"This is a swell little town with a lot of good folks."

For those who have forgotten and for those who never knew, here's an interesting look at Stuy Town, but not one from the 1950s or even the 60s.  The New York Observer, from 2000:

From where I sit in Manhattan’s largest and most inscrutable apartment complex, Stuyvesant Town, the start of each day seems like it could be scripted from a sweet, 1930′s Hollywood comedy, something directed by Frank Capra. As the early sunlight slants over the East River, I look north out my window at one of the largest chunks of privately held land in the city. From First Avenue to the F.D.R. Drive, from 14th Street to 23rd Street, Stuyvesant Town and its slightly more plush cousin, Peter Cooper Village, cover 18 square blocks, with acres of twisting walkways, tulip beds, tended trees and fountains-a beautiful parkscape out of which rise 35 nearly identical 13-to-14-story buildings, erected more than 50 years ago by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company.

As I look out my window, into the new morning comes a couple of uniformed members of the grounds-keeping and maintenance crew. A little blue-and-white S.U.V., guided by a member of the complex’s private security force, lifts itself gently over a curb. From the tiled foyers emerge some of the earliest risers among the 20,000 residents, who by design and tradition are relentlessly middle-class.

Some days, it’s all I can do to keep myself from launching into a kind of Capra-esque voice-over: This is a swell little town with a lot of good folks. Yes, sir, this place suits me fine.

Rest of the article here:

http://observer.com/2000/10/my-escape-from-new-york-stuy-town/