Fact: Lots of TV shows and movies use New York City as both a backdrop and often a character. Therefore I've decide to start a new post, "Your Man On The Inside", where I will dispel the rumors that Hollywood would have you believe about New York City.
Item #2: Crime Dramas on both television and in the movies would have you believe that New York City is literally bisected and disected by alleys. Hollywood often portrays theses alleys as havens for hobos warming their hands or baking their beans over garbage can fires, escape routes for crooks during hi-speed chases, the perfect spot to score and shoot crack, concert halls for crooning cats, and long maze-like halls that end at tall wooden fences.
The truth is there are little to no alleys like those mentioned above in NYC. While these places may exist in Queens or the Bronx, real estate in Manhattan is so valuable and scarce that no space, no matter how small, is overlooked.
Yeah! There was actually a story on the cover of one of those free subway papers yesterday about how narrow alley-sized buildings used to be illegal but maybe no longer are? I don't know, I didn't pick up that paper.
ReplyDeleteIf they're around now, it'd still be like a jillion dollars rent to live in a 4-food wide apartment.
4-foot-wide, that is.
ReplyDeleteThere's actually one alley-sized street down in the Financial District across the street from the HSBC building, but it has a name and is considered a proper street. It's tiny, though. Shot a movie there once.
ReplyDeleteBut yeah, the whole homeless guys standing around a trash can with a fire burning thing is definitely over.
My favorite Hollywood depiction of a NYC alley is Friday The 13th Part 8, Jason Takes Manhattan.
ReplyDeleteI LOVED when Jason took Manhattan!
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