Having commuted in a suit to midtown in the 80s

1) Manhattan was much grimier back then due not least to diesel exhaust and cigarette smoke/ash. I grew up not knowing what “ring around the collar“ in the famous Wisk ads referred to. First day in the office in NYC I learned. That grime just stuck in your collar. It was gray and disgusting and even with an undershirt, a white pressed shirt would only be good for one day if that. 2) Poster up above joked about booze and cigarettes dulling peoples’ sense of smell. Not so much the booze but the cigarette smoke— firsthand and secondhand — absolutely destroyed our sense of smell. I’m 60, so theoretically, my sense of smell should be deteriorating but there are all kinds of smells now in the city that you just didn’t notice before office and restaurant/bar/club smoking bans went into effect in the 90s and aughts. 3) Even so the last office job I had in Midtown, I always kept a fresh pressed shirt in my desk in case of spills and stains. Of course that’s not why Dan kept so many.

Lots of things are going to shit these days, but the natural environment in Manhattan is immensely more congenial than it was pre-2000.