Woody Allen's NY

I've always wanted to do a post on Woody Allen and NYC. The two just seem to go hand in hand, don't they? Before I even thought of moving to NY, I use to dream about the city through the movies I watched. I think Woody Allen gives audiences a beautiful tribute to his beloved city...Over the past few years, my husband and I have watched a good majority of Allen's films and I am amazed at how much this city has changed over the decades....Surprisingly it was a Meg Ryan movie that had one of the best lines about NYC....The only constant thing about the city is that it changes. And how true it is......The NYC that I lived in and loved so much during my years there is nothing like the NYC of now. Right after I moved out of Brooklyn in the summer of 2003, I visited NY quite regularly--mostly to plan for my wedding the following spring. That was my great excuse to go back to the place I loved so much....But as the years have gone by, with each month that passed something changed. Maybe I changed too..but the city moved on without me and the NY I knew was lost in a time warp. The restaurants I used to love somehow disappeared....the places I used to shop changed locations and new buildings seemed to pop up every few months. The skyline changed---everything changed. But maybe that is the beauty of NYC. When I see Mr. Allen's films I see a NYC that is quite foreign to me. Some of the locations are familiar, but so many other things have changed. Maybe that's why I love his older films....They're an endearment to the NYC I didn't know and wish I did know.....My NYC was a safer, cleaner NYC and while I am very thankful for that...I wish I could have seen some of the gritty flavor of the old NYC of the 70s and 80s. I'm sure if I had moved to NYC after 9/11 and after 2003....my NYC experience would have been a whole lot different than the pre-9/11 NYC I knew.
Maybe that's why I go back to Mr. Allen's films and look forward to his newer ones, even though his newer works aren't centered around NYC.... I still think of him as being one of the great characters of the city and he'll forever have a place in my NYC landscape.

Check out this great NYTimes interview...and catch his newest film when it comes out.... I know I will.