I can see Ginsberg now standing on the corner of Saint Mark’s Place and 2nd Avenue at Gem Spa, a local institution. The Gem Spa is described thoroughly in Bill Morgan’s book The beat generation in New York: a walking tour of Jack Kerouac’s city: ”The newspaper and magazine pickup point for East Village artists and writers. Allen Ginsberg mentions getting his paper here in “Rain-Wet Asphalt Heat, Garbage Curbed Cans Overflowing,” and Ted berrigan refers to the Gem Spa in several poems. Don McNeill of the Village Voice wrote in 1966 that “the sidewalk seems to run through the candy store… By virtue of its location, twenty-four-hour vigil, and survival stock of tobacco, Bambu papers, and egg creams, it is the official oasis of the East Village.”“ …show more content…
It’s so full of artistic ferment, it’s a tremendous asset to the city. It’s one of the most interesting places to live in New York, and the park’s a nerve center. Gem Spa on Second Avenue is another. St Mark’s Place.“ Gem Spa didn’t stand out to me when I first saw it. It was just another newsstand with cheap sunglasses and pipes out front. It didn’t become special until after I googled Saint Mark’s Place and was informed of its illustrious history. I always stare at Gem Spa’s bright yellow awning while I wait to cross the street. It looks perfectly ordinary, nothing about it screaming ”never center of New York City.“ I guess its regular-ness is what made a nerve center. It was a nerve center in the same way Gotham Pizza was one to the NYU dorms that surrounded …show more content…
I carry it to the grocery store, the Dunkin Donuts, and while I’m walking down Saint Mark’s Place. Maybe the privilege wafting off me like too much Chanel number 5 that makes me stand out on Saint Mark’s. I never really considered how I must have looked walking alone head snapping back and forth trying to take in as much as possible. I must have looked like the end, or at least the beginning of the end. It was people like me who often found themselves in the East Village eyes wide in awe of the gritty realness looking for something to validate their privileged lives. The concept of wealthy college-educated young adults moving to the city in search of themselves is not new. Bored, unfulfilled, and confused they probably eventually found themselves on Saint Mark’s, instantly realizing this is where they wanted to be. Since this concept is not new you may be wondering why I look like the end. The difference between me and say Allen Ginsberg, the Columbia educated poet and crucial member of the beat movement, is simple. I’m not ”down“. Both Ginsberg and his good friend, William S. Burroughs, another Ivy-educated, well-to-do writer, came to New York and slummed it. They saw the dirt and the grime and revelled in it. They had the guts to actually become a part of Saint Mark’s Place. They didn’t need to bring anything to be comfortable, just being there was enough. I feel like that’s the difference between me and them. The gentrifiers,
Several works we have read thus far have criticized the prosperity of American suburbia. Jack Kerouac's The Dharma Bums, Philip Roth's Goodbye, Columbus, and an excerpt from Lawrence Ferlinghetti's poem "A Coney Island of the Mind" all pass judgement on the denizens of the middle-class and the materialism in which they surround themselves. However, each work does not make the same analysis, as the stories are told from different viewpoints.
Proud (2014) describes Shoreditch, an area in east London as a metonym for unlucky pieces of real estate that have had the hipster formula applied to them. situates the term in space, going one further to describe hipsterfication as “Shoreditchification” However the term “hipster” has been mentioned in other geographical works such as that of David Ley and Tom Butler (1980; 1997), in the theories of “the new middle class” of gentrifiers. Hipsters have turned themselves into “self-gentrifying urban Bedouins”, “popping-off then popping-up” where ever is cheapest (Eror 2014). The perceived advantages and disadvantages that this new “creative class of the skilled, educated and hip”, bring are mixed in literature (Companella; Kotkin
Sante, L. (1991). Low Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York. New York: Vintage Books.
Mark Peterson’s 1994 photograph, Image of Homelessness, compares the everyday life of the working class to the forgotten life of the lowest class in society. In the image, the viewer can see a troubled homeless man wrapped in a cocoon of standard manipulated 12in by 12in cardboard boxes and yarn. The yarn is what is keeping the man and box tied to the red bench. This bench has chipped paint and is right in front of a black fence. Underneath the bench is dirt and debris from the dead fall leaves. The center focal point is the homeless man on the bench. He is the focal point because he is the greatest outsider known to man. Behind this man is vibrant life. There is pulsating people crossing the clean street, signs of life from all the advertising on store windows, families walking and blurred cars filled with
In the summer of 2011, Absolut Vodka launched a limited edition new flavor red apple and ginger of vodka and named it Absolut Brooklyn. They collaborated with Spike Lee, a filmmaker. He designed the style of the picture that was presented on the bottle. He drew a stoop because that is where he grew up in and the stoop was a place for entertaining. Before this campaign Absolut already produced three city themes which were New Orleans, Los Angeles, and Boston. Brooklyn was chosen for several reasons. Brooklyn is the most populated city in New York City populating 2.5 million people, making it the 4th largest city in the US. The campaign wanted something different that would make an impact in New York and Brooklyn was the perfect candidate for something unique and different. Through research Brooklyn was the new city of popular cool trends with art, music, film, and fashion. It was the new Manhattan. Also Brooklyn was a popular city that many people could trace their roots from.
Although there was an astounding amount of impoverished people in New York during the nineteen twenties, there happened to be a petite community of affluent individuals living extremely lavish lifestyles. Wealthy residents of New York often are void of important values like honesty, sympathy, and compassion. Per contra, most people existing in poverty live
This group of men were poor men, unemployed, uneducated. These men lived through failure after failure and therefore, they look to the street corner as “a sanctuary for those who can no longer endure the experience or prospect of failure” (Liebow p.139). Their names were Tally, another Sea Cat, and Leroy. He observed the friendship between these corner men, and their involvement amongst other activities. Liewbow accompanied them to bars and parties, he appeared in court with them, and visited them in jail. Tally’s Corner provided a look at the connection and relationship of streetcorner men to their whole lives. Their jobs, family, affairs, friends and networks throughout the low income ghetto neighborhood surrounding Tally’s Corner, Washington D.C.
Washington Square Park is home to thousands of New York University Students, families leisurely strolling through the park on afternoons, people cooling off at the fountain during the summer, couples lounging on the green grass, and even home to the New York City Pillow Fight held during the summer. At the center of Greenwich Village, it provides an escape from the busy traffic and city surrounding it. Most importantly, it is home to the Washington Square Arch.
The arrival to Manhattan was like an entry to a whole new world: from the sea, its breezes, color, and landscapes, to the heart of the city beating louder than ever at the Whitehall Terminal. I could smell New York’s bagels in Battery Park with a mixture of the most relaxing scents: the coffee people were holding while walking down the streets, the old walls of Castle Clinton ...
Colson Whitehead explores this grand and complex city in his collection of essays The Colossus of New York. Whitehead writes about essential elements to New York life. His essays depict the city limits and everyday moments such as the morning and the subway, where “it is hard to escape the suspicion that your train just left... and if you had acted differently everything would be better” (“Subway” 49). Other essays are about more once in a while moments such as going to Central Park or the Port Authority. These divisions are subjective to each person. Some people come to New York and “after the long ride and the tiny brutalities... they enter the Port Authority,” but for others the Port Authority is a stop in their daily commute (“The Port Authority” 22).Nonetheless, each moment is a part of everyone’s life at some point. Many people live these moments together, experiencing similar situations. We have all been in the middle of that “where ...
In “Brooklyn Bridge,” an account of a man on the bridge describes him in his “magic spot” or his personal area where two years ago he decided that New York wouldn 't break him. This suggests the essence of New York is tied to these “magic spots”. By magic spots I mean the places around the city where individuals decided to change their lives , something out of the ordinary happened to them, or just a place they feel serene. In the Library of Congress this work of nonfiction can be found under homes and haunts, a “ Magic Spot” is incredibly similar to a home. What makes a place a person’s home is the memories and experience they felt there. Even though New Yorkers begrudgingly accept all this change surrounding New York that Whitehead describes, they also thrive on it. By remembering the past in terms of their New York,their present is enhanced because the feeling of history contributes to a greater feeling of home because again the feeling of home is based on the memories. The only difference here is that instead of calling home a building or a house, the whole city acts as your home and like a tour guide Whitehead is giving his reader an insider’s account of his home. The essence of New York is this sense of home that you can find seemingly anywhere. People are drawn here based on that desire to feel comfortable and
He swaggers forward, with attitude, moving the way you’re supposed to move when you live on the Lower East Side- the way I can never move.”(page 17)
Morgan, Bill. The Beat Generation in San Francisco: A Literary Tour. San Francisco: City Lights, 2003. Print.
When you associate anything with New York City it is usually the extraordinary buildings that pierce the sky or the congested sidewalks with people desperate to shop in the famous stores in which celebrities dwell. Even with my short visit there I found myself lost within the Big Apple. The voices of the never-ending attractions call out and envelop you in their awe. The streets are filled with an atmosphere that is like a young child on a shopping spree in a candy store. Although your feet swelter from the continuous walking, you find yourself pressing on with the yearning to discover the 'New York Experience'.
Without a doubt, Times Square in New York City is a unique experience, but the image created by TV and movies does not show the gloominess that accompanies the euphoria of being in the Big Apple. The atmosphere is so exhilarating and exciting, you don’t even know what to do for a few minutes, but it is tinged with the bitter reality that sadness and melancholy also trail closely behind the positive. With most, if not all, of your senses being stimulated – sometimes all at once – Times Square creates a memory that will surely be cherished, and haunt you for the rest of your life.