16. People who haven't left yet.
May 9, 2014 10:21 AM   Subscribe

101 Things To Love About NYC, 1976
via and glossed by Scouting NY
posted by griphus (52 comments total) 18 users marked this as a favorite
 
On a personal note, they were still doing "It's 10 P.M. Do you know where your children are?" thing in the 90s, when I was a kid watching the news with my mom. She'd turn to me and say "child, where are you?"
posted by griphus at 10:24 AM on May 9, 2014 [11 favorites]


I AM JUST NOW AWARE OF HOW I HAVEN'T SEEN A ZEPPOLE VAN SINCE CHILDHOOD WHERE HAVE THEY GONE WHY WHERE THEY TAKEN FROM US
posted by The Whelk at 10:40 AM on May 9, 2014 [2 favorites]


#1's a perennial, isn't it? "Being nostalgic about things in New York that never were so great."
posted by yoink at 10:40 AM on May 9, 2014 [1 favorite]


See, I was going to take some cheap shots, but 29. How everyone else hates New York kinda took the wind out of my sails.

I'm going to have to go home and mope in my 4 bedroom on a pond that costs less than your studio.
posted by leotrotsky at 10:43 AM on May 9, 2014 [2 favorites]


The Whelk: "I AM JUST NOW AWARE OF HOW I HAVEN'T SEEN A ZEPPOLE VAN SINCE CHILDHOOD WHERE HAVE THEY GONE WHY WHERE THEY TAKEN FROM US"

Zeppoles are still available at many old-style pizzerias. A bunch in Queens offer 'em. Big Nicks used to have them, too.
posted by zarq at 10:45 AM on May 9, 2014 [1 favorite]


Ha! I just now realized how long it's been since I've heard "It's 10 PM. Do you know where your children are?"

That stretched at least as far as the western reaches of NYS.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 10:47 AM on May 9, 2014


My favorite pizza place (Knapp Pizza III on Kings Hwy) gives you a free bag of zeppole if you order dinner's worth of food (basically a pizza or 2+ heros, which are called heros.)

Also you can get them at street fairs. I don't know if at all of them, but def the ones in my part of Brooklyn.
posted by griphus at 10:48 AM on May 9, 2014 [1 favorite]


8) Dialing 873-0404
Don’t bother trying it – it’s been disconnected – but from the 1960s-1980s, this was the Dial-A-Satellite hotline, providing you with daily information about passing satellites.


Okay that's the best fucking thing I can imagine.

Where I was from the only cool local call you could make was to the time and temp place so you could see how accurate their time on the sunset was going to be... which was never accurate enough for my liking because we lived so far out in Nowhere, Illinois that even that was done by somebody far away.

(Also maybe I didn't understand how exactly sunset was measured, but I held a chip on my shoulder re: small town living from a very young age so if I could find something to blame on it, I would.)
posted by MCMikeNamara at 10:50 AM on May 9, 2014 [3 favorites]


31. Imagining New York without anyone in it.

Yes.
posted by allkindsoftime at 10:51 AM on May 9, 2014 [1 favorite]


Big Nicks used to have them, too.

UGH DON'T REMIND ME THE LOSS IS STILL STRONG.
posted by The Whelk at 10:52 AM on May 9, 2014 [2 favorites]


47. The coldest wind in the world on 125th Street and 12th Avenue.

Heh.

17. How no one ever takes the top newspaper off the pile.

Well, the top one isn't as pristine.

91. The apostrophe missing from DONT WALK

Who would have thought that out of all the items on this list, that one became an anachronism.
posted by zarq at 10:52 AM on May 9, 2014


The Whelk: " UGH DON'T REMIND ME THE LOSS IS STILL STRONG."

We should figure out which is the best classic pizzeria in NYC and have a meetup.
posted by zarq at 10:54 AM on May 9, 2014 [1 favorite]


Someone still needs to explain what was up with Austin Street in Queens.
posted by Panjandrum at 10:55 AM on May 9, 2014


We should figure out which is the best classic pizzeria in NYC and have a meetup.

...and Eris rolled her golden apple into the midst of the feast of the gods.
posted by griphus at 10:57 AM on May 9, 2014 [18 favorites]


We should figure out which is the best classic pizzeria in NYC and have a meetup.

are you trying to kill us? This is how we would kill each other.
posted by The Whelk at 10:59 AM on May 9, 2014 [11 favorites]


Panjandrum: "Someone still needs to explain what was up with Austin Street in Queens."

It was (and in some ways still is) a mini Greenwich Village in Forest Hills. Somewhat more family friendly, with fewer people.
posted by zarq at 11:00 AM on May 9, 2014 [4 favorites]


"It's 10 P.M. Do you know where your children are?"

Are you all kidding? It's still on all the major networks. The last time I saw it was this past winter.
posted by elizardbits at 11:04 AM on May 9, 2014 [1 favorite]


22. New York's proximity to Montauk.
23. Its distance from Washington.


I mean, I never want to drive to DC again--for ever and ever, world without end--but the drive to Montauk isn't exactly a picnic, either. And I'm at least half an hour closer than the city. I suppose you could take the train, but there are like three a day.
posted by uncleozzy at 11:04 AM on May 9, 2014


The Whelk: " are you trying to kill us? This is how we would kill each other."

*whistles innocently*
posted by zarq at 11:08 AM on May 9, 2014


Screencapped and straightened image, in case the site is a hassle.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:17 AM on May 9, 2014 [1 favorite]


What are Zeppole vans? Google images is no help.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:19 AM on May 9, 2014 [1 favorite]


I can only imagine they are like Mr. Softee, except with zeppoles. Precursors to today's foodtrucks.
posted by monospace at 11:22 AM on May 9, 2014


they're vans full of zeppole
posted by elizardbits at 11:22 AM on May 9, 2014 [4 favorites]


Do you drive around a van full of boiling oil, though? You've got to fry them fresh. There's nothing worse than a stale zeppola.
posted by uncleozzy at 11:24 AM on May 9, 2014 [2 favorites]


And confectioner's sugar.
posted by zarq at 11:25 AM on May 9, 2014


All of the sudden, "living in a van down by the river" doesn't sound bad at all.
posted by schmod at 11:25 AM on May 9, 2014 [2 favorites]


it's like those limos with a hot tub in the back except the hot tub has boiling oil instead of water and instead of tinily bikini'd playboy bunnies and david lee roth it is full of zeppole
posted by elizardbits at 11:26 AM on May 9, 2014 [4 favorites]


I'm envisioning a cement truck filled with boiling coconut oil.

I see Led Zeppole has closed. That sucks.
posted by zarq at 11:27 AM on May 9, 2014


Oh, so Google images was a help, but I did not realize it. Thanks!
posted by filthy light thief at 11:31 AM on May 9, 2014


Great list! So many of these are still relevant.
posted by So You're Saying These Are Pants? at 11:41 AM on May 9, 2014


I'm sort of looking forward to explaining the by-gone ones to children:

"What's an oh-tee-bee?"
"Well, you see, there was way, way too much cigarette smoke in NYC, so the government subcontracted with businesspeople to build storefronts to keep all the smoke in. Some people missed the smoke so they went in there, paid a fee, and sat in it. It was pretty boring so they put in some TVs, but because of city regulations, they could only show the Horse Channel."
posted by griphus at 11:50 AM on May 9, 2014 [23 favorites]


There are still zeppole vans at every awful street fair, no?
posted by neroli at 11:51 AM on May 9, 2014 [1 favorite]


84:Imagining what new york could be, if only.
Note, these were median rents a year ago. Try 10% higher
posted by lalochezia at 12:01 PM on May 9, 2014


On a personal note, they were still doing "It's 10 P.M. Do you know where your children are?" thing in the 90s, when I was a kid watching the news with my mom. She'd turn to me and say "child, where are you?"

Do we have the same mom?
posted by dame at 12:16 PM on May 9, 2014


neroli: "There are still zeppole vans at every awful street fair, no?"

I think the word you meant to use there was "awesome." :D
posted by zarq at 12:18 PM on May 9, 2014 [1 favorite]


Do we have the same mom?

There's a v. simple test to determine this.

If were in your mom's car on a hot summer day, stopped at a red light, and a bunch of Hasidic Jews crossed the street, did your mom invariably point to them and say "see if you were a real Jew, you'd be dressed like that."
posted by griphus at 12:34 PM on May 9, 2014 [6 favorites]


From Red Vs. Blue:


Cut to Church and Tucker appearing on the streets of New York

Tucker: I thought we were supposed to get transported right to New York?
Church: This is New York.
Tucker: What the f-... where the fuck are all the dead hookers?
Church: Yeah look at that homeless guy over there. He's not even pissing on anything.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 1:01 PM on May 9, 2014 [1 favorite]


Ha! I was a four year-old in New Jersey when this was published and it still tickled a few dusty memories.
posted by codswallop at 1:36 PM on May 9, 2014


Hating Con Edison.

Some things never change.
posted by Lutoslawski at 1:37 PM on May 9, 2014 [1 favorite]


I would take the Culver line to the Sea Beach express.
posted by Obscure Reference at 3:32 PM on May 9, 2014


So is zeppole funnel cake?
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 6:08 PM on May 9, 2014


I'm going to go with Italian churro
posted by hobo gitano de queretaro at 6:31 PM on May 9, 2014


I had expected zeppoli to be zeppelin-shaped, but apparently they're round and the name comes from "Giuseppe," since they were traditionally eaten on St. Joseph's Day.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 7:36 PM on May 9, 2014


"65. The background teletype noise on WINS."

ALL NEWS, ALL THE TIME.

THIS IS 1010 WINS.

YOU GIVE US 22 MINUTES,

WE'LL GIVE YOU THE WORLD
posted by droplet at 8:23 PM on May 9, 2014 [3 favorites]


#76: Now not the dirty restaurant list, but the restaurant letter grades. B or worse is probably the equivalent.
#69: Now "uptown people downtown", for at least a decade.
#46: Still trying to keep up. It's more expensive now.
#28: That sounds kind of cool.
#44: Or the middle of the subway car.
#77: I was grateful for the services of an elevator operator at one job about 7 years ago. I can't think there are more than a couple of these guys left.

Here's hoping they'll still be able to make a list like this as long as I'm around. I want to be able to give directions to the IRT to at least one another old guy, and give a tourist directions on how to get to Carnegie Hall.
posted by lackutrol at 10:24 PM on May 9, 2014


My building has elevator operators! But not for long we're installing automatics this year.
posted by The Whelk at 10:28 PM on May 9, 2014 [1 favorite]


If only there was a YouTube video of a kitten eating ZEPPOLE... hmmm, stroking chin whiskers.
posted by noaccident at 7:08 AM on May 10, 2014 [2 favorites]


there is zeppole outside my house right now and i am peering at you all very suspiciously
posted by elizardbits at 10:43 AM on May 10, 2014 [1 favorite]


I feel like I willed the zeppole into being
posted by The Whelk at 11:47 AM on May 10, 2014 [1 favorite]


the combined strength of a few dozen mefites concentrating on zeppole caused them to appear and then be washed away by a massive thunderstorm

ruiners all of you
posted by elizardbits at 2:46 PM on May 10, 2014


I am a capricious god
posted by The Whelk at 3:11 PM on May 10, 2014


If only there was a YouTube video of a kitten eating ZEPPOLE... hmmm, stroking chin whiskers.

I would definitely watch a kitten eat fried dough while stroking its whiskers
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 4:05 PM on May 10, 2014 [1 favorite]


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