For whatever stupid reason, 1994 still doesn’t seem *THAT* long ago, to me. I still regularly listen to some fairly crucial albums that were released that year – Portishead’s Dummy, Jeff Buckley’s Grace, Nick Cave’s Let Love In, Massive Attack’s Protection, Release by Cop Shoot Cop, Pandemonium by Killing Joke, Orange by the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and many, many others. It was a great, great year for music. I was still technically living on the Upper East Side, at the time, but spending most of my time downtown. I would have just been starting my gig at the TIME Magazine News Desk and freelance writing for various music periodicals.
But, obviously, once I take off my rose-tinted shades, I realize that 1994 was freakin’ 27 years ago. Pre-O.J. trial. Pre-Oklahoma City bombing. Pre-Princess Di death. Pre-9/11. Pre-Afghanistan. Pre-Iraq War. Pre-Indian Ocean tsunami. Etc. Etc. Etc. On a personal level, it was before I met the woman who’d become my wife, before our wedding, before we moved to our current apartment and, very obviously, before we had kids. It was verily several lifetimes ago.
Never is this more apparent than in the video below. Shot in 1994, “NY SCENE” was an “alternative” New York City tourism documentary. Here’s the official description:
NY SCENE is an alternative New York City travel documentary from 1994. As the tape says, "How to do New York... without looking like a tourist." Ripped from a VHS tape that I found while rummaging through The Thing thrift store in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Featuring many defunct and some still-functioning New York City establishments, local alternative music from the time and a superfluous use of the word "funky," NY SCENE is an incredible snapshot of NYC culture in 1994.
From the back of the VHS tape: NY SCENE is the ultimate insider's guide to New York City. This 52-minute travel documentary is a sonic blast of New York sights and sounds. Price down peddlers at the 25th St. flea market, feast at an Indian row restaurant, breeze past the ropes of Manhattan's hottest clubs. It's much more than the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building. NY SCENE will show you where to find the New Yorker's New York. A few more NY SCENEs: Day Activities: Street art, funky museums and Central Park like you've never seen it. Cheap Eats & Dining Out: Bagels, falafels, coffee shops, Indian, Mexican, Sushi... and more! Night Out: From performance poetry to Showtime at the Apollo... and everything in between. Tips Around Town: How to get around and get by- without getting taken.
Travel expert Julie Karlin walks you from St. Marks to Soho and real-life cabbie Clinton Herrington gives you the tips for a change. Fueled by a soundtrack from some of NYC's hottest bands, NY SCENE is for those who want to be part of the scene... even before they get there.
So, yeah.
For all its bluster, the recommendations herein are nothing too especially radical, but it’s fun to see several since-vanished concerns again, like Howdy-Do, the Sixth Avenue flea markets, the Yaffa Café, Magical Childe, the Ludlow Street Cafe and the old Japonica and invocations of since-closed ventures like Wetlands, Downtown Beirut, Club USA and even my old neighbors at the 24-hour pool hall, Le Q (which is now a sedate antiques emporium). It's a very different city.
Enjoy the trip back in time…
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