No One In New York Has Had An Interesting Or Original Idea In The Last 10 Years

Boomers and Gen-Xers are too scared to make waves as they head toward old age. And Millennials are too cautious and conservative- they have a terror of being "odd" or different.

The result is stagnation.

R1 Millennials aren't cautious: we have no money, everything is expensive now, and we are distracted by phones/apps.

I think younger people in their early 20's are more concerned with what others think of them than past generations. I blame being raised under social media. They worry more about saying or doing things that will get them up votes. Good art requires a certain amount of bravery and not giving a shit what other people think of it.

People used to bring their fresh ideas and energy to NYC, now they go where they can survive without paying $2400 in rent.

People have been saying this about New york since 1812. What they didn't consider was that the outer boroughs would become part of what people consider "New York." 20 years ago only a few neighborhoods outside Manhattan were seen that way. It's even expanded to Jersey City. Newark will be the next. It is connected to Manhattan 24/7 by the PATH train--20 minute ride.

There are still some hilarious Jewish stand up comics in NYC who talk about being Jewish, and make jokes about the goyim. HILARIOUS!

Millennials are too coddled and aren't tough enough to be creative and interesting. NYC has always been expensive. When I graduated from college in 1988 I was earning $19,000 a year. That's the equivalent of $40,000 today. The minimum overtime exempt salary in NYC today is $50,000. I shared a studio apartment with two other people. Our rent was $860. That's the equivalent of $1800 today. It is completely do-able if you are willing to sacrifice space and not have the creature comforts of home and stop with the excessive consumption (from $6 lattes to $500 sneakers). The rewards are so worth it. I wouldn't give up those early days in NYC for anything.

Agree OP as a NY-er of 30 years. The worldwide domination of capitalism and commercialization of all things, feelings, experiences and people have created a different world. And the emergence / predominance of internet-based “art” eliminates traditional forms of art and the methods of production.

Not sure what the future of a global city is. I think people will always want to be around other people and experience “coolness” - but perhaps they will be content to communicate purely through Instagram / social media and eliminate the need for social spaces.

All the cool people are in Seville and Lisbon.

We have the same issue in London; the issue being all the boomers and Gen Xers moan that London is over because they can't be arsed to go to west Croydon or Peckham or Walthamstow or anywhere outside of zone 1 where the interesting stuff is actually happening. Yes, Soho is boring, and so is SoHo, but don't blame me for your own failure to travel or recognise anything as interesting outside you're own bubble.

I decided to run for Prez!

I've lived in London all my long life and have never even been to ANY of the places you mention! R10.

&, BTW - REAL Londoners do not talk in 'zones' for fuck's sake.

I blame [italic]Friends[/italic].

What happened OP is that the pop culture of the 90's that was being generated in Hollywood infected New York. You had MTv and the E channel and all the celebrity shows seeping into the brains of everyone that wanted to be cool. Remember we also saw the death of the super model who got replaced by the celebrity of the moment. Then the Real Housewives Of New York happened and all the botoxed, cut and pulled became the benchmark for mainstream women. Hollywood sensibilities invaded the East Coast. Then Manhattan got invaded by the bridge and tunnel dish rags once Rudy got through with his time in office. New York City is full of suburbanites, what the fuck do you expect?

I don't know what you're talking about OP. The Great Recession was an idea that came out of NYC. So did Stop and Frisk. Considering what we are learning about Rikers Island NYC is leading the country on horrific jails.

I was thinking the same thing myself recently. Everything that's in now are the same things that were in 10 years ago. Maybe the cycle of trends has stopped.

I don't think so r 16. The entertainment industry has gotten closed. There is so much nepotism that people that are really good can't get in to make any difference. I know there has always been nepotism but I'm a crew member and I've been doing this 30 years and I've never seen so many children and spouses etc. getting into the business they way they are now. We are getting flooded with everyone's relatives who from what I have seen are lazy and stupid and entitled. Hollywood has always been somewhat of a closed system but it's really bad now. It's reflective of other desirable industries I'm sure.

The internet flattened out culture in a way no one expected, including in New York.

One big problem is all of the Baby Boomer gatekeepers who refuse to step aside—hoarding the access and the capital and whose tastes are still stuck in the 90s.

And yes—the internet as a flattener is a huge reason as well. Just look at the goddamn meme cycle on Twitter. It's exhausting.

Also want to say that it's just another way of keeping wealth and anything worth anything in the circles that already have everything. I think there are still some great things that can be done but in order to be visionary you have to be reflective, sensitive, intelligent and gifted in some way. The privileged are far too pampered and ignorant to bring the world anything deep and meaningful.

I appeared at a Bravo Halloween Party as Diana Ross, in the age of SJWism and "cultural appropriation." That's original, and very brave!

Someone put it really well, R20, but I forget who—something like, "Rich people used to want to be friends with artists. Now they all want to be artists."

All the creativity is on the internet .

& it's fucking incredible.

if someone from just 20 years ago saw our computers and phones and what they can do, it would blow their fucking minds.

r20 It comes down to the WASPs being out-muscled by piggy little Jews like Harvey Weinstein.

The privileged WASPs still had a sense of noblesse oblige and public spirit.

But that's exactly what made them so vulnerable to being conquered by piggish, nepotistic Jews with their grasping, ferociously ambitious little eyes.

just New York?

It's everywhere.

"Now" is about money and food.

r22 and the rich (((people))) that don't want to be artists, don't want to be around artists who grew up poor.

R5, Newark will NEVER be considered nYC you uncultured dumb ass bitch. DIE IN A GREASE FIRE HO.

remember to FF, R24.

"The arts" were just as "jewish" in the creative 60s and 70s, dear.

I’ll never understand the millennial excuse of being distracted by phones or apps as in r2 as if they’re powerless against the phones. It’s used as an excuse for everything from lack of ambition and creativity to simple failure to accomplish a task. Just put down the damn phone and pay attention to the world around you. The phone isn’t rooted to your hand with burning spikes.

What is the phenomenon of Mommies with baby strollers who want to invade some boho area and gentrify it through the roof? It happens everywhere.

At this point even Nashville is better than NY, musically anyway.

r3 is correct. There's too much auto-censoring in current social climate. You can't make good art if you have to think it through 100 times.

Watch a few episodes of High Maintenance. There's still some people gettin' weird with it.

[quote] something new other than Kindel Jenner

Oh, [italic]dear...[/italic]

High Maintenace gives me hope for New York in 2018. Even if it is fiction

I listen to classical music so I already have more than 600 years of great music to catch up with and don't need anymore.

One can put up with only so much genius.

Welcome to late-stage capitalism.

We need something new. Something fierce.

Trump’s Most Influential White Nationalist Troll Is A Middlebury Grad Who Lives In Manhattan

Suggestions for spicing up NYC. 1- revive Christopher st to be a fierce ant-establishment exemplar for the world Starting with Rockbar and Julius. Hangar too

Darlings it's been this way sine 1985. You want art? Kansas!

R17 - interesting point. When we discussed inclusion riders most people made the exact opposite point. People were being hired based upon merit.

In a weird way, SJWism and “diversity” are the dominant “trends” right now. Everything in youth counterculture (art, music, media) revolves around that these days.

R43 When it's the orthodoxy, is it really counterculture?

R44 Well, considering the still-in-power Boomers are very anti-SJW, it still is a counterculture to some degree.

Durung the last 20 years the overwhelming majority of young and creative people have been pushed out of NYC due to hyper-gentrification. Bloomberg's primary objective from 2001- 2012 was to spearhead the city's comittee on drastically altering the zoning laws so that real estate investment entities can have a field day. The results have been a boom to the rich and have displaced affordable housing even in the outer boroughs .

Fran Lebowitz has the worst day ever on 11/8/16.

On the plus side, it has made a lot of other US cities a LOT more interesting. Good and interesting new restaurants, music, and art can now be had in most tier 1 and tier 2 cities. That really wasn't the case 20 years ago.

They aren't the cultural backwaters they used to be. Now - the one thing NYC always has over any other city is the frenetic energy which is addictive. But you don't necessarily have to feel like you are surrounded by bland blahness in other cities. Not that there are a lot of cities in the US I would choose to live in, but things are getting a bit better all around.

I hope some journalist looks into what billionaire's son, Nick Kroll, did to comedy. Fascinating how he uses his father's shady fixer tricks to fix comedy careers for him and certain friends. Many of those friends are children of the very wealthy and politically connected. Comedy is not about funny but about who has the most money or who Nick Kroll can use to get ahead. Henry Kissinger's son David is a big shot in Comedy Central and produces Conan's show and Jules Kroll and Henry are dear friends who belong to the same social clubs and make deals on how to get Nick to the A list. Just one example.

Whitney Cummings, Nick Kroll, Iliza Shlesinger, John Mulaney, Amy Schumer and many others are from super wealth and are getting ahead strictly due to that kind of networking. Varying degrees of talent but all got in due to these arrangements.

R49 give it a rest already!

Someone on another thread pointed out that The Plague not only killed off a couple of generations of artists, but killed off a big chunk of the discriminating audiences that keep the high-end arts going.

Of course that's not the only reason the Arts are fading in the US, there's also out-of-control commercialism, the insane cost of living in the big cities, the internet, the necessity of filling hundreds of cable channels with anything that can be slapped together with a few bucks, rampant abuse of power in the entertainment industry, etc. It all contributes to a cultural decline, but I really think The Plague was a factor too. Both talent and taste were lost, and both are missed.

I just want to point out that High Maintenance is not a documentary.

Carry on.

That is true r48, the flourish culture and music scenes in regional cities are a silver lining to the stagnation of NYC.

I think a big problem was the Urban Hipster scene became too profitable, and therefore not allowed to fade away like every other scene had. So nothing new was allowed to come and replace it. As it is now it is an ugly, conceited, bloated, self aware and aimless scene, creatively toxic and bland, bitching when a mediocre billionaire mega celebrity doesn't win an award rather that actually doing something worthwhile.

And fashion became nothing more than an embarrassing Kayne West Kardashian Jenner fan club and if Edward Enninful takes over not much will change, in fact it will probably get worse.

LA is the new cultural epicenter. Sad but true.

R50 people wonder why comedy is so bad nowadays. That is a big reason. It's interesting how the son of Weinstein's fixers and spies is fixing the modern comedy scene. There was discussion of how the very wealthy are too coddled to produce great art and so it was relevant to the thread. What are the odds that so many children of the super wealthy are getting their own comedy central shows etc.

It's still exciting if you're young and have a halfway decent job. I found myself seated next to a 20 something at one of Joan Rivers' last shows. He was thrilled to be living in and discovering NYC. I recognized that.

On the other hand, there's less. Of everything. And there's no way the young man was going to know that.

Mainly it's because NYC no longer allows you to try shit and fail anymore. So it's less creative and cutting edge.

I think this was pretty much obvious after the crash of 2008.

OP, I take your point in general, but some of our best music ever has come out of the past decade. Passing Strange (technically now maybe 11 years old) is a masterpiece of masterpieces and Stew and Heidi have brought so much to the theater scene since then.

Others reasons to celebrate:

Bartlett’s revivals, Fun Home, JRB’s Bridges score and Kelli’s performance in it, Kelli in Cosi, Chita and all things The Visit, the spectacular work at Encores and how they continue to one up themselves time and time again, The Band’s Visit, Indecent, Stockard in Other Desert Cities, Nathan Lane in The Nance, Iceman and now Angels, Joe Mantello in The Normal Heart and his direction of The Humans and Three Tall Women- both casts/productions also worthy of mention, Audra in Shuffle Along and Lady Day, Patti and Christine in War Paint...I could go on and on.

Yes, there is A LOT of bad out there and it takes a remarkable amount of energy to sift through it, but if you do, you can still find the brilliant art and music you seek.

[quote]Henry Kissinger's son David is a big shot in Comedy Central and produces Conan's show

Okay, one—the sins of the father are not the sins of the son. But also, two—OMG. No. Not okay.

[quote]JRB’s Bridges score

LOL.

[quote]Stockard in Other Desert Cities

LOL.

[quote]Patti and Christine in War Paint.

LOL!

R59, What may I ask is so LOL about those things? JRB wrote a marvelous score for Bridges and Kelli’s performance is forever seared onto my brain. I saw Bridges 4 times and essentially sobbed through the final performance. A legendary day in the theater.

Other Desert Cities was fantastic all around (saw it once at the Mitzi and three more times on Broadway with Light), but it was Stockard at her best.

War Paint’s score is VASTLY underrated and fans will cherish it the way they do The Grass Harp and Henry, Sweet Henry nowadays. Patti and Christine were both perfection in every way.

B'way? No more legendary melodies or sophisticated lyrics... no inventive choreography or the dancers to dance them.

"Passing Strange" ? A lot of noise and cheap emoting. No precision. No craft.

And another reason for the decline of the NYC arts scene, R57, is that Broadway is so insanely expensive!

What's the minimum income needed to live in NYC and be a dedicated theater queen these days, half a mil? More?

[quote]I've lived in London all my long life and have never even been to ANY of the places you mention! [R10].

Then YOU are part of the problem, R12.

R58 Not sure what you are trying to say there. I do agree about that sins of the father thing but in my case it was the sins of the son that made me dig and then find out about the sins of the father. Then I began to see a clear pattern of how the son was using the whole pay for play business model to establish comedy careers for himself and those on his "list." Conan even did a fundraiser for Kroll Chairman, Bill Bratton, at some point. Not to mention NK's connections to many journalists and how and Chelsea Perretti(sister of Buzzfeed and Huffpo founder) have been using those connections to sell themselves as comedic geniuses bound for the A list. It goes deeper still but I'm very aware that comedy and conspiracy theories are a hard sell... Why I began digging can be found in this link...

In some ways it's harder to move to NY, because of the cost, but in another way it's easier, because you can Skype with your parents and Facebook with your friends, and do meet ups to fill your empty time. You can also see where the latest blogger is eating lunch. It's not the same as moving there even 15 years ago, when you'd get lost in the concrete jungle and had to sink or swim.

[quote]Then YOU are part of the problem, [R12].

This from a person who talks about London in "Tube Zones"

[quote]We have the same issue in London; the issue being all the boomers and Gen Xers moan that London is over because they can't be arsed to go to west Croydon or Peckham or Walthamstow or anywhere outside of zone 1 where the interesting stuff is actually happening.

>> west Croydon or Peckham or Walthamstow

It's almost funny.

And most of those places aren't even IN London.

But I googled West Croydon (probably where YOU live) and it looks like THIS (see link) >>

[quote] outside of zone 1 where the interesting stuff is actually happening.

Can't wait to check these places out!

All the cool people are in “emerging” markets — both those within the (post) industrial “west” and outside of it. There is always creativity — if you look for it. The fantasy of NYC as center of creativity I wasn’t a fantasy in 20C — nowadays it is pure fantasy. Check out China South Africa and non white markets. Seriously.

[post redacted because independent.co.uk thinks that links to their ridiculous rag are a bad thing. Somebody might want to tell them how the internet works. Or not. We don't really care. They do suck though. Our advice is that you should not click on the link and whatever you do, don't read their truly terrible articles.]

BTW - pic @ R68 is "edgy" Peckham - where " interesting stuff is actually happening"

and now Walthamstow @ link

your idea of where " interesting stuff is actually happening" seems to be places where they're having knife attacks.

I think I'll stick to "zone 1" thank you very much.

[quote]Check out China South Africa and non white markets. Seriously.

Great advice for white gay men....

I'll stick to the London that looks like THIS >

NOT this >>

Yes, stick to your white stucco-fronted Regency houses, you parochial, bourgie prisspot.

[quote]This from a person who talks about London in "Tube Zones"

Boroughs. Travelcard zones would be zones 1-6. Evidently you never venture further than zone 1.

R74's "home" in Croydon >>

and his last place >>

Miss R75/76 in her abode (NOT the Chinese takeaway).

It's only a flesh wound. Sacrifices may be required when searching for culture outside the city proper, R70.

Are you ready to DIE for ART, R78?

I’m not a theater queen but posts in this thread reminded me that I used to hear Broadway songs on the radio all the time. They were part of mainstream culture. Then again, so was radio. My mother would get up in the morning, go in the kitchen, turn on the radio and start her day. The radio station was local to our town with announcer who lived locally. You would hear a commercial from the local department store telling you about the sales going on this week.

No more local radio, so people don’t even turn it on.

But yeah, I remember hearing on the radio: Maria, Somewhere, Who Can I Turn To,, The Impossible Dream, Try to Remember, What Kind of Fool Am I, just to name a few Broadway score songs that were hits. Now they take hit songs and fashion a “play” around them.

[quote]No more local radio, so people don’t even turn it on.

The music became more and more horrible - so more and more people turned it off.

[quote] Now they take hit songs and fashion a “play” around them.

ancient hits, no?

They even shit down "edgy" Croydon radio.

R77 must have been beside herself.

R74 Doesn't live in London.

[quote]What they didn't consider was that the outer boroughs would become part of what people consider "New York."

Yeah all the creative energy in New York has shifted to Brooklyn. Expand your horizon outside of Manhattan.

[quote][R74] Doesn't live in London.

I live in Homerton.

This incident happened outside my flat two days ago.

Brooklyn Hipsters are the main problem. Superficial style over substance for the past decade.

Exactly. The OP was calling out Brooklyn mostly. But I agree, culture is ‘stuck’ at the moment.

We are currently going through one cycle of nostalgia after the other.

r88 "But I agree, culture is ‘stuck’ at the moment."

At the moment? It's been 'stuck' for the last thirty-eight years.

Speaking as a lifelong New Yorker who went to both fashion and art school in the 80s and 90s, NYC hasn't had an interesting or original idea in the last 20 years. I always thought that the death of Keith Haring was the end of oldskool NYC. It's not that his death ended the art and music scene but you could tell that after he died, it was the end of an era. I think that the Baby Boomers and GenXers on the cusp of the Boomer/GenX transition were the last true great creative generations because they were the ones that respected and built on the past.

The generations after them either have a contempt for the past (you will hear millennials call legendary artists stupid, overrated or whatever) or think that creativity is all about recycling or even flat out stealing someone else's work based on the excuse that "nothing is new under the sun." So they haven't been able to create anything of any worth. All their "creativity" amounts to is either plagiarism or recycling and sampling. I stopped listening to Top 40 radio years ago, not because I thought the music sucked but because I was so sick and tired of hearing the songs I grew up with being sampled and recycled.

I also think that creativity has died in general in America because the country has become nihilist and anti-humanist. Art and creativity is a form of human expression and in a culture like this one, where people sneer at positive values like love, hope, courage, friendship or exploring deeper emotions (heartbreak, betrayal, etc.) you're not going to get a lot of creative ideas.

High Maintenance is a great show. If only NY was as much fun as it looks on that show. And didn’t all the hipsters leave Brooklyn for upstate NY?

r49 That's all CIA. WTC security on 9/11? Kr0ll. Who was nominated to lead 9/11 Commission? Kissinger! Why did Kissinger back out? His clients were the Bin Laden family! Who was put in charge of "rebuilding" Iraq? Paul Bremmer, partner at KISSINGER ASSOCIATES.

Remember that movie Wag The Dog? About the CIA Hollywood producer who produced fake war footage to start a war? That character was based on Robert Evans, seen here with his close friend HENRY KISSINGER

Keith Haring was overrated. Completely. Just like Jeff Koons. One trick ponies.

Why do Millenials expect Boomers to step aside for them ? In what world has one generation ever stepped aside for another ? That’s not how life works. Very few people are handed anything. You have to fight for your place. From one generation to the next there have always been challenges and difficulties and hardships. Certainly for those of us not born into wealth.

Bemoaning the fact that some people won’t step aside for you so that you can have a slice of the pie is self defeating at best and, at worst, dangerously delusional. There are more young self made millionaires now than ever in history. I doubt many got that way because of someone older stepping aside.

R90 - well put.

r90 said: "I also think that creativity has died in general in America because the country has become nihilist and anti-humanist. Art and creativity is a form of human expression and in a culture like this one, where people sneer at positive values like love, hope, courage, friendship or exploring deeper emotions (heartbreak, betrayal, etc.) you're not going to get a lot of creative ideas."

It's actually the opposite. Modern and Post-Modern art helped pave the way for the country becoming nihilist and anti-humanist. Those movements were used to de-Christianize America and corrode America's moral fiber.

And gays were all too eager to participate in that Jewish Cultural Marxism project. They still are.

The brutal domination of capitalism post 80’s eventually killed art. When money is the sole god and everyone is forced to work a soul crushing job to survive, there is no ability to make art or value put on art for the sake of its beauty. I’m reading about Tennessee Williams, Capote, Vidal and the mid century artists - and it is so jarring to see that people could create art, write, live lives of inspiration only 50 years ago. The global hegemony of capitalism has forced mankind to become cogs in the wheel of a machine that feeds the 1% and their families. Metropolis the film was scarily prescient.

The problem is people began to create "art". There is nothing more cringing than a person who identifies as an "artist" . Kayne West was a big dent in pop culture, he single handedly ruined the word artist & he made chasing the genius label trendy and hugely important for young musicians.

When he constantly whined on about the importance of his art and the culture significant of his art it was embarrassing, but what was worse was the way the music press fell for it and other musicians fell for it and believed it and were influenced by it. They went out with the primary intention of creating art, which is not how art is created and will always fail its creator.

Art cannot be made, it is an involuntary and natural consequence of a person trying to sincerely communicate or express a feeling, emotion or opinion, something important the feel inside, in whatever medium. But now people just make art for the praise and glory and commercial benefit.

Plus all the grad school programs cranking out "artists"

Lady Gaga was worse about it than Kanye IMO. She described the release party for 'Artpop' as an event that will be studied and written about for generations to come. At least Kanye continues to make good music while he's being pretentious.

Jews ruin everything

Artflop was hilarious.

There are Golden Ages. We see this in perspective. It is probably with some distance now that OP makes his point.

The internalization of the arc of American culture that came together in the 1960s - youth, environtalism, feminism, LGBT, civil rights, radicalism, and multiculturalism came to an end in the 1980s. That was the last Golden Age of New York.

It is not that there are no intellectuals or artists today. There have been however no new progressive, only regressive, ideas since.

R10 here, the 'not a real Londoner'. Apologies for hijacking your thread, OP, but it has been a laugh. I especially enjoyed the pictures of Croydon and Peckham. And what can I say about Tottenham which hasn't already been said by the Evening Standard? Was it two years ago now?

I am surprised that the REAL Londoner here hasn't ever been to Peckham when even the New York Times has. Didn't you ever go there to find Nelson Mandela House? I thought we all did that in the 90s. Apologies for using the word zones. I remember a similar debate on here some years ago when someone else used the word and, perhaps you, also went mad. I dread to think what would happen to your blood pressure if you ever managed to find an underground night in Croydon - though it's unlikely you'd know where to look.

[Quote]I’m not a theater queen but posts in this thread reminded me that I used to hear Broadway songs on the radio all the time. They were part of mainstream culture.

You probably also heard them on The Ed Sullivan Show, R80. There was a time when TV brought the latest of Broadway to the American masses. Sadly, those days are gone.

London had an absolutely incredible music scene in the mid-60s to early 70s.

Beatles, Stones, Jimmi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Clapton, The Who, Kinks, Black Sabbath, Traffic, and many more, watching each other perform every week and creating by far the best body of classic rock music any scene could ever dream of.

Jimi and Clapton

Floyd

Carolyn Christie, Roger Waters, Pattie Boyd and Eric Clapton

bb King Eric Clapton,Syd Barrett

Jimi Hendrix Cream Pink Floyd

[quote] London had an absolutely incredible music scene in the mid-60s to early 70s.

It moved to New York and died there in the 1980s.

Brian Jones Roger Daltry Yoko Ono John Lennon Julian Lennon Eric Clapton

There is good music out there. It's just not playing on ClearChannel or iHeartRadio to the masses.

Don't forget me, queen!

Other reasons why the postwar period was an exciting one.

1) The factories, communications and transport lines in Europe & Asia were destroyed in the war. America built industry during the war with factories turning out tanks and planes. They started turning out all sorts of consumer items after the war that sold all over the world, making for a strong economy and a stable middle class.

2) Europe and Asia had to rebuild. America didn’t.

3) WWII soldiers came home and they became a driving force in entertainment. After seeing the holocaust and the brutality of the Japanese, a lot of men — like Rod Serling, eg — were convinced that war was pointless, wasteful and traumatic. These men believed in the UN - try to negotiate before starting a war. They believed people shouldn’t be punished for being a different religion or ethnicity. They believed in civil rights for all. Black soldiers returning from Europe decided they weren’t going to live with segregation anymore. They’d just fought for their country. Many whites agreed (though not enough). Black musicians went on TV just like white ones, finally, and more white Americans were exposed to great music.

4) The war inspired artistic iconoclasm. Whether you liked it or not, people were saying, “Look at what the old life gave us. WWI & WWII. We’re breaking away and trying new things.”

5) Wealth in postwar America & leisure time have people the ability to contemplate. They tried different jobs, joined garage bands, traveled and generally felt safe enough to try to “discover themselves.” This lead to some good artwork. It also had a dark side of people joining cults.

So our culture in those years was saying, “We’re tired of the old ways, of the old prejudices that lead to pointless wars that kill millions of people. Our young men should not be cannon fodder. We’re tired of being discriminated against at home and we’re not going to take it and neither should women and gays. We need to try justice, fairness, equality, freedom.”

That WWII generation is gone now. One very bad thing that came about in postwar years was advertising. Ads told Americans what to buy, how to smell, what they should look like. That was the beginning of today’s sophisticated political propaganda.

World War II was pointless. The US public wanted to stay out, but the Jews dragged us into it, by allowing Japan to bomb Pearl Harbor.

Then America had to fight the REAL bad guys, the (((Soviets))), for the next 50 years in the Cold War.

WWII also led to the creation of the CIA and the permanent military industrial complex.

No thanks.

How utterly untrue. Someone in New York (I forget his name but bless his lil' heart!) approved me to move in and shit all over, I mean open our most patriotic location yet. So I'd say that there was one purty good idea. Can't beat our waffle fries!

Come check us out, y'all heteros....

R100, it's funny--I think her career officially tanked the moment she considered herself an "artist" instead of a pop star. She was so much better in the first two years of her career.

Contemporary Art hasn't done Bjork's music any favours. Such pretension.

But r65 that sinking or swimming is the pressure that makes the diamond.

I rebuke thee Satan @ r85.

Exactly R123.

Beautifully said r90.

One of the reasons I think I haven't cared for the new filmed musicals is because there is no real emotion in them. No real heartbreak, no sense of wonder, vulnerability, dare I say earnestness. And if I'm honest I miss technicolor, it made me feel like I was in a similar yet very different world than the one I live in day to day.

I don't think big cities are anymore kind or less cruel to the naive and the unprepared than they ever have been.

(hit Reply too soon) Maybe to the trust fund types who have hundreds of thou$and$ of dollars to spare on rent/mortgages and luxuries. For upstarts and the poor who have to work for basic amenities, or the creative young who "make it," no. In fact, it is more and more difficult for them to even live in the city.

I have met my share of aspiring young who live in 8 to 2-bdrm apartment situations, or some such appalling condition, so it's not like there aren't any people who are making sacrifices and trying to do this. But this is in LA. I don't know what they are doing out east.

Sorry r98 I think you're giving Kanye too much credit. I also don't think anyone in Hip Hop these days thinks they are artists not those disposable guys that are around for a couple of years then ?. You also don't know much about Kanye's influence in rap. He was producing great rap tracks before he started the ascent to his own stardom. He is not responsible for the record companies that only want to do the same old shit over and over. Those companies don't want artists, the producers have all the power and keep most of the money. They just switch out the faces while keeping the product the same. That's not Kanye's fault.

Kanye West joined the Kartrashian circus.

Tells you something about his alleged smarts and his supposed genius.

Art and music have been largely defunded in public schools. I’m an older millennial and those classes were never available in my schools (until I entered college, which put me $60,000 in debt). That’s a major source of the problem. Only the rich can afford to be “artists”, but they’re the least interesting people on the planet. It’s a fucking travesty.

That's true too R128.

I'd say up until about 12 years ago it was doable to move to NY... it was expensive but I'd no longer have a car... so no insurance or gas payments and it would even out. I wouldn't be living large there, but I'd be able to do it without starving or having to sit home all the time.

Now? Nope, I can't even entertain the idea of moving back.

I tell you what r130 I'd happily marry any of the three older Kardashian women. Kim, Kourtney, Khloe. From what I've seen they are loyal. Ride or Die. You don't find that in many women let alone women of privilege.

Tell me DL, is the Alt RIght Classic Rock Troll also the Libertarian Troll?

"r20 It comes down to the WASPs being out-muscled by piggy little Jews like Harvey Weinstein.

The privileged WASPs still had a sense of noblesse oblige and public spirit.

But that's exactly what made them so vulnerable to being conquered by piggish, nepotistic Jews with their grasping, ferociously ambitious little eyes."

"Modern and Post-Modern art helped pave the way for the country becoming nihilist and anti-humanist. Those movements were used to de-Christianize America and corrode America's moral fiber.

And gays were all too eager to participate in that Jewish Cultural Marxism project. They still are."

"r49 That's all CIA. WTC security on 9/11? Kr0ll. Who was nominated to lead 9/11 Commission? Kissinger! Why did Kissinger back out? His clients were the Bin Laden family! Who was put in charge of "rebuilding" Iraq? Paul Bremmer, partner at KISSINGER ASSOCIATES.

Remember that movie Wag The Dog? About the CIA Hollywood producer who produced fake war footage to start a war? That character was based on Robert Evans, seen here with his close friend HENRY KISSINGER"

"London had an absolutely incredible music scene in the mid-60s to early 70s.

Beatles, Stones, Jimmi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Clapton, The Who, Kinks, Black Sabbath, Traffic, and many more, watching each other perform every week and creating by far the best body of classic rock music any scene could ever dream of."

"World War II was pointless. The US public wanted to stay out, but the Jews dragged us into it, by allowing Japan to bomb Pearl Harbor.

Then America had to fight the REAL bad guys, the (((Soviets))), for the next 50 years in the Cold War.

WWII also led to the creation of the CIA and the permanent military industrial complex.

No thanks."

I think you are also starting to see young people entering into the age of security, pragmatism and practicality. They are looking to enter or switch careers into viable industries with ++ job growth, stable salaries, and jobs which won't be hijacked by robots and automation.

When I was a kid, they fed us all of that "you can be anything you want to be" (astronaut, president) stuff. Well, that panned out being true for maybe 2% of the population. Nowadays, it is even less likely. How responsible is it to push kids in these idealistic, artistic directions? I know I am not. I tell my teen nephews and nieces to look into medical jobs (nursing, PTs) because those won't immediately be made obsolete by technology. And yes, art is suffering as a result.

The wells have all been poisoned.

Jews drink of dead waters.

Be gone, R136.

Teenagers have always been ridiculous and pretentious, and have thought they could work in a creative field and avoid all the money-grubbing soul-destroying bullshit that turns people into their parents. It's just that before the internet, the pretentious teens couldn't bother anyone bot their friends, teachers, and families with their nonsense.

But back in the day, it actually was these pretentious young people who wanted to go to NYC, in the hopes that their talents would blossom there, and I suppose that actually happened in some cases. No more, though. Now everyone knows that it's impossible without a trust fund or lottery win behind you, and besides, the internet is the real creative career path in most fields.

R138, I have a niece who currently wants to be a Youtube "Makeup Artist guru," which I suppose is sort of creative in a sense. She has a Youtube channel, Instagram, a good number of followers, and is good at her war-paint tutorials, but she is one of what, tens of thousands? Millions? Like I tell her: become a nurse. Then she'll have 4 free days to devote to her makeup thing on the side, and a flow of good, steady income.

It's called a side hustle 139 and theses days there are plenty of people exploring that avenue. YouTube is a great side hustle if you can get viewers. I don't like being on camera so unfortunately I couldn't go that route.

Thanks, R133, I needed a laugh today.

Not a fan of most Jews but they didn't allow the Japanese to bomb Pearl Harbor, FDR did

And even if they were glad the attack meant we would join the war, the plight of Jews in Europe didn't receive the attention from the President that they hoped.

I think the Portland OR artisan hipsters are ok and are making good music, but the Brooklyn urban hipsters are just loathsome.

[quote] I think you are also starting to see young people entering into the age of security, pragmatism and practicality.

Boring kids. They add nothing to the city that's interesting.

R92 I can't even go that deep. Too stressful. But I do know what Kroll is capable of and that Tig Notaro is one of their special friends who got very special treatment. For more Kroll "fun" google Princess Diana Tapes Kroll, JFK James Files Kroll, RFK Jules Kroll, Richard Chang Kroll, Allen Stanford Kroll. It does go on and on and it's so amazing to me that the super shitty "Tig" Notaro has that kind of muscle behind her

R92 Another interesting Kroll google is .... Kroll Humvees. They got major contracts with govt starting in 1998. Millions upon millions of dollars supplying tanks for all the wars that followed. In other words their was no bigger benefactor. Still I can't see it as a conspiracy. Too big and too evil but since I dealt with Kroll firsthand I suppose even that is possible. unrelated but Kroll also owns a Pharmacy and Forensic testing empire. All googlable, of course.

Also Kroll International. Biggest contracts given them for armament to wars. What are the odds? This is all being written by a person who never believed in conspiracy theories and who is very Jewish and pro Israel. I just got incredible screwed by Nick Kroll and then down a very strange rabbit hole. Setting Notaro up with fake cancer fame must have been incredibly easy. And then it's very easy to cast aside the doubter as a nutjob. That's another Kroll specialty.

Car New Dataloungers,

Just google “Alisa Spitzberg,” folks. She’s back on Datalounge talking to herself about her two obsessions. Her obsessions are both comedians and at least one had to get a restraining order against her.

Meanwhile, I’m notifying the webmaster that this crazy person is back on DL spreading her obsessive nonsense.

google my name so you an see how well Marty Singer and Jules Kroll did on behalf of Tig Notaro? No read the link below to get the real story. FTM and deeply deranged Tig Notaro really doesn't want the truth to come out and is running to Muriel once again. Of course he's scared of Kroll and Singer and will oblige even a cancer scammer.

goolge Lavely and Singer and Mathilde Notaro and then look into Marty Singer's other clients. The fact that she had Kroll on retainer is a lesser known fact that I only learned years after trial. If I am so insane and obsessed why go running to Muriel? Smart DLers surely would figure it out on their own.

The deranged Notaro has not one big of truth on her side so the only hope she has is to get everything deleted. It's worked well for her so far. She was able to keep going and commit cancer fraud after her many crimes in the courts(witness intimidation, perjury, subornation of perjury, and obstruction of justice) Not a bad deal for her. The only true part of her story is that her mother died.

Oh well off I go to make copy of this before Muriel caves to the demands of Marty Singer and Weinstien's fixers.

Who would be at the ready with a bought off appeal after all these years? Who would be here at the ready trying to make sure no one reads the truth about Kroll or Tig Notaro? In a New York lost it's creative edge thread, no less?

No one cares(cause he's way too ugly) but Nick Kroll is gay and reads the datalounge on the regular. So if there are any Kroll show fans here, say hi to Jules Kroll's THIRSTY son. Feel free to ask him how he got that Independent Spirit hosting gig while you are at it. He won't tell you but it's because he calls in favors for Kroll family funding to Indie Film. Same reason Nick and Notaro are such a big deal on NPR, and at Sundance etc.

r151 It might be worth noting that I doubt your desperate comedy ambitions were ever going to go anywhere.

Your "some success in comedy" basically amounted to a few teachers telling you to "keep it up". While some of your claims against the Krolls may be valid, your mental illness jumps off the page. Remember that mentally ill people are attracted to careers like comedy because they're incapable of functioning in a 9-5 work environment because of their mental illness.

Also, as a Jew, your ethnic group has the highest rates of all mental illnesses in the world, because of all the inbreeding in the European shtetl for 1,000 years. I'm not telling you what to do, but try to see the whole picture that includes your own obsessive tendencies and whatever other issues you might have.

If you're under the impression that you'd be a famous and wealthy comedian if not for Kroll and Tig, consider it's much more likely that it was never going to happen anyway.

"But seriously, I was a former real estate agent, writer, and editor, just a few months new to L.A. I'd had some success in comedy. I did Improv, character work, and stand up, and was counseled by teachers and many others to "keep doing it you have tons of talent," but I never really followed through, but was now planning to. I had no illusions about L.A. For now, I knew I was relegated to open mics - a dismal stomping ground."

R152 I just want logical non antisemitic types to read it and draw their own conclusions. Antisemitism is a form of mental illness and you strike me as particularly sick in the head. It's irrelevant to the story if I ever made it in comedy or not. Thanks for bumping the thread though. I just want people to bare witness and even your inane comment advanced that goal. Also I got much more encouragement than teachers telling me to do it but I don't like to toot my own horn so hard to go into detail.

What a bizarre turn this thread has taken..

R153 Well, I tried. Self-awareness was never a strength of the Jews. Which is why Jews believe that any cultural criticism of them MUST be irrational and without merit.

Even the FACT of sky-high rates of mental illness in the Jewish community is dismissed as Jew hatred.

R154 Totally!

R155 is that your real name? Also, keep talking!

So how many F&Fs are we allowed per day?

Holy shit r146 I don't have time now but I will google all those. Hard as it may be to believe there are conspiracies at work, always have been. I don't know why people can't believe that people who have power and those that want more power wouldn't use their resources to rig the game. Just look at what has happened to our country since 1980. You think everything that has transpired are just happy accidents that just happen to benefit the plutocrats?

Sorry I didn't know 146 was crazy when I replied to it.

But upon reading further. . .

I like the direction that younger chefs have taken food and dining into. Food was shit back in the 70s.

When would you say this new direction took place R160

R158 Not crazy at all. Read the comments on the post. No one with a brain (or a heart) would read what is presented and say that. Disappointing that you'd say that after what you've written. Whatever etc..

[quote] Boring kids. They add nothing to the city that's interesting.

Kids are getting conflicting, schizophrenic advice from adults who are out of touch. On one hand, they get made fun of if they pursue liberal arts, creative pursuits that won't translate to a viable career in adulthood. Then on the other hand, they get branded as boring if they choose to pursue stable, growing jobs. Some people just like to bitch for the sake of bitching.

New York is for finance majors only.

Really, R164? So who cares about publishing, fashion, or high end dining anymore?

"So who cares about publishing, fashion, or high end dining anymore?"

None of those careers pay enough to live in NYC.

I left the city full time in 2005. Kept an apt there that my husband and I visited, then let that go 3 years ago. My husband wants to retire to the city, but I was thinking of how vibrant my neighborhood was then and how it’s changed. Lots of places closed because tech replaced them. Camera shops, video stores, music stores like HMV, the little tobacco shops that sold magazines and newspapers, card shops,. You can get all that from your phone or computer nowadays.

Then the shops that have disappeared because their rent went up too high. My tailor/dry cleaner for 15 years, my hair stylist, bakeries, small hardware stores, florists, bars (anyone remember the third avenue bar crawl? Those bars are long gone), small specialty restaurants and even greengrocers are disappearing. What’s the point of living there if it’s no longer convenient? I could get a last minute invite, run outside to the gift shop downstairs, by a gift, wrapping paper and a card and voila, it was done in 10 minutes. Of course there aren’t any card/stationery/gift shops anymore.

Why should I pay $3500/month for a small 1 bedroom to live somewhere that’s dominated by Duane Reade, CVS and ATMs? It doesn’t make sense. They tore down small buildings with neighborhood shops to put up half empty high rises to be bought as investments by Russians and Chinese.

Yeah, the hospitals are good, but I could take a train in if I needed specialty care.

So true R167. When the small businesses died citylife died.

Snowflake millennials truly lack the coping ability and brain capacity to create anything of their own.

R169, there is 100% absolutely no other single, solitary group who deserves the scorn of being bitter, forgotten, and status quo than Gen X.

And what Gen X did create was not that great!

R170, I feel the same way. I am an older millennial with older Gen X siblings, and I sure as hell don't feel deficient to them in any way, shape, or form.

And they are of the type who is already whining and bragging to their children on Facebook how they had to walk 8 miles in the non-existent snow to school everyday.

They have become in their '40s the biggest damn "[italic] well, back in my day..! [/italic] storytellers ever.

R172, you have just described my brother and sister-in-law.

And that is why I don't take the Gen X criticism of millennials seriously.

Whiny assholes trying to seem profound.

Quite a few Gen X are already think their shit don't stink.

Hopefully the next generation will pass up millennials and make an actual difference.

I think the problem with art, particularly music, is that due to the advent of technology , nothing is allowed to germinate anymore. Lots of musical movements percolated underground for years, for example disco, hip hop and house in nyc, or grunge in seattle, before mainstream america, let alone europe or the rest of the world, was even aware of their existence. Now with the advent of cell phone video, "global culture" and youtube, no new scene has a chance to grow organically and mature -- it immediately is broadcast, judged and if viable, co opted for commercial puposes before even having an opportunity to develop into any kind of human movement that could have any type of lasting impact.

Truth r177. The world is more connected than ever, it is hard for any place to grow a specific scene.

R177 really said it all.

How can there ever be an "underground" in the era of the internet, cell phone cameras and social media?

R171 Gen Z will feel the exact same was about you and your millennial kin.

But you can't hate millennials they are dealing with their shit best way they can. The absolute shit thing millennials did was ruin music; they made being basic trendy and cool, which is unforgivable in terms of the creativity, hence why no one n NY has has an original idea in 10 years.

The New York City we knew and loved, the one that inspired people everywhere, died on 9/11.

All the wrong people and only the wrong people thrive in NYC now.

I remember right after 9/11 I thought the city was going to change for the better because all social groups were affected. High flying, high income traders, secretaries, security guards, delivery guys, mall shop workers — all kinds of people were killed that day, so to me the message was: we’re all the same, whether we’re a minimum wage worker or a rich trader. I thought the culture of money worship would end when people realized money can’t save your ass when someone wants you dead.

I was sooooo wrong.

Plus — the amount of building that went on after 9/11 was at warp speed. I moved in 2005. From 2001 to 2005, I lost my view of the East River. And it was a wide area view, not some sliver of water. I lost my view of the Chrysler building — not just in my apartment, but in my entire neighborhood. Every day when I took the subway to work, when I turned onto Lexington Ave, there was the Chrysler building. And it looked different all the time depending on how sunny or cloudy it was, what time of day it was. It changed color depending on sunlight and at night I could see it lit up and yeah, that was MY Chrysler building in MY city. Then Bloomberg loosened building codes and he immediately stuck a nasty, skinny green glass building right in front of it. Wiped out the view in my neighborhood. And on foggy nights, it gave off an eerie, ugly green ghostbusters kind of glow in the sky. .

The amount of building after 9/11 didn’t seem to make sense. The city was less safe as.terrorist target. But someone knows why it happened.

NYC became a mall, with the same stores that every mall has across America. So now there is no reason to live there or visit, because it's no longer unique.

Even the mall stores are gone, replaced by Starbucks, CVS and Duane Reade. My old neighborhood had Kids Gap, Pier One, Bombay Company and Payless Shoes-on the block. Replaced by the businesses named above.

There were three or four green grocers that specialized in fresh fruit, herbs, vegetable and healthy salads. They were thrown out of business after 25 years by Whole Foods. And Whole Foods sucks.

Anyone who uses the term "snowflake" is a useless waste of skin and should be ignored.

I hate the skyline now, with its awful super tall, featureless glass boxes sticking up.

The whole concept of a "struggling artist" has pretty much disappeared in North America. Everybody's in it to quickly monetize their exposure through viral social media stunts and marketing. The only other alternative is being a connected trust fund baby.

[quote]I hate the skyline now, with its awful super tall, featureless glass boxes sticking up.

Yes. Terrible.

But it was already looking like shit downtown 40 years ago. Short boxy buildings (on right).

[quote]I hate the skyline now, with its awful super tall, featureless glass boxes sticking up.

They've ruined Central Park South.

and there's more to come.

[quote]The New York City we knew and loved, the one that inspired people everywhere, died on 9/11.

I think it died when AIDS came. I was there....before, during and after.

It killed the very sexy, free loving spirit of the city - whether you were gay or not.

R191 The AIDS epidemic was the first significant loss. The majority of a genaration of gays, many who very creative and involved in the arts, theater, music, literature, films, were lost and they impact to the city was like losing a limb. It never really recovered. Next were the changes in the zoning laws, that first began by Mayor Koch, then Giuliani and then Bloomberg, soldaway the heart and soul of the city to real estate investors and developers. The events of 9/11 was significant enough the transformed the downtown. People who could once afford living in NYC were first pushed out of Manhattan due to skyrocketting rents, and soon pushed out of the outer boroughs for the same reason. Then the independent and mom & pop stores were forced out for the same reason. Greed and a lack of community and civil conscience destroyed almost all the personality and diversity and creativity that took many decades to develop was wiped out in 15-20 years. Hyper-genrtification if the approrpiate term. While gentrification is not new or unique to NYC, it has taken on steroid form since due to the agenda of the rich and powerful conducting a hostile takeover of NYC.

The best documentation of this phenomena can be found in the superb book by Jeremiah Moss, Vanishing New York: How a Great City Lost Its Soul

Gurl, as has already been stressed - it's happened in London too.

and apparently cities such as Paris.

It's the over-emphasis on money and greed that has killed off the creativity, all over the West. It's the times we live in.

Sadly, so true, r193. I don't even get me started on San Francisco.

R194 My mom heard from a long lost friend the other day. They moved to California 50 years ago and were the kind of people who move to California and never return... yet, they're now looking to retire back east, their original home, because of the homeless situation. We were totally STUNNED to hear that. They were true Californians who we thought were never coming back.

Same with my cousin. He moved there 25 years ago, always acted rather pompous about it on his visits home, as if we, from another major city, just fell off the turnip truck. Well, as of the past three years he's suddenly complaining about CA and noticing how good things are looking here back home.

It's sad; I'd LOVE to move to CA for a change of pace, but I don't know now.

[quote] The whole concept of a "struggling artist" has pretty much disappeared in North America.

I wonder though, if the fact that every talentless whack job calls themselves an artist. I live in the Hamptons and they have art shows everyone - even in my local deli. It makes me laugh to think someone gets a space in an art show in the Hamptons and gets excited. There are thousands of "artists" showing their stuff everywhere. When I first moved here in the 90s, my neighbors and I used to go into art shows because their daughter was an artist. We had to stop because we couldn't stop laughing at the crap on display and naturally, it upset them.

So all these wonderful cities like NYC and London, which used to be a hub of art and ideas, are now just sterilized playgrounds for the wealthy. It feels like the entire globe is being overtaken by the super rich. How are there so damn many of them? If this is the boring glass, high rise, Duane Reade world they want to live in, then where do we all go?

WHY do artists have to be starving to be good artists? The Dadaists and Surrealists were all rich, dapper boys who made great art.

[Quote]How are there so damn many of them?

If I'm doing the math right there may be about 7.6 billion people in the world, that makes 76 million in the 1%. (Is that right DL?)

That's A LOT of wealthy people with a lot of money.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

Artists aren’t necessarily poor, but art doesn’t pay for a long time. So a commitment to developing one’s work usually means a willingness to live with poverty while doing so. Unless there’s a wealthy parent or whoever paying the bills.

Separate issue from the ‘starving artist’ notion that life struggles inform great work.

Damn wtf is up with the delusional anti-Jewish troll, absurdly fixing blame for every imaginable historical and cultural ill?

And why is this idiotic person here, is he really clueless enough to think this site is fertile ground for his laughable claims?

BTW aside to anti-Jewish dumbass, a huge chunk of posters here are from New York and therefore know real live Jewish people. Your dribblings will only be of interest to someone who’s never actually met anyone Jewish and so can imagine them to be the omnipotent evil force of your meth-fueled fantasies.

The draw of New York was never culture. It's always been about the large population cramped closely together. More people more trade.

Millennials gift to the time line is taking a picture while sticking your tongue out. Wonderful.

r199 I was under the impression that when we (in the US) talked about the 1% it was American wealthy we were talking about. The term usually has come up during discussions about the economy and political influence.

OH, I don't know R205. I always picture wealthy Londoners and the Chinese who buy a lot of U.S. property when I think of 1%ers, but maybe I'm wrong. I thought 1%ers was a global thing. ? (Although the article just talks about the U.S.)

No question that plenty of foreigners have bought up London, NYC and LA.

I too have wondered about the numbers of wealthy with the kind of money to buy real estate with the insanely inflated prices that we see now.

American Literature is now Philip Roth pulling his pud and wavering between magical thinking stories where he sticks it into blonde girls, and tearful tales about how he wasn't allowed to stick it into blonde girls.

Ummmm....ok, R208

Is R208 typing from the 1980s?

Now that NYC lost its edge and has been taken over by financial assholes, San Francisco by techie assholes and L.A. is by homeless...isn't there a single interesting metropolis left in the U.S.?

Maybe the smaller cities?

R208 is typing from the 1960s.

The linked article talks about what r185 stated, that small stores are closing all over the city. The article starts out being a bit deceptive as it comes out blaming online shopping but then gets to the meat of the problem.

[quote]Few retailers can afford to pay more than $250 per square foot annually in rent — yet landlords persist in asking $400 a square foot and up to $2,000 a square foot in prime zones like Fifth Avenue and Times Square. Mayor Bill de Blasio wants to fine landlords who keep spaces empty until they find tenants who’ll pay astronomical rents. But there’s no fair way to judge who’s actually guilty. Would he punish the owners of the small corner building at 1330 Third Ave. at East 76th Street, who slashed the “ask” from $420,000 a year in 2016 to $360,000 in April 2017 and still can’t find a tenant? New York’s vacancy crisis is due to the same factors that wiped out malls and chain stores across the United States: the rise of online shopping, private-equity takeovers that saddled retailers with too much debt, and shoppers’ changing tastes.

I know online is big but I don't think it's so popular as to wipe out such a big chunk of retail. No one has thought to mention that maybe the buying power of the middle class, whose wages have been either cut and haven't risen in 20 years, might be a factor.

[quote] Mayor Bill de Blasio wants to fine landlords who keep spaces empty until they find tenants who’ll pay astronomical rents.

I love this idea, and I hope they can figure out a way to make it viable.

San Francisco by techie assholes and L.A. is by homeless

I thought San Francisco had the terrible homeless problem. I'd like to live there, but apparently it's one giant toilet, like the steets are full of human poo.

Portland OR, is very cool, and a lot of people unable to afford rent in NY are moving to Nashville or Providence. Nashville is becoming very popular among young musicians esp now it's cool to like country. There is even a large hipster community down there. They are the new breed of Americana hipster, different from the Artisan hipster of the Pacific North West and the loathsome Brooklyn urban Hipster .

The next wave will be in the "second-tier" Eastern seaboard cities—think Philadelphia and Baltimore.

I would LOVE to see cities like Springfield MA and Bangor ME and Harrisburg PA have economic resurgences. Mini cities, with charming architecture, next to rivers and surrounded by the great outdoors. I'd be so happy in a bustling little city of those sizes if there were more singles in my age-range there.

Those landlords with empty stores at jacked up prices get to deduct the empty stores from their tax returns at the overinflated asking rent. That’s why they won’t bring down the price.

The city should regulate the rents TBH.

I’d love to see Baltimore make a comeback but it’s pretty much impossible to imagine.

[quote]I’d love to see Baltimore make a comeback but it’s pretty much impossible to imagine.

Baltimore has been gentrifying. While it loses population overall, its white population has been increasing several years in a row.

[quote]In raw numbers, Baltimore’s black population has declined every year since 1993, while the white population has increased seven years in a row.

If you look at neighborhoods like Canton, it has transformed from a working class neighborhood to a gentrified neighborhood full of professional yuppies. As DC keeps getting more expensive, you get more people moving to Baltimore and using the MARC train to get to their job in DC.

We will see. I'd like to see the city turn around.

^ I hope you’re right, I love Baltimore. Not sure you are but I hope so.

Baltimore always looked so nice in the movies.

R222 R223

Back in the early 80s when all the rock clubs were replaced with Jewy comedy "stores"

^^^ early 90s^^^

Are YOU on crack. Baltimore has the highest murder rate per capita

Hip Hop and Rap destroyed youth culture.

Hello, Tipper!

I had no idea that Providence was heating up and gentrifying.

r229 you can thank music execs who loved the merchandising potential in the music. Cars, booze, clothes, BLING!!! Who cares about what the music is saying when you can get endorsement money.

R208 references Roth stories written in the last ten years, but he always writes the same things, starting in the 60s.

Sticky Jew.

My creative juices are flowing like never before!

New York is never going to top that bit of performance art that was 9/11.

The people in R232 are mostly Jews.

We wish Jews were not so destructive, as pointing out their anti-social tendencies make them thuggish and vindictive.

Go away, you embarrassing fool.

Rent, rent, rent, rent, rent - - we're all gonna pay rent!