Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

How Manhattan Became a Rich Ghost Town

theatlantic.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 153 posts

Re: How Manhattan Became a Rich Ghost Town

#101

Post by swedishfish »

March_f6 wrote: post #46

I lived in NYC from 2009 to 2017 and can affirm the author's feeling. Over the span of those years, and mostly as of late, I saw many of my favorite brick and mortars (Rare books, sporting goods shops, record stores, etc.) all be replaced by coffee shops or juice places. Granted each of the above mentioned places have challenges with their respective industry but the feeling still stands. Having been born in North Te…

Well now I'm curious. Which town in North Texas used to be called "Little Austin"? Denton??

Re: How Manhattan Became a Rich Ghost Town

#102

Post by dsfyu404ed »

naravara wrote: post #92
wgerard wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The next generation is far less materialistic than generations of the past. Ehhhh, I dunno that I'd go that far. It's just different shit. I think we all know plenty of people lined up the second a new iPhone or Pixel is announced.

Materialism probably isn't the word, but conspicuous consumption of consumer goods (say that 5 times fast) is definitely less of a thing among the urban set than it used to be in the 80s and 90s. I wouldn't categorize smartphones as conspicuous consumption per se, because even when blinged out in gold they still tend to be pretty understated in comparison the the dinner-plate sized Breitlings that finance bros used t…

>Insofar as millennials are still materialistic, I'd categorize it more as conspicuous consumption of "experiences." So rather than buying fancy things to announce how rich you are, you just post instagram pics of yourself in fancy places

Agreed. Drinking the fairest trade coffee and the most micro brew beer has replaced having a massive TV and high end clothes.

Re: How Manhattan Became a Rich Ghost Town

#103

Post by jganetsk »

jotjotzzz wrote: post #90

I've lived and grew up in NYC for almost 30 years and I agree with the author. Manhattan has become an unaffordable ghost town. Walk down West Village, Union Sq, Flatiron, etc.., you see rows of closed stores that have gone vacant for a very long time now. In contrast, I was in London recently and that city was thriving compared to Manhattan, it was lively and beautiful. In addition, NYC Subway and transportation is…

I find London to have the same problems in terms of being full of chain stores and losing the kinds of character that the author describes.

Re: How Manhattan Became a Rich Ghost Town

#104

Post by PascLeRasc »

wgerard wrote: post #87
megaman8 wrote: post #76

It's not just Amazon. The next generation is far less materialistic than generations of the past. No one can blame them for not wanting to spend 500$ on a Gucci gucci bag or 400$ on overpriced jeans, especially when they've got all that student debt. Workplace clothes are changing as well. Less people are opting for the fancy suits. Retail needs to keep up with the changes and start offering something people actually…

> The next generation is far less materialistic than generations of the past. Ehhhh, I dunno that I'd go that far. It's just different shit. I think we all know plenty of people lined up the second a new iPhone or Pixel is announced.

That's trivial compared to the expectation of buying a new car, a $40k wedding, and getting a mortgage immediately after undergrad.

Re: How Manhattan Became a Rich Ghost Town

#106

Post by jungturk »

swedishfish wrote: post #101
March_f6 wrote: post #46

I lived in NYC from 2009 to 2017 and can affirm the author's feeling. Over the span of those years, and mostly as of late, I saw many of my favorite brick and mortars (Rare books, sporting goods shops, record stores, etc.) all be replaced by coffee shops or juice places. Granted each of the above mentioned places have challenges with their respective industry but the feeling still stands. Having been born in North Te…

Well now I'm curious. Which town in North Texas used to be called "Little Austin"? Denton??

> Denton is known as “Little Austin.” It is the birthplace of the Rocky Horror Picture Show and therefore respectably weird itself.

https://www.texasstandard.org/stories/how-many-of-these-texa...

Re: How Manhattan Became a Rich Ghost Town

#107

Post by wgerard »

PascLeRasc wrote: post #104
wgerard wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The next generation is far less materialistic than generations of the past. Ehhhh, I dunno that I'd go that far. It's just different shit. I think we all know plenty of people lined up the second a new iPhone or Pixel is announced.

That's trivial compared to the expectation of buying a new car, a $40k wedding, and getting a mortgage immediately after undergrad.

All of the things you mentioned have become far more expensive relative to wage growth in the last 3 decades (cars not as much as the other 2, admittedly).

Re: How Manhattan Became a Rich Ghost Town

#108

Post by ascagnel_ »

jotjotzzz wrote: post #90

I've lived and grew up in NYC for almost 30 years and I agree with the author. Manhattan has become an unaffordable ghost town. Walk down West Village, Union Sq, Flatiron, etc.., you see rows of closed stores that have gone vacant for a very long time now. In contrast, I was in London recently and that city was thriving compared to Manhattan, it was lively and beautiful. In addition, NYC Subway and transportation is…

The thing I find craziest about Union Square is the number of drugstores. Just along the south end of the square, you've got Walgreen's (a national brand) and Duane Reade (which used to be independent, but is now a local brand for Walgreen's) 600ft. or so apart from each other. How in any way is that sustainable?

Re: How Manhattan Became a Rich Ghost Town

#109

Post by vivism »

aylmao wrote: post #40
sarabande wrote: post #2

It seems to me like in big cities, as this article describes what eventually will happen is the rich will buy up the property because nobody else can afford it, service workers won't be able to actually live within a reasonable distance in order to work there, and the city will exist mainly for 1) wealthy professionals, 2) people who use real estate to park their money, and 3) tourists. Regular working-class folk dis…

A look at the financial district in NYC reveals this. During the day the place is very active, but during the night the whole thing dies out.

It is still recovering from 9/11.

Re: How Manhattan Became a Rich Ghost Town

#110

Post by abakker »

altoidaltoid wrote: post #63
March_f6 wrote: post #46

I lived in NYC from 2009 to 2017 and can affirm the author's feeling. Over the span of those years, and mostly as of late, I saw many of my favorite brick and mortars (Rare books, sporting goods shops, record stores, etc.) all be replaced by coffee shops or juice places. Granted each of the above mentioned places have challenges with their respective industry but the feeling still stands. Having been born in North Te…

"How many mattress stores and Sonics does a town of 100,000 need?" http://freakonomics.com/podcast/mattress-store-bubble/

https://www.wsj.com/articles/mattress-firm-files-for-chapter...

Short answer: fewer.

Post reply on HN