Gotham on the Upswing?

Oh, life on Wall Street…the glamour of it all.

I’m not joking, the mere stature of the architecture gives me a retro-Gilded Age contact high. As our guide pointed out on the Circle Line boat tour, the tall buildings built on narrow streets create the true ‘Gotham’, filled with canyons, the bottom of which sunlight doesn’t reach.

(In case you’re wondering, Superman’s “Metropolis” is Midtown, with the plain ole skyscrapers. In a vintage comic geek showdown, I choose Batman, hands down. And hello? The Sixties TV show with Adam West? Amazing. Hours of my childhood spent in front of those reruns. …Now if only I could find a partner to dress up with me as a hot Batman/Catwoman combo for Halloween I wouldn’t feel like those hours were quite such a waste. Though to critics who think that kids shouldn’t watch hours (and hours) of television a day- three words: Pop Culture education. Where else are you going to get it?)
Back to geeking out about architecture, not comics...

Many of the buildings on or around Wall Street were built in the 1930s for such venerable institutions as the The Trust Company of America, The Bank of Manhattan Trust and the City Bank Farmers Trust.
Bank, bank, bank, money, money, money…Oh those were the DAYS.

Not that the 1930s were known as a heyday of money but by the looks of the architecture you would think it was. High, gracious and delicate curves etched with gold coloring inside and out. Embellished but not gaudy. Streamlined.

Speaking of our own money grubbing days, does anyone else feel the pressure of the recession?

My jobless friends have found work, I’m no longer insecure about my job (because I made a conscious decision to change positions to something less sexy and more, how do we say, stable) and the stores were ever clogged this holiday season.

So, recession? Anyone?

Yes, I think we have a-ways to go to financial solvency (Solvent: able to pay all legal debts) but we’re getting closer. Maybe my company will even decide it’s not imprudent to give raises again. I mean, the Financial Industry is back giving bonuses.

Damn, that argument won't work.