look familiar?

so, i'm reading annie's blog and she has posted a youtube video of a sketch from flight of the conchords (i don't have hbo anymore) called inner city pressure where the boys are cracking on being so poor that they have to eat 'found' food. as i'm watching it, i notice that the neighborhood they chose to depict being poor in is none other than my poor, old, south williamsburg neighborhood, the marcy street jmz stop!! home of jay-z (he re-named himself after the j,m,z trains) and his his old stomping (aka subway robbing) grounds, the marcy projects. the neighborhood that made me realize i needed to get the cluck out of new york! inner city pressure, INDEED!

here is the subway entrance. every morning before i climbed these stairs, i would stop at the deli on the left (yellow awning) and buy some caffeine or energy water. if i looked particularly tired (or pathetic or hung over) the store man would cut me a deal or buy it for me. sweet! the rainbow (red awning) to the right is where i bought my favorite pair of brown flats for $15 (i'm still wearing them constantly and will until they are worn down to pleather, hole-y shreads). but don't let this quick omission of sweetness fool you...


i lived a block away from the subway and i would only venture to use the elevator, where this platform is, if 1. i thought i could tolerate the smell of bird and human excrement 2. the line of hasidic women with their baby strollers was sparse (yes there was an odd mix of ghetto, wealthy hadics and transient hipsters in this area) 3. i felt like i didn't need the stair master effect of the other entrance.
below where these guys are standing is where i 1. had to step over the homeless, drunk men (who had pissed themselves the night before) sleeping across the sidewalk every morning to get to work. 2. watched one man get shoved onto the street (not sidewalk), handcuffed and arrested by no less than 6 police cars (i wonder what he did?). 3. heard gunshots coming from the mexican dance hall more than once. 4. bought delicious, cheap chinese food that i always told myself i should reconsider before ordering again 5. learned that two blocks away a friend of mine, while housesitting and taking care of the beasts for me, was mugged.

this is an actual 'glamour shot' of my cheddar cheese colored kitchen on south 5th and marcy (i bought the nice cupboard in the background, plus, we see the beautiful angie, gillian, jin and marc - helping me celebrate my 37th birthday - in the foreground. bonus plus, the only amazing apartment feature: glass bricks between the bath and kitchen). i wish i still had pictures of the reality of the space. i took some before i moved in 2006, in case the landlord didn't return my deposit, so people could see that the ceiling was caving in, paint was peeling and the stairs were being held together by L shaped brackets and steel wool (i'm not exaggerating).

why did i live there? because it was one stop (on the bus and subway) away from the lower east side, it was becoming 'gentrified' (is that a dirty word?) and i got a 'two' bedroom, 800 square ft apartment for a low, low $1,500/ month! my how things have changed! but honestly, i probably would have toughed it out a little longer if those cute new zealand boys really lived there. preferably in my building. shoot, preferably in my apartment!

i don't think i'll ever revisit that one neighbohood during my quarterly visits back to new york city, so it's great to see it again in such a light hearted way over and over (seriously, i've already watched it 20+ times). thanks boys!