I have to be honest: when I first started scouting, all I wanted to do was get into as many abandoned places as possible. After seeing a few, the mystique quickly wore off, and I started to see them for what they are: once beautiful, vibrant buildings that have been left, forgotten, to die a slow, painful death. Sounds melodramatic, but when you see the typical modern construction in New York, it’s pretty depressing.
via cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com
This is the first of three interviews with Scouting New York's Nick Carr. I read every word of every post of Scouting NY. In Parts 2 & 3, Nick defends the role of the film industry in the city's economy ($7B dollars, plus "soft" value like prestige & marketing) and answers yuppie's complaints about the "inconvenience" of doing shoots in Brooklyn neighborhoods:
I’ll make you both a deal – get a bulldozer, tear down all the aspects of your neighborhood that make it beautiful and completely unique to our city, and replace it with bland, modern construction. I guarantee film productions will stop bothering you. Here is my philosophy on NYC: It’s a tight place, we all share it, and if you don’t like sharing, you shouldn’t live here.
Great interview! When you're done with the Times, some of the best of Scouting NY is curated on Gothamist for your review: Barcade was built on Haunted Ground, Phone Booths Nearly Extinct, The old Navy Commandant's Mansion in Vinegar Hill, and Suicidial Street Art.
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