How can anyone be nostalgic for a period 80 years ago?
I'd say it's not about nostalgia but just another way for people to think they're special.
- tom moody 6-04-2009 12:36 am [add a comment]

And how can anyone be nostalgic for a period before they were born?!
- Justin (guest) 6-04-2009 12:42 am [add a comment]

oh come on. i agree that the exclusivity is a selling point but thats hardly a novelty. and really, you cant be nostalgic for something you havent experienced? that seems a little rigid an interpretation of the notion of nostalgia as its commonly understood. we've been romanticizing speakeasies since their inception.
- dave 6-04-2009 12:56 am [add a comment]

• Agreed. Aren't we often nostalgic for times or events we haven't experienced? And who experiences nostalgia more strongly than a child does?
  - steve 6-04-2009 5:35 am [add a comment]

I am not nostalgic for anything I haven't experienced. I have been to those NY "speakeasies" though. Not lately--it was a few years ago (I'm nostalgic for the dot com era). It was about knowing someone who could get you in and acting like you were pretty damn cool, as opposed to reenacting that episode of Star Trek where the aliens channeled Earth gangsters from the 20s.
- tom moody 6-04-2009 7:00 am [add a comment]

merriam-webster describes nostalgia as being rooted in "home sickness." Etymology: New Latin, from Greek nostos return home + New Latin -algia; akin to Greek neisthai to return, Old English genesan to survive, Sanskrit nasate he approaches
Date: 1729

alex has spoken on the subject. perhaps he can clarrify. but its implied that "returning" requires having been home first. although ones family could have left an ancestral home generations ago and have retained the stories of home or received correspondence from the home stimulating a nostalgic response. that may be an extension of the use though. but i think it works and metaphorically as well.

for me toms point about the invisible "velvet rope" exclusiveness factor while valid, does not require opposition to nostalgic appeal to be accurate.

anyone ever go to chumleys? not me.
- bill 6-04-2009 1:38 pm [add a comment]

i had to skim this article twice to find and reference to nostalgia (despite the overall nostalgia sodden feel of the piece):

Speakeasy time travel, in other words, is vague, the images dreamy. At the Violet Hour, patrons pass through the boarded-up facade to enter a lush interior with saturated colors, heavy fabrics and ornate chandeliers. In the Back Room, on the Lower East Side, the drinks are served in teacups, a pointless exercise in deception. At Speakeasy, in Cleveland, which really does go the extra mile down the nostalgia highway by distilling its own gin, a chandelier over a basement stairwell indicates the way to passers-by on the sidewalk. “When it’s on, the speakeasy is open,” said Sam McNulty, the owner.

spent a lot of time at chumleys cause they had good beer.....i have no passion for drinking in places in the article, doesnt turn me on, but glad people do....but i deff have nostalgia!! 1960's, grateful dead shows, etc
- Skinny 6-04-2009 2:17 pm [add a comment]

Nostalgia has been a highway since before your time.
- jimlouis 6-04-2009 2:27 pm [add a comment]

since at least 1570 then.

edit: Main Entry: high·way Listen to the pronunciation of highway Pronunciation: ˈhī-ˌwā Function: noun Date: before 12th century : a public way ; especially : a main direct road
- bill 6-04-2009 3:19 pm [add a comment]

This is beyond stupid. I lived through all that exclusivity crap growing up in the city as a privileged rich kid, and while a lot of it was indeed fun, after a while, it became annoying as hell.
As for nostalgia, it's all semantics.
- Justin (guest) 6-04-2009 5:33 pm [add a comment]

justins the third guy from the left and thats me to his immediate right at the milk bar ca 1971.
- bill 6-04-2009 5:39 pm [add a comment]

LOL
- Justin (guest) 6-05-2009 5:37 pm [add a comment]