they were nighborhood fixtures (natural resources ?). that was late 70s - early 80’sLot of good sushi in that zone for sure.
That long ago ex girlfriend- she had all kinds of funny "prostitutes across the street" stories from her childhood in the 80s. She specifically talked about how that empty lot on 11th and 2nd was full of hookers until NYU built a residence hall there in the mid 90s (it was basically brand new when i started there in 97)
She and her little sister would literally get "chatted up" by the hookers on their way home from Grace Church day school. Nothing threatening, sounds like they were an unsavory but generally accepted part of that neighborhood
I miss mid-late 90's NYC. Cleaned up and WAY safer/nicer than the 70's and 80's (and early 90's) but still had enough of an edge to keep it interesting. Literally the perfect environment for a young budding alcoholic and coke head. Just freshman year alone held enough chaos and craziness to fill a book. I look at 18 and 19 year olds now, like my nephew, and i just cannot imagine any of them bar hopping around the village, hitting the after hours bars (cop owned primarily) until 8 or 9 or noon, buying coke off the streets (until i got the magic delivery service) and being generally good natured collegiate degenerates in one of the best cities in the world to be a degenerate 18-21 year old
there was a small parking lot over there where the right attendant would let the hookers use the citizen’s cars to give out blowjobs/fuck in unmolested front seat vinyl comfort...
“hey, what gives ? my dodge dart smells funny...!” “& what’s that in the ashtray ?!!”