NYC NOW - What New York City Looked Like the Last Time the Knicks Won It All

Episode Date: June 5, 2026

In this week’s Arts & Culture Check-In, WNYC & Gothamist editor Matthew Schnipper shares stories coming off his desk, including a look back at New York City in 1973, new steakhouses reshaping the city’s dining scene, and a guide to Pride Month events happening across the five boroughs. Got any questions, comments Got any questions or story ideas? Send us a message at [e-mail] Photo: Getty Images/ Bettman (Original Caption) “4/29/1973-New York, NY- Knick's Phil Jackson prepares to enter a cab at LaGuardia Airport, after the team's return from Boston and a 94-78 win over the Celtics. The Knicks will meet the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA championship series.” Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

From WNYC, this is NYC Now. I'm Jenae Pierre. Some diehard Nix fans are getting the team's logo tattooed on them. Stakehouses are making a comeback in New York City and a guide for Pride Month events. That's all ahead on today's edition of the Arts and Culture Check-in. But first, here's what's happening in our region. Mount Sinai is preparing to share information with the Trump administration about minors who receive gender-referming care.

Two parents tell WNYC they receive phone calls from the hospital Thursday, saying Mount Sinai plans to provide their children's private health information to the federal government. The calls come after NYU Langone said it was responding to a federal subpoena seeking information on minors who received treatment for gender dysphoria over the past several years. Mount Sinai declined to comment. New York City parents receiving child care vouchers could soon see some changes. The state is pressuring the city to, follow a long-standing rule that only lets families use the subsidies for the hours they work. Childcare advocates say that would mean parents who work part-time, nights and weekends

could lose child care that lets them take last-minute shifts or rest after working overnight jobs. Brooklyn City Council member Lincoln Wrestler says restricting voucher use would set the city back in its efforts to make child care more affordable. People work all kinds of hours and have all kinds of crazy schedules. So you'd have 100 different kids on 100 different scheduled coming in at different times and you would lose significant sources of funding, making it challenging to pay your staff and keep the lights on. The governor's office says it's working with the city closely to ensure compliance with the rules. New York State is one step closer to pushing the penny into the dustbin of history. The state senate has approved the bill that would require

businesses to round transaction totals to the nearest nickel. The Assembly passed it earlier this year. It's sponsored by Assembly member John McDonald. He says it gives businesses guidance now that pennies aren't being made anymore. So there'll be some rounding up and some rounding down. This has been very successful in Canada. It's been very successful in Europe. It really is pretty much a draw. The bill only applies if a customer pays in cash.

Governor Kathy Hockel has until the end of the year to sign or veto it. We're going to take a quick break, but we'll return with WNYZ's Matthews. for the Arts and Culture Checking. Stick around. To another edition of our bi-weekly arts and culture check-in, where we take a look at what's been coming across the arts and culture desk here at WNYC and our news site, Gothamist. Joining me to walk through it all is Matthew Snipper. He, of course, is our newsroom's arts and culture editor.

What's up, Matt? I love that. Of course. Of course is Matthew Snipper. Facts. How you feel like? How are you feeling? How are you?

I'm doing all right. June is here. May came and went. And the month ended with some sad news for jazz lovers. It did. Yes. So Sonny Rollins, a legendary jazz sex player, passed on the 25th. He was 95 years old.

Good life. Yeah, he lived a good life. And he had a very long career. Unfortunately, he wasn't playing because of some medical issues towards the end of his life. But he was a really amazing character. There is a documentary called Saxophone Colossus that is actually going to be playing on June 10th at Sestha's Place in Brooklyn. There are clips from this documentary on YouTube that you can watch. And part of it, he's playing saxophone.

I think it's in the early 70s at this land art installation in Socrates in New York called Opus 40, which as a separate note, you should absolutely go to. It's a beautiful place. He's basically playing outside and he jumps down a level. Imagine maybe you're at the rotunda of the Guggenheim. Can you picture that? Except it's kind of made out of rocks and smaller than that. But he jumps down on one level and kind of like sort of falls. And he's wearing this bright red shirt and he's got a saxophone and his band is kind of like, ugh.

And then he's laying on his back. And then he just starts playing. And he's playing on his back and his band just starts laughing while they're playing. Nice. He made a fusion records. He had electric bands. He had traditional trios. He didn't always like a piano.

He's like, get this out of here. I want a bass player and a drummer. But he just had a massive, massive sound. Yeah, he's really just a wonderful musician. You saw some music this week, didn't you? Oh, yeah. I was out in Philly this past weekend for the Roots picnic. It was lit.

A lot of New Yorkers showed up to check out Jay-Z, who was the headliner on Saturday night. And, man, man, it was crazy. I'm so happy I went because I won't be able to go to the show at Yankee Stadium. Because you're not a bazillionaire? No, no, no. not that. It's because I won't be around. You won't be around. Okay, fair also. But yeah, how was Jay-Z's performance? Oh, man, it was crazy. Everybody's talking about the freestyle. I enjoy freestyles.

Like, I used to just watch him on YouTube all the time. And, you know, he took shots at Drake, Dame Dash, Nikki Monage. Like, it was just really cool to be there and be like one of the voices in the background, like, oh! Is he punching down a little bit? Maybe a little bit. All right. So, yeah, We're on a high right now. New York's on a high. We have been on a high since the Roots picnic when we took over because of Jay-Z's performance. I mean, he brought out state property. Jasmine Sullivan came out.

Mick Mill came out. I can only imagine what he does in New York City. Wait, did you see being sequel perform? Yes. Yes. If you happen to not be a millennial, this conversation may not be interesting to you. But if you are the freeway song, what we do may be playing in your mind, Even though what we do is wrong

Wrong with the Just Blaze beat It seemed like that song went on forever It should Keep going Yeah, it's the greatest song of all time Yeah, yeah Oh, what we do is wrong Wrong

Wrong Wrong Wrong now So no Don't you know Cops' sole purposes to lock us down I'm your hype on it

I'm just up here like Yeah I mean I don't remember every lyric anymore but like, yeah, I've listened to that song a lot of times in my life. It's such a good song. So good. All right. Well, we should leave Philly. All right.

So let's leave Philly come back to New York because it's hot right now. The Knicks are in the NBA finals. But Matt, you are not here to talk about sports. Sort of. Yeah, you're going to take us back to 1973, right? 1973 was the last time the New York Knicks won an NBA championship. Over 50 years ago. It's brutal.

Yeah. Three years is a long time. I did a story this week. I'm not usually writing. I'm usually editing these stories, but I did this myself about what New York was looking like in 1973 to see just how long ago it has been. There are some stuff in here that is depressing, namely the real estate. Oh, man. So average rent in New York in 1973 was about $100.

That is about $750 after adjusting for inflation. I'm sorry, let me get my jaw off the floor. Yeah, I looked at ads for luxury apartments in Manhattan. You could buy a two-bedroom luxury apartment for $51,000, which is about $400,000 after inflation, you know, which is, I mean, $400,000 is not Trump change. Right, right. There are no two-bedroom luxury apartments in Manhattan for $400,000 to be had at the current moment. You know, the subway, can you guess what you think a subway ride cost in? In 1979.

I'm going to go with 50 cents. It was 35 cents. Whoa. But you know what? Again, a justice revelation was $2.67. So it's actually, it's still less than the current $3, but it's not quite as much as a bargain as it sounds. 35 cents couldn't buy that much. Okay.

What was your most interesting find? The most interesting thing, I think, for better for worse, it was the first time Trump was in the New York Times was in 1973. Wow. and his father landlords, they were accused of anti-black bias with all their rental properties. And Trump said, these charges are absolutely ridiculous. He said, we did not discriminate and we never would. Okay. So that's an old line he's been.

I just thought it was incredible that he's been saying this to the New York Times for 53 years. Five decades, yes. So there was a photo of him in there with a, you know, with a car with the license plate DJT. Rap was invented in 1973, which I think was cool. DJ Cool, the famous party at Sedgwick and Cedar, happened then. And the thing I kind of, I love hearing stuff like this. Like I looked at what films about New York came out in that year. Serpico came out in 73.

Don't know it. One of Scorsese's early films came out in 73. Harvey Keitel is much older than I thought, which I did not know. He was a star in that movie. The movie Soylent Green came out in 1973. Are you familiar with this film, Jane? No. I don't know any of this.

I was not around in September. Me either. So long story short, Soylent Green is about this kind of strange dystopia, New York, and it is discovered there's no old people because they all die and then people eat them. And that's Soylent Green. Soylent Green is People's this kind of crazy line. It's a kind of ridiculous movie. But it was this sort of like futuristic New York, you know, way far in the future. And they said it in 2020.

Oh. So like when you are. past the future. It's like, yeah, that was a while. Yeah. Yeah. You could have definitely spoiled the whole film for us. I just was thinking about the beginning of Patrick Ewing, the end of Patrick, everything Patrick Ewing, no win, you know, Pat Riley, no win, Lynn Sanity, John Starks, just nothing. Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, no win. And we don't know what's going to happen. We don't know who's going to win the series yet. Don't egg me in New York City. They might not win. They might win. It would great if they did.

I hope they win, Matt, only because so many people are getting Nix tattoos. In fact, our producer, Jared, is considering one himself. They should get it. I think so, too. And if he doesn't, he should get a little teardrop next to his eye if they lose. Oh, yeah, an orange one. An orange blue one. But yeah, your desk worked on a story about that, too, right?

We did. People are getting Nix tattoos left and right. And people are stoked. And, you know, the tattoo artists that are, you know, my colleague, Walter Wothman, and talked to who said, yes, there has been a crazy uptick in people coming in and wanting the logo. So it's good for business, which is great. I wonder how much a Knicks tattoo is. I mean, some people were offering discounts, which I thought was nice.

Yeah. The one thing I thought was incredible was the guy who got a tattoo that said, New York Knicks, NBA champions, 2025, 2026. Claiming it. Just like ahead of time going, it's happening. You know, and he's like, well, if they don't win, then maybe all, you know, I'll go. go back and Eastern Conference Champions or whatever. But it was like you could just wait.

Just wait. You know, just wait two weeks man. But I appreciated that faith. I don't know. It's not something I would do and that kind of boldness. You know, I think it's something to be applauded. What do you think is the right meal for a champion? You know, probably

spirulina, maybe a smoothie. Maybe. I said a champion. Not a loser. Oh, maybe a steak. How about some steak? That's what I wanted to hear because there was a story published on Gothamist recently highlighting red meat in how steak is meeting the moment. You saw what I did there. I sure did it first, actually.

It was on the headline. Actually, you know what? I want to give credit to a writer, Joshua David Stein. He emailed me with this headline. He said how New York Stakehouses are meeting the moment. And he said, is there a Pulitzer for headlines yet? because I want mine. Okay.

I was like, all right, you get your, get your, get your, your steak flowers, I suppose. Yeah. So I actually met Joshua recently, and he had a lot to say about some new steakhouses that are coming up around New York City. And he did mention the classics, you know, Peter Lugers and Delmonico, but he's expressing different culinary traditions and all these other steakhouses that are coming up. Here's a bit of our conversation and what he had to say about that. You have a place called Quirno, which is in Midtown,

which is like a Norteno-Carnay-Assada restaurant. So you have steaks, but you also have a taco taquerro coming around on a cart with bone marrow making you the most amazing tacos you've ever had. Or Danielle Balloud, who's like a quite well-known French chef here, he has a place called La Tetador,

which is named after a park in Leone, where he's from. And that's a steakhouse for sure, but it's like with a French touch and there's like a prime rib-troll that goes by with a guy in a velvet, you know, jacket. There's an Indian British Steakhouse, which is opening, called Elder by a Chicago chef named Sujaun Shikor, which is not yet open. But it just goes to show, at least in my mind, how innovative and inventive you can be while staying within this genre, which brings people in.

So he's basically saying that people come in, obviously because it's a steakhouse. They want steak. They think they know what it is. They get in there and, you know, these chefs kind of expose them to other traditions and culinary cultures. And that's pretty cool. I mean, I don't eat meat, but I'm sure we haven't seen the last of these steakhouses popping up across the city. But I think the bigger question here, Matt, is will they actually stick around? That's an interesting question.

And I think what Joshua was trying to say was that these kinds of places are evolving to be the new classic. I think you always kind of hear that and you go, the new classic because nobody wanted it. They were happy with the old classic. But he feels like they have enough tradition that these kinds of places with a twist. Stakehouse with a twist will kind of work. I would say he's probably onto something, yes. Okay. At least everyone read this story and just support the general work of Joshua David Stein.

Yes, please. Who is a writer for Gothamist in other places. He is just a, you know, long time, NYC now listeners will know that Jenae and I have devoured tuna melts. It is on this man's behalf that we have done so. Yeah. We know tuna melts is my vibe. He's the tuna melt man. This is a brand way to be branded in your life.

Yeah, you're the Chimilkeye. Yeah, yeah, that's you. But he is. All right. So anything coming up this week that you're excited to partake in? I know you said you got a late night one of these days. Yeah, I'm going to go see a photo show by the photographer Jason Nesito. It's actually a launch for his book called Closed Curse.

That's at this place called Rectangle Room at 113 Eldridge in Lower East Side. I'm actually really excited about this show. Jason, he's shot a lot of celebrities. You can see pictures. There are some amazing pictures of him and Walk a Flack of Flame in Spin Magazine from a couple of years ago. Both of them, I think, with their shirts off. He shot Big Ex-Lug recently. He shot Fiona Apple.

He shot any celebrity who is a spirited young person. Jason has had an opportunity to shoot them. He's a great photographer and a really lovely person I've gotten to know. He shot a lot for The Fader when I was there and just a lot of energy in his pictures. So I'm excited about going to this show. It's going to be up until June 20th. Cool. Got some time to check it out. All right. So it's hot. As we mentioned, it's June. Do you have any summer trips coming up making any plants? I'm taking a two-day trip with a friend of mine where I intend to read books, go in a pool. And I think that's really it. We talked about an itinerary, and it was like, let's go read books and go in a pool.

I love that. Yeah, that's it. I love that. What's on your summer reading list? So I've been reading a book called No New York by Adele Bertie. And she's a musician moved to New York in the 70s. And this book is about women's roles in the no wave scene, which was mostly music, but also a kind of film and art scene in the avant garde in New York in the late 70s, early 80s. And she runs down. She really just knew everybody in kind of in downtown New York at that time. So she talks about having beef with Madonna.

She talks about being in this kind of legendary avant-garde band, The Contortions, which she joined for a while. Everybody kind of shows up. She talks about being Brian Eno's assistant for a brief moment. It's really this kind of lovely portrait of New York at that time. So I've been reading that and I'm intending to finish that up soon. It's a great book, a really good New York City book. I hope you enjoy your trip in those books. Thank you.

I appreciate that. What about you? Well, I love memoirs. So I'm reading Phases by Brandy Norwood, the singer. It's been really interesting. I'm hoping to, once my partner's done with it, get my hands on StoneBlind. That's a story about Medusa, but this is taking like a feminist perspective. And that's by Natalie Haynes.

So that's about it for me. You know, it's Pride Months, so I don't have time to read. There's a lot going on. And I know that you worked on a guide with one of our reporters, W&YC's Julia Hayward. And I'd like to get her in here really quickly to talk about what's happening in the city. Hey, Julia. Hey, what's up? Thanks for having me.

Of course. Now it's a party, Matt. It's always a party with you, Jena. So, Julia, let's start with some of the biggest events happening. What should people know about the marches coming up? The big thing going on is going to be the very last weekend of June. That's where all of the big capital M marches happen, the Pride March, which will be on Saturday, June 28th. People are going to start in Lower Manhattan, and they're going to walk past the literal actual

Stonewall Inn. The Stonewall Inn was the site of the 1969 police raids, which is why people celebrate Pride Month in the first place. It's to commemorate this uprising, which is what sort of led the modern gay liberation movement. That's going to be a huge one. It's going to be the place to be. You can expect to see the mayors around Mamdani. Governor Kathy Hokel generally makes an appearance there as well. Celebrities will be there. Folks will be passing up signs. It's the place where everybody tends to show up for. We've also got the queer liberation march. That takes place on the same exact day, and it's sort of touted as an alternative.

If you don't want to go to like a corporation-sponsored event, you would go to the queer liberation march instead. And then another alternative, if you want a more like lesbian-specific march, is going to be the Dyke March. That's going to take place that same weekend. It's going to end at Washington Square Park. And people do generally tend to go in their swimsuits and jump into the felon afterwards. It is a lot of fun.

Yeah. Not every pride event, though, is a march or a parade, right? There's going to be a lot of fighting, apparently. Yeah, I mean, again, Stonewall was a riot, and people are responding accordingly. This is going to be the fifth year that singers, it's this queer bar in Brooklyn, puts on this event called Twinks versus Dolls. I'm sure you can imagine that by the title, it's a lot of fun. It takes place in a little ring in.

a very hot, very stinky warehouse where folks will be doing random qualifying rounds. They'll be fighting. There's a thousand dollar cash prize at the end. It's going to be a lot of fun. There are some really cool guest judges. And it generally leads itself to some viral moments. So rather than seeing it on TikTok, you can actually tell people that you were there in the first place to see it happen in real time. Outbox is this queer boxing gym. And it's going to be the venue for a couple events. One of them is going to be queer, speed dating, wrestling style. Literally. How do you do that? So I'm not entirely sure what it will look like, but I imagine that people will be fighting for love. Maybe you will be, you know, trying to overpower somebody in the ring, and then that's where true love will find itself.

I doubt it highly. Maybe you'll feel a connection or a spark. Okay. As a lame old straight person, though, can I just chime in and say that Outbox is as a the name of a gay boxing gym is just a purely fantastic use of language. Yeah. And I applaud them. Outbox has a lot of really cool stuff. They're having like a Muay workshop. They always do like free self-defense classes. They're like out here and they want all queer people in the city to feel empowered.

I love that. It's awesome. So Pride Month is also kind of big for movies as well, right, Julia? This is a great time to be a centerfile in New York City. New Vess, which is the queer film festival here in New York City, they started off Pride Month by doing a free outdoor screening of heated rivalry. It was packed. And they've been doing different sorts of film screenings of both new queer films, but also really niche movies as well. The kind that you watched when you were a kid underneath the blanket, so no one could know that you're watching.

Stop telling on yourself. There's also going to be the Lesbate and Her Story Archives. They're going to be doing film screenings. there's just going to be a lot of different events where you get to celebrate queer cinema. This is also going to be the anniversary of Watermelon Women, which was the first film to be directed by a black lesbian director. That is cool to know. Did not know that. Drop in facts, dropping gyms. Thank you, Julia. Do you have any major takeaways, you know, putting this guy together? I feel like the biggest takeaway for me is really just, I think it's easier to find places that aren't celebrating Pride Month in some way than places that are.

There are dozens of queer-owned businesses and establishments here in the city. There aren't very many in most other states. And so we're kind of the de facto destination for pride every year. I have so many friends who don't live in New York City, who don't even live in this country, who make a point to come. So, yes, this is a celebration in New York City, but it does kind of feel like the entire world is partaking in it as well. I was actually just impressed at the amount of violence that Julie was saying was going to be happening. It just seems fun. Yeah.

A long month ahead. That's WNYC's Julia Hayward and arts and culture editor Matthew Schnipper. Thanks so much, you two, for stopping by and joining me for this arts and culture check-in. Thanks, Renee. Thanks, Janette. And thank you for listening to NYC Now. I'm Janay Pierre. See you next time.