New York is a forever changing place. Everything from its buildings, to its parks, its roads change. Even the people in New York change. With the passage of time things start to get old and corrode. This forces people to change things. When things start to change people often forget or they struggle to remember what was there. According to Colson Whitehead new buildings that are made would be considered a ”new” New York. The things we forget and are left in the past would be considered the ”old” New York. That New York most people wouldn’t know about because it isn’t part of there New York. They didn’t see it, so it isn’t part of there New York. The new building that are erected now would be considered their New York because they were there to witness it. The ”old” New York may be in the past, but it isn’t completely lost. The people who were there, would be living proof that the ”old” New York existed. Some places can be juxtaposed with each other to show the ”old” New York with the ” new” New York.
You usually don’t pay attention to what was there before. You’d walked the same place over and over again, that you’d get accustomed to that place. You don’t notice when a store is gone until your ready to actually go there. Things change in your neighborhood and when they do, a little of your New York is chipped away. That deli across the street could change into a 99 cent store at any moment. When it actually does you will gain a new edition to your New York, to replace the New York that was taken from you. All the new places you go to will become part of your New York.
For example I walked down Court Street, and saw all the big court houses. They gave off and an old feeling. Right next to the court houses was Columbus Park. What I noticed was that the people who were walking near the court houses had suits on. They looked really busy and they were rushing to places. They lived in a completely different ”New York” that I wasn’t used to. There ”New York” probably involved a lot of hustling and bustling. Then their was the people walking through Columbus Park, they had a more relaxed feeling to them. They were either walking there dogs or just taking a stroll. Their ”New York” must of been completely different than the court house people because they felt more relaxed. These two places when juxtaposed together show two different aspects of New York in one area. Its shows the busy professional New York compared to the laid back, relaxed New York.
As I continued walking down Court Street I eventually made my why to State Street. Here I realized, that compared to how the courts felt on Court Street, it gave off a more busy feeling but it was different. There were a lot of stores and many people shopping. I felt like I was on Liberty Ave, Queens. The place had a more dirty view but a lot of people were still there. The many store, like Starbucks, Barnes & Nobles, the theater, etc, attracted the people. These places had a lot more people than the court houses and the park and their ”New Yorks” were completely different. The people that travel here would probably be here to eat and do shopping. Compared to the busy, professional New York and the laid back, relaxed New York, this New York was different. I realized that a lot of the people there were students. There were also a lot of construction sites. This caused the place to be much more noisy then the court houses. This made it seem like it was the loud unprofessional New York. The construction workers were either fixing old buildings or replacing them. This means that a little of everyone’s ”New York” was going away. This also mean that the new buildings that would be constructed would help replace the ”New Yorks” they lost. People might never want to acknowledge the new building, like how Colson Whitehead said ” I would never call the Pan Am building, the Met life building, because that’s he would always remember it as the Pan Am building”.
No two places in New York are the same, but they do carry some similarities. For example, the two place I listed above are completely different, but if you paid attention to some details, you could fine a lot of similarities. For example both places were in Brooklyn and they had people inhabiting them . Though each person would have their own ”New Yorks” because everyone’s different. For example the people on Court Street, next the the court houses would be accustomed to walking briskly through the quiet streets surrounded by old buildings. Where as the people by State Street would be more accustomed to noise because more construction is there. Although the buildings on State Street are fairly newer than the ones on Court Street, they do resemble each other in height. There wasn’t a lot of similarities because no two New Yorks are the same.
Everyone lives in a different part of New York. We all hold different memories according to where we went. This makes us all have our own unique ”New York”. Each time we go to someplace new we add more to our ”New York”. New York is constantly changing from its buildings to its inhabitant. This all helps build our own ” New York”. By going on this walk from Court Street to State street I was able to add more to my ”New York”. I was able to experience the ” New York” the lawyers and office workers have while walking down Court Street. I started feeling like I was back into my own ”New York” as I got to State Street. Everyone has their own memories that make these places special to them. Whether these places were to disappear later on or they completely change, our memories, would serve as living proof that these places truly existed.
