Sunday, February 10, 2008

Discovering Queens

Grab a cup o'joe and sit back and read this amusing tale of outer borough acclimation.

Queens Lives Up to Its Billing

The moral of their story is that if they had just stopped eating expensive meals and drinking $10 cocktails every night, they would have been able to afford their rent increase and stay in Manhattan.

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

The second picture in this article isn't even the Parc Chateau. It is another building near Maple Grove Cemetery, several blocks away from the Parc Chateau.

At least with an apartment overlooking a graveyard, the possibility of your view being obstructed or crappified is mighty slim. Maple Grove Cemetery is very beautifully landscaped, and looks more like a park during the warmer months.

Silver Tower features far blander apartments and lower ceilings than the pre-war Parc Chateau. Here is a link to the Old Kew Gardens website featuring the building these folks probably would have been better off in:

http://oldkewgardens.com/ss-apts-0425.html

Anonymous said...

Yeah,
those $6 lattes also add
to a yuppie's tab of lapping up!

Then there's the Gristede's , Food emporium tab, fencing lessons for the kids etc.

No sympathy here!

Anonymous said...

The moral of the story for all you anti-yuppies that ridicule those $10 cocktails,
soon you will be pushed out of your homes, off to faraway states with high snowfalls - and good riddance.

Anonymous said...

Save $20 most nights by not drinking cocktails and eating out, and you'll have the extra $400 a month to afford the rent, you dumbasses!

Anonymous said...

Actually, I am considering moving to Minnesota where for $400K I can get a decent house, instead of a shack with cheap plastic siding on a 40x100 lot with $5000 property taxes. Wouldn't miss any of the "culture", "diversity", "ethnic/organic food", freshdirect, mass transit, etc.

Anonymous said...

Having taken the plunge and left NYC 25 years ago, I can tell you it's a good move.
The queens I grew up in is long gone. can't imagine where queens (and NYC) will be in another 25 years.
The more time I spend reading this blog the more sure I am I made the right decision.

Anonymous said...

Serious question: Why so much hate towards "yuppies"?

Anonymous said...

They make stable middle class neighborhoods unaffordable to the middle class.

Anonymous said...

It's not yuppies specifically that bug me. I would be considered 1 of them.
What bugs me is that most yuppies are in the service industry (he's a finance type and she was a event arranger for a hotel). The service industry will be the death of our country.
Manufacturing industries were what made America great. NYC used to be a hub of manufacturing. Manufacturing jobs were the best way to cross class boundries. Skilled manufacturing techs can make very good money and don't require a college degree. Manufacturing techs won't spend $6 on a latte.
The transition from manufacturing to service sector reminds me of a quote from the great Will Durant -
"A nation is born stoic and dies epicurian".
Right next to the definition of epicurean in the dictionary is a picture of a $6dollar latte.

Anonymous said...

Manufacturing will never come back to the United States. Either we become the world's web page designers, higher education hub and chip fabrication scientists or we permanently turn into the UK of the 1950's.

Anonymous said...

Happenb to have worked in the chip manufacturing sector and wed business sector and it scares me how much of that work is overseas already.
My last project included using a processor made by an "American" chip manufacturer. I could hardly get any help from their USA based people and wound up working with their people in India and they were much better. Much more professional and much mroe willing to help.
Manufacturing will stay away till the EPA & OSHA learn to chill out. We also need to work on reduced energy costs.
Believe me, companies actually prefer to keep operations in the US. Am currently working with overseas suppliers and it's tough. My local contract manufacturer in the US is great, but he costs me 5x as much for the same work.

Anonymous said...

Serious question: Why so much hate towards "yuppies"?

That is an easy one to answer - the hate resultes from jealousy of young, intelligent, educated, hard-working people that have happy, rewarding professional lives.

Another question - why the hang-up on $10 cocktails? When you frequent a nice upscale establishment in a good location, you are going to pay a little more than you would in a basic pub in a lower-rent location. Stop being haters.

Anonymous said...

Look all you grandmas, people get to be young and stupid and if you're too senile to remember that time, it might stick out because you had FUN. You stayed out late, you drank, smoked, tore up the town and did what anyone who isn't saddled with a wife a family and a mortgage would do.

But God forbid one have tastes. Sheesh, you guys just want a city of pigs.

Anonymous said...

Globalization, communication technologies and free trade agreements have caused the decline in manufacturing in this country, not young, educated professional workers.

Queens Crapper said...

"the hate results from jealousy of young, intelligent, educated, hard-working people that have happy, rewarding professional lives."

Just reread the article and these "young educated hard-working professionals" sounded like they were pretty miserable throughout most of their experience.

And there is no hangup on $10 cocktails on my part. They said in the article that they drank them, and when they stopped, they saved enough to buy a place. That's called fiscal responsibility. If they were so educated, they should have realized earlier that making a modest lifestyle change would have afforded them the opportunity to stay in the Manhattan neighborhood they loved so much instead of moving out to Queens. But what would I know about that? I am under 35, love my job, can afford my rent with plenty left over for recreation, and have a degree that came with initials. Clearly I must be jealous of these "young, intelligent, educated, hard-working people that have happy, rewarding professional lives".

Anonymous said...

the queenscrapper is one of those guys who never "got the girl" and was never part of the "in crowd."
Dont worry buddy, one day.

Anonymous said...

Get real Crapper. Your situation isn't making anyone jealous. You probably rent an apartment in a two-family house in a mid-cost stodgy neighborhood. There is nothing wrong with that and that's great if you are happy, but they are jealous of the younger set in high-paying professions that are buying homes in popular higher-income areas that have younger demographics and more social activity.

Queens Crapper said...

"they are jealous of the younger set in high-paying professions that are buying homes in popular higher-income areas that have younger demographics and more social activity."

These folks moved to Kew Gardens because it was affordable. Can't say the 2-block strip on Lefferts that they thought was peachy is much of a happenin' place. The people in the neighborhood tend to be on the older side, and there are a lot of orthodox Jews who certainly aren't socializing with these newcomers. Don't see your point about jealously.

Anonymous said...

"These folks moved to Kew Gardens because it was affordable. Can't say the 2-block strip on Lefferts that they thought was peachy is much of a happenin' place. The people in the neighborhood tend to be on the older side, and there are a lot of orthodox Jews who certainly aren't socializing with these newcomers. Don't see your point about jealously."

It's really more like 2 and a half blocks... and... uh... oh yeah! We have a theater that shows independent art films. SEE? This is a happenin' place! Right? Right! =(

Anonymous said...

You keep focusing on the people in this article. The "yuppie" jealousy on this thread emanated from criticism of people paying $10 for cocktails. And you have generally displayed "yuppie" jealousy in posts on Long Island City, Williamsburg and Manhattan.

Queens Crapper said...

The people in this article criticized themselves for wasting their money on $10 cocktails.

Anonymous said...

What you think you need to be happy in life and what you truly need to be happy are usually two different things. When you find the latter, you find satisfaction.

Anonymous said...

It seems
there are an awful a lot of yuppies,
hipsters, yupsters, or whatever,
that can't keep up appearances lately,
and are bailing out and skipping away from their
sub prime mortgage foreclosures h-m-m-m !

Good luck on your move to the freezing Dakotas
(and I don't mean the landmark
apartment building on CPW)!

Anonymous said...

It's the condo project owners and their sales agents
that will be ice fishing on a Minnesota lake soon,
if the vacancy rate in their "luxury" buildings
remain at current highs!