On another thread in this forum, I wrote about the day when I watched the Stones shoot the video for "Waiting On A Friend" in the East Village in NYC.

Something funny happened that afternoon...
Word had spread pretty quickly, it seemed, that the Rolling Stones were in the neighborhood. A fair sized crowd had gathered, and we were standing behind a barricade that the police had set up.

I was standing next to the curb, behind the barricade, when a guy came riding by on a bicycle. Seeing the crowd that was gathered, he stopped his bicycle. He looks over at St. Marks Bar and Grill and says to me, "Who's playing tonight?" I looked at him and answered, "The Rolling Stones." Whereupon he muttered something to me like "sarcastic @#$%&!" and he rode away. I guess he didn't believe me!




(See [www.iorr.org])



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2006-11-14 05:09 by schillid.

I remember when we called it Alphabet City...MTV took care of that I guess? Alphabet City took a turn when they knocked down The Bandshell in Tompkins Square Park.

B & 3 was the spot of spots. The Mission Bar was a cool place. Alphabet City was crazy from 75-89, then the yuppies took over.

This was Alphabet City when I was growing up.

I didn't know that they tore down the bandshell. Why?

Well, it was mainly a fight between the haves and have-nots. Alphabet City/East Village has always been home to people who live outside the box. From the late 50's to right around 1990.

The Bandshell was being used at night time by the homeless folks, NYC in it's way of thinking, decided to knock it down and arrest the homeless. This started the huge riots of 1989. Police helicopters buzzing about 100 feet above the park. Cops, in riot gear all over the place clubbing people.

Basically Guiliani(NYC Mayor) started arresting the homeless, seizing all the building the squatters took over and upgraded. They started knocking down buildings and putting up Condos. Your average $500 1 bedroom apt was now $2,000. Alphabet City was one of the first places to undergo gentrification. Gone were the dealers, artists, musicians and the local hispanic population.



Now you have rich kids of artists, musicians and dealers living there. LOL


I miss the tough,crazy cool little slice of Alphabet City, but as we grow older, we relize, nothing stays the same.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2006-11-14 06:00 by Bingo.

schillid Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> On another thread in this forum, I wrote about the
> day when I watched the Stones shoot the video for
> "Waiting On A Friend" in the East Village in NYC.
>
> Something funny happened that afternoon...
> Word had spread pretty quickly, it seemed, that
> the Rolling Stones were in the neighborhood. A
> fair sized crowd had gathered, and we were
> standing behind a barricade that the police had
> set up.
>
> I was standing next to the curb, behind the
> barricade, when a guy came riding by on a bicycle.
> Seeing the crowd that was gathered, he stopped
> his bicycle. He looks over at St. Marks Bar and
> Grill and says to me, "Who's playing tonight?" I
> looked at him and answered, "The Rolling Stones."
> Whereupon he muttered something to me like
> "sarcastic @#$%&!" and he rode away. I guess he
> didn't believe me!


Great story schillid - thanks!