Posted
by Joel Mathis
September 11, 2007 at 6:29 a.m.
I heart New York
Since 9-11, I've taken four trips to New York City -- one a few weeks after the attacks. I'd never been there before.I've been propositioned by a Greek hooker in Times Square.I've taken a nap on the Great Lawn of Central Park.I've watched "High Noon" on a big screen, with 3,000 or more other people, in Bryant Park, right next to the New York Public Library.I've eaten the most amazing gyros sandwich in Greenwich Village.I've been challenged to a chess game in Washington Square Park.I've (unwisely) walked, slightly inebriated, down an empty and boarded-up stretch of Broadway long after dark.I've probably deserved to be mugged for doing that.I've heard Zadie Smith give a reading at Joe's Pub.I've paid $17 for a mediocre cheeseburger.I've perused the musty-smelling rare book room of The Strand.I've spent nights in a hotel room that, judging by the large and never-cleaned stain on the carpet, might've been the scene of a 1977 mob hit.I've walked miles and miles, one time covering my feet so badly with blisters that I could barely walk off the plane when I returned home.I've seen the Yankees win a penant with a walkoff homerun by Bernie Williams -- and even tough the opponent that night was Minnesota, the crowd still responded with wild chants of "Boston sucks! Boston sucks!" (Ironically, this was the same year Boston would win the World Series.)I've bought cheap touristy crap from a streetside kiosk.I've bought the best-ever slice of sausage pizza from a corner shop.I've accidentally stumbled into a Korean pride festival, complete with Korean boy band.I've flirted with a young woman on the subway. I've been in midtown Manhattan on Halloween night.I've seen Shakespeare in the park.I've been served lime-flavored coffee in the home of a friendly Puerto Rican family.And yes, I've seen the still-smoking ruins of the World Trade Center. It changed me; it continues to change me six years later.But I've also been changed - enriched - by a million other experiences and memories. The 9-11 attacks loom large for me, but they do not dominate my experience of New York City, which is full of life.
Comments
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DOTDOT (anonymous) says…
NY is a place where you can be an asshole and nobody minds.
Joel (Joel Mathis) says…
So is Lawrence.com. ; )
lazz (anonymous) says…
My favorite NYC memory: When I was in high school, my grandfather passed away. Way before dawn on the morning we were to fly out, my buddy picked me up to get in some duck hunting on his farm pond at the crack of dawn. I was easily home in time, and we flew out midmorning for NYC. That evening we were at my cousins' house in Brooklyn, bouncing a Spauldeen off the stoop.
The fact that I had been out duck hunting on a Kansas farm that morning absolutely blew their minds; and the notion that I was playing Brooklyn street games that evening (after a huge Italian meal as only my aunts could prepare) was pretty fantastic for me, too ...
CafeSiren (anonymous) says…
I've never been. That sucks.
OhioJayhawk (anonymous) says…
Joel:
Lovely, descriptive post. Woody Allen would be proud.
My first visit there was almost 20 years ago. It was an all-expenses paid junket hosted by a book publisher and I had virtually no business responsibilities.
One of the guys I was with was a native New Yorker and, when he found out I was a newbie, he took me on a six-hour tour of the greatest, most-historic bars in Manhattan. We had one martini each at Zinc Bar, Toots Shor, Algonquin Hotel, the Empire State Building, etc.
Lazz can testify to my fondness for the occasional martini, but it was the atmosphere and the sense of history that made it such a friggin' blast. I kept thinking: "Dorothy Parker was hammered here" or "Cole Porter used to play that piano" and the like every time I looked around.
(Quick Aside: As a combination drinking/history adventure, it was comparable to the day I popped into my all-time favorite place in London, the British Museum Pub, for a quick pint. As I settled at the bar, I looked down in front of my stool to find a small brass plaque that said, "Karl Marx edited 'Das Kapital' while sitting in this spot." I looked down the line of seats and pretty much every stool had a similar dedication: Darwin, PG Wodehouse, etc. Sent chills up my spine...so I had two pints. But I digress...)
Our final night in NYC, we had dinner at a pretty good restaurant with a great view. At age 26 or so, I just remember being dazzled by looking down at the city. The restaurant was Windows on the World....which, sadly, is now a big hole in the sky.
monkeywrench (Tim vonHolten) says…
it's just too bad new york is full of new yorkers.
DOTDOT (anonymous) says…
Ah. There's a corollary concerning Lawrencedotcom being full of dotcommies, but, alas, it's twisting up like some shitty homegrown.
cutny (anonymous) says…
You should try it for a few years Joel. Do what I did, rent your house and pay twice in rent what you do in mortgage. That said, the 9/11 stuff is pretty much over in most people's minds, I think. Anyway...seems like you've been thinking about making the jump for a while. I know you would not regret it and you seem more employable than most of the people here I know. Do it, do it, do it.