It's just me and you, cat. (Bernard Safran)

Is there any explanation for this, except maybe that someone over there just got a massive rent hike on their apartment?

New York is a grand and public city. But it is also immensely personal and private. There is really no visiting someone else’s old neighborhood. You can walk past the shops and admire the brownstones. You can hear about the bodega or diner that used to be on that corner and what happened that one night. Try as you might to be a tourist in someone else’s past, you end up seeing only the present. That’s how the new neighborhood looks at first — the one you’ve just moved to. You settle into the present, and it ages around you until one day you end up with a new old neighborhood.

Maybe if The Times weren't such a force for gentrification, this wouldn't be a problem.