A Meandering Ode To New York

Being from Dallas I think my sensitivities are particularly fine tuned to beauty. Dallas is not the most beautiful city. It is flat. It has small trees that would more aptly be compared to shrubs than the looming pines of the Piedmont region. Dallas is a relatively young city in terms of when it experienced its growth spurt which means it lacks much of the beautiful architecture of older cities that were crafted in a time when care for beauty took precedence over cost and efficiency. This means that many of the homes in Dallas are cookie cutter, built in the style of the past 30 years. Don’t get me wrong, I love Dallas but certainly not for its natural beauty - she has a great personality.

But being from Dallas and visiting the truly great cities of the world is a lot like living in a dark cave for years and finally seeing the light. Your knowledge of the ugliness that is possible in a city aesthetic gives you a particular appreciation for a charming cityscape when you see it. That’s the way I feel about New York.

When I first took a cab from La Guardia to Manhattan and saw the city skyline for the first time it was breathtaking. It sounds corny to say but the orange glow of the Chrysler Building immediately invokes The Great Gatsby as the city and book share the common theme of an irrational, impossible, yet admirable optimism and hope. The city is full of ambitious people, some of whom will achieve their goals but many of whom will fail in a blaze of glory. There is something romantic and irresistible about that. The idealistic positivity is so attractive.

The Empire State Building invokes the city’s supremacy as one of the great cities of the world. While other cities boast of their unique monocultures, New York takes all of the best that the world has to offer and fuses it together on a tiny stretch of land. The city has no shame about its tendency to steal from other cultures but takes massive pride in its ability to replicate these cultural imports in a genuine, oftentimes better way. It is a beautiful mutt of culture, people, and architecture stewed together between the tight confines of the Hudson and East Rivers.

The World Trade Center invokes the City’s defiance. A monument not only to the city but to the country. A symbol that you may hurt us but we will come back stronger than you could imagine.

New York’s Statue of Liberty is a symbol of safe haven and welcoming. Immigrants are the origin of this country and what made us great to begin with. Similar to the composition of our nation, no city has the eclectic mix of ingredients that allow New York to reign supreme over the world’s great metropolises.

I love that the physical design of the city conveys so much of what the city is. And these characteristics of the city are evident in the architecture even to those like me who have very little experience with New York.

Looking into windows in the city

During my recent time in Manhattan, something else struck me. Looking into each building is like getting a glimpse into another world. And in some way I mean that in a literal sense.

While everyone lives on a few mile stretch of the island that is Manhattan, everyone lives in different worlds defined by their living spaces, frequently visited bars, and work spaces. People living on this 13 mile stretch of land could have starkly different lives, people living in the same neighborhood could have starkly different lives, people in the same building could have starkly different lives. And the seemingly infinite possibilities that you observe just on a short walk is like seeing the various paths of a choose your own adventure book played out in real time. 

I love observing this phenomenon.

Sacrifice

Another thing I love about the city is the sacrifice. Nearly everyone in the city is making sacrifices to be there. The city doesn’t need to incentivize you to be there. It’s all pay to play.

From a financial perspective, it is one of the most expensive cities in the world. And from a real estate perspective even when you’re paying significantly more, you’re getting significantly less. My friends pay double the rent I do in a Southern city and probably have 1/5th of the space. But there is something amazing about that! Everyone wants to be there so badly that they’re willing to sacrifice money and comfort just to be a part of it all. And that contributes a certain energy to the City.

No one just stumbles into New York. You need to make a conscious effort and conscious sacrifices to get there which makes the city that much more lively and is a large contributor to the intangible “buzz” felt by so many of New York’s inhabitants.

The Restaurants

A metaphor for the city’s brutal competition is the restaurants.

The food in New York is second to none. It is an embarrassment of riches. And not only is the food good but the atmospheres paired with the food are unbeatable.

You can find great food in nearly every city nowadays, but nowhere can you find great food as prevalently as it exists in New York. And nowhere can you find the lively environments of New York restaurants on a Friday night.

So many of the restaurants in New York could be the very upper echelon of cuisine if they decided to put up shop in another city. But they don’t! That willful decision to play in the big pond when you could be a kahuna anywhere else is fascinating.

Plus on the weekends, the city gives the impression of being filled solely with youth as the older folks who work in the city flee to their Connecticut or New Jersey homes. This neverland quality gives an extra jolt of flair and fun to the action of the weekends.

Here are some restaurants I went on my most recent trip:

Casino - Casino is an Italian restaurant with bleach white walls possessing no sharp edges and giving the feeling of being in one of those caves on the side of a mountain in Arizona. Except the cave is extremely stylish and mobbed with swarms of excited people. The color palette makes you feel like you’re in a scene from the movie Babylon - an old Hollywood feel. The food was top notch but the atmosphere was better.

 Arthur & Sons - The pictures don’t do this place justice. At night time I felt like I was in Louie’s Restaurant, the fateful setting of Michael Corleone’s deliverance of justice to the corrupt cop McCluskey. The scenes outside were beautiful with lanterns pockmarking every doorstep of the terraces across the street. This place was lively, loud, and the portions were awesome.

Joseph Leonard - This is one of those corner brunch sports in New York with outdoor seating for two that feels like a European cafe. The food is simple, certainly not to be mistaken for inferior. The bathroom had a beautiful piece of writing on the wall about what it feels like to write. The food was unbelievable and the tight quarters of the dining area was far more cozy than cramped.

Deer Irving - This was a bar above a hotel in Midtown with a breathtaking view of the city. The view was impossible to beat and the drinks were surprisingly affordable. Great place to survey the city skyline whether it’s sunset or a gloomy rainy night.

The Public Works

One of my greatest shames as a reader is that I have only read one of Robert Caro’s books.

The subject of Caro’s first book was a man named Robert Moses. Moses held the position of city planner of the New York metropolitan area in the early 20th century. Despite never getting elected to any political office, Moses was more powerful than any mayor or governor who ever ruled in the state of New York.

From the mind of Moses leapt the Triborough Bridge, Queens Midtown Tunnel, Bronx Whitestone Bridge, the Henry Hudson Bridge, the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, and the Westside Highway among many other landmark projects for the city. Many of the New York architectural icons you would recognize in pictures were a direct result of this man.

Not only was Moses not elected, but he did ruthless things in his attempts to fulfill his grand visions for the cityscape including removing entire communities from their homes and demolishing their vacant buildings to make room for his projects.

Despite the atrocities committed by Moses, his creations are beautiful. Walking along the West Side Highway on a sunny day is a blast. And observing the looming bridges of the city adds so much to the scenery. Riverside Park is a wonderful place to stroll. And Moses wasn’t the sole contributor to the city, obviously there is Central Park and Washington Square Park too. New York is full of public places like this that I’d pay a pretty penny for but am happy to enjoy for free.

I’ve mentioned it repeatedly but New York is expensive as all get out. However, the amazing public works make the cost hurt a bit less. Strolling through central park is free yet it’s one of the great joys of the city. Running along the Westside highway is a blast on a beautiful day. And listening to a slow jazz band in a random park playing for tips is impossible to beat.

The Varying Feels of Each Neighborhood

New York is horizontally a pretty small place despite the impression its towering skyscrapers convey. You would think for being such a small piece of land in terms of square miles that it would be quite homogenous. But you couldn’t be more wrong. Each neighborhood has its own feel, resident stereotype, and frequented spots. They’re all influenced by the unique ethnic, economic, and cultural qualities of their residents which vary so much. And so on a mere 45 minute walk you can often get the feeling that you’re moving from one country to another.

The Culture

Amor Towles once observed of New York that it is the capital of everything. While some cities boast a specialty (San Francisco boasts technology, New Orleans boasts music, Las Vegas boasts gaming, Los Angeles boasts media/entertainment, DC boasts politics/power) New York boasts pretty much everything.

It is the global center of finance and because we live in a global economic system that operates by means of capitalism, New York touches everything. Finance is the engine for modern society and New York is the location where the engine that fuels the world is stored.

But not only is New York a hub of commerce, it is a hub of culture too. All of the great publishing houses are based in New York meaning that it is a lively setting for aspiring writers. Studios and musical venues abound the island, making it a great home for budding musicians. Electric lady studios in Greenwich Village hosted the recordings of artists like Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, and Stevie Wonder. Greenwich Village is also the area where a young Bob Dylan practiced his first acoustic ballads. Carnegie Hall regularly showcases world class musicians from all over the world. The Museum of Modern Art displays the best visual media Earth has to offer. Top notch food of any variety can be found on any street corner. Places of historical significance like Grant’s Tomb seem to pop up on every other block. New York is drowning in culture, making it the capital of everything: food, music, architecture, history, writing, dancing, art, and more.

I don’t think I could live in New York - I wouldn’t be willing to make the financial sacrifice, I’d miss wide open spaces, and I’m too introverted to be surrounded by constant human interaction. But I do love New York and gladly admit that there is no place like it in the world.