Christiana's Second Dérive
March 20, 2018, by Christiana
For my second dérive, in the same ultimate goal for higher psycho-geographical awareness of my surrounding neighborhood, I approached the task differently. This time, I left my phone at home which is unlike the first dérive where I used it as a tool/guide (through the app) and found myself distracted on its battery-life. Before I embarked on my trip, I wrote down a collection of 10 randomized cards from the dérive app as a way to wander more during my second approach. These 10 cards were used as loose directional tools whenever I found myself at a place where I did not know where to continue traveling, differing from my first dérive where I gave the cards more control of my direction.
The Derive Cards are listed below:
Search for construction
Continue ahead
Look for broken infrastructure
Follow a cat (I changed this to any animal) for a few blocks
Walk away from the city center, take in the scenery
Look for trash on the street, if it is moving then you should follow it
Move to the sunny side of the street, if there is none then imagine one
Search for silence
Turn right
Find a body of water
LES By sheer coincidence, I was randomly assigned to begin my second dérive at the same starting location as my first one; East Broadway and Montgomery Street. I used this as a unique opportunity to search for details that I did not notice on my first visit and to find a different path. I thought about gentrification and the changes in area as I walked west towards Allen Street. It is impossible to miss the contrast in residential buildings, as the government-funded project buildings are now neighbors to high-rise (and likely high rent) newly renovated condos for the emerging community. The Lower East Side has experienced one of the most apparent examples of gentrification in the city since the 1990s. While there are still elements of the former-LES that present themselves today, they are becoming mixed within stylized newcomers. The section of East Broadway where my dérive commenced was not particularly busy and appeared to be a quieter, locals-only area for daily activities.
I made a left onto street where Pike turns into Allen. I only traveled on Allen Street for a short period of time before turning left on Canal Street. The location was progressively busier than my starting point, promoting a lot of movement in the area by car, bike, and foot. It is also evident that the Chinese community has a dominant influence in his area. I visited the during a busy time in the morning as many people rushed by. The variety of ages and types of people that utilized the space provided an interesting example for the larger population of the neighborhood, highlighting its diversity. I continued on Canal Street and noticed that it had a narrower feel than Allen Street. I passed Forsyth Street where a quiet, dead-end caught my attention. The area is heavily concentrated by a strong flow of traffic so it provided an interesting contrast to the quiet, dead-end on the opposite side of the street. I took a larger view of my scenery and was overcome with an awareness of my geographic location within the island of Manhattan, it was apparent that this particular location was not the center of the city. As Canal Street approaches Chrystie Street, the strength of the flow of traffic only increased with the presence of the adjacent onramp.
THE BOWERY I then made a right turn from Canal Street onto the Bowery. Bowery feels like a companion to the movement powerhouse of Canal street. The notable influence from the Chinese community has remained prevalent, providing a strong indication that I was in the center of Chinatown. The street center was busy and noisy from a combination of the bustling pedestrian traffic, honking cars, and the nearby construction sites. The area feels unkempt and a bit dirty, but not in an unwelcoming sense. The history of the Bowery is rooted in the underground, as explained by Sante in Low Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York, “the Bowery was the place not only where the poor came to divert themselves but where they met and joined together in organizations of varying size and stability.” (13). I continued along the Bowery, passing Delancey, and noted the varied graffiti, from illegible tags to mural-esque masterpieces. I also looked at the variety of architecture ranging from classic brick buildings to renovated glass art galleries.
PRINCE STREET TO BROADWAY I left the Bowery at Prince Street, where I made a right to transition into SoHo. The street was far quieter with far less people walking upon it. It felt like a residents-only portion of Prince Street, with smaller boutiques and more residential establishments. As I traveled along the street, by the time I reached Elizabeth Street I had noticed a notable transition in neighborhoods. The impression of the Lower East Side, in its grungy eclecticism, was now transitioning into a more SoHo-y atmosphere. Meaning, it felt like the area was becoming more stylized. I walked along the shaded side of the street and the area was progressively getting more luxe, in my opinion. By Mulberry Street, the SoHo impression was dominant. The street was narrow but busy with shoppers. However, I expected this as I was walking in the direction of Broadway, the antithesis of the Bowery. I began to notice more mainstream brands purchasing flagship stores in the area as I approached Lafayette street. My location at this point had an unrecognizable atmosphere to my starting point at East Broadway, flooded with locals and tourists alike. I then made a right from Prince Street onto Broadway. Broadway gives off a Times Square vibe, acting as a calculated commercial icon for New York City. The street is home to dominant retailers, theaters, and other major enterprises. The buildings tower over the sidewalks, creating a claustrophobic perspective as a pedestrian. This theme was consistent at any point on the street during my dérive. Interestingly, Broadway at its core has always been created with these intentions and has always been this narrow. As explained by Sante, “For most of its history, Broadway contained the bulk of retail shops, hotels, and theatres in the city, as well as a great number of major office buildings. Paradoxically, its importance as an artery and as a business district meant that is was never widened to proportion of the increasing volume of the traffic it supported.” (9).
I stopped on Broadway at West Houston Street, another major facilitator for movement through the city. I enjoyed that the sky was more visible on Houston than Broadway. The neighborhood today is nothing like it had been in the past. Sante describes, “It was said in the 1880s that you could stand on the corner of Broadway and Houston Street and fire a shotgun in any direction without hitting an honest man.” (10). The noises varied from disgruntled taxi drivers to frustrated pedestrians waiting to cross the street. Despite being less commercial than Broadway, I would argue that Houston may be equally demanding of attention. As I walked west, the dominance of the moving cars made me feel especially small. I noticed that during my normal walking patterns I typically avoid these streets which pushed me to investigate them during my project. The farther west I traveled the more the area felt a bit like SoHo, stylized. There were boutique stores, expensive restaurants, and apartment buildings. I then proceeded to make a right onto Sullivan Street, bringing me into Greenwich Village.
GREENWICH VILLAGE Sullivan Street was very narrow and reminded me a bit of Prince Street. I was not too busy and it was obvious that the neighborhood was very well-kept. This is a stark contrast to my starting point on the LES. The apartments had very large windows and large doors. The street was quiet, an ideal and likely expensive living situation. The brick was painted different colors (white, blue, grey) and felt very posh. Sullivan street had no graffiti that I could spot, very unlike the LES. The greenery on the sidewalk was notably well maintained. The Greenwich Village was not always this stylized boutique and my position on Sullivan Street is not representative of the Village as a whole. The Village has long represented itself as a Bohemian haven to the underground thinkers and artists of New York City. This historic reputation has made it an understandably desirable location to live and cultivate a University. At this point in the dérive I thought back to the writings of Max Gordon in Live at the Village Vanguard, in his explanation of the how the historic neighborhood progressed. He mentions of the prohibition era and his early desires to own a Village establishment, “if you stepped out on the town for a night’s entertainment, you carried a bottle with you. If you happened to forget it, or if your bottle ran dry at midnight, and you found yourself in some join in the Village, where would you go to get another bottle? There was always a guy in a doorway hanging outside Village joints who could get you one.” (17). During my walk, I romanticized the prohibition era and the swanky Village speak-easys.
I noticed that my field map stopped at W 3rd street, which intersected with Sullivan Street. I remembered that Gordon mentioned living around this area when he first opened the Village Vanguard, “I was living in a six-dollar-a-week room with a toilet in the hall, in the Strunsky Block on West Third Street.” (11). This is an interesting contrast to the posh neighborhood that I just passed along Sullivan street. This indicated that my dérive had commenced. This second dérive highlighted the transitions between neighborhoods, the changes in atmosphere and community, and the dualities between Broadway and the Bowery.