‘All of them is fake': this is a massive scam. ibid.
New York was a city where you could be frozen to death in the midst of a busy street and nobody would notice. Bob Dylan
New York, you are an Egypt! But an Egypt turned inside out. For she erected pyramids of slavery to death, and you erect pyramids of democracy with the vertical organ-pipes of your skyscrapers all meeting at the point of infinity of liberty! Salvador Dalí
The glamour of it all! New York! America! Charlie Chaplin
New York is an ugly city, a dirty city. Its climate is a scandal, its politics are used to frighten children, its traffic is madness, its competition is murderous.
But there is one thing about it – once you have lived in New York and it has become your home, no place else is good enough. John Steinbeck
In New York, most people don't have cars, so if you want to kill a person, you have to take the subway to their house. And sometimes on the way, the train is delayed and you get impatient, so you have to kill someone on the subway. That’s why there are so many subway murders; no one has a car. George Carlin, Brain Droppings
New York is appalling, fantastically charmless and elaborately dire. Henry James
New York: a third-rate Babylon. H L Mencken
City of prose and fantasy, of capitalist automatism, its streets a triumph of cubism, its moral philosophy that of the dollar. New York impressed me tremendously because, more than any other city, it is the fullest expression of our modern age. Leon Trotsky, My Life
The true New Yorker secretly believes that people living anywhere else have to be, in some sense, kidding. John Updike, The New Yorker, March 1976
For the first time in our lives we’re free ... to get out of this city. Stir Crazy 1980 starring Gene Wilder & Richard Pryor & Georg Stanford Brown & JoBeth Williams & Miguel Angel Suarez & Craig T Nelson & Barry Corbin & Nicolas Coster & Joel Brooks & Jonathan Banks & Jonathan Banks & Erland van Lidth et al, director Sidney Potier
Autumn in New York
Why does it seem so inviting?
Autumn in New York
It spells the thrill of first-nighting.
Glittering crowds and shimmering crowds
In canyons of steel
They’re making me feel
I’m home.
It’s autumn in New York
That brings the promise of new love
Autumn in New York
Is often mingled with pain … Autumn in New York, Sinatra et al
New York was bad enough. By nine in the morning the fake, country-wet freshness that somehow seeped in overnight evaporated like the tail end of a sweet dream. Mirage-grey at the bottom of their granite canyons, the hot streets wavered in the sun, the car tops sizzled and glittered, and the dry, cindery dust blew into my eyes and down my throat. Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar p1
Starting in New York City I’ll continue up the Hudson to Poughkeepsie and the New York State capital of Albany. Here I’ll turn left to the Great Lakes …’ Michael Portillo, Great American Railroad Journeys I: Manhattan, BBC 2016
Grand Central was the gateway to the nation. ibid.
I’ll find out about the hardships faced by tenement dwellers in the Lower East Side … Thousands of immigrants crowded into insanitary buildings in Lower Manhattan … Michael Portillo, Great American Railroad Journeys II
Trains used to run alone here at street level. ibid.
The Long Island railroad daily ferries its commuters to the city, and at weekend carries the city’s holiday-makers to the city. Michael Portillo, Great American Railroad Journeys III
Manhattan: Appleton’s promises me some of the most picturesque scenery in America. Michael Portillo, Great American Railroad Journeys IV
Every day Amtrak’s Penn Station serves over half a million people. ibid.
Garrison, New York – from where I’ll hug the banks of the river north to Poughkeepsie. Michael Portillo, Great American Railroad Journeys V
Out of the Hudson’s waters and hills there grew patriotism, national consciousness and self-assurance. ibid.
America’s gilded age when powerful tycoons launched a railway boom that tied the nation together and carved out its future as a superpower. Michael Portillo, Great American Railroad Journeys VI
I began on Manhattan Island … I’ll continue left to Buffalo then turn left to the spectacular Niagara Falls. Michael Portillo, Great American Railroad Journeys VII
The world’s most famous skyline, a symbol of ambition, success and wealth. Welcome to New York! New York: America’s Busiest City, BBC 2016
The world’s largest railway terminal – Grand Central. ibid.
There are thirteen and a half thousand yellow cabs on the streets of New York. ibid.
Beneath my feet now is fifty years’ worth of New Yorkers’ rubbish. New York: America’s Busiest City II
Hunts Point: there are three massive wholesale markets here selling meat, fruit and veg, and fish. ibid.
An army of delivery men and women working day and night. Most of them use bikes to courier the food. ibid.
3 a.m. The busiest time for the [fish] market. ibid.
Central Park: New York’s most famous greenspace, all eight hundred and forty-three glorious acres of it. New York: America’s Busiest City III
The intersection at Broadway and 72nd Street on New York’s West Side is officially known as Sherman Square. To heroin addicts it’s needle park. Panic in Needle Park 1971 starring Al Pacino & Kitty Winn & Alan Vint & Richard Bright & Kiel Martin & Michael McClanathan & Warren Finnerty & Marcia Jean Kurtz & Raul Julia & Angie Ortega et al, director Jerry Schatzberg, opening caption
I got nothing, man. ibid. Pacino to black man in street
I’m not hooked, I’m chippin’. ibid. him to her
Some friends. Do you know I’ve been beat by half the people out there? ibid.
It’s my business. It’s what I do good ... When I go into an apartment I jam the lock. Stick some toothpicks in the keyhole and break them off. That way when the people come back I can hear them trying to get in. Make it out the fire-escape. ibid. Hank the burglar to Winn, with Pacino
This Is A Raided Premises. ibid. notice in hallway of block of flats, with rozzer in chair
I’m a germ: you should split. ibid. him to her
Everybody rats ... always. ibid. rozzer to her
I’m the supplier: we’re gonna have stuff coming out of our ears. ibid. him to her
It’s the game you’re playing, Helen. I didn’t make the rules. ibid. rozzer to her
I’ve got people working for me now, Helen. I just sit there counting the bread. ibid. him to her
I want you to shape up and put some clothes on. ibid. her to him
New York City: for months it teeters on the edge of bankruptcy. Robbed, ESPN short 2014
‘Consider yourself lucky to have me in New York City.’ ibid. Ali
‘Early in the evening there was a planned demonstration, the cops were going to strike.’ ibid. David Cohen
‘At least ninety robberies, grand larcenies.’ ibid.
‘The gangs around the stadium were uncontrolled.’ ibid.
‘Norton is crushed.’ ibid. US fight commentary