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It feels like every other day I hear someone longing for the “Meet Me in the Bathroom” era of NYC in the early-to-mid 2000’s.

Some of the reasons people look back on that period fondly are: cheaper rent, pre-gentrification in many Brooklyn neighborhoods, pre-iPhone / less internet usage, more broke creatives in the city, people tended to spend more time outside, etc.

Of course our nostalgia glasses tend to have rose-tinted lenses, but let’s do the same thing for NYC today as if we were looking back on it 20 years later.

What are some things about the city right now that feel really special? What are some things that feel new and exciting? What are some things that seem to be fading away, but are still around if you look hard enough? What are some things NYC has that other major cities just… don’t?

For the negative aspects, which things do you think are so bad that they materially impact your enjoyment of the city? What do you think will actually be remembered 20 years from now? And what do you think will end up essentially being blips on the radar?