Taki Taki

High life | 16 April 2015

Red brick tenements, gangsters and genuine working-class accents are a thing of the past in Manhattan

Great escapes (Photo: Getty) 
issue 18 April 2015

New York

‘Gimme a BLT on rye and hold da mayo’ is a great Noo Yawk sound. So is boid for bird, and toerty-toird for 33rd Street. True working-class accents no longer exist in the Bagel, and one is far more likely to hear ‘Deme un BLT y guarde la mayo’ from our Dominican or Puerto Rican cousins. The fire escape is also going fast, and as some wit pointed out, the next time Tony woos Maria in West Side Story

he’ll have to text.

The outdoor fire escape is a classic piece of Noo Yawk architecture, especially in the tenements of old in the Lower East Side, now the playground of billionaires of the Arab, Chinese and Indian persuasion. Those tenements were dark red brick and served as background to some of Edward Hopper’s paintings.

Comments

Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months

Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.

Already a subscriber? Log in