http://vimeo.com/108552265

Like!

Nice!

Wonderful! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks cigal; Paris in June with the GC is coming soon.

Great -two fantastic cities.

And shows how NYC is much closer to many european cities than many others in the US (deserted downtowns and most people in sprawling suburbs).

Very nice, especially with the music.

Beautiful - two of my favourite cities!

NYC has become a city for the 1%.

Such a shame.


Every other shop is a chain because these corporations are the only ones who can afford the high rent.

And I honestly don't know where all the tourists get the money for a week in Manhattan. It is hard to find a hotel for under $300 a night.

Thin

Interesting video. Must admit my eye was drawn more to Paris.

I love NYC, but Paris much more.

Pepper, not all of NYC is for the 1%.
I always thought that more and more chain stores were coming in because more people from around the country have come to live in New York City and are familiar with these from their own suburban malls. Therefore they continue to shop in the stores they're familiar with. I'm so sick of Starbucks, and I live in Queens, not Manhattan, the latter which I'm sure many tourists call NYC.
Wasn't like this when I was growing up in New York City as there weren't many chain stores in the USA to begin with.

But-NYC still has unique boutiques like Paris but not like most cities here.

Starbucks? Boutiques? Chain stores? Is that how we review New York? Paris?!?!

mamamia2 - Just replying to Pepper.

Central Paris is also only for the rich.

But --- Yes, there's a lot more to both cities than those things mentioned above. Obviously, or they wouldn't be considered world class.

Pepper is correct. NYC, i.e., Manhattan, has always been, for the most part, for the top earners and those lucky enough to have rent-controlled apts. Gee, one of the Koch bros. not only has a lot of scratch but also lives/lived in a rent-controlled place. Yes, when leases were up, rents shot up astronomicalley and tons of small, interesting shops along,say, Madison Ave. had to close. The chains came in, where they were allowed. BTW, I also consider such shops as Gucci, Armani, Tiffany, etc. to be chain stores. This has happened in other cities, too. Look at Regent St., London. Full of Brooks Bros, The Gap, etc. Awful to see Ralph Lauren on Blvd. St. Germain. Ugh.

Sorry, I don't agree.

We go to see the city and perhaps walk over the Brooklyn Bridge which is an incredible site.

If all one can see is what Bedar suggested, that's OK.

We all have different agendas when visiting any city. It's all fine.

We just see the city and not what Bedar is talking about.

when I say unique boutiques, I mean places like Deyrolle
and my Armagnac tasting
shop,

Auronze,a specialist in the fight against vermin since 1879,
Androuet a raw-milk cheese shop, that you won't find here

Well, of course, the 1% doesn't live in Kew Gardens.

Or Far Rockaway.


Lots of rich folks buying property in Manhattan (and London) and just letting it sit idle.

Thin

As someone who lives downtown in Manhattan, the changes seem to go from extremes. In Times Square there is no middle ground between hookers and Disney. In Tompkins Square Park, nearly 30 years the NYPD had to bring in tanks to get rid of the squatters and drug dealers, now there are $100 a person restaurants nearby.

The culture downtown was to shun chain stores. There was a GAP on 2nd Ave and St Marks that closed and the neighborhood considered that a triumph. And when the first Starbuck's opened, you would have thought they established half way house for sex offenders.

There are too many kids who are transients, that grew up in the burbs and are comfortable with chains and mall stores. As opposed to the higher end stores in the other neighborhoods.

There is a semi-organized boycott of the new 7-11 in the area. The neighborhood has long had grocery stores, now called bodegas, run and owned the latest immigrant group. That is the history of NYC that should be preserved.