that invite reminds me of a piercing i used to have.

Why would you think that NYU was anything more than a $ making establishment. They ain't selling 'education' they are selling NYC. Therefore they need to pitch 'upscale livin' for these rich kids $$ to be spent here. How silly to think it was about education!
How funny when u look in Blighty they house students in converted tower blocks (projects) as an urban regeneration project yet in NYC they are housed in better quality homes that real NYers who have grafted in this city for years... but its ALL about the Benjamins baby.
Back to the whole America properganda wheel...

Anna, that is a pointed observation that NYU students are afforded better accommodations than regular citizens. And Lex, if you think Kmart has been by proxy made into a twink cruz by NYU just lay down on the lawn in Tompkins Square Park on a weekend and you will be surrounded by young novitiates engaged in make out sessions -just lay your paperback over your Freshman's Friend while you scope the scene out please. The one other really large development I've seen, and who couldn't notice, is the block long ugly on Houston at the Bowery that will contain a Whole Foods plus some kind of Olympic sized swimming pool and, viola!, apparently no parking at all for the six or seven storeys of apartments on top of it all.

> Why would you think that NYU was anything more than a $
> making establishment. They ain't selling 'education' they are
> selling NYC.

Having been a NYU Student myself (Courant Institute, not Tish), I can testify that some of the teachers/researchers there are some of the most amazing minds I've had the chance to meet.

Also, 2 things:
One: NYU students have always been a nice supply of fresh blood for this city, and that includes the nightlife (all nightlife).
Two: Sure, NYU's a money-making machine with 2 heads (education and real estate), but blaming "NYC is dying" on NYU seems to be a confusion between cause and consequences: Education is not public in this country, what do you think happens next?

Just my $.02.

Justine

Fair enuff Justine... but I do feel that on the whole NYU's MARKETING effect on the city is less about education but more about 'pitching' kids to come to the city. There is NO Reason why nyu students housing should be prioritized over people that have lived here for years who now no longer can even afford to live here.. thats whats sad. If u look in the UK for example as I said students are the ones sent to regenerate areas that are in decline, pushing the student income into those areas has shown to really help. And as the students are all just 'transient' anyway it really helps.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Anna Nicole,

La M, the point is NYU's imposition on the infrastructure of a type of accommodations that, as Anna points out, rub out the affordable housing regular ole citizens need. Many forces are degrading the NYC we know, not just NYU. But in the 'East Village' NYU is perhaps THE major culprit. I'm sure the school probably affords those who can pay the relatively very high tuition at NYU an opportunity for top flight education, if you know how to exploit an institution of its kind. But to my knowledge, as an educational, economic and real estate entity, it has not contributed much of anything for the well being of the majority of the inhabitants of the 'East Village' where much of its infrastructure is encroaching. I'm sure there are numerous programs NYU runs that have residual benefits for the average citizen but the sum total of those programs don't amount to preservation of affordable housing, or the architectural integrity of the area either. I think it would be hard to argue that as an institution its influence on real estate is not disproportionate to the benefits it provides to the average inhabitant of downtown. That's all.

Eeek, i guess I have not been out and about for a while...we went to see the Met Opera "Tosca" in the park, which was great except for the 2 Paris Hilton wannabes in front of us who never got off their cell phones through the entire first act...thankfully they left before Act 2 began but why the hell would you go to an Opera and not listen to one note? Anyway, we wandered the Upper West Side looking for an after opera drink and it resembled a shopping mall and so did the people,,,creepy, very "Dawn of the Dead". So we cab it downtown to the, ugh, Meatpacking District, where my friend lives and looking for an outdoor place to smoke and drink, she takes me to the Maritime Hotel. UGH, I think these girls are living in some distortion of Sex and the City and America's Next Top Model and the guys are just ugly or pitiful ,fashion and look wise...yuk! and they are all scurrying about the area like roaches in trendy, tacky clothes, from one wannabe model bar to another ....this is very depressing.

It's so sad to see NYC change like this. I have been away from NYC for awhile now. I moved just after NYU built those dorms on third ave and 11 st, where the parking lot was. I remember the Palladium, Variety and Luchow's. Luchow's became a club, I think it was called the Union Club, then it had a go as a new wave club, like the Cat club, but failed, no one went there.
I have lived in NYC most of my life, I arrived there at 2 years of age. I grew up in the Bronx, so as kids we would always go to Times Square to hang out. This is what I miss most of NYC, the sleeze factor, it seems like NYC has been cleaned up a bit.
Baltimore, where I now live, still has some sleeze left in it.

> Meatpacking District
> UGH, I think these girls are living in some distortion of Sex and the City and America's Next Top Model

Ha, I had the same exact experience last Monday;your reference to the tv-shows and magazine world is on point too. I just can't relate to this at all.

You're right Babette, Luchow's was a couple of different clubs. I DJed there a few times. It was so beautiful.

And the parking lot on E. 11th St! I remember the hookers there very well, gorgeous! I neve saw Taxi Driver (I'm probably the only one in the world who hasn't) but I know it was filmed all around there.

I'm glad for you that Baltimore still has some flavor. I know that's why John Waters is still there.

Yes Daddy, I remember the hookers. There were some nights when I came out of the Ritz after watching a band, some guys cruising for hookers would ask me, "how much". Damn these guys must have been desperate to ask me for a date.
I liked the cieling skylight inside of Luchow's, it gave the club a spooky atmosphere, it would have made a good goth club.

First of all...i just read part one and two of this post...
I seriously have so much to think about in regards to my return...
I know I have a few years to do something but I hope to come back with a vengeance in Honor of the survivors...Some sort of a push for more individuality amist, possibly among the clones that appear to be infiltrating.
But if not...I just hope to make a great BIG THOUGHT PROVOKING Scene.
I was holding way too much back, last time around.
Such a fight to connect with a true sense of positive Humanity...and the self discovery?
Man it was brutal!!!
Goddess Bless all of you who are serious forces of nature and have shaped and supported the life and times of the eras before me, there.
I adore reading all the recollections, as sometimes I feel cheated by my Birthday.
Muffin and I are looking forward to being not Jaded for awhile.
It's really tough to avoid it...
(Esspecially After banging myself over the head with several moves to various cities and towns, that is!)
But seriously...
I needed to step away to see just how powerful the energy is in NYC...Now I have more of an idea of what to do with it.
I look forward to coming back and doing what I can to it.

PS...Daddy...i think John Waters is still in Baltimore because he doesnt want to be bothered...
I could be wrong!
hahahaha.

Whether you are wrong or not, just don't move in to the same hotel he lives in!!!!!!!

Amber Ray...those were beautiful words!

And it seems that in recent months that more and more people are beginning to have a simialar state of mind. People are striving to establish individuality again. Some fantastic new parties where people can express themselves are popping up!

I think we are going to be entering back into a very exciting new stage in NYC soon!

Let us hope so. Meanwhile the Bowery and Second Avenue are becoming like Times Square in terms of the hordes of people converging on the street. I still love the East Village; there's so much to enjoy about it. But it does get annoying when you can't even get Thai in your own hood because SEA has been taken over by obnoxious Tommy Hilfiger-wearing twats yapping on cell phones about their high-yield bonds. Even Avenue B, once a bastion of crime, urban decay and rough trade, has been overrun by Long Island J-Crews looking for the next model lounge. Ah well. At least the furlough'd sailors feel comfortable enough to venture down here now. And a string of loft parties have begun to crop up. One must find the silver lining in the cloud, I suppose. Let's try to be optimistic.

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Farewell Charming Old Whipshack!
The new landlord, rampaging real estate developers of Chelsea, have asked us to close down.
Lots of lumber in the old loft tonight.

Talk about loft parties, Lex! If anyone wants to party like the Last Days of Pompeii, THAT room is still intact! Before it ends up exploded on the sidewalk (they are demolishing the building) talk to me about renting party space @ 1,000 sq. feet or so. (I have no downstairs neighbor anymore!) I'm here at least through the summer.

Love
Stan
Email if you please.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: S'tan,

The Whipshack is gone, long live The Whipshack!

I'm sure The whipshack will continue in some form, somewhere. (It always does).

And let us never forget...
it was The Whipshack that gave us Jackie 60.

The Whipshack is an idea, an emotion, a spilled martini. You can't swing a wrecking ball in to it.

Weird physics of the Mboards though, don't you think, S'tan? To be the victim of one's own topic.

What does the M'boards have to do with
hysterical real estate values, rampant soulless speculation, and the running to ground of a subculture. Oh yeah, this is the original 'nightclub without bricks and mortar.' Well the Whipshack can't exist without real walls. Being sanguine about someone's business being closed down in 13 days with throwaways of "this too shall pass..." phffft. Guess what. It might not. Have fun with it anyhow.

Farewell.