Happy 12th Birthday LICtalk, Who Influenced Thee?

TWELVE years ago this Saturday LICtalk was born. But long before conception, which for Editors occurs 11 months before birth to increase brain cells, there were ideas, feelings, tones, and appearances that were being formed based on various predecessors. Here I will share four that had a significant impact on what became LICtalk.

The first was a Long Island City blog called liQcity written by Nancy Verma. Begun in the late aughts, it mainly aggregated all the news links about LIC in one place with an occasional commentary and a cool local photo. As such, it was the gathering place for local info and acted as a bulletin board of sorts for the community in the pre-Facebook days. The links below my posts are a continuation of this tradition.

Long before liQcity or any towers even existed in LIC, I sat near a guy named Mike Tucker at my first job out of college on the OTC-trading desk at Merrill Lynch. While OTC traders were known to be rough around the edges, Merrill Lynch was still a buttoned-up militaristic hierarchy where great deference was paid to your superiors. About a year after I started, Mike began creating and disseminating a cartoon newsletter about the goings-on and characters on the desk. It broke through the stiffness and was accepted by all, bosses included, as fair game in calling out the verities of the business and people on the OTC desk in a humorous way. Sadly, Mike would perish on 9/11, but his influence lives on in LICtalk.

If Mike had to tiptoe around certain personalities in his writing, CamelToe.org was no-holds-barred in its causticity. If you have to ask what a cameltoe is, or if you know what it is and are offended by the term, then this site is not for you. For the other 98% of Americans, you better have a few hours to spend before you click on the link. While the site is in no way pornographic, the authors commentary is so funny that it is addictive. You could conceivably spend the whole night going through every single post, long before which you will inevitably be asking yourself the existential question: Who wrote this stuff? I’m afraid we will never know the answer to that, given that like the other two influencers I mentioned, CamelToe.org no longer exists and can only be viewed via the Wayback Machine1. It seems to have been discontinued around 2007-8, long before being an influencer could potentially mint you a billion or two. I strive weekly to muster a modicum of the humor contained within The Toe.

Still thriving today, my fourth influencer is more of an inspiration. Matt Levine writes the daily Money Stuff column on Bloomberg. The column is not for everybody, and the writer in no way intends for it to be so. It’s also not easy to describe to someone else, other than it’s being financially based commentary grounded in human nature and reality. Which can be confounding, exasperating, and extremely funny. The column also shines a light on matters both topical, and those that should be and usually become so thanks to the writers insight, expertise, and experience. Proving that you don’t have to be a politician (or a Wall Street tycoon) to influence the discourse and have an impact. Which is exactly what The Editor aspires to do for Long Island City.

As for celebrating this years birthday, I’m going to spend it just like you do: re-reading all of LICtalk’s previous birthday posts. Let them eat cake!

//Get yourself a birthday present why don’t you, possibly one for life! We have long recommended to readers who are even close to qualifying to put in the work and apply for an affordable housing apartment on Center Boulevard. While there aren’t any lotteries going on currently, there are vacancies occurring monthly. The cost-benefit analysis of completing the application should be a Harvard Business School case study, but I’ll just give you the one-line summary: the couple in the link below got a brand new two-bedroom apartment facing Manhattan for $1,241 a month, rent stabilized. What are you waiting for?

liqCity – a blog about life and real estate in Long Island City, Queens

Michael Tucker Obituary

CamelToe.org – takes a while to load, clunky as well, but for those with a “literary” mindset so worth it

Matt Levine’s Money Stuff

This Couple Won Their Dream Apartment Through The NYC Housing Lottery – where? wait for it …Long Island City!

Huge Development Sight In Court Square Snapped Up By Skyline Tower Developer – massive sight picked up at a 17% discount to its sale price in 2015

Alidoro Sandwich Shop Coming to JACX Building This Spring – we like sandwiches in LIC

Pre-St. Patty’s Day Festival Coming to The Irish Center in LIC – a Celtic Cabaret of Entertainment on Saturday, March 16 from 3pm to 9pm

Willets Point Soccer Stadium Moves to Final Stage of Approval – you say soccer, I say futbol!