Bloggy types like myself, Jeremiah Moss and EV Grieve frequently get a bit of grief from folks who believe we spend too much time being nostalgic for the past. Personally speaking, I’m fine with that. While the term nostalgist seems just slightly less disparaging than curmudgeon, I’m resigned to the fact that it’s what arguably defines large swathes of my blog. I don’t mind being that guy who says that “things were better in my day” … simply because I know I happen to be right. So be it. And while many pooh-pooh my blog for that particular crime, I know it still speaks to a lot of people who feel the same way. If you don’t like it, well, then you’re cordially invited to fuck right off to your nearest artisinal froyo stand on your Citibike and drop dead.
But, anyway, as I suggested as much in this old post, no matter what lost era I may pine for, there were invariably similarly inclined guys shooting their mouths off at the time about how shitty things had become, and things were better a decade or two earlier. That’s probably just how it all works. I have a hard time imagining how the times we’re currently living in will be seen as some kind of golden age for New York City, but who knows? Compared to whatever’s coming next, these may indeed by the salad days. Pass the dressing.
In any case, the only reason I got to thinking about all this crap is because of the clip below, a video compilation of then-vanishing New York City landmarks put together by The Urban Eye, back in the balmy, carefree days of 1995. Obviously, they had no idea what was in store. I believe some of this footage was re-purposed in the video for the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion’s “Do the Get Down.”
Enjoy the bittersweet trip back through time….
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