Troy: New York’s Best Kept Secret

Рет қаралды 11,813

3 жыл бұрын

My first visit to Troy, New York in nearly 5 years was simply amazing. Troy has become a center for makers, artists, and small businesses of all varieties. With a thriving local retail, restaurant, bar and brewery scene, this little destination has all the feels of NYC's beautiful neighborhoods in an approachable, intimate and walkable setting.
A special thanks to the guys at Rare Form Brewing for talking with me and allowing me to "towel off" after a hot and humid Onewheel ride from Albany to Troy... I did not dress for the heat, lol.
Also, note that the streets are a little bare... this is because it was a Wednesday early afternoon visit. But that didn't detract from my experience. Troy is truly one of my favorite places in New York State!

Пікірлер: 46

@kathleenwing1590 Ай бұрын

I was born in Troy. Moved south and returned to the city my parents, myself and four of my six siblings as well as our extended family live in Troy. When we moved to the suburbs my parents were sour on Troy. It had the highest tax rate in the area and a city in dire need. Looking to retire in the area I was stunned by its recovery. Amazing. Young independent minds took over. A small business focus brought this city alive. The downtown Art Center created a community bubbling with life. Saturday Farmers market are a must. Parks on the riverfront and much more. Come on everybody check us out! You’ll love us I swear!

@karenlanger9544 3 жыл бұрын

Yay! Troy Cloth and Paper 38 3rd Street. Everyone should stop in and get some Troy Merchandise!

@urbanphoenix1093 3 жыл бұрын

I agree… cuz I did haha

@stephenpasinella1585 2 жыл бұрын

Born an raised🌟💙TROY BUILT 👊🏻

@jamiepasinella1678 2 жыл бұрын

Me too Stephen! 😊✌️

@charlesprice7608 3 жыл бұрын

I lived in Voorheesville while attending SUNY Albany back in the early 90’s. It’s really nice to see Troy looking so much better than it did when I lived there. Downtown Troy has some great architecture. Even though it was kind of a rough area, the people were nice for the most part.

@tatsf 4 ай бұрын

Came here from your Rome NY video. As a kid my family lived in both Albany and Schenectady decades ago. Troy was thought of as run down and not of much interest back then. Again in this video you seem to have captured a vibrant resurgence that is great to see! After watching these two I subscribed!

@emu5088 2 жыл бұрын

Born and raised in the Capital District, and it's so great to see this fresh perspective in the only way Urban Phoenix can! Growing up, Troy was certainly the butt of jokes, but it is undoubtedly the hippest/coolest city in the Capital Region now :) So many places I want to check out when I am back "home," thanks to you. Can't say it enough how much I love your videos.

@willcartoons 2 жыл бұрын

Beautiful and awesome town. I would want to visit there myself!

@livingintheforest3963 19 күн бұрын

My grandparents had a brewery there in the 1920s called Quandtz and that was during prohibition. I always try to find out more if I can.

@amremnant 2 жыл бұрын

Nice video, love the song too! Makes me want to visit!

@jdwonderfultrucking5608 10 ай бұрын

Awesome video

@jamiepasinella1678 2 жыл бұрын

Awesome video! I miss my hometown 🇺🇲

@ruthlewis9234 9 ай бұрын

Yes , I am from Troy, born and raised ❤

@lightboc 2 жыл бұрын

People whose families lived here for generations are being priced out because of developers moving in and driving up prices but go off, I guess.

@amaniolugba 2 жыл бұрын

facts ... woulda loved some discussion of that whole picture and the social costs of these changes and who really bears the brunt / suffers because of them

@user-tm5ew5wo1t 10 ай бұрын

That's "PEOPLE" moving in and is a complaint of poor people everywhere when they were long used to dirt cheap prices as towns rotted around them --- virtuous cycles mean higher prices because higher wage earners --- just look at Brooklyn!

@jeffreykalb9752 2 ай бұрын

Well, from the street view it certainly has improved from the 80s. (I should mention, however, that is is a lot more bleak looking during the very long winter.) I remember once walking downtown and, with another fellow, having to pull a gang of violent teenage girls off a young girl, whom they were beating to a pulp. It was not for nothing that students at Rensselaer called the people of the city "Troylets." Hopefully, that is not the case anymore. For my part, I got to know some of the young working class people in the city, and did make some friends. I have always loved Troy and hoped for its renewal, which really means jobs, productivity, something more than bar-hopping, high-priced bakeries, and specialty shops. Much of that had already appeared in the 80s. The improvement seems very superficial: it offers trendy lifestyle for students and single professionals who work elsewhere. I still cannot imagine raising a family there.

@user-tm5ew5wo1t 10 ай бұрын

I totally understand the motives of Urban Phoenix and i get him from his pov. As someone who moved to Troy at 3 from NYC, left after Troy High and lived in Albany until i was 28, i can definitely vouch for a definate improvement in Troy's very special downtown in 2018. There is a LOT more to talk about though, i won't rehash what others have written but the past DID suck for many years and things are still not all roses. School 18 is still good, but Troy High School is perhaps worse than it was in the 80s. Some were saying that other parts of Troy were dying while downtown grew ---- the #s show that the population decline has flattened ---' that's good. The population in Richmond, VA flattened about two years after i moved there in 2003 and now it has grown so much that, while it won't ever be Seattle, few can afford a home unless they make a an upper middle class income. I have met at least 10 people from Troy in Richmond and NC and there seem to be almost as many NYers as actual natives sometimes, but we still aren't Cary, NC.....The new residents in Troy (and in Richmond) seem more energetic and optimistic than we tended to be, another good thing. What one needs to understand is what people call "the Brooklynification of American Cities" that is especially true for Hudson Valley towns. Much to my surprise even COHOES is looking perky and some of my favorite small downtowns an hour south are now almost posh in some ways and quite unaffordable. It may be time to set sights on Oneonta, Elmira and Binghamton if one wants to stay in NYS near NYC, but for those less provincial in thier thinking, I'd recommend a place like Pittsburgh, a place any upstater could feel at home, with good jobs and better (but still not great) weather. Personally, we are eyeing the Shenandoah Valley.

@HappyNatureLover Ай бұрын

I've lived in the Lansinburgh/Troy areas since 2011 (now 2024). To be realistic about this area you have to know there's panhandling, poverty, drug abuse, mental illness and homelessness. Small businesses go out of business and there are several empty storefronts. It can be an area of extremes and there are neighborhoods you just don't go through at night that have suffered drive-by shootings. There's beauty and the beast. Just to be realistic..... .

@rosenaandre7147 2 жыл бұрын

It's nice to see a positive video about Troy.

@urbanphoenix1093 2 жыл бұрын

There’s a lot to love about Troy! Like any city, Troy has its challenges, but there’s nothing wrong with highlighting the gains while acknowledging that we have a long way to go in making our cities more vibrant, approachable AND equitable

@Julie-jl2kk 2 жыл бұрын

"I can't say enough about what this city has done to embrace small business culture!" the deer: ...🗿

@krystallovern6752 Ай бұрын

Can anyone name the dozen movies filmed in Troy, New York ?

@michaelleggieri7135 Жыл бұрын

Run for the hills

@vanessadusoleil Жыл бұрын

What trail is that featured in the video??

@urbanphoenix1093 Жыл бұрын

There’s a trail along the west side of the Hudson that connects Albany with Troy… it’s paved the whole way, and it’s terrific!

@LegendMathai 2 жыл бұрын

De Fazio’s is the backbone of that town.

@MN-vn5ym Жыл бұрын

I delivered mail to this place! Friendly owners and the bars were all cool and always offered us mailmen free drinks. But don’t be fooled. Troy is not a hidden gem if New York, it is actuallly a complete dump filled with crime and poverty lol.

@LegendMathai 2 жыл бұрын

Looks like the northside of Chicago

@rustyshakleford5230 2 жыл бұрын

I work downtown and Troy has gotten out of control. I used to fish under the overpass but I don't anymore because of the dozens of needles left on the ground. I pick up at least 3 needles a week in my parking lot. The panhandlers are so aggressive that I've seen them push old ladies to the ground. The alley behind St. Anthony's has dozens of human shit stains running down the wall. Billy bananas is at the bus stop sticking crack pipes in passed out people's mouths. Troy has declined immensely in the last year. Sad.

@Skitdora2010 2 жыл бұрын

I lived on the border of Troy most of my life. I attended Sage and got my degree there. I went to the Nursing School at Samarian Hospital. My Troy friend suffers from depression for years and one night after she was crying all night long, I drove us to the 24/7 gas station to get her red vitamin water, I left her in the car and went in, where I was beat up by a drunk guy who groped my boobs. It was the sensation of being dropped into a deep dark pit filled with cockroaches, snakes and rats. A police officer pulled him off of me. I had always thought Troy was safe, until then. My mom did grow up in Troy in the 60's and she said it was always known as New Yorks anus and there were always dangerous parts of Troy. I never started to see it till around 2015 and then it was every where.

@rustyshakleford5230 2 жыл бұрын

@@Skitdora2010 I work in troy and my wife grew up in Lansingburgh on 5th and shared a backyard with the hells angels clubhouse. Her family moved several times because of violence and moved to valley falls because of a bullet going through their kitchen. I work in downtown Troy and the amount of petty crime is through the roof. I used to fish on my lunch break along the Hudson but now all those spots are taken over by homeless people who leave piles of needles and garbage everywhere. My company had to get rid of our public bathrooms last year due to someone overdosing. I talked to a panhandler that I recognized from high school and he stands on ferry street just past the sage underpass begging and makes $500 a day from all these woke soccer mom's thinking they are helping him but all they are doing is slowly killing him. All these laws meant to help addicts is doing the opposite. Of the 20 or so people that survived drug addiction in my group of friends 18 of them had to hit rock bottom and end up in jail before they got clean. Now nobody goes to jail so they are never forced to get clean. I see them just wasting away enabled by the very people who think that giving a heroin addicted crack addicted person $20 is compassion.

@rustyshakleford5230 2 жыл бұрын

kzfaq.info/get/bejne/q7aPoJiaurvJdY0.html this is troy.

@caroldewitt5430 Жыл бұрын

I was interested in watching this video about Troy, but the music is so awful. C'mon, make it better.

@urbanphoenix1093 Жыл бұрын

Thank you for your comment. As I don’t make any money doing this, I must rely on royalty free music. In this case, I was going for music that matched the vibe of my experience. I have received positive feedback on the music and the video. As someone who grew up in a family of classical musicians (my mother played viola in the Chicago Civic Orchestra), I can say that there is no “better” in music… only preferences. I’m sorry this music didn’t connect with you, but I hope you were able to find my depiction of Troy as a lovely place entertaining :-)

@caroldewitt5430 Жыл бұрын

I did not write that text and now I feel like I've been hacked. P.S. The music is fine.

@HaVenSkYh 3 ай бұрын

Troy is ridden with LOW INCOME & SECTION 8 & DRUGS, GUNS, & CRIME.

@urbanphoenix1093 3 ай бұрын

Like anywhere, it has its highs and lows. Communities are trying to revitalize but there are still plenty of challenges. Nothing will change overnight

@jeffreykalb9752 2 ай бұрын

@@urbanphoenix1093 He's right. You were showing us a couple of trendy neighborhoods. I lived there for 5 years. Most of the city has been depressed for 80 years and counting.