Roosevelt Island Is The Village
This morning I got up early and explored the half of Roosevelt Island I missed on my first trip to this weirdo bit of earth in the East River. Main Street in so late 60s and early 70s it made my teeth ache. It’s all concrete and metal siding, rundown and aesthetically homogeneous. It’s like a English village via Soviet Russia. It’s the New York version of The Village from the cult TV series The Prisoner. It’s fascinating that it is so close to Manhattan and yet worlds apart.
Aug 21, 2009
Go to newer entry or older entry
About Me
Recent Posts
Popular Posts
I’ve been out there a couple of times, and I don’t think I ever noticed the generic store names. It is both awesome and terrifying.
And it really is like the Village.
Did the recent posting on Scouting NY inspire this trip?
http://www.scoutingny.com/?p=965
He just wrote about those awesome storefronts.
I think it’s a she but yes, I read that a couple days ago and remembered I needed to investigate the north half of the island. It’s pretty awesome in that Village of the Damned and Twilight Zone kind of way.
Isn’t it great? My first NYC apartment was on Roosevelt Island. My roommate and I loved that it just said “Nail Salon.” “Flower Shop.” Because, you know, there was only one… It’s like a really half-assed movie set. (A few times while I lived there they actually were filming movies on Main Street, which made it particularly uncanny.)
I can’t imagine living there. I’d go generically insane. I wish I was there later in the day though because The Thrift Store looked like one of those delightfully junky yard sale style operations. Through the front window I saw dozens of home-duped VHS tapes for sale. Who doesn’t need a backup copy of Wildcats for the VCR?
No one. That’s who.
You’re right about the Thrift Store — marginally more organized than your basic dumpster. The volunteers who run it (from “Roman Catholic Church,” I believe) haven’t sorted the cool finds from the crap, which meant I did occasionally find a cool old book for which they charged me 50 cents. But you had to go through all the homemade videos, etc. to find the good stuff.
Ah, but if you went generically insane, your meds would be really cheap.
I grew up there, bite me, it was awesome. I was the only kid in NYC with my own treehouse.
No you didn't. No I won't. No it wasn't. No you weren't