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The "50 neighborhoods" in Manhattan kind of overstates it - cuz basically they're now just major subway stops with the same bunch of stores clustered around. I walked down by CB's yesterday and I had to look around, I felt lost for a minute, its hard to describe the transformation from a barren, empty stark area to sparkling new glass condos FOR BLOCKS around! Its not just one new building theres a half dozen. But the old is being replaced with the generic and cultureless. For instance, the old mainstay restaurant Kiev is being renovated into the "American Grill Bar" totally without any irony at all. Its the mall mentality come to the city: bland, unoffensive, unchallenging. Thankfully there are still some people who believe the way to success is to produce a quality product, not simply market a brand (unfortunately, these days the consumer responds more to a brand than quality). You have to go out to the boroughs to really find some neighborhoods.
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