NY as it was

This piece by Sadie Stein on the Gem Room in the Museum of Natural History is everything.

“The lack of self-consciousness, the superiority, the complicity. New York was more of a nerd’s town back then, or at least felt like it: cheaper and weirder and crummier. Nerds—real nerds—are not associated with great wealth; we don’t thrive in shiny new places. We were creatures of libraries and thrift stores and were not strangers to the whiff of mildew.”

Do you remember? Like I remember?