With the onset of the Northeastern United States’ third severe nor’easter storm in the past eleven days, this one dumping some two feet of snow and white-out blizzard conditions this past Tuesday, I was sent an extra day early to beat out the storm — mind you after a 10-hour work day that culminated with the closing of a sale on a CPO 2015 BMW 328 to a previous client of mine — to my scheduled sales training at BMW Regional Training Center in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey.
Thankfully, the New York-New Jersey area didn’t get hit hard with this most recent storm, and rather than be stuck in my miserable hotel room in suburban New Jersey, decided to venture into New York City for my extra day off from work (the whole dealership was actually closed anyway due to the storm).
Now I’ll be totally honest when I say that I’ve never been a huge fan of New York. Other U.S. cities I’ve visited, such as Washington D.C., Los Angeles, and San Francisco, were ones I instantly fell in love with. New York, however, has just always intimidated me. It’s just too big, too concrete jungle, and overall hectic. Yet I think it’s the vast amount of unknown that’s always intimidated me. You see, each visit to New York of mine during my life, I’ve mainly stayed in the super-commercial, super-touristy areas of Times Square, Rockefeller Center, and Fifth Avenue.
This time, which was my first time solo in New York, I decided to check out the more authentic areas of SoHo and Greenwich Village by foot, with no real planned destinations. In the many blocks I covered, however, I rather excitingly came across this famous apartment building that was used in exterior shots for the 1990s-early 2000s sitcom, “Friends”, a show that was a very big part of my childhood, and still is today.
A few blocks away, I came across this exceptionally well-preserved and unmolested 1989 Honda Civic hatchback (which I only took these two pictures of, as I knew I was being watched with a glaring eye). While the fourth generation Civic is a car that I’ve never been a fan of, as usually it’s the sedan’s and wagon’s awkwardly tall and short proportions, and very boxy styling that come to mind, seeing my first hatchback in many miles stopped me dead in my tracks.
Staring at it, I couldn’t help but form the opinion that this particular bodystyle is actually a rather attractive car, and a highly functional design at that. With Friend’s iconic “I’ll Be There For You” theme song now stuck in my head, I thought of how it related to this almost three-decade old Honda. Regardless of how many owners its had, it’s clearly always been there for them, paid off long ago and likely requiring little more investment than basic maintenance.
During my short time in New York, I was able to discover a newfound love for the city, primarily because of my very basic, no-frills method of self exploration. Similarly, I also found a newfound and lasting appreciation for the fourth generation Civic hatchback, something that is also very basic and no-frills in its very existence. I guess “no one told you life was gonna be this way”.
Photographed: Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York, New York – March 2018
Whenever people ask me for NYC travel advice, I say, “Go to Times Square once. Only go back if you have a Broadway show to go to nearby, otherwise avoid it like the plague. Don’t stay in Midtown because it’s ‘so convenient’. There’s a fantastic subway network for a reason, you can stay almost anywhere in Manhattan, and plenty of other places in the other boroughs excluding Staten Island, and still be able to get to attractions easily.”
I’ve met people (not you, Brendan) who have said, “Oh, I didn’t like NYC, it was too busy” and I ask, “Where did you stay, where did you go?” and they answer with Times Square/Midtown. Uh, duh, that’s why it was busy.
Greenwich Village and West Village are beautiful and really rather quiet. Some nice bars there too! I just put together some tips for my old boss’s boss and I said she should look at staying around there, or Chelsea, the East Village or the Upper West Side. Lower East Side is a bit out of the way, Financial District (IMO) and TriBeCa are dull, Chinatown and SoHo a bit hectic.
Speaking of 1990s sitcoms, did you go to the Seinfeld diner, Tom’s Restaurant? It obviously looks completely different inside but it’s worth it for the obligatory photo.
Much agreed Will. I think that’s why I fell in love with LA (another city I was always intimidated by) within hours of arriving. Both visits I made last year I didn’t do the super touristy things and just mainly explored.
I didn’t make it do Tom’s Restaurant, though I love the show Seinfeld, but I did eat at a wonderful little (and Australian run!) bar called Two Hands for lunch and on the walk back found this great bar called Bubby’s, where I had an obligatory rye Manhattan.
I live just down the street from the Seinfeld apartment building in Koreatown, Los Angeles. Coincidentally, in the show I always thought that the most iconic establishing shot of that building had a yellow CRX parked out front.
There’s a big palm tree just to the right and rear of the building that obviously didn’t fit with NYC!
One of my most unpleasant experiences in New York was in front of Rockefeller Center around Christmas time. The sidewalk was so crowded you could barely move. There was, however, a somewhat humorous moment when some naive tourist attempting to take a picture of the Christmas tree complained that people kept walking through his shot (there was literally nowhere else to walk). Some local responded, in a thick New York accent, “Hey, it’s New York.” Maybe you had to be there.
My sister lives in Brooklyn (which explains why I was in New York for Christmas), so I can attest that the other boroughs don’t have that same hectic feel that Manhattan has.
First, these old Civics have become quite uncommon, so thanks for snagging it for us. I used to think that these were only for those who couldn’t afford an Accord, but I really rather like their minimalism now.
I had a fabulous day in the spring of 1987 when I spent the day by myself exploring NYC. I was visiting relatives in NJ and was dropped off at the station for a late train into the city in the morning. I spent the day in lower Manhattan because of a threatened 5 pm cab strike and I had to meet my cousins for drinks and dinner at 6. It is a bittersweet memory arriving in the city beneath the World Trade Center and going to the top for a scenic gaze as my first stop. Experiences nobody will ever have again.
Speaking of New York in 1987, you might like these videos filmed in 1987 around the Bronx and Brooklyn.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKOGn33ozbM
Great videos! We forget how those big 1977+ GM B body cars were simply everywhere. No wonder I still have difficulty working up the kind of enthusiasm for them that many others here have.
Interesting comments and the Civic versus the Accord.
In March 1989 I went looking for a car to replace my 82 J2000 hatchback. I was still a bit anti-Japanese car, but eventually wound up at the Honda dealership. The salesperson tried to interest me in a white Accord 2 door coupe. I thought I couldn’t afford it and anyway, I wanted a Civic hatchback. At the time, the hatchbacks were selling for more than MSRP, while the sedan had a $200 rebate. I wound up buying a sedan the same color as the car pictured here.
I agree with the comments about the odd proportions: sitting in the driver’s seat of a Civic wagon I felt like I was in a much bigger box than I saw when outside the car. The sedan, on the other hand, looked a bit squashed.
Old Civics are still fairly common in Northern California, the Land That Rust Forgot, however it’s difficult to find one that hasn’t been modified by the “tuner” crowd.
Funny, I think of the early Civics … up to maybe one or two generations newer than this … as being for people who never even consider an Accord. Why not? Too big. Nice find, getting pretty rare even in California, and when found, never stock.
I made a number of trips into New York City in 1985 and 1986 while I was on assignment at an enviro project in Monmouth County, NJ. Most of the time I’d park my Chevy Celebrity rental car at the Port Authority and got around via subway or bus, though I did brave Manhattan traffic one Saturday. I also walked from the Port Authority to the southern tip of Manhattan on Sunday, with a detour through Greenwich Village. One Friday evening a co-worker and I walked along 42nd Street (this was the pre-cleanup bad old days) and were constantly approached by whores, pimps, hustlers, drug dealers, and hakwers – I guess two young guys on a Friday night were thought of as easy marks. NYC is an amazing city, and it would be absolutely wonderful if you were rich.
As for the Honda, I bought a 1990 white 5-speed LX sedan in 1993. It served me well for the next 15 years and 200,000+ miles, including daily commutes, long trips, and bashing around large construction sites. The car was beautifully put together and virtually nothing broke, stopped working, or fell off. The only non maintenance/normal-wear repairs were for a resistor block and an engine pulley. The engine was smooth and revvy, the gearshift was slick and switch-like, and the handling was good. Mayne no sports sedan but entertaining to drive. A great car and an example of Honda at their peak.
We owned an ‘89 DX hatch (5 speed) for a bit over a year, and loved it so much we bought a second ‘90 base hatch (4 speed) the next year for me to drive. Shortly thereafter, we learned our first son was on the way, and with my wife planning to stay home to rear our children, we put the ‘89 up for sale – it went quickly.
I’m not too well-versed in Honda, but it seems like this and the prior generation of Civic “hatchbacks” are really what we used to call a shooting brake – with the near-vertical hatch, the design is more of a short, 2-door wagon than a hatchback.
I’m not good at linking photos to comments, but look at a Volvo 1800ES or a Reliant Scimitar and then tell me this Civic isn’t a shooting brake.
A better looking “shooting break” it the same year Accord Aerodeck. We didn’t get the Aerodeck in the U. S. but instead got an Accord hatchback that was more of a fastback. While the Aerodeck does look like a 2 door/shortened Accord wagon.
My first car was one of the awkwardly tall sedans, same color and trim. I think people have forgotten just what well set up cars these are. Compliant ride, fantastic handling, light(ish) and dead-accurate manual steering, tight shifter, surprising room, even the mall-duty 1.5 was a sweet revving and running engine, even if the sound wasn’t that great.
It would be interesting to know if the new Civic’s are still being used as in city runabouts like this generation were.
A while back I was stopped at a light behind a late 90’s Civic and a brand new one. I knew they had gained in size but when you saw them side by side the difference was shocking!
The new one to me was a Civic in name only. Whatever they are nowadays, an compact car is not something I would call it anymore.
I’ve always thought this generation of Civic hatchback / shooting brake was an exceptionally clean design. Such a low hood and beltline, acres of glass, and the added utility of all that room under that sensibly shaped hatch. Great find and tie-in with that show. Was a nice break to take a quick visual tour of once place you ended up.
I tell ya, kid, there ain’t enough money to get me to live back east.
Looks just like the ’90 Civic DX I owned for 7 years. I sold it with 255K on the odo, and 5 years later I still saw it rolling around the streets of Boulder County, Colorado.
I think this was the best generation Civic, with clean styling, a roomy interior, and nice proportions. And it drove great! Was ideal for carving up the mountain roads of CO…until you get stuck behind another slushbox SUV POS with the driver hitting the brakes at every curve!
Great find!