Loving The Much Decried `Side

I know I said in that last post that I probably wouldn't see or do anything today that would warrant a blog entry, but I just read this article in the Real Estate section of today's New York Times, and it really rang my number. As I've mentioned elsewhere here on Flaming Pablum, I grew up on the Upper East Side and swiftly came to resent its seemingly staid, insufferably stuffy and inescapably snobby trappings. I de-camped downtown (where I'd always hung out anyway) in the mid-90's and swore I'd never go back.

Ten years later, while I'm still downtown, I find myself wondering how much longer I'll be able to afford living here -- not just downtown, but Manhattan in general. As a native of the island, the concept of leaving is pretty much a horrific anathema to me. But as has been viscerally lamented on these pages, downtown has been rather expensively uptowned. I comfort myself with the notion that most of the things that made me adore downtown NYC have vanished. As such, the pain associated with the idea of leaving is lessened.

But Peggy and I both agree that we're not ready for the Westchester life or even the outer-borough experience just yet (if ever). We continually tell each other that if we can find a way to stay in Manhattan, we should explore it. In turn, this leads me back to thinking about re-locating to the streets of the Upper East Side. In this article I linked to above, Lynn Ermann lovingly recounts her own gradual acceptance and affection for the old neighborhood (oddly, evidently Miss Ermann and I spent large swathes of our respective youths living on the same street -- East 86th between York and East End Avenues). Initially saddled with the same biases, she has gradually found the U.E.S. to be refreshingly unburdened by any need or desire to communicate a specific identity. That same "characterlessness" (as I used to describe it) can be as attractive as it can be repellant. Given the encroaching change in character here downtown, the concept of going back to the Upper East Side is looking better and better.

Comments

[Jon Williams]

I know the east river is a huge mental barrier but I'm able to afford a pretty big and nice one bedroom just across the williamsburg bridge on a very low income. 8 minutes on L to Union Sq or 6 minutes on the J to Delancey/Essex. I get fresh direct and there is a beer garden not 5 minutes on foot from my house. Oh, and the record stores are bigger.

[Pat]

I'm with Jon. Outer borough love has much going for it, whether you're into either convenience of hipness. How many truly artistic types live in Manhattan these days? I think the borough is clinging to its 1980s cultural self even as the cultural center has dispersed.

I'm a Queens booster myself. It's the best borough if you like to eat ethnic food.