While waiting for some work documents to arrive on Friday morning, I stumbled upon this video on YouTube. Essentially just a short snippet of a summer day in Manhattan in 1997, the video is nothing very special, but I still found it kind of striking.
At the time this was filmed, I’d have moved into my apartment on East 12th Street, and was still working at the TIME Magazine News Desk. The news cycle, at the time, wasn’t exactly the jam-packed Hellscape it is today. The biggest stories would have been the return of Hong Kong to China, Wimbledon tennis matches, Autumn Jackson found guilty of trying to extort $40 million from … er… Bill Cosby, the debut of “South Park” and the …. ummmm … birth of Kylie Jenner (i.e. the antichrist). Giuliani was still mayor and still quite a dick, but hadn’t quite lost his fucking mind, yet. Towards the end of this particular summer, Princess Diana would be killed in a car accident while being feverishly pursued by paparazzi.
On the streets, you’ll notice no Citibikes. No cannabis emporiums. No sidewalk sheds. No 5G towers. No hedge-fund bros with golf bags. There are several businesses depicted like Crunch, Tower Video and Gaseteria that no longer exist, but also old school mom’n’pop ventures like since-vanished bodegas and pizzerias. Things are a little rough around the edges and not quite so squeaky clean, but no one’s really in a hurry. No influencers are gabbing into their smartphones. No one’s posing for selfies.
Travel from lower Fifth Avenue to Lafayette Street and then Second Avenue before you’re down on the Lower East Side for a lulling spell in Hamilton Fish Park off East Houston Street before repairing to the sleepy streets of Two Bridges and Chinatown.
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