Things In My Neighborhood - MoneyGram Whitecastle

Remember Rounders with Matt Damon and Ed Norton? There's something very watchable about that movie in an understated way; nothing particularly original but there's a slow, observing eye about it. It almost feels 80s in a way, 80s in a Curly Sue New York kind of way. One thing that is in that movie that you don't see often is characters using check cashing services or money transfer services. In fact, you never really see that at all but they are all over the place. It seems to be part of the fabric of urban life in many areas of Brooklyn.

Nowadays banks take care of more services just because there are more people who have checking accounts, but sometimes I see a pretty sizable line at my nearest MoneyGram location about three blocks away from me. It's under the radar (and cloaked behind some construction) and the process feels under the radar too; the idea of transferring straight cash has a real old school appeal. If time equals money, and there's no other avenue to get physical cash, then taking a fee to give a needed lifeline sounds like a plan. At this point for the summer they are running a promotion where on a 50 dollar send, you pony up 5 bucks. You can check out details here.

Anywho, to my real point, which was next to the MoneyGram, say you are receiving this said 50 bucks. What do you do with it? I know exactly what you do with it on Willoughby. You walk right next door to the downright nasty Whitecastle, and you stuff yourself with sliders and those chicken ring things. It's a one two punch: moolah at MoneyGram, then poobah at Whitecastle. For the win.

And now, a word from our monsters: