0:00 - Howard Pyle and his background; moved to NY in 1998 working in “silicon alley”; discussion of silicon alley’s culture and emphasis on authenticity; perceptions of authenticity in New York and its commodification; post 9/11 world in NYC; moved to Honduras to get out of the city; returned to Brooklyn heights; worked for old internet design company called Method; describes the space where he worked and its impact on him
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15:51 - He left the space because the primary lease holder wanted their space; very informal system of payment for the space; the block was a machinery district before it was internet companies; oddness of NYC districts; helped create a basic website for the former landlord and learned about the history of the space; the romanticism and history of the space
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23:49 - Viewed the building on Lafayette and Grand as Chinatown; describes the bounds of Chinatown as he perceives it; changing nature of the names of neighborhoods; discusses the tough history and nature of DC; compares DC to NYC; describes his upbringing and lifestyle in the DC punk rock scene; first experience arriving in New York and having to learn the cultural geography; sense of danger in NYC
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35:54 - Describes his relationship to Chinatown and other neighborhoods; swapping stories of run ins with gangs in different neighborhoods; people moved into and occupied spaces because it was cheap and accessible, there wasn’t a perception of participation in community or a mission of gentrification; there was less of a sense of urban exploration in the ‘80s
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40:09 - Post 9/11 impact on the tech boom and lower Manhattan; discusses the dotcom bubble crash; people used the anxieties around 9/11 as an excuse to change trajectories which harmed the internet economy; many people moved back home as their salaries fell, opening up space for people to move in
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48:03 - The fall off of Chinatown after 9/11; the return of life to Chinatown; his frustration with tourists and Canal street; difference between local oriented business and tourist oriented business; organic and chaotic organization of streets and landscapes in lower Manhattan; danger of the area; people like the area because of deals and underground aspect which is different from everyday life; people from homogenized, affluent backgrounds like the different style of consumption in the area
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57:07 - Yellow Arrow Project background and explanation; the project created geographical empathy by informing people about the spaces they were in; the discomfort of being in a new environment; building comfort with spaces through personal stories and learning small details; the project directed people around and fostered careful looking at the neighborhood; what makes somebody an outsider or insider
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67:26 - Howard’s relationship to Chinatown; many Americans lack a cultural epicenter like Chinatown; feels like he’s outsider still; what does somebody need to feel like and insider; anecdote about developing a personal relationship with a café in his neighborhood; what it feels like to be on the inside of an authentic community like his design firm
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76:32 - When Buddhist society’s parking lot became a tourist sale spot; Howard’s thoughts on the fuzziness of gentrification; contextualizing the gentrification conversation with his own story; critiquing gentrification is tough because it contrasts with the American ideal of reinvention; there are competing accounts of how the borders of Chinatown are changing according to socio-economic or ethnic lines; Howard’s view of the boundaries of Chinatown; discusses other residents in the area
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93:05 - Experiences with real estate spectrum in NYC; harder for artists to find spaces that meet their needs; everything has become premium in Manhattan and is becoming premium in the boroughs; communities shifting online but that can't meet all needs
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