Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Trash can trouble in Tompkins Square Park

Word circulating in Tompkins Square Park is that a feud between two crusties ...


... resulted in one of them getting whacked in the head with a trash can lid...




The general sentiment is that this group of crusties are more violent than groups seen in previous summers...

Photos by Bobby Williams.

24 comments:

Jessie Gray said...

Absolutely more violent. There was a group of around 15 last Tuesday clustered around the scaffolding on 10th b/t B and C, and in the middle of a group was a fist fight between two.
Also, was coming home late one night in July and walked by two having sex on a stoop on 10th b/t 3rd and 4th. Not violently though, spooning position.

Pinch said...

The general sentiment is correct, in my opinion. Also, the fact that they often travel in packs around the neighborhood absolutely increases the propensity for violence. Many of them believe they can do whatever they want and don’t give a fuck how their actions impact others.

tourist said...

this is a little like national geographic. you should capture one, put a tracking beacon on it, and let it go so we can study the species even more.

Anonymous said...

You could say the same about the frat boys, Pinch. Not violent, but obnoxious.

Pinch said...

@Anonymous: Yes, to some degree, you could say the same about frat boys (and sometimes people in general), I agree. But with this group I think the behavior of many of them is on another level.

randall said...

People are people and some are assholes, especially in groups. Frat boys, crusties, woo girls, garbage men, gang bangers, cops, drug dealers, steel workers, politicians, soldiers...why this is surprising is beyond me.

Anonymous said...

Crusties abuse animals and are nasty. I don't even walk through Tomkins anymore, it depresses me to see all the dogs they abuse.

Pinch said...

@Randall: It's not surprising, no...but it is a topic of conversation/debate.

Hey19 said...

Even the Higgs Boson turned out to be unsurprising, its a tough crowd that demands only conversations about surprising things.

also die crusty punks.

Anonymous said...

At least the crusties go away after the summer, unlike the self-entitled frat boys, whose ranks only increase and take over the streets in their football jerseys and flip flops every Saturday and Sunday in the fall. Die frat boys. I'll beat you over your fucking heads with your own golf clubs next time I catch you pissing on my stoop and leaving behind trails of wing barf.

Anonymous said...

i agree with the commenter above...they are fucking disuting. i cinrge when i look at these fratty dooshes everywhere in their sandals, wooing through the streets, having brunch, wearing football jerseys.

poco on 3rd and b is the worst and most depressing post-grad frathole brunch spot it is disgusting to walk by.

anyway, i agree the crusties have been violent!
the girls kept starting fights in the grass during the tompkins riot day.

but that day i was so happy because i didn't see one yup in the whole park.

i love seeing the crusties.
it is so much less boring than the frat/brunch crowd.
they are vile new jack cornballs.

shmnyc said...

Did that guy even know he was injured?

Anonymous said...

Whomever is saying they would rather see a crusty over a frat kid obviously has not had much experience with them. Your encounters must have been few and far between from a great distance.

Anonymous said...

Don't forget what this year's batch of crusties have done to St. Marks Church!

http://evgrieve.com/2012/06/report-crusty-trouble-at-st-marks.html

Anonymous said...

Hmm, now I wonder if the two having sex are the same pair where the female grinds her crotch against the male's face on the sidewalk in the middle of the day, oblivious to their surroundings, presumably because of drugs.

Anonymous said...

but isnt this what the olds always talk about all the fun back in the day before the hood got fancy and it was more "real" ....fights, muggings, drugs,...

Pinch said...

I think it's the difference between losing the grittiness of the neighborhood vs. longing for the violence/drugs/mugging/etc. of the past.

Anonymous said...

Its just sad all around...the crusties seem to be lost and extremely unhappy people, and they diminish the park for the rest of the neighborhood.

Anonymous said...

Maybe this is a different breed of crusty? I have been around the EV since Tompkins was a tent city and so aggressive or disrespectful. Annoying, yes- asking for money when they are young and able, yes- but not like this. I mean crusties have been hanging around the stretch from St. Marks to the park for decades so in a weird way they too are part of the fabric of the EV even if they tend towards the obnoxious and abhorrent.
Maybe it's a generational thing- whoo, bro, or crusty may have this same disregard for others- "look at me! i'm somebody bc I talk really loud and do silly things in the street!"

Pumpkin Patch said...

I didn't even think unis in Manhattan had fraternities. Every guy wearing a button up isn't a "frat boy".

That description now has about as much meaning as "hipster" (which is none).

/Wears flip flops during the summer. Not ashamed.

Anonymous said...

This might be an economic thing too--times are *really* tough in a lot of places, and while I don't know their origins, it could be changing the overall homeless/crusty scene.

Anonymous said...

Well....NYC has enough of its own home grown problems ...We do not need to import meth addicts from Nebraska.

Or from anywhere in the world for that matter.

Fact is New York City taxpayers are already overtaxed. We cannot afford to be the homeless/vagrant capital of the world anymore.
Especially with court orders requiring NYC to house everyone who asks...

This is not sustainable. Not harsh , just reality.

send them back from where they came.

Anonymous said...

Crusties are viollent toward each other.

Fratties are violent towards the neighborhood.

Anonymous said...

They have made their way to Stuyvesant Square park this summer. They are horrible and abuse their dogs. I see them here in the morning and during the afternoon they're begging on 6th Avenue. Come night time they come back to the park. Plus they bring their own rats. We have plenty thank you. I'm afraid they're going to bring fleas. We've always had a few here and there but this summer they've made it their second home.