You may have seen this nighttime time-lapse video making the rounds of late (you can see it here at East Village Feed).
Which reminded me ... of a video from 1993 that I came across on YouTube a few years back... it's a time-lapse video looking at the southwest corner of First Avenue and St. Mark's Place...
Amazing to see so many people out walking... without talking into a cell phone...
[Video from YouTube via TreeTopVideo]
amazing. what an incredibly different East Village. a lot of older people in this video, and no one "fabulous." and no one screaming. it's so quiet, yet still alive. that's the neighborhood i knew and loved. and miss.
ReplyDeletelots of fabulous njow! iced coffees and fashionable "rockers"!
ReplyDeleteJeremiah nailed it - a lot of older people, no SATC acolytes, no drunk frat boys. Now THAT was a neighborhood.
ReplyDeletesomeone should recreate this today for a side-by-side comparison. it validates many of us, and our sense of how overcrowded and insane the EV has become--against the belief of those who say "it was always a party scene!"
ReplyDeleteWhenever I leave the EV, it's always great to witness an actual mixture of genuine people of all ages who actually appear intelligent, and be reminded that the rest of the world isn't like the EV. (Yet anyway) There are real human beings (more or less) of all ages outside the dorm-like nightmare this neighborhood has become. The EV has turned into some bizarro alien planet overrun by young, dumb vapid clones under 30 with identical faces, hair and clothing, who speak in unbearable squeaky high-pitched nasal voices. Even the once unbearable upper east side is a relief from this neighborhood.
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