New York City
Though the size of New York City and the thought of driving and getting around it was initially intimidating, I quickly became accustomed to it in the 70's. It helped that I had a friend from Binghamton who had an apartment in the East Village and I used his place as a base for getting to realize that, if 9 million people lived there, went to work every day, and grocery shopped just like everyone else in the world does, then I shouldn't let it intimidate me.
I hadn't been in Manhattan in almost 20 years, and the city has changed tremendously in those years. In the 70's, the areas I had known best (the East and West Village) looked generally rundown, with crowded, dirty mom-and-pop stores, litter and graffiti, and overall feeling of being relatively dangerous -- perfect, actually, for feeling like an adventurer learning to know and navigate a strange environment. I knew that Manhattan had been cleaned up quite a bit, but I wasn't expecting the clean streets, repaired building facades, and trendy-hip new restaurants and shops. Very much safer feeling, but somehow relatively bland feeling as well.
| The friend's place was an older walk-up on 3rd Street between 1st and 2nd Avenues. This photo is of that section of street. |
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On the east end of the block was the club house of the Hells Angels -- and it's still there. I learned the hard way (four flattened tires) to not park on the street in front of the club house. Somehow, in the new and safer NYC, I expect there isn't retribution for taking 'their' spaces anymore. |
| And, just around the corner from that, was the Club Baths which is no longer there -- I believe it was in this building. Those first years in New York were key years for me in terms of learning about gay male sexuality, and how my sexuality fit in with that. |
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I couldn't resist the cats.. but the picture is historic. Just past the pet store is Ty's, one of the first gay bars I learned to enjoy in '74 -- and still active 33 years later. The street here is Christopher Street, the heart of the gay neighborhood in the 70's. |
| Washington Square Park, on a rainy day. The contrast between the park now, and what it was like in the 70's, was startling. Gone was the graffiti, the political posters everywhere and the broken fixtures.... |
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| Gone, too, is the
status of the West Village as the gay center of Manhattan, with the main gay
commercial district now being the Chelsea neighborhood - about 20 blocks
north, and much more upscale feeling (see below).
Note, though, that the move of gay life was actually due to being priced out of the West Village, and Chelsea having been relatively rundown in the past. As often happens, it is gays who move in and revive decaying neighborhoods -- eventually, again, pricing themselves out. |
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| The subway stations haven't really changed, though they're much cleaner now as are the trains. This is the subway station at the center of Chelsea (23rd & 7th Avenue) |
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