As a kid, the scariest neighborhood I could think of outside of Harlem was Alphabet City. It was a world away from the Upper West Side, which had its tough blocks and dangerous stretches. I heard about Alphabet City in frightening terms, as in “You don’t want to go down there.” Then, when I was thirteen, I remember this movie poster:
I never saw the movie and it would be years until I went downtown to that neighborhood. By the time I got there it was called the East Village.
[Photo Credit: Ribonyc]
"You just stay the fuck away from B!" - 200 Cigarettes
Hell yeah.
[1],[2] Knawmsayin'...
L.A. pimpin'. It always made me laugh the way New York was portrayed in Hollywood. The problem is people seeing the movies of the eighties having never been to or near the city grow up believing it; when they come to NYC expecting the BigBad, they're horribly out of date and you get SoHo in places it clearly doesn't belong. Sheesh! >;)
A couple buddies of mine moved into a apartment on B & 2nd back in the 90s. It was a nice, new building, but the block was still pretty sketchy. In the 4-5 years they lived there, it was amazing to watch the area get gentrified. When I helped them move in, there were still smack dealers on the corner and empty storefronts. By the time they moved out, it was French restaurants and pricey boutiques.
4) Yup, sounds right.