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Bikes And Misdemeanors: Bike Riders Irk Woody Allen
By
Ben Yakas
Published Dec 17, 2011
Modified Dec 17, 2011
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Dec 17, 2011
Modified Dec 17, 2011
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Although his 1996 film Everyone Says I Bike Lane You was a groundbreaking movie for bike enthusiasts the world over, Woody Allen isn't really an NYC bike advocate. In an interview with Interview, he revealed that hazardous bikers make him very nervous—and that he feels more New Yorkers will become alienated by bikers.
Allen was asked how his feelings toward the city have changed, and how the city itself has changed over the course of his career. His reply:
New York has changed for the better in some obvious ways, like the dropping of the crime rate and people don't squeegee my windshield when I come to a stoplight. On the other hand, uncontrolled bike riders are a great hazard, and the wonderful idea of more and more people having bikes in New York will turn sour as people become alienated because so much of it is out of control. That will be a pity.
The city continues to inspire me and still remains head and shoulders above any city in the country. One problem for me is that I've grown older and I've had some success, and all those warmly lit townhouses and co-ops that I used to fantasize about, and dream about what was going on inside, I now know from my own experience. In one sense, I'm part of the establishment—and I don't mind, except that it's not as exciting as longing to become part of the establishment.
Allen notes a few questions later that, despite his aversion to the cycling life, the cinematic masterpiece The Bicycle Thief is still one of his favorite movies of all time: "I can't think of anything in life that has moved me as much as the end of The Bicycle Thief." Also fun: he very much enjoyed reading Diane Keaton's recent memoir—you know, the one in which she says Allen had "a great body."
Tagged
bicycles
bike lanes
bikes
diane keaton
woody allen
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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