What was NYC like in the early 2000s?

[Anonymous]

Meaning pre and post 9/11. Was there a lot of crime? What were your favorite places to go to?

[Anonymous]

I lived in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and worked in Manhattan from 2000-2003. Not a lot of crime. Cell phones were just becoming a normal thing for people to have, but we only used them to make phone calls. I walked around listening to music on a Walkman until I got my first iPod in 2002(?) Williamsburg was experiencing its hipster heyday—by the time the Hipster Handbook came out in 2003, any kernel of sincerity in that vibe was pretty much over. The music scene was great— Interpol, Yeah Yeah Yeahs. When Radiohead’s Kid A came out, you heard it everywhere—from open apartment windows and cars driving by.

In the city, the women I worked with were obsessed with Sex and the City. (These were bridge and tunnelers, ftr. I don’t know what the real Nyers were up to.) Groups of young women would go out to restaurants made famous on the show and try to figure out who was Carrie, who was Samantha… Magnolia Bakery became a destination overnight.

Foodie-ism was becoming huge. The website Chowhound was a big thing and people would try to find the most authentic, hole-in-the-wall cuisine in far reaches of the boroughs. Long before I got sucked into DCUM, I spent the workday reading Chowhound and Gawker at my very first job out of college. We didn’t even have the internet at our desk when I started there in 2000. We just had to sit there and talk to each other. (Or work.)

[Anonymous]

Speaking purely as a tourist, it was fantastic. The bad crime from the 70’s and 80’s didn’t seem to be a problem anymore, and it was obviously prior to the sea change that happened after 9/11. My college boyfriend lived in Long Island and I have many good memories of us taking the train into the city and bumming around Greenwich and the East Village going to record stores and vintage shops, eating at hole-in-the-wall restaurants. Sigh.

[Anonymous]

As a bridge and tunnel girl - the city was great! Never had an issue with crime. I would meet up with my friends every weekend to go out. I never lived there as I was a teacher on Long Island, so It would n't make sense.

[Anonymous]

I graduated from HS in NYC in June 2000. My senior spring was one of the best seasons of my life. Subways were crowded at all hours - it never felt unsafe. Streets in my neighborhood were quiet when I'd get home at 3am but I always felt okay (maybe because I was 18 and naive and a male). I didn't get mugged in 2000. Previously I had been mugged at least twice.

We smoked weed outside all the time. Lots of stores sold beer to kids. We did whatever we wanted.

There were still lots of independent eateries. It was before every corner in Manhattan had a bank or a chain pharmacy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Speaking purely as a tourist, it was fantastic. The bad crime from the 70’s and 80’s didn’t seem to be a problem anymore, and it was obviously prior to the sea change that happened after 9/11. My college boyfriend lived in Long Island and I have many good memories of us taking the train into the city and bumming around Greenwich and the East Village going to record stores and vintage shops, eating at hole-in-the-wall restaurants. Sigh.

Sigh is right. Walking up one flight of stairs from 6th Ave near 8th street to get to this place immediately came to mind when I saw the title of this thread. A bygone era.

https://www.fatbeats.com/pages/about-us

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Speaking purely as a tourist, it was fantastic. The bad crime from the 70’s and 80’s didn’t seem to be a problem anymore, and it was obviously prior to the sea change that happened after 9/11. My college boyfriend lived in Long Island and I have many good memories of us taking the train into the city and bumming around Greenwich and the East Village going to record stores and vintage shops, eating at hole-in-the-wall restaurants. Sigh.

Sigh is right. Walking up one flight of stairs from 6th Ave near 8th street to get to this place immediately came to mind when I saw the title of this thread. A bygone era.

https://www.fatbeats.com/pages/about-us

PP here. YES. And the culture was packed in so tightly…like every address on every block seemed to have something interesting going on. All these little niche businesses that you could explore all day and find something amazing.

[Anonymous]

It felt very safe at that time, I was in Manhattan a lot between 1998-2002 and culturally it was an exciting place to be. It had started to become a richer city - so all those warehouses on the Lower East Side had been transformed already into Bloomingdales and other chi-chi boutiques, but that also helped with the reduced crime. Guiliani was credited with "cleaning the city up" and considered a hero at that point. Oh how the mighty have fallen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It felt very safe at that time, I was in Manhattan a lot between 1998-2002 and culturally it was an exciting place to be. It had started to become a richer city - so all those warehouses on the Lower East Side had been transformed already into Bloomingdales and other chi-chi boutiques, but that also helped with the reduced crime. Guiliani was credited with "cleaning the city up" and considered a hero at that point. Oh how the mighty have fallen.

Rudy was considered a hero after 9/11.

A lot of New Yorkers saw a lot of his methods for 'cleaning up' as deeply flawed.

[Anonymous]

Agreed felt very safe. I lived there when I graduated college in 2002. I never felt like I would get mugged or anything and um definitely made some poor laid night decisions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agreed felt very safe. I lived there when I graduated college in 2002. I never felt like I would get mugged or anything and um definitely made some poor laid night decisions.

Nice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agreed felt very safe. I lived there when I graduated college in 2002. I never felt like I would get mugged or anything and um definitely made some poor laid night decisions.

Nice.

Amazing! High-fiving myself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It felt very safe at that time, I was in Manhattan a lot between 1998-2002 and culturally it was an exciting place to be. It had started to become a richer city - so all those warehouses on the Lower East Side had been transformed already into Bloomingdales and other chi-chi boutiques, but that also helped with the reduced crime. Guiliani was credited with "cleaning the city up" and considered a hero at that point. Oh how the mighty have fallen.

Rudy was considered a hero after 9/11.

A lot of New Yorkers saw a lot of his methods for 'cleaning up' as deeply flawed.

Sure but he cleaned it up nonetheless and everyone felt a lot safer, including me (and were you there or are you a DC commentator?)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It felt very safe at that time, I was in Manhattan a lot between 1998-2002 and culturally it was an exciting place to be. It had started to become a richer city - so all those warehouses on the Lower East Side had been transformed already into Bloomingdales and other chi-chi boutiques, but that also helped with the reduced crime. Guiliani was credited with "cleaning the city up" and considered a hero at that point. Oh how the mighty have fallen.

Rudy was considered a hero after 9/11.

A lot of New Yorkers saw a lot of his methods for 'cleaning up' as deeply flawed.

Sure but he cleaned it up nonetheless and everyone felt a lot safer, including me (and were you there or are you a DC commentator?)

You were there a lot for about four years. I was there pretty much every day for 18.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It felt very safe at that time, I was in Manhattan a lot between 1998-2002 and culturally it was an exciting place to be. It had started to become a richer city - so all those warehouses on the Lower East Side had been transformed already into Bloomingdales and other chi-chi boutiques, but that also helped with the reduced crime. Guiliani was credited with "cleaning the city up" and considered a hero at that point. Oh how the mighty have fallen.

Rudy was considered a hero after 9/11.

A lot of New Yorkers saw a lot of his methods for 'cleaning up' as deeply flawed.

Sure but he cleaned it up nonetheless and everyone felt a lot safer, including me (and were you there or are you a DC commentator?)

You were there a lot for about four years. I was there pretty much every day for 18.

ah and that is where you are mistaken. My relationship with NYC started in 1980 when I moved there aged 11