had something of an old downtown nyc night last night
old in a lot of ways
i walked down avenue D all the way to grand
while the hipsters and the trendoids and even the yuppies and frat boys
have already been devouring avenue C
avenue D seems frozen in time
pseudo toughie street kids scream out at young Puerto Rican women
in tight low jeans
with high heels and attitude
grandmothers haggle over socks from the sock vendor
and cart plantains and rice from the corner store
perhaps because it sits perched on the projects
it is oblivious to the gentrification of the east village
i felt as though i were walking thru alphabet city in the early 80's
i kinda liked it
once i crossed below houston
avenue D became columbia
i crossed delancey
(and always think of "crossing delancey" when i do this)
and watched the feel of the city town to old world jewish
whatever is left of that
then i entered lauren's complex
she lives in a co-op that until the last decade had been known
as "one of the old jewish lady co-ops of the lower-east-side"
it felt wonderful
like stepping back into 1940's yiddisha nyc
there was a beautiful courtyard with a fountain surrounded by old brick
buildings
lauren yelling out the window for me to come up
completed my transformation
yes..yes...
it was 1948, i'd just come in from the mother land
i was scared,but in this complex of safe brick and familiar language
all would be okay
i skipped the elevator and climbed the stairs to lauren's apartment
it was perfect
Lauren, thankfully, had not re-done the place
She’d left the bath-tub as was.. old and gorgeous with porcelain fixtures
She’d left the 1950’s esque oven and some of the pre-war fixtures..
Her place seemed to go forever, two then three bedrooms and living room
Long corridors….she said it was about 2 thousand feet which for NYC is like
A mansion..but it kept its old charm and most of the rooms looked out over that delicious courtyard
Lauren, an "OH SO hip" industrial designer had scattered about her modernistic pieces (rope chair, lamp of a thousand light bulbs, upside down mason jar shelf, keith harring art etc) but it somehow fit into the old charm of the place like a grandmother with a passion for polyester.
I loved it.
After I left L’s I walked under the bridge again..hmm let’s see I guess thatd be the Williamsburg. Bridge…what do I know Im blonde
And cut through the stretch of virtually unchanged neighborhood until I landed smack dab in the middle of hipster central..
the new lower-east-side.. Ludlow street.. the 42nd street of posers, poets, punks and preppies.
walked into “Collective Unconsciousness” for a fundraiser for an independent film about psychedelic mushrooms a neighbor of mine made, ran into Lisa who is 9 months pregnant, looked radiant and screamed you have to do this, you have to do this..
But after watching one lou reed sorta dude coo songs about playing scrabble with a woman you hate and then a trumpet player and finding out that a long line up of varied open mike sorta talent was coming up, I sneaked out..
walked up avenue A into mainstream tourist-ville..and said good-bye to the downtown city of yesteryear..
it felt good to visit for awhile to remember the city when I first saw it
And the city when my parents first saw it and what was left of the city my grandparents might have seen after their boat ride.. from hungary.
Time travel is perfect on a Monday night..
