Richard Mellor
An interesting look at Manhattan since its purchase from the Native Americans by the Dutch to the present. It's the door I first walked through when I came to the US. It is a great City. I worked in a factory in Spring Street just one stop from West 4th. I would take the F train down from Queens.
The stifling humidity in the summer was more than I could bare especially working in a factory because as anyone knows, that damn conveyor belt never stops unless it breaks down or the workers stop it. The chances are your body will break down before the belt. There is a reason the UAW had control of the belt speed or the belt speed as an issue in its demands of GM.
New Yorkers are interesting people I thought. I have not lived there in a while. I also worked as a phone salesman selling land in the Pocono's. The boss though with my accent it would be easy but unfortunately not, it was a horrible job trying to get people to purchase land that didn't really want to. I had a great time chatting with mostly older New Yorkers from all different nationalities though.
I remember going to the Italian festival there and people who had lived there for decades only spoke Italian. They shopped in their neighborhoods and had no reason to leave them. Same with Irish and other ethnic groups. I knew a bunch of Irish from the Bronx and had Puerto Rican and some Jamaicans as co-workers.
New Yorkers are blunt, forthright people I found. I recall in Woody Allen's Annie Hall when the only benefits of living in California compared to NYC was said to be that you can turn right on a red light. A bit harsh. I might say in defense of California that it makes sense but I get what New Yorkers mean.
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