Jessica Jones, Marvel Show on Netflix

JD Hartman · November 26, 2015

The steam vent pipes have been around as long as Con Ed has been generating and distributing steam in NYC. Maybe the random leaks from catch basins, sewers and other utility corridors aren't as common as they once were were due to the several massive steam explosions New York has suffered in the past decade and the resulting replacement of major steam lines. Next time you visit, try an older area like the meat packing district.

Bill DiPietra · November 26, 2015

Next time you visit, try an older area like the meat packing district.

Oh yeah...'cause that area hasn't been completely re-gentrified & hipsterized.

Phil Rhodes · November 26, 2015

A week or two back I went to something called a "chelsea market" which appeared to be a large industrial plant which had been very slightly renovated and is now home to many $7-a-cup coffee places. Got the impression it had been a biscuit factory.

Apparently, it's a destination.

P

Bill DiPietra · November 26, 2015

A week or two back I went to something called a "chelsea market" which appeared to be a large industrial plant which had been very slightly renovated and is now home to many $7-a-cup coffee places. Got the impression it had been a biscuit factory.

Apparently, it's a destination.

P

Yes...that's "a thing," these days. Gourmet food & pedestrian walkways in an area that once had an actual use.

Phil Rhodes · November 26, 2015

It's OK, you have Five Guys.

P

timHealy · November 27, 2015

A week or two back I went to something called a "chelsea market" which appeared to be a large industrial plant which had been very slightly renovated and is now home to many $7-a-cup coffee places. Got the impression it had been a biscuit factory.

Apparently, it's a destination.

P

Im not 100 percent sure but the building the Chelsea Market is in is attached to a building across 10th Ave via a walkway/Highline called the NBC building: National Biscuit Corp. I know during the 90's the owner owned both buildings and I assume was part of NBC too. And he rented space to a lot of TV and movie productions. No one wanted to be that far west except cheap producers, some industry, and drag queens, transvestites and transexual hookers. When they built the Chelsea Market about 95, I thought why the hell would they do that here?? Then a few years later the economy changed, the internet boom happened and he couldn't kick TV and movies out fast enough. The value on those buildings skyrocketed. And Google bought a building the size of a city block on the next street.

Robin R Probyn · November 27, 2015

In London they have the BBC... The broken biscuit company ..

JD Hartman · November 27, 2015

Oh yeah...'cause that area hasn't been completely re-gentrified & hipsterized.

Don't know Bill, has it? Did they replace all the streets and steam lines as well as the businesses? Just a thought, haven't been down there myself lately. What would you suggest?

JD Hartman · November 27, 2015

Im not 100 percent sure but the building the Chelsea Market is in is attached to a building across 10th Ave via a walkway/Highline called the NBC building: National Biscuit Corp. I know during the 90's the owner owned both buildings and I assume was part of NBC too. And he rented space to a lot of TV and movie productions. No one wanted to be that far west except cheap producers, some industry, and drag queens, transvestites and transexual hookers. When they built the Chelsea Market about 95, I thought why the hell would they do that here?? Then a few years later the economy changed, the internet boom happened and he couldn't kick TV and movies out fast enough. The value on those buildings skyrocketed. And Google bought a building the size of a city block on the next street.

The standing sets for OZ occupied the entire top floor of the Chelsea Market building(s). At the time I recall a garment company still occupied a lower floor.

Edited November 27, 2015 by JD Hartman

Bill DiPietra · November 27, 2015

What would you suggest?

That's a good question. Yesterday, I was actually trying to think of a location in this city that still has that "Old New York" flavor and I couldn't come up with one. There are of course nooks and crannies (stores, restaurants, bars, etc.) all over this city that have withstood all of the changing times, but entire neighborhoods that have not changed...that's a tall order.

David Mullen ASC · November 27, 2015

I'm sure back in the 1930's, someone in NYC was commenting on how their neighborhood was changing. Unless a city is going through a long-term financial crisis that sort of freezes it in time, it keeps changing. The New York of the 1970's was 40 years ago and it wasn't the same as the New York of the 1940's nor of the 1910's, etc.

I just rewatched "State of Grace" a few months back, which was shot in 1989, and even that NYC has gone, and the characters in that film were talking about how their neighborhood was changing!

Satsuki Murashige · November 27, 2015

That's a good question. Yesterday, I was actually trying to think of a location in this city that still has that "Old New York" flavor and I couldn't come up with one. There are of course nooks and crannies (stores, restaurants, bars, etc.) all over this city that have withstood all of the changing times, but entire neighborhoods that have not changed...that's a tall order.

Isn't it also the people who populated the city, how they were dressed, the things they cared about, and so on? I find that to be the biggest change in my own city. New York feels so hipsterful and safe these days, hard to imagine how it was in the 70's and 80's if we didn't have the movies to show us.

Anyway, back to 'Jessica Jones.' Just finished it last night and enjoyed it a lot. Got a little silly in the last few episodes when it reminded you that sometimes things happen because the plot demanded it, rather than the characters making their actions inevitable. To Stuart's observation about the odd framing of overs, they certainly went all out with it in a few episodes. I feel like it worked when they used it towards the middle when Jessica is arrested and questioned by Lester Freamon (I can't remember the character's name in the show, so Detective Freamon from 'The Wire' it is). Otherwise it was a little distracting and I'm glad they phased it out towards the latter episodes.

Bill DiPietra · November 27, 2015

I'm sure back in the 1930's, someone in NYC was commenting on how their neighborhood was changing. Unless a city is going through a long-term financial crisis that sort of freezes it in time, it keeps changing. The New York of the 1970's was 40 years ago and it wasn't the same as the New York of the 1940's nor of the 1910's, etc.

This is all true, but the thing about NYC is that it always had a specific "grit" about it, throughout all of those eras. That's something it lost rather recently.

I just rewatched "State of Grace" a few months back, which was shot in 1989, and even that NYC has gone, and the characters in that film were talking about how their neighborhood was changing!

I grew up in NYC in the 80s, so I remember 80s/90s change-over. It was still a seedy city.

Bill DiPietra · November 27, 2015

Isn't it also the people who populated the city, how they were dressed, the things they cared about, and so on? I find that to be the biggest change in my own city. New York feels so hipsterful and safe these days, hard to imagine how it was in the 70's and 80's if we didn't have the movies to show us.

Exactly! You nailed it, Satsuki! I find that encountering a fellow native New Yorker is a rather rare occurrence, these days.

David Mullen ASC · November 27, 2015

You want to see some real changes, look at photos of London before they sandblasted decades worth of black pollution off of the buildings, when the city was choked often in a noxious fog containing soot. Sure, some moody ambience has been lost, but the health benefits are worth it.

timHealy · November 27, 2015

That's a good question. Yesterday, I was actually trying to think of a location in this city that still has that "Old New York" flavor and I couldn't come up with one. There are of course nooks and crannies (stores, restaurants, bars, etc.) all over this city that have withstood all of the changing times, but entire neighborhoods that have not changed...that's a tall order.

Define "old"

There was a reason many exteriors for American Gangster were shot in the Bronx as Harlem had changed too much.

Bill DiPietra · November 28, 2015

Define "old"

At this point, I guess I would define it as anything that appears to evoke a sense of being from a pre-1990 period (and we're only talking 25 years ago.)

Like I said, earlier...there are spots here and there that go even further back than that (actually, much further back,) but you have to know where to look.

timHealy · November 28, 2015

Don't know Bill, has it? Did they replace all the streets and steam lines as well as the businesses? Just a thought, haven't been down there myself lately. What would you suggest?

I agree with Bill's sarcasm. The meat market is now the chic market and has been for some time. Most of the meat businesses are gone. As are the S and M clubs, gay bars, Western Beef, Florent, longtime bagel store, seedy creepy people and the hookers. Relative to the old meat market, but not really there as long a other businesses, Hogs and Heifers opened in the early 90's and was great for an out of the way bar. Even The bar was part of why people found the meat market edgy and a great place to go. Then the celebrities came and I wouldn't be surprised if the rent was jacked up where they decided to close. A victim to the neighborhoods success. The booming late 90's changed everything and rent went up everywhere. Florent's rent was $8000.00 per month. They basically closed after the rent was raised to $40,000.00 bucks per month! Florent was great mid priced diner like atmosphere with better than diner food. They were open 24 hours a day from Thursday to Sunday and till midnight the rest of the week if memory serves me correctly. Several businesses have tried to open but ultimately closed. My wife and I went to one and it was horrible. Now you have an Apple Store, Donna Karan, The Standard hotel, The Gansevoort Hotel, The High Line and the Whitney Museum of Art, and a bunch of clubs and restaurants that only trust fund babies can afford. The only long time businesses still in the meat market are a few meat businesses around Washington St and Little West 12th St, A little diner on the same corner, Prince Lumbar yard on 15th and The Old Homestead Steakhouse. Even if one cobblestone has not been changed on the actual street. The Meat Market is not the same.

This basically sums it up: http://vanishingnewyork.blogspot.com/2013/08/meatpacking-before-after.html