Response 2 - Ava Solina
February 28, 2018, by Ava
When reading “You Don’t Need Any Money” in Live At the Village Vanguard by Max Gordon, I found it interesting that the characters in the story talked about certain elements of the city in the same way that New Yorkers talk about them today. This was particularly relevant when Ann was discussing how a certain village bar was no longer what it used to be. She states, “this used to be a real village joint when I first came to work here… But Paul’s let the Bronx and Brooklyn move in and spoil the joint,” (Gordon, 14). I found this interesting because it seems that this can, and is, said of almost any place in the city today. It is something I constantly hear my father say when referring to Italian restaurants he and his father would go to when my grandpa “had business to take care of in the city.” When people say this, I believe they are saying it out of frustration that these places, that were once authentic, sold out to consumerism and tourism. Rather then giving quality experiences, these places just catered to whoever was willing to pay the most, driving out the local, loyal patrons. Even today, it seems that there isn’t a place in the city that is really reserved for the locals.
If there is a spot untouched by non locals, it soon catches the attention of Insider or some other social media sight, and is completely exploited. This is then followed by a rush of people all lusting after the “local New York experience,” who ruin it. The businesses become a fad and gets sucked into catering to this image due to its financial rewards. It no longer cares about the people who made it successful in the first place. In Live At the Village Vanguard, Ann discusses this idea when she says that the bar owner is “making too damn much money. He turned his joint over to a fast, hard-drinking group of uptown tourists who’ve got plenty of money to spend. So he doesn’t have room for Villagers without money anymore- the same Villagers who made him, when he was getting started five years ago,” (Gordon, 15). New Yorkers have no choice but to let themselves get forced out once they can no longer find enjoyment in their old spots.
I also found in interesting how Ann claims she wants to make a “real village place.” This made me ask, what even is a real village place anymore? If most of the shops in the village are trendy bakeries and overpriced coffee shops, is this the new identity of the village? Or, are these shops still just “pseudo village places” that are merely occupying the same spaces that once represented the real village identity? Gordon mentions how his village place was successful because people would come to enjoy “cheap, handy” (Gordon, 16) entertainment provided by poets, freaks, and each other in a different, Bohemian atmosphere. Is this what a true village place is must be like?