“I can remember when anything further downtown New York than Canal Street was risky and the whole area still looked like a 70s cop movie location; when the original loft-owners were more dash-than-cash, artistic types.” StillsI CanWholeRememberStreetsNew YorkTypeAreasOriginalsArtisticOwnersCashCopLocationRemember WhenDowntownCanals Author:Peter York
“I know that I come from mid-20th century America, urban, specifically downtown New York, specifically an Italian-American area, Roman Catholic - that's who I am. And a part of what I know is there's a decency to people who tried to make a living in the kind of world that was around us and also the Skid Row area of the Bowery; it impressed me.” PeopleKnowsWorldKindAmericaCenturyNew YorkAreasCatholicWho I AmItalianImpressedUrban20th CenturyDecencyDowntownRoman CatholicItalian AmericanSkid Row Author:Martin Scorsese
“I think so many great artists are flocking to LA because the downtown art scene is so vibrant, there is cheap living and you can really flourish as an artist there. There is an unbelievably supportive and really smart, talented theatre audience in LA full of young, hungry, vibrant people. It's something that sort of makes me think of what New York must have been like in its downtown theater scene in the 1980s - before my time.” PeopleThinkingHas BeensArtYoungArtistAudienceNew YorkSceneSmartTheaterTheatreHungryMy TimeSupportiveGreat ArtGreat ArtistDowntownReally Smart Author:Jon Bernthal
“I made my performance debut in New York City downtown on the Lower East Side in college doing awkward performance art as a go-go dancer at Lady Starlight's Party. And I never thought that my love for mediocre performance art and bad mime would ever come to use in my career as an actor. But my fantasies came true and I got to play Maureen in Rent.” ArtMadePlayUseActorsSidesPartyCitiesCareersFantasyNew YorkCollegePerformancesEastDancerNew York CityAwkwardMediocreDowntownDebutStarlightPerformance ArtMimeEast Side Author:Annaleigh Ashford
“I have never lived in New York City, but a lot of people think that I am a New Yorker, because I was embraced by the Downtown scene since the 1980s. For the record I was born and raised in Los Angeles, California.” PeopleThinkingBornCitiesRecordsNew YorkSceneRaisedCaliforniaLos AngelesNew York CityNew YorkersDowntownBorn And Raised Author:Vaginal Davis
“I knew that I'd lived in New York too long when, a few years ago, I was on a subway going downtown, and it stopped at 14th Street. At the station, the doors opened, and the conductor announced that there was a bomb on board and we should evacuate immediately. Nobody moved. We just looked at each other, 'Do you see a bomb?' 'I don't see a bomb.' 'There's no bomb.' 'I've only got two stops - let's go for it.” ShouldYearsLongTwoDoorsStreetsNew YorkYears AgoMovedBoardsBombsStationsSubwayConductorDowntown Author:Lewis Black
“In South Pasadena, artists were around but invisible somehow. Even though it was just a fifteen-minute drive from Downtown LA, it felt worlds apart. That suburban American experience can both protect and stunt you. I couldn't wait to move to New York to become the person I've always wanted to become.” WorldPersonsWantedMovingArtistFeltWaitingMinutesNew YorkProtectSouthInvisibleFifteenDowntownWorlds ApartPasadena Author:Porochista Khakpour
“When I'm in New York I love to stay at the Mercer Hotel, and the C. Wonder store was so part of my New York experience from staying downtown. What I love the most about the brand is the enthusiasm that the customer has for it.” WonderNew YorkCustomersStoresEnthusiasmBrandsHotelStayingDowntown Author:Brad Goreski
“Downtown New York, I'm within certain styles of music and I'm also within certain cultural, you know, and literary context. So DJ Spooky was meant to be a kind of ironic take on that. It was always meant to be kind of a criticism and critique of how downtown culture would separate genres and styles because it was ambiguous. You couldn't fit it into anything and that was the point.” KnowsCertainStyleNew YorkDowntown Author:DJ Spooky