E.B White was truly a visionary in the approach he took to write the piece of literature “Here Is New York.” Although there have been many changes throughout time, the concepts and ideas that he portrays are all precise to say the least.

If you think about Manhattan along the lines of infrastructure there has been without a doubt a change in scenery. On a daily basis one can take a stroll down just about any avenue or street and see a building that is soon to be demolished, renovated, or built brand new. More people now reside in the city, more people commute to the city, and there are still a large number of immigrants that are making the trip to start a new life in the city of dreams. White wrote that 40 million commuters used to ride the LIRR into Manhattan yearly, well now there are over 122 million commuters annually that utilize the LIRR to get into the city.

On page 35 White goes on to wright, “Thus, no matter where you live in New York, you will find within a block or two a grocery store, a barbershop, a newsstand and shoeshine shack, and ice-coal-and-wood cellar, a dry cleaner, a laundry, a delicatessen, a flower shop, an undertakers parlor, etc…” Now my argument is not that these stores no longer exist, more so that they have changed with the times and rather than an undertakers parlor there may now be a Verizon and instead of a shoeshine shack there may be a footlocker. Deli’s have become commercial, some obsolete due to competition by markets such as Citarella and Grace’s. Your good old neighborhood barber has been replaced by a new era hipster shop that has its roots LA or Seattle. Storefronts haven’t gone anywhere, it is now more so what is featured inside of the stores that has been modified.

E.B. does an incredible job explaining New York and the citizens that live and work under its umbrella. The commuter, the born New Yorker, and the immigrant. You can still see signs of all three of these types of New Yorkers on a daily basis. I personally am a commuter, although I hate to refer to myself as a locust that flocks in by the morning and departs come night. This excerpt gave me my favorite quote from the entire reading, “Commuters give the city its tidal restlessness; natives give it solidity and continuity; but the settlers give it passion.”