Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, April 23, 1994                   TAG: 9404230071
SECTION: SPECTATOR                    PAGE: S-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By Martie Zad The Washington Post
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

NEW YORK AT ITS BEST WAS GREAT

Now there are a couple of wonderful videos that provide an opportunity to see New York as it used to be: a big city where fear did not dominate; where street crimes and drug wars were not in the neighborhoods, which were filled with people who lived and played happily in ethnic clans as well as intermingled.

Living in row houses, where doors were not locked, people helped each other through the rough days of the Great Depression, and a Sunday trip to Coney Island was a super treat.

These videos are titled "New York the Way It Was," and the recently released sequel, "New York the Way It Was, the Old Neighborhood," by New York public television stations WLIW21 and Thirteen/WNET. Each runs about an hour, lists for $24.95 and can be ordered by calling 1-800-847-7793.

The videos capture a lot of what's to love about the good old days, pictures artfully spliced with comments by renowned natives including Alan King, Lou Carnesecca, Pete Hamill, Gov. Mario Cuomo, ex-mayor Ed Koch, Roberta Peters, Carlos Ortiz and Floyd Patterson.