In 1976, the culture critic asked, “What is it that Americans share?”

Pioneering comedy writer Anne Beatts's take on a president who was funny without trying

“The Friedman records, seized by the feds ear­ly last year, unveil the machinations of a remarkable range of prominent New Yorkers — from mobsters like Tony Saler­no and Tommy Gambino to publishing giant Si Newhouse and developer king Donald Trump”

“Ed Koch, who first achieved fame by conquering Tammany Hall boss Carmine DeSapio in the early 1960s, has become DeSapio, the personification of patronage, conflicts of interest, and cynical abuse of the pub­lic trust”

“Last summer Audubon Films shot part of an erotic movie at 39 East 68th Street, the building in which Cohn lives and works”

“A dark pouting model, Diane Delia was the apex of a love triangle at whose base were her accused killers Robert Ferrara and Robyn Arnold.”

In the 1980s, we needed an architecture critic who could see past the fool's gold of the Reagan era's glitz

“The stock market, which had broken record af­ter record since the ’82 depression, had just experi­enced the financial equi­valent of nuclear war. It was a good excuse to drink”

“Jewish children in years to come may live much like my par­ents, with a subtle but consuming sense of dread. America could yet turn out to be not so different from the Old World my grand­parents fled.”

New Year's Day 50 years ago: "But in its monumental ugliness it commands that special morbid fascination that all New Yorkers feel toward their city, despise it as they may."