel! Your smiling face has been a great way to start my day for the past year!

Anonymous said...

Alex, I agree with you.

Anonymous said...

Thanks esquared, I didn't pick the right phrases for google the first time around.

sachalouise said...

so she's moving to a place that lacks an in-house gym, doorman, and dry-cleaning service, and yet is closer to that desperately-needed starbucks? hmm .. sounds to me she's moving less because of the economy and more because she wants to hang with her galpals and bros in murray hill.

Anonymous said...

If I moved here in 2007 from my parents house and started a blog, could I be considered a "neighborhood watchdog?"

Anonymous said...

Guess her post also answers another question we've had - "what the hell type of person would live at the Ludlow?"

Anonymous said...

now PLEASE F*CK Off in peace.....thanks be to God, Amen........

Jill said...

Adios muchacha, don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out, and etc.

L'Emmerdeur said...

Damn it! Just caught up with your blog, and now I have to head downtown after work for a pastrami sandwich. I hate you!