49. The Doll Man who hosts NY1 in the mornings. Fascinating
48. Great overheards like, "Shut da fuck up! I'm watchin' da fuckin' fireworks!"
47. Watching Tai Chi classes in the playgrounds and parks
46. My kid is fully aware of world news because he has 2nd gen Chinese and Arab friends
45. You can find at least one other person with at least 5 of the same interests as you.
44. Great dates. Dinner/theater/dancing--all in the same night
43. Seeing the people from CW TV shows eat yogurt on the streetcorner
42. Wild life on Coney Island in the summer
41. Wild life in Brighton Beach all year round
40. Rich white kids with Jamaican accents from their nannies
39. You still see Bobby Steele from the Misfits around.
38. You realize supermodels look scary in real life.
37. There's always a new bar or restaurant to try but...
36. the people at your regular deli always remember you and what you like
35. Taking naps with other hungover office workers in Central Park in the summer
34. Just because you have a degree in English doesn't mean you have to be a teacher: publishing companies are here.
33. Delivery liquor...and pretty much anything else
32. The Joe Strummer Memorial wall
31. Poem installation in the Times Square station (see it on the beams?)
30. You can pay a dollar and get into the Metropolitan Museum of Art or the Museum of Natural History
29. European tourist couples in matching outfits.
28. The sheer number and different flavors of all the playgrounds. Your kid will never get bored.
27. If you get in a fight with a lover you can cool off with a free, hourlong ride on the Staten Island Ferry
26. No inspirational posters as art in offices. Ever.
25. Rockabilly night at Otto's Shrunken Head aka Bettie Page night, b/c many, many women dress as Bettie Page.
24. Vegetarians can order a main course at most restaurants.
23. You don't have to buy a fashion magazine to make sure you are up to date and looking good. Just look at the people walking down the street.
22. Post-punk, post-protestant beggar signs, like "Gimme a dollar--I'm a drunk"
21. You don't have to know where you are going to be somewhere interesting.
20. My kid has been to so many museums, zoos, etc., he just wants to scrabble up and down the granite rocks in Central Park.
19. A good excuse for being late back from lunch is that you got lost in Central Park.
18. You can get lost in Prospect Park for about 2 hours, and not see or hear a car.
17. You can take the A train out to Rockaway Beach, rent a board, find an instructor, and learn to surf.
(Yes, that really is surfing in Rockaway Beach in NYC. Yes, if you are there long enough, you will find there are surfing gangs.)
16. If you don't like the scene at one bar you can walk a few blocks away and find a completely different scene.
15. If there is something you want, there is probably an entire store in Manhattan devoted to that specific item:, cigar store, chess set store, sex toys, dollhouses, cowboy boots, etc. but...
14. If you are in a pinch, you can run downstairs to the corner pharmacy, and they'll have everything from bed bug spray to cheap clothing.
13.Deep fried Macaroni and cheese croquettes at that Japanese automat on St. Mark's Pl. I've never had one. Just glad they exist.
12. If you are not standing next to someone who did something pretty amazing, some pretty amazing things happened right where you are standing in the last 100 years or so.
11. Annual film fests at Film Forum: B movies, noir...foreign, no matter what you like, you can probably see it on the big screen there once a year.
10. There's a full blown, working farm on Staten Island, with pumpkin picking and hay rides and historical buildings from the 1700s, proving NYC really does have EVERYTHING.
9. At McDonalds the other day, every table there was a conversation in a different language.
8. The excitement and costumes in the long lines opening night of science fiction movies.
7. Great conversations with strangers that you will never see again.
6. Someone you know always has a plan, and is working on implementing it.
5. Someone else you know has a completely insane plan, and wants your help with it.
4. I really can't say about the women. But the men here are intelligent, talented, fascinating.
3. Public sex. Anyone who says they haven't done it in NYC is either lying or not trying hard enough.
2. You know you are living "where it's at"--the cross roads of the world. All those people keep staring from the tour buses so it must be true.
1. Knowing that you are part of the backdrop of someone else's New York.
I didn't include the music scene here. It's not what it used to be, but still better than so many other places...too complicated! But it is probably the main reason for my return to this town.
ReplyDeleteI heard Otto's had a fire recently?
ReplyDeleteYes it did. Shows are being moved. The Hudson Dusters are playing Portal 41. Here's more on Otto's:
ReplyDeletehttp://evgrieve.com/2010/10/inside-ottos-shrunken-head-after-fire.html
I feel so cool to know you. You took me to Cha Chas! So there's 50 reasons for me to visit every summer and forget i'm a NH housewife :)
ReplyDeleteI'd have to add the covert porn shops on Times Square. I'm talking about the places where they display Disney movies and such in the window, all of which have been bleached by the sun, but when you walk five feet inside the store (past the kiddie flicks that are gathering moss) you'll find a cornucopia of filthy videos, leather and rubber goods for all occasions and all manner of prurient goodies. So much for the Giuliani administration supposedly "cleaning up" the area!
ReplyDelete