Friday, October 11, 2013

And in the collection of answers I will probably omit when someone asks me what I do "for fun..."

I started reading an informal history of New York's criminal organizations around the 19th and early 20th centuries and while I've been reading I am plugging points and important streets into the maps, looking for (and definitely noticing) trends.

It's especially interesting to see how some of the sites, the old five points area, have been reclaimed by the "justice system" to carry out their services in the city. Some of the old streets that housed the public squares where all the "action took place" have been renamed, done over and left to be forgotten. But the Paradise Square lay out is still there underneath it all.

Fascinating. I'm going to explore it and see where things are still nicely present and/or weeded out by new city development. It's especially interesting to read old guidebooks describe the secret "glimpses" of old pubs and housing that exist under new, more modern buildings and establishments...

Or the ones that were reclaimed by different groups moving all the way into the 1980s...

In case you're curious, go check some of this out. (Alternative tourism at its finest)