rant · moment 6 of 21
Long Island Bar Culture and the Underground Economy of the 90s
from The Pilot! · #15
Audio-only archive episode — no video to seek.
2 minTim and Ray reminisce about the cash-based, credit-free underground economy and mob-adjacent bar culture of Long Island in the 90s, contrasting it with Giuliani/Bloomberg-era gentrification, then traces his hustler grandfather's rise from pool shark and bricklayer to construction company owner.
- 10:36Tim's father had a band and made a living playing music for about a decade in a weird Scottish accent that nobody understood.
- 11:04In the 90s and early 2000s, people in bars were getting fucked up, doing drugs, smoking cigarettes, living on couches and renting rooms, spending cash with no credit checks.
- 11:19Now landlords in Williamsburg demand six months of bank statements just to sleep on someone's couch for $900 a month, whereas in the 90s nobody gave a shit.
- 11:34The underground economy back then was partly run by the mob, and Giuliani ruined the city when he came in and started cleaning it up.
- 11:48Tim's grandfather came over from Ireland at four years old and worked his way up from construction to owning his own general contracting company.
- 12:23His grandfather grew up so poor in Rockaway Beach, Queens during the Depression that his family would move every time the rent was due.
- 12:35His grandfather had stories about stealing soda and bread off trucks and running around with mobs of kids.
BloombergGiulianiRockaway Beach, QueensWilliamsburgLong Island