Recession

Depending on who’s asking, when they’re asking and what they’re asking, New York City’s job losses have fallen particularly hard on different demographic groups in the city.

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Elizabeth Scholander, of Brooklyn, lost her job at Citibank last year. As she began her job hunt, she stumbled onto her first pink-slip party.

“It was pretty much a job fair,” said Scholander, 25. “But in a relaxed, social setting, held in the evening. I loved the idea and wanted to start doing these ‘pink-slip parties’ myself.”

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Unemployment keeps climbing and the number of foreclosed homes is growing. But throughout the city, the economic downturn is bringing New Yorkers together in small ways to support one other through the hard times.

Bars are advertising longer happy hours. Barbers are offering “recession special” haircuts. In Brooklyn, Restaurant Week has been extended to a month.

Last week, Lower East Side butcher Jeffrey Ruhalter organized a dinner for 150 people after seeing his customers struggle to pay for food. He convinced local merchants and the Thor and Essex restaurants to pitch in to mount what was billed as a “recession dinner.”

The goodwill gesture uplifted many of the guests, helping give them the strength to continue the tough search for work.

When Victor Ricardi opened the Sports Page bar in Gravesend eight years ago, he did not anticipate the collapse of the U.S. economy.

The 2003 smoking ban whittled away at his customer base. More recently, people’s tendency to shop at local liquor stores because of the recession all but eliminated his clientele.

Instead of closing permanently, Ricardi dismantled the bar’s interior and turned the storefront into a coffee and sandwich shop last fall.

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