The Spirit Of New York Yet To Come

Painting in the Heart of Queens with Mike Shine

- Mike Shine

If Charles Dickens were to write about the gentrification of New York City, he might tell a tale of three spirits: NYC Past, NYC Present, and NYC Yet to Come.

Manhattan is the Spirit of New York Past. Just three decades ago, it was a gritty but fertile den of creativity, expression, and excitement, where anything seemed possible. Disco, gay liberation, punk, graffiti, and hip hop all took root there. But when the booming revitalization of the ’90s hit, lower Manhattan grew up, literally. Shining vertical condos and office parks sprang from the bygone foundations of warehouse nightclubs, factory loft studios, and cheap tenement brownstone apartments. Cleaner, safer streets may define urban progress, but they also create a reverse blight, where artists become priced out and turned off by the homogeneity of polished architecture and its inhabitants. Before long, Manhattan landlords and employers had driven out the very culture that helped attract their new gentry. Strolling through downtown Manhattan today, it’s hard to imagine that it was ever home to the studios of Warhol and Basquiat, never mind the nightlife of John Sex and young Madonna. Even the most notorious nightclubs have had polished makeovers. CBGB’s became a Varvatos store, and the Limelight, a mini-mall.

All of which drove the artsy, influential, but not as-well-heeled pilgrims to find new sanctuary across the East River.