
IN THE 1980S, when I lived alone in a 275-square-foot rent-free, unheated studio apartment owned by a former Warhol superstar who was an heir to a real-estate fortune, I shopped exclusively at my two local bodegas on Avenue B. Drug dealers lived below me. Their dogs patrolled the hallways. I was robbed more times than I can remember, including once when my front door was unscrewed from its hinges.
The bodegas were oases of comparative calm. Alphabet City—where a charming farmers’ market now springs to life at Tompkins Square Park every Sunday—was once what we could call an underserved neighborhood, a food desert. The bodegas, often run then as now by people of color, were one stop mini-malls not only for canned beans and soda but also diapers, detergent, loose cigarettes, and beer. (I bought single Marlboros for years as I tried and failed to quit smoking.) Some sold drugs. Others had a cat curled up in the window, taking a nap between mouse hunts. You might pay through thick plexiglass while a couple regulars sat on plastic crates and looked at you askance. Or laughed and talked in Spanish. These were not necessarily places you lingered. But we wouldn’t have survived without them.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der January 29 - February 11, 2024-Ausgabe von New York magazine.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der January 29 - February 11, 2024-Ausgabe von New York magazine.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden

Home Sweet Home?
Meghan Markle pioneers new frontiers of unrelatability.

Going Stealth
Torrey Peters reimagines transness in a new collection.

Toni Morrison's Lost Play
Why did the novelist's only staged drama disappear for so long?

The Resilient Natasha Rothwell
The writer and actor returns to The White Lotus just as the show she created, How to Die Alone, has been canceled.

Maximum Capacity
Ha’s Snack Bar is already too full, but it’s also too good to ignore.

Odd Jobs
Bong Joon Ho sets a bitterly funny take on America in space.

Free Country Sam Adler-Bell
Playing Dead For Democratic leadership, giving up is the strategy.

MOVE FAST AND BREAK LAWS
SHAYNE COPLAN upended political polling on his way to creating the billion-dollar betting platform POLYMARKET. Maybe it's even legal.

COMMISH TISCH TO THE RESCUE
The NYPD's Jessica Tisch has spent her career quietly taking on intractable city problems— but what happens when the biggest problem is the mayor himself?

From Hot to Not
Chefs across the city are toning down the spice levels on their most fiery recipes.