[00:18] Meg: Welcome to Desperately Seeking the 80s.

[00:21] Jessica: I am Meg and I am Jessica. And Meg and I have been friends since 1982. We got through middle school and high school together here in New York City,

[00:29] Meg: where we still live and where we podcast about New York city in the 80s. I do ripped from the Headlines and

[00:35] Jessica: I do pop culture.

[00:36] Meg: And we are at Bailey's Corner Pub on 85th in York for our celebration

[00:45] Jessica: of our hundredth episode. Meg, it has been two years. Yes. You look stricken.

[00:53] Meg: I mean, it's. The numbers are a little overwhelming.

[00:56] Jessica: Yes. I don't have a great history of Stick to it. Iveness. And so I have to tell you that you have changed my life because you have made me pay attention. Stand up, show up, be accountable, all of those. Because, you know, I like to fly by the seat of my pants. And you made me put my pants in a chair with my butt in the pants in the chair and record this stupid podcast, which I love.

[01:23] Meg: And a lot of other people love it too, because they're here at our celebration.

[01:28] Jessica: We are so lucky that we have a bevy of phalanx, a troop of people who we have interviewed on this podcast and who have been our fans and our BFFs and our fact checkers, whether I have liked it or not, because I'm the only one who gets fact checked, not you. And, yeah, we are so lucky that

[01:49] Meg: they love us here and they seem to be getting along.

[01:52] Jessica: I know there's a lot of kibitzing. There's a lot of kibitzing and a lot of back slapping.

[01:57] Meg: And we asked them some questions.

[02:00] Jessica: We did. And so, because this episode is sort of our taking a little time off and partying episode, we have a special selection of interviews from this party to share for the podcast.

[02:15] Meg: We asked people engagement questions and they engaged with us. And you're going to hear what some of them had to say about it. And it's kind of amazing.

[02:24] Meg and Jessica: Field trip. Field trip. Field trip. Field trip.

[02:31] Meg: What's your New York City subway story?

[02:37] Adam: Is it okay if it's violent?

[02:40] Meg: We live in New York City. Yes.

[02:42] Adam: So I was on the subway with my now ex husband and we were like 22 years old at the time.

[02:48] David: We were.

[02:48] Adam: We had just moved here and we were on our way downtown to see a play and these two businessmen got on and it had been raining and they were wasted. It was maybe at like 6pm so they had just probably gotten back from happy hour and one of them had an umbrella that had like a spire on the end of it. And they got in a fight and one of them got off. And the guy with the spire was getting off the subway, and he just popped the guy that was still on the subway car with me in the face with it three times. And there was chaos, like blood everywhere. Truly, truly revolting. But then the most incredible thing happened. Everybody bonded. As soon as the guy got off, it was like, where can we find things to clean up the blood? Like, everybody came together. There was a woman sitting next to me that was like, gosh, I didn't realize the market was so bad today. And then, and then we tried cleaning it all up. We tried preventing people from sitting on the seats that had blood on them. And then eventually someone got on and sat on it without listening to our warnings. And then everybody just went back to pretending like they didn't know each other anymore.

[03:54] Meg: Oh, my God, that would be such an insanely good scene for a sitcom.

[03:59] Adam: It's. It really happened. It's a real thing. That really happened.

[04:03] Meg: That's so funny. It's like after a certain amount of engagement, it's like, oh, no, we can't. We now we. We can't go any further. We can't get into dry cleaning.

[04:14] Meg and Jessica: Field trip, Field trip. Field trip. Field trip.

[04:21] Barbara: Hi, this is Barbara Goodwin, and I'm telling a story that over the airways that I hope I don't become famous for. Anyway, in the 80s, when I was working in New York and I was an entry level employee at my lunch hour, I used to wander over to a Kinko somewhere on the east side. I want to say, maybe in the 50s around Lexington with the same piece of paper every three weeks and ask for 15 copies of the paper in an official orange interoffice envelope. And in it would be about $50. And in return for the 15 copies of the same piece of paper, I would also have a dime bag.

[04:55] Meg and Jessica: Field trip. Field trip. Field trip. Field trip.

[05:02] Meg: If you could go back in time for five hours, when and where in New York City would you go?

[05:10] Alex: Whoa, wow, okay. Well, this is a memory that I already had, but I would probably like to experience it again. And that would be, I guess, when Obama won the presidency. I was in New York and I was studying at NYU and I was living on 14th street, and everyone ran out into Washington Square park, and for some reason someone had a giant American flag. And we all took, like, we're holding different sides of the American flag and like holding it up like a, like, like a parachute or something. And everyone was like, getting inside and everyone was cheering and it was just like such a magical night and a magical time and it would be cool to go back and experience that again. There was so much hope back then. Do you remember back then, all the hope?

[06:02] Meg: I sure as hell do. I remember coming in or not. I mean, I lived at my home, but when the woman who is babysitting my kids, Petra, amazing. She came in that morning and she just looked at me and she was like, are you happy this morning? Because we'd never really talked about politics before. And I was like, oh, my God, Petra, I am so fucking happy. And she was like, excellent. We were like, now we're even closer.

[06:27] Alex: That was like a safe way of finding out.

[06:31] Meg: I think she probably had a good idea that I was going to be happy. But, yeah, you're right. I mean, it's hard to even. This is a very difficult time for the hope.

[06:38] Alex: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I, I can't. I don't think there's any time in the recent future that I want to go back to. But, yeah, I'm hopeful. Well, I'm hopeful that it can only get better. Right?

[06:50] Meg: There you go.

[06:51] Alex: Yeah, yeah, you don't want it to be a downer. It can only get better.

[06:54] Meg and Jessica: Field trip. Field trip. Field trip. Field trip.

[07:01] Jessica: For the record, state your name.

[07:04] Kevin: Kevin Heald.

[07:05] Jessica: And how are you a friend of the podcast? How do you come to be with us?

[07:11] Kevin: I know Meg from my shop, if I may, Malt and Mold, in the Gramercy section of Manhattan. And I have since become a devoted follower of the podcast, for which we thank you.

[07:24] Jessica: But let's plug your shop a little bit more. What exactly does Malt and Mold provide?

[07:32] Kevin: We do craft beer, mostly New York City, but definitely regional as well, and cheese as well, and cheese from all over. So it's malt and Mold.

[07:43] Jessica: It's clever and descriptive. So we were chatting and you, we started, you started telling a story that dovetailed with exactly what I wanted to ask you. So we have some engagement questions for our BFFs of the podcast who have joined us tonight. And my question for you, Kevin, is. Tell me about your scariest New York City moment.

[08:10] Kevin: I was on Houston street and it was my first few months and everyone had warned me it was very dangerous and I was most likely going to get mugged. And I saw a pizza delivery guy on a bicycle with two very large, very tough looking men. Pretty much not around him, on top of him. It felt like they were on top of him. And I started to move off of the sidewalk and I had developed A habit of walking in the middle of the street when I felt like I might be in danger, quite rightly, but that also felt dangerous because there was traffic. And then I realized they were just giving him directions. And I immediately felt home in the city, and I stopped being afraid.

[08:59] Jessica: That's like. That's a heartwarming, hallmark y kind of not so scary story.

[09:04] Kevin: 1991.

[09:06] Jessica: Oh, that was very scary. Yes. I have a friend who we always joke about when it's cold out, there's a certain thing that we say, because my friend's friend was in a very similar situation where he saw some very giant tough guys running at him. It was New Year's Eve, and you know when it's so cold that the sidewalk rings out? So it was that cold, and he was all by himself in a really not good part of the city. And these big giant guys were running at him, and he was like, this is when I die. This is it. This is how it is. And as he looks up and they're running at him, they. They split. And so they go around him, and the one that's right next to him is going, this shit is brisk. This shit is brisk. So anytime it's cold, this shit is brisk.

[10:00] Kevin: It is brisk.

[10:02] Jessica: Well, say it again.

[10:03] Kevin: This shit is brisk.

[10:04] Jessica: This shit is brisk.

[10:05] Kevin: Spiked up here, and it's relatively delightful outside, but it's still. This shit is brisk on a bike.

[10:12] Jessica: This shit is brisk on a bike. And it's your hands.

[10:15] Kevin: Hands. And my. For me, my ears.

[10:17] Meg: Yes.

[10:18] Kevin: A little bit of a puppy.

[10:19] Jessica: You're just a tender sprout.

[10:21] Kevin: Well, it's the new word. The new P word I'm using instead of the old P word. Because I understand. And correct me if I'm wrong, you can't use the other P word anymore.

[10:31] Jessica: I don't know about that.

[10:32] Kevin: The other adolescent domestic pet word that begins with a P. Anymore. I'm allowed to use that term anymore.

[10:42] Jessica: You're not.

[10:43] Kevin: Not me. I don't. I don't think I should. I think I should just listen to people, and when they tell me I can't say something, not say it, but puppy. I'm trying to get puppy going. Puppy's a good word, Right? Also an adolescent domesticated pet.

[11:00] Jessica: You win. If. If we were the Internet, you would have broken it this evening. I apologize.

[11:07] Kevin: Thank you.

[11:08] Jessica: You're welcome.

[11:09] Meg and Jessica: Field trip. Field trip. Field trip. Field trip.

[11:16] Meg: If you could spend the night in a New York City museum, which would you choose? I would definitely choose the Met. And I would probably like Read the mix up files of Mrs. Basil, Eve, Frank Wyler before I did so. And I would just do the entire thing that happens in the book. A reenactment? Yeah, for sure. Oh, I love that.

[11:42] Meg and Jessica: Field trip, Field trip. Field trip. Field trip.

[11:49] Meg: Tell me about your first New York City apartment.

[11:53] David: It was an animal house. There were four guys who rented an apartment and there were six. Two girls that lived in was very heterosexual. There was one guy to every girl. And a couple times there were breakups and rematches and somebody held the lease.

[12:16] Jessica: Who held the lease?

[12:18] David: Each of us had a piece of the lease.

[12:21] Kevin: Is that legal in a rental?

[12:24] David: Anything's legal.

[12:26] Meg: What neighborhood?

[12:27] David: 87th and Second.

[12:29] Meg: Oh, just around the corner from where we are. Yeah.

[12:33] Jessica: What year?

[12:33] David: 1974. 75, 76, 77th. Barely.

[12:46] Meg: Good Lord. That's a huge commitment. Are you still in touch with all these people?

[12:51] David: Some of them were my best friends. Some of them were in my wedding, but not so much anymore. And they're not all alive and some of them should be dead.

[13:03] Meg and Jessica: Field trip, field trip. Field trip, field trip.

[13:11] Meg: What's your New York City subway story? Oh, I was on the subway. I don't know. This was, I don't know, three or four years ago. And we stopped at a station and somebody threw a bag of shit and blood. Oh, my God. Onto the train car while you were all on the car. You guys were all trapped on the car. Viv, can you describe the bag? It was a brown paper bag. I did not open it. Somebody next to me opened it and it was just like period bug and shit with Lenore. We had just gone to see whatever the most recent Batman movie was. I don't remember who was in it, but the most recent one. And I was like, are we in fucking Gotham right now? Like, what the fuck?

[14:08] Meg and Jessica: Field trip, field trip, field trip, field trip.

[14:15] David: Where would I go in my lifetime in New York City? I would have gone to the night in Grand Central Station when the Yippies was founded. I met all those Yippies. I was not doing acid. I was smashed. I was drinking champagne and I was talking to people who were doing acid. And I was as happy as they were and we had so much fun. Oh, Reuben Sanders. Oh, gee. There were other people there that I didn't get a chance to talk to that were just as. What's the poet? The big guy? Well, anyhow, they were all. They were all right there. I was so happy and so wild and so ready to get away from a debutante party in my monkey suit and these Guys were having so much fun with me because here I was in my monkey suit. They were tripping their brains out. I was smashed. We were both on the same level, and I had not done anything like LSD at that time.

[15:35] Meg: And tell us again, maybe you told me before, where were you exactly in New York City?

[15:41] David: We were in Grand Central Station. We were up the stairs, down the stairs, wherever these people were going. And frankly, they were following me. And it was just funny because it was a Rorschach for the people who were there, because some of these people were really scared street people and really, you know, tough people. And some of them were hippie dippies.

[16:08] Meg: You were in like, a tuxedo, basically, or something like that.

[16:12] David: Yes, a tuxedo.

[16:13] Jessica: What is a Yippie?

[16:15] David: A yippie came after hippies. When the hippies started getting out of fashion, they just. The Yippies was the young International party. And it was very political, not like hippies. So there was a real turn in the world at this time, and I was there. But I'd never heard of a Yippee. But I learned quickly. It was 1972. Maybe somewhere in there, Nixon was a mess and the hippies turned political.

[16:52] Meg: So why were they in Grand Central Station?

[16:54] David: It was perfect for that kind of a be in. And that's what everybody had done before being hippies. They were in be ins like Woodstock. This was, well after Woodstock.

[17:07] Meg: And you were all the same age.

[17:09] David: Well, I was younger than Ed Sanders, say he was probably five years older than I am. And what's his name, Reuben, was probably five years older than I was. But they were.

[17:24] Jessica: I can just see you being swept

[17:26] Meg and Jessica: up with this crowd, David. I mean, it sounds like something out

[17:29] Meg: of Catcher in the Rye.

[17:31] David: For five hours, I missed my train. I stayed for this. I never got back to Greenwich until the morning. Milk train.

[17:40] Meg and Jessica: Field trip, Field trip. Field trip, field trip.

[17:47] Jessica: So that happened.

[17:56] Meg: The hysterical thing is that it's still happening, but we're a few drinks in.

[18:01] Jessica: Yes. Well, I mean, we need an outro, for God's sakes. I don't think you could do more outro than that.

[18:06] Meg: So listen, happy 100th episode, Jessica.

[18:11] Jessica: Happy 100th episode, Meg. I love you.

[18:15] Meg: I love you so much. I'm actually. I feel like I'm gonna start crying right now. I love you so much.

[18:20] Jessica: I love you.

[18:20] Meg: So it.