First there were dinosaurs; then a montage of gangsters eating spaghetti and stabbing stuff with "Gimme Shelter" playing in the background; then the Ramones and some breakdancing; all culminating in a gentrified paradise that smells like brunch and has countless ratchet ATMs that spit your money into the street.
The last point aside, as narratives for a city, you can do worse. There are apparently towns on this planet where hip-hop wasn't invented and Fania Records and Madball and Basquiat never existed.
Tribeca
There are two major reasons to visit downtown. You should go to the Reflecting Absence World Trade Center Memorial. People argue about the aesthetic of the new tower. It's inarguably a product of political compromise and its architectural height of 1,776 feet is empire kitsch, but frankly how the hell are you ever going to put anything on that site which will please everyone? Frankly, it's not so bad. The clouds reflect off it beautifully and from certain angles it's a stunner. More importantly, the waterfall pool that serves as the site's actual memorial is something to be experienced. It works in the same way the Vietnam Memorial works; the names, it's all in the names.
The other site to pay respect to is the African Burial Ground National Monument, just a short walk from Ground Zero. The burial ground is on the land of New York's first African-American cemetery. The site was discovered in 1992 when a federal building was being built and it was only through community activism that construction was halted. So go bow your head to both the tragedy of the initial injustice and in respect to one of the few times basic morality prevailed over real estate interests.
See the complete VICE Guide to New York.
[Cover photo via Gryffindor]
