Yorkville

It’s been killing me. I grew up in this special place. And I knew it was special because my mother told me about the history of the place and it seemed special in any case. All around there were old buildings and people from all these different far away places. They sold different kinds of food. The shops they ran smelled different. And they acted different and spoke different languages. And my mother told me about how my grandfather was a patrolman in this place and how my great grandfather helped to build that beautiful building with all the lights and how my great great grandfather used to take his nieces and nephews to play in that park by the river. To tell you the truth, I didn’t love this place at first, when we first came here from Long Island. But I grew to love it because I knew I was a part of it and because it was just lovable in any case.

I grew up here. And I identify with the place – its people, its buildings, its culture and its history. To me, Yorkville is home. It’s an old working class slum on the Upper East Side of Manhattan – not the Upper East Side, just on it, but its own place.

So it’s been killing me to watch it being torn down. As far back as I can remember, they’ve been taking down buildings in this neighborhood and replacing them with non-descript high-rise apartment buildings. The truth is, I grew up in one of those for the most part. So I certainly know that they’re not all bad. But that doesn’t change the fact that I can’t stand watching what’s going on.

The older I got, the more I understood where I came from and what my responsibilities were to this place as one of the last members of possibly the last generation of working class locals. And the more it has hurt to see them take down the old buildings. This summer they went what I think is too far. They tore down two sections of old buildings at the crossroads of the old neighborhood – 86th and 3rd and 86th and Lex.

For a couple of years, my buddies and I have all talked about this place in a nostalgic way. We’ve seen this city change in our lifetimes. We’ve seen this neighborhood being ripped down. But this latest change, I think it really stabbed at all of our hearts. In the 80’s it was funny to see the Yuppies coming into Yorkville. I remember nights when they’d be out in front of the yuppie bars fighting and we’d call the cops and watch as they showed up and threw the little fucks up against cars. It was amusing. But now, the yuppies are entrenched. In fact, it seems more and more each day like it’s their city and we’re the outsiders.

My friend calls Spanish Harlem the last frontier. He says when that goes, that’s it. And my brother tells me they’re now listing properties in Spanish Harlem as “Carnegie Hill.” Carnegie Hill is a wealthy section near Fifth Avenue. Spanish Harlem is not Carnegie Hill. There was a time when a wise white boy would not walk there. Now, we see recently arrived Ohioans freely strolling north of 96th street. It’s a sad day in the city. But I digress. The point of this little essay is to talk about Yorkville and its destruction. Like I said, I feel a responsibility as a member of perhaps the last generation of working class locals. I feel a responsibility to tell the story of this place and to appeal to any and all who would listen to stop butchering this special place, Yorkville, and New York, and to preserve and tell the story. Why? For our past, for our future. It’s important to us as the locals whose forefathers gave all to build this place because it is the story of who we are. It’s important to my niece and nephew to see and experience this place the way their forebears did. It’s important to the city because it’s part of the fabric of the city. It’s important because history has an intrinsic value. If nothing else, I want to confront naysayers with these questions: what is the goal? Is it to destroy all old buildings in NY? To destroy the culture of our city? Is it really progress to tear down buildings that have stood for 150 years? Or, do we wish to place a higher value on history and culture than on money? Ultimately, I think it’s time for a paradigm shift in development in New York City. We are losing our culture and history at a very fast pace. It’s time to start marking places where important things happened with plaques like they do in Europe. And it is time to start preserving buildings rather than tearing them down – even if it means someone will not make a fortune off the property. I don’t suggest we save all old buildings. But I do think development is off the deep end right now. And as far as my neighborhood’s concerned, Yorkville has suffered enough. To the developers, I suggest that you go several blocks west and knock down some of those buildings for a while. Or go to Nantucket and tear down the center of a town there. Leave Yorkville alone. It’s been victimized enough. Seriously, enough is enough. So, like I said, I want to tell this story and make my appeal. Hopefully my old buildings didn’t go away for no reason. I hope our loss serves a purpose.