January Talking Meme: My New York City
Jan. 10th, 2014 11:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatThis is my third post for the January Talking Meme - and we'll see where this takes me.
January 10: masqthephilospher asked - I'd like to hear about "your" New York City. What your neighborhood is like, where you shop, what sorts of residences and businesses are on the blocks nearby, the feel of the neighborhood, transit, etc. What it's like living in that neighborhood, and other places you like to go in the City as a whole.
NYC believe it or not is the only place that I've deliberately chosen to live in. All the other places that I've lived, were either due to college, study, or family. But NYC I moved to without a job in place. And as of this year, it is now the place that I've lived the longest. 18 years this March. I moved here in 1996. And it has changed through the years in various ways, yet also stayed the same. We've been through a lot together, NYC and I, and as a result, I am a New Yorker, it is in my blood and in my soul. I love and hate it in equal measure. And it will take a lot to get me to move out of it. I believe the place you choose as an adult is the place from whence you came, not the place where you were born and really had no choice in.
At the moment, my New York is cold, rainy and drab and all I want to do is stay in my cozy little apartment. Perhaps that's the best place to start? The word apartment is sort of misleading, makes you think of well an apartment building. Flat may be a better word? It's an one bedroom at the top of a brownstone. Most of the buildings in my area are brownstones, the sort you might see in an old school Martin Scorsese or Woody Allen film or maybe the 1980s films Moonstruck or Do the Right Thing. And depicted in the Cosby Show. It's called a brownstone because of the color, but in reality they are all shades, or rather their entrances are, one has been painted purple, and look more like brick and mortar row townhouses. With big front stoops. There's gardens in front of each, and the streets are lined with trees. There's a huge oak tree in front of my bedroom window. And out my kitchen and living room windows - the view is a pseudo industrial landscape of transit bridges, warehouses, a bus parking lot, construction and cement plant. I can see the F and the G subways meandering their way over the viaduct bridges towards my subway station, and sometimes hear the dull rumble of the cars on the tracks. Yet amidst this rugged landscape of steel and concrete, is also a small pink house situated on top of a warehouse - below, the walls of the warehouse are painted green and blue. And there's a winding canal, called the Gowanus. This is the site of an EPA super-fund and amongst the most polluted canals in the state. Yet people canoe it in the summertime and there are apparently boat tours. Towards the far right, a church steeple, whose chimes rung out the song What Child is This this past Sunday. It's a rather large Catholic Church, Saint Mary Star of the Sea, in the overdecorated 18th century gothic style - lots of bleeding saints, and a rather graphic depiction of Christ hanging on his cross, with dark stained glass windows shining morosely on the congregants. Haven't been in it in a while, so it may have changed.
My street is residential, but if you wander a bit eastward, and over the little road bridge that crosses the canal you will run into the shiny and brand new Whole Foods store. Across the street from it are abandoned warehouses, with the following message spray-painted in big block white and black letters, at the very top of the 20 story buildings, "Protect Our Children, Say No to STOP and FRISK". Wander in the opposite direction, towards the West, you will eventually stumble upon the Transit Garden, a coop vegetable, tree and flower garden located directly opposite the subway which now lies below a 15 story luxury apartment building. Across the street from it - is the bodega that I've visited for well nigh 18 years now. It changed ownership recently and the products have changed as a result. Was owned by a Korean Family (who spoke mainly Korean) and is now owned by a Middle Eastern Family or Arabic, who speak that language. I don't go to it as often as I used to...due to my diet, even though its selection has broadened. Down the street from it is the Dona Joseph Salon, an Italian salon where I get my hair colored and cut, along with my nails manicured. Everyone speaks Italian with just a bit of English. It's expensive, so this is not done all that often. Also they have a lot of turn-over. Two doors down from it, is my laundry mat, where I've been taking my clothes for close to 15 years. They know me by name. When I broke my foot and hobbled past in a boot, the laundress, Margaret Chen, came out and asked in a halting English, how I was and if I was okay. She's from China, and speaks basic English. We gesture a lot. And beside it is another little bodega, where I used to buy chocolate and potato chips and soy milk. There's also a rather cool little shop of environmentally inspired art - with delicate origami earrings - made of colored paper in intricate little designs. Butterflies, birds, snowflakes.
Across the street lies Carroll Park, with its basketball courts, trees, slides, and brick and mortar shelter. They hold movie nights, and occasionally perform plays for families. There's also a flea market, a Halloween Parade (the little kids march down the streets and go door to door, also around the park, and through an impromptu Haunted House), and a Christmas tree lighting. Every Sunday from roughly March to the first week of December, a farmer's market sits on the street between the park and an elementary school, featuring fresh fish, fruit, vegetables, beef, pork, chicken, delicious pickles, cheeses, duck, bread, flowers, milk and on occasion wine. The apple wine, when it was available, was the best. One day they had Native American Singers performing and selling their wares. I often sit in the park, on a bench, read, watch people, drink tea - for there are several coffee and tea shops nearby. And in the summer time, a Mr. Softee, or now, a Frozen Yogurt Truck.
Grocery stores are plentiful now...time was, we just had a Key Foods. But a CVS Pharmacy took its place ages ago. Now, there's gourmet fresh, park natural, whole foods and union court - all within easy walking distance. The Cobble Hill Cinemas - with their crunched in seating, and small screens - is across the street from a Japanese Restaurant, where I used to have sushi, and next door to a Chocolate, Coffee, Ice Cream and Wine Bar - specializing in homemade ice cream, specialty chocolates, and coffee.
Walk a few more blocks down and you'll hit the Discount Book Store, which is sort of a miniature version of the Strand or rather the Strand crunched inside just one room. The books are piled on top of each other. All shapes and sizes. Lighting is sparse. And a gray bearded gentleman, with spectacles, and a gruff attitude, presides over it all. You feel almost as if you've walked into that old curiousity shop or a Dickens novel. The books range from new to dusty and old. There's barely room to walk, since the books crowd the small hallways between shelving. In the summer and winter months the shop is closed. It opens briefly, if the weather is nice, on spring and autumn days. Two blocks down from the Discount Book Shop is Book Court - a far trendier store, that hosts book readings, signings, book clubs and the off-hand creative writing workshop. Good luck finding a sci-fi, fantasy, or romance novel here - unless of course it is YA, which has taken off like gangbusters. Mostly literary or local novelists, poetry, non-fiction, children's, and a huge section of mystery novels. For genre novels, there's always the huge two story Barnes and Noble just up the street, across Atlantic Avenue, and next door to Court Street Movie Theater - which tends to be less arty than Cobble Hill and with a much rowdier and lower income crowd, but a heck of a lot more comfortable, with its stadium seating. Trader Joes is located in a converted bank building just on the other side of the street.
The lovely thing about my New York is I don't have to drive. At all. Instead, I can grab a cab - either yellow or green, the green ones serve the outer boroughs now. It's rather controversial, they were set up because the yellow ones up until recently ignored us and you couldn't get a cab to save your life so you relied on car service. Or you can take a bus, or even better yet the subway, which is cheaper, and in some respects far safer and easier than the other options. Not to mention warmer. You can read on the subway, and you know where you are going. I rather love the subway. And hate it at the same time. Some subways are clean and neat, and comfortable - there's a long plastic blue bench, broken up by grating and hand rails. A computerized voice tells you when to get off and which station you are at, and if you can't hear it? There's a message board in red telling you the time and the station. Plus a map across the top of the windows - showing all the stations, and which one you are currently at. This is in the new trains only. The older trains are sort of old, yet mostly clean, with yellow and orange seats. And yes, on occasion, you may see a lonely rat wondering down below on the tracks hunting crumbs.
If I'm not taking the subway, I'm taking the Long Island Railroad, a cushioned and rather comfortable train to work in Jamaica, Queens, NY. My New York is a city of boroughs, all connected together, yet argumentative like siblings. Jamaica is completely different from my burg. It's loud and noisy, and dirty, with broken sidewalks and wayward buses. Yet amidst all this is the lovely and well-groomed Rufus King Park, with its broad expanse of grass, large trees, scampering squirrels, and old manor house. And yes, occasionally, a homeless person sleeping on a park bench. Across from it is the bankrupt hospital where I once got six stitches. Jamaica admittedly feels more like a suburban city or a strip that you might find in Kansas City, Kansas or the bad dingy part of Chicago. May explain why so many movies are filmed there.
My New York at times doubles for a movie or television lot. To date, I've wandered through the film and television sets of: Law and Order: Criminal Intent, Elementary, Damages, The Good Wife, A Winter's Tale, Zero Hour, Men in Black III (that was rather interesting - it had a lot of old vintage cars), Person of Interest, and various commercials and music videos. You sort of get used to it after a bit - walking past movie and television trailers, cameras and stepping over cords to go grocery shopping or get to work.
Amongst my favorite places to hang out or just people watch is the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, also called Esplanade. It overlooks the NYC harbor and Manhattan, from this vantage point you can see almost all of lower Manhattan up to and past the Empire State building, as well as The Brooklyn Bridge, the Statue of Liberty, Staten Island, Ellis Island and Governor's Island. It possesses one of the most beautiful views to be had in the entire city. Turn around and there are lovely gardens, with all types of flowers and trees, and old town houses situated behind them. Quaint green painted benches are sprinkled throughout the walk. And there is a plaque honoring the World Trade Center. The weekend after 9/11 - there were makeshift shrines, with candles, and flowers, and pictures all along the promenade. If you walk a ways down it and then down another steep hill, you'll hit DUMBO, or the area below the Brooklyn Bridge and on the piers. There's a park there now - an extensive park, with bike and running trails, green pastures, trees, gardens, an area to kayak, and a couple of wine and drink gardens. Blue Marble Home Made Ice cream is situated on the pier, where you can catch the ferry to Manhattan. Or if you are so inclined you can rent a Citibike to ride over the bridge. I've only walked across the bridge - where on the other side is South Street Seaport and the old fish market, plus a rather nifty pub.
My church, First Unitarian Universalist Church of Brooklyn is located in Brooklyn Heights, the area next to the promenade. And just two streets down from the lovely Montague Street. This area with its cobbled sidewalks, old buildings, and quaint churches and stores, reminds me a bit of a college town - particularly in late September, when the annual independent book fair sets up shop in various buildings along it. The Court Houses are not that far away, nor another huge farmer's market. My church is made of old mahogany and brick, with Tiffany stained glass windows, in the congregational style. It dates back to 1833. And in its lifetime has provided sanctuary to civil rights protesters and activists.
Clothes shopping takes place in Manhattan, as do many other entertainments. But clothes are bought at the old Lord and Taylor Department Store, with its easy access, no meandering through the smelly perfume department like in Macy's or Bloomingdales. Also, no crowds. Escalators go straight to the ladies clothes. And the dressing rooms are large and numerous. No one bugs you. And you can carry inside as many clothes as you please. Plus there's always a great sale going on. When you leave - Bryant Park is next to the subway - and it houses a huge skating rink that is free if you brought your own skates, just above that is the New York Public Library - I did research once inside its halls. I used to work in this area - and at the time, there was a great book store, which has now been replaced by a bank.
Carroll Gardens has gotten more interesting with its eateries and remains less expensive than Manhattan. An Ethiopian place moved in on Court, several Thai joints, a Greek restaurant on Smith Street across from the subway station, and the great Cafe Lulu's...with their mixture of various pieces of furniture. The Cuban restaurant is next door - with it's pastel color scheme. On Court, there's the old dive bar that I used to go to - and once watched Elijah Wood (Frodo from the Lord of the Rings flicks) order a dirty martini, and a few blocks up, across the street from my bank, a Northern Italian Restaurant called Fragole, which makes great non-pasta dishes, although you can have those too. My neighborhood was originally a sort of little Italy, complete with Italian delis, restaurants, shops. It has changed over the years, become more gentrified and in some respects more diversified.
One of my dear friends used to live in Hell's Kitchen, so I used to spend a lot of time in that area of the city, my 30s and early 40s - mainly. We frequented the bars, dives, and clubs. There's some cool stuff on 8th Avenue, past Broadway. Also Restaurant Row...had a few decent joints. Up the street a bit is the Student Artist's League - where I took cheap and rather good life drawing courses during my 30s. (Basically drawing naked people - which helps with anatomy.) It's across the street from a huge diner.
Central Park...ah, the best place in Central Park is on the West Side, less people and no horse carriages. Across from the American History Museum, wander into Strawberry Fields...with its impromptu classical musicians, as well as various painters, then meander down to the Summer Stage, where you can hear decent Reggae and various other bands during the summer months, while watching daredevil skating enthusiasts attempt to kill themselves on the pavement below. Pass the lake where people row boats next to swans and ducks, and further still to the Public Theater, where you can stand or rather sit in line all morning long to obtain free seats to a Shakespearean play. If you keep going, you'll hit the Metropolitan Museum of Art - amongst the best places in the city to meet people and for free - you don't have to pay to go to this museum. There's a suggested donation, but it's not required. Most tourists don't know that. And if you go? Go to the Egypt exhibit and meander until you find the temple and the fountains, with a great view of the park. It's amongst the most peaceful spots in the city.
Another peaceful spot is behind the McGraw Hill building on 5th Avenue. There's a cute little garden with benches and a fountain. And high tea can be had at a small cafe next to one of the churches on the same block - I had it once with the Editor and Chief of an Art Publishing House...way back in the 1990s. I think it is just north of St. Patrick's Cathedrale, assuming of course its still there.
In Tudor City...the area just below Grand Central - 26th Streets to 34th Street...you will find some of the best Indian Restaurants outside of Queens. And on the streets directly behind the Empire State Building is little Korea - an entire street of Korean shops and eateries, including a Korean grocery store featuring Korean delicacies.
Shooting back over to Brooklyn, along Atlantic Avenue, you can still find many Turkish and Middle Eastern Restaurants. There's also a huge Middle Eastern and Turkish Grocery Store - where you can get items imported from those countries -it's across the street from Barney's or maybe Urban Outfitters, I forget which. And further up the Avenue, situated amongst antique shops and art galleries and boutiques, is a little gourmet pizza place that specializes in gluten-free pizza (which alas, I can't eat any more or at least not at the moment.) A few shops down? A knitting store - with affordable yarns, in various colors and sizes. You have to pass a prison to get there - there is a prison situated on Atlantic Avenue between the YMCA and a bunch of luxurary high rises. Appropriate, considering the Brooklyn Law School and the Court Houses are nearby.
Another great eatery is a little Thai restaurant located on Court Street, towards 2nd St. Tucked away. Best Mango Fish ever. Plus decent wine. Across the street is the Brooklyn Liquor Store - which I used to frequent so often they almost knew me by name. It has a broad selection of organic and home brewed vodkas and gins (little known secret - Brooklyn has gone crazy with the home-brewing of alcohol - everything from beer to hard whiskey. Also various wineries.) It also has an excellent wine selection - with various local favorites, as well as imports. I could always find a wine that did not give me heartburn there. It's next door to an organic bodega run by a lovely Korean couple, and their kids, with a fat orange tabby cat that suns itself in the window.
There's a corner junk store on my block, across the street from a car repair shop. In the window of the corner junk store is a fading and crumbling copy of the front page of a newspaper printed the day after 9/11. You can barely see the print or the picture. It's been there since 9/12/2001. It depicts how the city changes but still doesn't quite forget over the passage of time. As do other small things...the kids who have grown into teens, the new neighbors. We still have the sidewalk chalk art during the summer months, the stoop sales, the block parties with the DJ's, pet parades, and one year a belly dancer and an Irish marching band.
It's a quiet block. The city doesn't quite sleep, so much as hums. A constant tiny burr of sound. A sort of soothing white noise, interrupted at times by sirens or the heavy patter of rain on the air conditioning unit permanently attached or so it seems to my bedroom window.
You walk a lot. You climb a lot. Lots of steps in my city. Steps to my third floor apartment. Steps to the subway. Steps to church. But it is doable with an injury. There are laundry mats that deliver, and of course Fresh Direct. I just would have to hobble down the steps to do it. So its best to be in decent shape.
The city is one of contrasts, walk in any direction for fifteen minutes, and you may well find yourself in another city. On any given day, I hear five different languages...and see people of all races, shapes and sizes. People can wear whatever they please in my New York.
From tattoes and body piercings to Italian leather and cut-off shorts. Bundled in black winter jackets or thin ski jackets. One woman was in biker leather, complete with short skirt, fishnets, and high heel boots trudging through the icy snow to Whole Foods with her boyfriend more or less similarly attired. There are over a dozen newspapers, two of them are free - you can grab them on the way to the subway. The media is in your face with their ads splashed across buses, trains, on subway walls and on the sides of buildings. But after a while they too become just part of its hum. As do the traveling subway musicians, dancers, and crooners.
And there's a sort of odd and comforting friendliness. You can ask anyone for directions and they will most likely oblige, some with editorial comments on which places to eat at. People will chat with you. And you can at times have impromptu conversations on subways with strangers about books. And other times, you'll carefully avoid a screaming match between two teens. A city of contrasts and surprises...constantly changing, yet somehow comfortably the same.
January 10: masqthephilospher asked - I'd like to hear about "your" New York City. What your neighborhood is like, where you shop, what sorts of residences and businesses are on the blocks nearby, the feel of the neighborhood, transit, etc. What it's like living in that neighborhood, and other places you like to go in the City as a whole.
NYC believe it or not is the only place that I've deliberately chosen to live in. All the other places that I've lived, were either due to college, study, or family. But NYC I moved to without a job in place. And as of this year, it is now the place that I've lived the longest. 18 years this March. I moved here in 1996. And it has changed through the years in various ways, yet also stayed the same. We've been through a lot together, NYC and I, and as a result, I am a New Yorker, it is in my blood and in my soul. I love and hate it in equal measure. And it will take a lot to get me to move out of it. I believe the place you choose as an adult is the place from whence you came, not the place where you were born and really had no choice in.
At the moment, my New York is cold, rainy and drab and all I want to do is stay in my cozy little apartment. Perhaps that's the best place to start? The word apartment is sort of misleading, makes you think of well an apartment building. Flat may be a better word? It's an one bedroom at the top of a brownstone. Most of the buildings in my area are brownstones, the sort you might see in an old school Martin Scorsese or Woody Allen film or maybe the 1980s films Moonstruck or Do the Right Thing. And depicted in the Cosby Show. It's called a brownstone because of the color, but in reality they are all shades, or rather their entrances are, one has been painted purple, and look more like brick and mortar row townhouses. With big front stoops. There's gardens in front of each, and the streets are lined with trees. There's a huge oak tree in front of my bedroom window. And out my kitchen and living room windows - the view is a pseudo industrial landscape of transit bridges, warehouses, a bus parking lot, construction and cement plant. I can see the F and the G subways meandering their way over the viaduct bridges towards my subway station, and sometimes hear the dull rumble of the cars on the tracks. Yet amidst this rugged landscape of steel and concrete, is also a small pink house situated on top of a warehouse - below, the walls of the warehouse are painted green and blue. And there's a winding canal, called the Gowanus. This is the site of an EPA super-fund and amongst the most polluted canals in the state. Yet people canoe it in the summertime and there are apparently boat tours. Towards the far right, a church steeple, whose chimes rung out the song What Child is This this past Sunday. It's a rather large Catholic Church, Saint Mary Star of the Sea, in the overdecorated 18th century gothic style - lots of bleeding saints, and a rather graphic depiction of Christ hanging on his cross, with dark stained glass windows shining morosely on the congregants. Haven't been in it in a while, so it may have changed.
My street is residential, but if you wander a bit eastward, and over the little road bridge that crosses the canal you will run into the shiny and brand new Whole Foods store. Across the street from it are abandoned warehouses, with the following message spray-painted in big block white and black letters, at the very top of the 20 story buildings, "Protect Our Children, Say No to STOP and FRISK". Wander in the opposite direction, towards the West, you will eventually stumble upon the Transit Garden, a coop vegetable, tree and flower garden located directly opposite the subway which now lies below a 15 story luxury apartment building. Across the street from it - is the bodega that I've visited for well nigh 18 years now. It changed ownership recently and the products have changed as a result. Was owned by a Korean Family (who spoke mainly Korean) and is now owned by a Middle Eastern Family or Arabic, who speak that language. I don't go to it as often as I used to...due to my diet, even though its selection has broadened. Down the street from it is the Dona Joseph Salon, an Italian salon where I get my hair colored and cut, along with my nails manicured. Everyone speaks Italian with just a bit of English. It's expensive, so this is not done all that often. Also they have a lot of turn-over. Two doors down from it, is my laundry mat, where I've been taking my clothes for close to 15 years. They know me by name. When I broke my foot and hobbled past in a boot, the laundress, Margaret Chen, came out and asked in a halting English, how I was and if I was okay. She's from China, and speaks basic English. We gesture a lot. And beside it is another little bodega, where I used to buy chocolate and potato chips and soy milk. There's also a rather cool little shop of environmentally inspired art - with delicate origami earrings - made of colored paper in intricate little designs. Butterflies, birds, snowflakes.
Across the street lies Carroll Park, with its basketball courts, trees, slides, and brick and mortar shelter. They hold movie nights, and occasionally perform plays for families. There's also a flea market, a Halloween Parade (the little kids march down the streets and go door to door, also around the park, and through an impromptu Haunted House), and a Christmas tree lighting. Every Sunday from roughly March to the first week of December, a farmer's market sits on the street between the park and an elementary school, featuring fresh fish, fruit, vegetables, beef, pork, chicken, delicious pickles, cheeses, duck, bread, flowers, milk and on occasion wine. The apple wine, when it was available, was the best. One day they had Native American Singers performing and selling their wares. I often sit in the park, on a bench, read, watch people, drink tea - for there are several coffee and tea shops nearby. And in the summer time, a Mr. Softee, or now, a Frozen Yogurt Truck.
Grocery stores are plentiful now...time was, we just had a Key Foods. But a CVS Pharmacy took its place ages ago. Now, there's gourmet fresh, park natural, whole foods and union court - all within easy walking distance. The Cobble Hill Cinemas - with their crunched in seating, and small screens - is across the street from a Japanese Restaurant, where I used to have sushi, and next door to a Chocolate, Coffee, Ice Cream and Wine Bar - specializing in homemade ice cream, specialty chocolates, and coffee.
Walk a few more blocks down and you'll hit the Discount Book Store, which is sort of a miniature version of the Strand or rather the Strand crunched inside just one room. The books are piled on top of each other. All shapes and sizes. Lighting is sparse. And a gray bearded gentleman, with spectacles, and a gruff attitude, presides over it all. You feel almost as if you've walked into that old curiousity shop or a Dickens novel. The books range from new to dusty and old. There's barely room to walk, since the books crowd the small hallways between shelving. In the summer and winter months the shop is closed. It opens briefly, if the weather is nice, on spring and autumn days. Two blocks down from the Discount Book Shop is Book Court - a far trendier store, that hosts book readings, signings, book clubs and the off-hand creative writing workshop. Good luck finding a sci-fi, fantasy, or romance novel here - unless of course it is YA, which has taken off like gangbusters. Mostly literary or local novelists, poetry, non-fiction, children's, and a huge section of mystery novels. For genre novels, there's always the huge two story Barnes and Noble just up the street, across Atlantic Avenue, and next door to Court Street Movie Theater - which tends to be less arty than Cobble Hill and with a much rowdier and lower income crowd, but a heck of a lot more comfortable, with its stadium seating. Trader Joes is located in a converted bank building just on the other side of the street.
The lovely thing about my New York is I don't have to drive. At all. Instead, I can grab a cab - either yellow or green, the green ones serve the outer boroughs now. It's rather controversial, they were set up because the yellow ones up until recently ignored us and you couldn't get a cab to save your life so you relied on car service. Or you can take a bus, or even better yet the subway, which is cheaper, and in some respects far safer and easier than the other options. Not to mention warmer. You can read on the subway, and you know where you are going. I rather love the subway. And hate it at the same time. Some subways are clean and neat, and comfortable - there's a long plastic blue bench, broken up by grating and hand rails. A computerized voice tells you when to get off and which station you are at, and if you can't hear it? There's a message board in red telling you the time and the station. Plus a map across the top of the windows - showing all the stations, and which one you are currently at. This is in the new trains only. The older trains are sort of old, yet mostly clean, with yellow and orange seats. And yes, on occasion, you may see a lonely rat wondering down below on the tracks hunting crumbs.
If I'm not taking the subway, I'm taking the Long Island Railroad, a cushioned and rather comfortable train to work in Jamaica, Queens, NY. My New York is a city of boroughs, all connected together, yet argumentative like siblings. Jamaica is completely different from my burg. It's loud and noisy, and dirty, with broken sidewalks and wayward buses. Yet amidst all this is the lovely and well-groomed Rufus King Park, with its broad expanse of grass, large trees, scampering squirrels, and old manor house. And yes, occasionally, a homeless person sleeping on a park bench. Across from it is the bankrupt hospital where I once got six stitches. Jamaica admittedly feels more like a suburban city or a strip that you might find in Kansas City, Kansas or the bad dingy part of Chicago. May explain why so many movies are filmed there.
My New York at times doubles for a movie or television lot. To date, I've wandered through the film and television sets of: Law and Order: Criminal Intent, Elementary, Damages, The Good Wife, A Winter's Tale, Zero Hour, Men in Black III (that was rather interesting - it had a lot of old vintage cars), Person of Interest, and various commercials and music videos. You sort of get used to it after a bit - walking past movie and television trailers, cameras and stepping over cords to go grocery shopping or get to work.
Amongst my favorite places to hang out or just people watch is the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, also called Esplanade. It overlooks the NYC harbor and Manhattan, from this vantage point you can see almost all of lower Manhattan up to and past the Empire State building, as well as The Brooklyn Bridge, the Statue of Liberty, Staten Island, Ellis Island and Governor's Island. It possesses one of the most beautiful views to be had in the entire city. Turn around and there are lovely gardens, with all types of flowers and trees, and old town houses situated behind them. Quaint green painted benches are sprinkled throughout the walk. And there is a plaque honoring the World Trade Center. The weekend after 9/11 - there were makeshift shrines, with candles, and flowers, and pictures all along the promenade. If you walk a ways down it and then down another steep hill, you'll hit DUMBO, or the area below the Brooklyn Bridge and on the piers. There's a park there now - an extensive park, with bike and running trails, green pastures, trees, gardens, an area to kayak, and a couple of wine and drink gardens. Blue Marble Home Made Ice cream is situated on the pier, where you can catch the ferry to Manhattan. Or if you are so inclined you can rent a Citibike to ride over the bridge. I've only walked across the bridge - where on the other side is South Street Seaport and the old fish market, plus a rather nifty pub.
My church, First Unitarian Universalist Church of Brooklyn is located in Brooklyn Heights, the area next to the promenade. And just two streets down from the lovely Montague Street. This area with its cobbled sidewalks, old buildings, and quaint churches and stores, reminds me a bit of a college town - particularly in late September, when the annual independent book fair sets up shop in various buildings along it. The Court Houses are not that far away, nor another huge farmer's market. My church is made of old mahogany and brick, with Tiffany stained glass windows, in the congregational style. It dates back to 1833. And in its lifetime has provided sanctuary to civil rights protesters and activists.
Clothes shopping takes place in Manhattan, as do many other entertainments. But clothes are bought at the old Lord and Taylor Department Store, with its easy access, no meandering through the smelly perfume department like in Macy's or Bloomingdales. Also, no crowds. Escalators go straight to the ladies clothes. And the dressing rooms are large and numerous. No one bugs you. And you can carry inside as many clothes as you please. Plus there's always a great sale going on. When you leave - Bryant Park is next to the subway - and it houses a huge skating rink that is free if you brought your own skates, just above that is the New York Public Library - I did research once inside its halls. I used to work in this area - and at the time, there was a great book store, which has now been replaced by a bank.
Carroll Gardens has gotten more interesting with its eateries and remains less expensive than Manhattan. An Ethiopian place moved in on Court, several Thai joints, a Greek restaurant on Smith Street across from the subway station, and the great Cafe Lulu's...with their mixture of various pieces of furniture. The Cuban restaurant is next door - with it's pastel color scheme. On Court, there's the old dive bar that I used to go to - and once watched Elijah Wood (Frodo from the Lord of the Rings flicks) order a dirty martini, and a few blocks up, across the street from my bank, a Northern Italian Restaurant called Fragole, which makes great non-pasta dishes, although you can have those too. My neighborhood was originally a sort of little Italy, complete with Italian delis, restaurants, shops. It has changed over the years, become more gentrified and in some respects more diversified.
One of my dear friends used to live in Hell's Kitchen, so I used to spend a lot of time in that area of the city, my 30s and early 40s - mainly. We frequented the bars, dives, and clubs. There's some cool stuff on 8th Avenue, past Broadway. Also Restaurant Row...had a few decent joints. Up the street a bit is the Student Artist's League - where I took cheap and rather good life drawing courses during my 30s. (Basically drawing naked people - which helps with anatomy.) It's across the street from a huge diner.
Central Park...ah, the best place in Central Park is on the West Side, less people and no horse carriages. Across from the American History Museum, wander into Strawberry Fields...with its impromptu classical musicians, as well as various painters, then meander down to the Summer Stage, where you can hear decent Reggae and various other bands during the summer months, while watching daredevil skating enthusiasts attempt to kill themselves on the pavement below. Pass the lake where people row boats next to swans and ducks, and further still to the Public Theater, where you can stand or rather sit in line all morning long to obtain free seats to a Shakespearean play. If you keep going, you'll hit the Metropolitan Museum of Art - amongst the best places in the city to meet people and for free - you don't have to pay to go to this museum. There's a suggested donation, but it's not required. Most tourists don't know that. And if you go? Go to the Egypt exhibit and meander until you find the temple and the fountains, with a great view of the park. It's amongst the most peaceful spots in the city.
Another peaceful spot is behind the McGraw Hill building on 5th Avenue. There's a cute little garden with benches and a fountain. And high tea can be had at a small cafe next to one of the churches on the same block - I had it once with the Editor and Chief of an Art Publishing House...way back in the 1990s. I think it is just north of St. Patrick's Cathedrale, assuming of course its still there.
In Tudor City...the area just below Grand Central - 26th Streets to 34th Street...you will find some of the best Indian Restaurants outside of Queens. And on the streets directly behind the Empire State Building is little Korea - an entire street of Korean shops and eateries, including a Korean grocery store featuring Korean delicacies.
Shooting back over to Brooklyn, along Atlantic Avenue, you can still find many Turkish and Middle Eastern Restaurants. There's also a huge Middle Eastern and Turkish Grocery Store - where you can get items imported from those countries -it's across the street from Barney's or maybe Urban Outfitters, I forget which. And further up the Avenue, situated amongst antique shops and art galleries and boutiques, is a little gourmet pizza place that specializes in gluten-free pizza (which alas, I can't eat any more or at least not at the moment.) A few shops down? A knitting store - with affordable yarns, in various colors and sizes. You have to pass a prison to get there - there is a prison situated on Atlantic Avenue between the YMCA and a bunch of luxurary high rises. Appropriate, considering the Brooklyn Law School and the Court Houses are nearby.
Another great eatery is a little Thai restaurant located on Court Street, towards 2nd St. Tucked away. Best Mango Fish ever. Plus decent wine. Across the street is the Brooklyn Liquor Store - which I used to frequent so often they almost knew me by name. It has a broad selection of organic and home brewed vodkas and gins (little known secret - Brooklyn has gone crazy with the home-brewing of alcohol - everything from beer to hard whiskey. Also various wineries.) It also has an excellent wine selection - with various local favorites, as well as imports. I could always find a wine that did not give me heartburn there. It's next door to an organic bodega run by a lovely Korean couple, and their kids, with a fat orange tabby cat that suns itself in the window.
There's a corner junk store on my block, across the street from a car repair shop. In the window of the corner junk store is a fading and crumbling copy of the front page of a newspaper printed the day after 9/11. You can barely see the print or the picture. It's been there since 9/12/2001. It depicts how the city changes but still doesn't quite forget over the passage of time. As do other small things...the kids who have grown into teens, the new neighbors. We still have the sidewalk chalk art during the summer months, the stoop sales, the block parties with the DJ's, pet parades, and one year a belly dancer and an Irish marching band.
It's a quiet block. The city doesn't quite sleep, so much as hums. A constant tiny burr of sound. A sort of soothing white noise, interrupted at times by sirens or the heavy patter of rain on the air conditioning unit permanently attached or so it seems to my bedroom window.
You walk a lot. You climb a lot. Lots of steps in my city. Steps to my third floor apartment. Steps to the subway. Steps to church. But it is doable with an injury. There are laundry mats that deliver, and of course Fresh Direct. I just would have to hobble down the steps to do it. So its best to be in decent shape.
The city is one of contrasts, walk in any direction for fifteen minutes, and you may well find yourself in another city. On any given day, I hear five different languages...and see people of all races, shapes and sizes. People can wear whatever they please in my New York.
From tattoes and body piercings to Italian leather and cut-off shorts. Bundled in black winter jackets or thin ski jackets. One woman was in biker leather, complete with short skirt, fishnets, and high heel boots trudging through the icy snow to Whole Foods with her boyfriend more or less similarly attired. There are over a dozen newspapers, two of them are free - you can grab them on the way to the subway. The media is in your face with their ads splashed across buses, trains, on subway walls and on the sides of buildings. But after a while they too become just part of its hum. As do the traveling subway musicians, dancers, and crooners.
And there's a sort of odd and comforting friendliness. You can ask anyone for directions and they will most likely oblige, some with editorial comments on which places to eat at. People will chat with you. And you can at times have impromptu conversations on subways with strangers about books. And other times, you'll carefully avoid a screaming match between two teens. A city of contrasts and surprises...constantly changing, yet somehow comfortably the same.
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Date: 2014-01-11 08:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-11 10:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-11 06:36 pm (UTC)NYC is very similar to London, except more walkable, or so I've been told. I do however prefer the London cabs - far more comfortable, and two-tiered buses - a lot more fun. Another major difference is the Mass Transit. NYC is the only city in the world that has 24/7 Transit, Bus and Train service. We can't imagine living without it. But I remember London's transit shuts down around midnight or slightly before?
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Date: 2014-01-11 01:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-11 06:13 pm (UTC)I am impressed you actually have a one bedroom. Those can't be cheap. And here I thought in was San Francisco that painted random residences non-traditional colors.
It all sounds very homey and overwhelming at the same time.
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Date: 2014-01-11 06:30 pm (UTC)Cheapest apartment on my block and in my building. I'm roughly 100-200 dollars less than everyone else who has a similar apartment in a brown stone on my block. Although downstairs tenant may be catching up to me, because landlord got tired of the constant turn-over in the downstairs flats. (the new luxurary apts are not only smaller but twice as much, because you know, spanky new kitchen appliances, which weirdly don't last as long.)
Yeah, I think San Franscisco, Chicago and possibly Boston may be the only US cities I could live in - they have that same homey, unique, overwhelming flair. Abroad my favorite city was London and Paris - which are similar.
Although Sydney, Australia reminded me a lot of San Franscisco.
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Date: 2014-01-11 07:15 pm (UTC)Interesting. I am considering a trip there next year, so maybe I will see for myself!
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Date: 2014-01-11 08:22 pm (UTC)I don't know how much it has changed since I visited, in the early 1990s.
Melbourne is worth a visit - more European in its layout. So is the Snowy Mountains. Queensland is good to visit in the winter months or autumn (our spring and summer).
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Date: 2014-01-11 08:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-11 11:13 pm (UTC)Dry and hot.