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March 27

The seventies, East Side

In a book I'm reading comes this text:

I called Lou at home. He had a house on the east side in the seventies.

I wondered what this "seventies" refers to. It doesn't mean the 1970s. The book's set in New York so I assume it's a certain part of the East Side (Manhattan). Googling has been no help. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 22:19, 27 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

If it doesn't mean the 1970s, then it might well mean the numbered streets. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 22:21, 27 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Definitely the numbered streets. It's common in writings about NYC to refer to things like this. See for example: https://www.townhouseexperts.com/nyc-brownstone-history-the-upper-west-side-in-the-brownstone-era/ where the author says "Enrico Caruso and Arturo Toscanini, for example, were in the West 70s long before the Metropolitan Opera arrived. Perhaps what drew these greats was (at least in part) the picturesque aspect of the neighborhood." --Khajidha (talk) 23:06, 27 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

To be explicit, it means 70th to 79th St.

Years ago (to be exact, it was 1995) I emailed a friend in New York to ask, of our curiosity, whether people generally respected the name change from Pan Am Building to MetLife Building or if they still used the old name. He decided to poll some friends. To avoid biasing the question, he did not use either name, but described it by location:

"Imagine you're standing on Park Av. in the 50s, looking south. What is the most prominent building you see?"

And one person began his answer by saying:

"You can't mean the Pan Am Building, because that wasn't built till the '60s."

In other words, my friend meant 50th to 59th St., but his friend interpreted it as the 1950s—but he still got an answer. (The results of that little poll, by the way, were 8–2 in favor of the old name. But, as I say, that was in 1995.)

--69.159.8.46 (talk) 18:46, 28 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

The joke answer shows 1) that the person making it was aware of both meanings, 2) knew what was actually meant, and 3) was a smart ass. --Khajidha (talk) 20:35, 28 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I have just been assured that the person wasn't joking. --69.159.8.46 (talk) 02:18, 29 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah that would be the Upper East Side or if further east, Yorkville, Manhattan. 2601:648:8202:96B0:E0CB:579B:1F5:84ED (talk) 23:40, 27 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Yorkville is generally considered part of the Upper East Side. As Yorkville extends from East 79th Street to East 96th Street, a house there is unlikely, though, to be referred to as being "in the seventies". --Lambiam 03:31, 28 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, all. I thought it was probably something sorta like this. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 00:23, 29 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]