What Makes Someone A New Yorker?

I love hearing why other people love New York (or their own favorite city), especially when it's from someone I wouldn't expect. Like actress Kathy Najimy in New York Magazine:

What makes someone a New Yorker? 
A rusty battery in their heart that never runs out? An insatiable unending current of desire to create and be astounded? An unwarranted excitement for spring clothes that people in normal-weathered places take for granted? A pull to stop and really listen to and appreciate the guy in front of the McDonald's in Times Square playing "Moonglow" on his sax? When they are hideously mean one moment and then the next they would give their life for you? That's a New Yorker.

image via

A Different Sort of List

This is the time of year to be making lists. Resolutions, things we'll change in the coming year, places we'll travel, etc. But towards the end of last year I came across a list of a different sort that I've been thinking about ever since.

It's this now-poignant list written by Nora Ephron of things she'd miss, from her book of essays I Remember Nothing, written about two years before her death. I don't mean to be morbid here, but I liked the idea of thinking about what you'd miss about life as a way to remember what you love in your life. And isn't that what resolutions push us towards? The good ones, anyway.

She first writes out a list of things she won't miss, like email, bad dinners, and taking off her makeup. What will she miss? Reading in bed, a walk in the park, butter, Paris... you can read the full list here, but the last two are my favorite:

Coming over the bridge to Manhattan

Pie


Photo by Stewart Mader

Indoor Snow

New York had its first (ill-timed, early) snowfall last week, but it'll probably be a few weeks more before we see much more snow. In the meantime, there's the new Hudson Lodge at the Hudson hotel. Their park space (insulated with glass and heaters) is outfitted for winter with an "apres ski" menu, cozy decor and...nightly snowfall! Indoor snow! It could be either exceedingly cheesy or wintery awesome. What do you think? There's a hot chocolate bar!

Image via Morgans Hotel Group

Your Own Personal Skyline

{manhattan from the george washington bridge, 1936}

There are a lot of things that could be said today, on this anniversary. But I wasn’t here, I didn’t belong to New York yet, so they’re not for me to say. Instead, I’d like to point you to a beautifully written essay from 2001 on the city that never ceases to move forward. Here are some of my favorite bits...

The city has spent a considerable amount of time and money putting the brochure together, what with all the movies, TV shows and songs -- the whole ''if you can make it there'' business. The city also puts a lot of effort into making your hometown look really drab and tiny, just in case you were wondering why it's such a drag to go back sometimes.

The New York City you live in is not my New York City; how could it be? This place multiplies when you're not looking...Before you know it, you have your own personal skyline.

We see ourselves in this city every day when we walk down the sidewalk and catch our reflections in store windows, seek ourselves in this city each time we reminisce about what was there 5, 10, 40 years ago, because all our old places are proof that we were here. One day the city we built will be gone, and when it goes, we go. When the buildings fall, we topple, too.

Photo by Jack Rosenzwieg. All quotes by Colson Whitehead in The New York Times. Story via Longform.

NYC before AC

{licking blocks of ice on a hot day, circa 1910-1915}

This absolutely amounts to a first-world problem, but the air conditioning has been broken for two days in the office where I’m currently working. It's hot, to say the least. As we all fanned ourselves, scoured the office for small, silly, USB-powered fans, and complained, it made me think of this fascinating old New Yorker article about life in the city before AC.

Arthur Miller (yes, that Arthur Miller) writes about a particularly warm summer in the late 1920s when his family was living in Harlem. He describes how, to escape the heat of their apartments, people took to sleeping in Central Park.

{battery park on a hot day, circa 1910-1915} 

Even through the nights, the pall of heat never broke. With a couple of other kids, I would go across 110th to the Park and walk among the hundreds of people, singles and families, who slept on the grass, next to their big alarm clocks, which set up a mild cacophony of the seconds passing, one clock’s ticks syncopating with another’s. Babies cried in the darkness, men’s deep voices murmured, and a woman let out an occasional high laugh beside the lake.

It’s completely understandable (especially in my current predicament) but also totally wild to think about from the perspective of a modern New Yorker. If it were safe, sleeping in Central Park sounds pretty magical...

Both photos via the Library of Congress. 

New York Bucket List: NY Aquarium & Coney Island

Thanks to a friend with corporate passes, I got to check off another place on my New York bucket list: The New York Aquarium. A friend had free corporate passes tothe Aquarium so it was the perfect opportunity to check it out.





The aquarium turned out to be rather small (it didn't take us more than an hour and a half to see everything) but it was still fun to see sea lions, weird deep sea creatures, and a giant walrus that gently smashed his huge belly into the glass. If you can avoid it, I wouldn't recommend going on a Sunday—it was super crowded!





The Aquarium is all the way out in Brooklyn, near Coney Island. Coney Island is also on my New York bucket list, so we walked around the boardwalk and got a Nathan's hot dog. I'd love to come back for the Mermaid Parade or to ride the Wonder Wheel next time.

Remember the Illustrated Missed Connections? The illustrator, Sophie Blackall, illustrated a poster for the MTA's Arts for Transit program. The poster will be in subway cars throughout 2012. I can't wait to see it in person, her characters are so fun and so full of life and story.

New York Texture

When I first saw these images, I found myself itching to reach out and touch them (I'm a terrible gallery-goer). French artist Daniel Castan adds resin to acrylic paint to make it dry quickly, so he has to work quickly. The result is these gorgeously textured paintings that mirror the pace of the city they capture. His site is in French, but it doesn't appear that he's showing these pieces in the US anytime soon, so we'll all just have to stare at our computer screens for a bit.

Via My Modern Met

New York Bucket List

Living in New York there's lots to see and do. But somehow, I end up going to the same places over and over. And while I love my favorite coffee shops, restaurants, and museums, there's lots of places I always mean to check out but forget about when I find myself with a few free hours. So, if you'll indulge me in recording my New York bucket list here (more posts to come!), I hope you'll find something interesting to check out too, whether you live here or are planning a visit.





The Empire State Building

I guess I should start with one of the big ones, that nearly every tourist who comes to Manhattan has done...The Empire State Building. After living here for five years, I still haven't been! I've always been deterred by the crowds, but I recently heard that the building stays open until 2 a.m. The idea of ending a fun night out with stunning views of the city (and the place where Annie & Sam met) sounds much better than the tourist-y outing I was envisioning! Definitely need to make this happen soon.





The Heather Garden, Fort Tryon Park

After going up to Fort Tryon Park to visit The Cloisters earlier this month, I wondered why I've never been up there before. The park feels like a little vacation from the city, and I'd love to see the Heather Garden in bloom.





Lady Mendl's Tea Salon

When I was in high school, my best girlfriends and I frequented our town's Victorian-style tea room for scones and endless pots of blackberry tea. Between those fun memories and a semester in London, I've always loved traditional afternoon tea. I've never had it here in New York and Lady Mendl's (in The Inn at Irving Place) looks like a quaint place to start&#151a little less intimidating than tea at The Plaza!

How about you? Are there places in your hometown you've never been, but you want to?

Image 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7

Miracle on 22nd St.

Just one last little bit of Christmas cheer before I sign off for the holiday weekend. What would you do if you suddenly started getting hundreds of letters addressed to Santa? It happened to a couple in Chelsea and I love that they reacted with generosity instead of cynicism. Merry Christmas, indeed!

A Year In New York

Even though I'm feeling wanderlust-y, I still love, love, love where I live. Which is maybe why this video, shot over the course of a year in New York, makes me a little teary (in a good way). I think the music helps, it's one of my favorite songs from one of my favorite albums of this year.

Happy weekend, everyone! After watching this video, I feel like I need to get out and enjoy this wonderful, big, dramatic, heartbreaking, strange and magical city.

via stephmodo