A Letter from New York, America

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And so it begins – with, of course, the mandatory long haul flight; A380 comfort (nice), 3 hour delay leaving Sydney (not so nice), and a 9pm arrival into New York, which made the taxi ride to our East Village apartment visually spectacular as we crossed the Williamsburg Bridge to see the sparkle of this city.

Based on our very positive experience with AirBnB for our 2013 Paris trip, we’ve again gone with this apartment arrangement, and find ourselves installed in a very homey place on East 6^th Street which, given its proximity to two major roads – Houston and 1^st Avenue – is remarkably quiet and very village like indeed, and with the added bonus of a view of the Chrysler Building.

Fortified by a good night’s sleep our first task is to get out and about for some orientation of our neighbourhood, which includes a trip to the Wholefoods store on Houston Street – which has subsequently become one of our staple destinations – and a haul around the nearby streets. Spring has certainly arrived with the trees leafing out and garden beds in full bloom – and of course squirrels scampering everywhere. The area is very open and walkable, and again we are surprised by the fact that at times it is possible to walk against the traffic lights (I know, rampant civil disobedience) at the major avenues and streets due to extended lulls in the traffic flow – not at all what we were expecting in this megalopolis. The other unexpected aspect was just how friendly the locals are. When we last visited New York in 1985, a native New Yorker classmate gave us some survival tips – “keep your eyes down, your hand on your wallet, don’t talk to anyone, and don’t go past 110^th Street”; 30 years on it is a very different city. A fellow shopper takes umbrage (on our part) about how the queuing/checkout system at Wholefoods appeared to disadvantage us; and subsequently disadvantaged her – even the locals didn’t seem to have it mastered. And in a classic gesture (which we have seen many times since), that could be straight from a Woody Allen movie, she turns with arms open and palms up, to address her internal dialogue to the universe or anyone else who will listen.

The first day then set the general pattern for the few following days, as we continued to explore – over an ever expanding range – other parts of the city, without actually visiting any of the big things of this big town. The existence of villages and sub-districts within the city is not just a geographer’s naming whim, but something that can be seen quite distinctly in their individual character expressed in building style, shops and businesses and to a degree the tribal members who inhabit them. That said, there does appear to be a creeping influence of the real estate industry to continue the expansion of the naming handles (aka portmanteaus, as I’m reliably informed by an Australian friend here) for ever finer resolution of neighbourhoods; Little Italy, China Town – yep OK, truth in naming; So(uth of) Ho(uston) – all right; but expansions like Nomad (north of Madison Square), FiDi (financial district), SoHa (South Harlem) appear to make linguistic distinctions where no physical/cultural distinctions seem to exist.

In our immediate vicinity red brick and metal fire escapes abound (although our place is a 13 story 1960’s co-operative) and the once grungy birth of punk scene – plus we also border the formerly infamous Alphabet City– has largely been repurposed into a rather tame but still quite colourful collection of quirky shops, hip bars (Death and Co is just across the street – and we’ve enjoyed its excellent products a couple of times so far; buy local!), and a universe of ethnic food cafes. During one day’s exploring we heard more Spanish than English spoken. In contrast we ventured across the river into the DUMBO area of Brooklyn (Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass) for the first Thursday gallery trail and found a very different neighbourhood in a phenomenal state of flux; and old warehouse area in full flight of redevelopment, with delivery trucks mixing it with earthmoving equipment and making it rather hazardous for pedestrians of which there were many, including lots of young families – the stroller count here was very high, and the main Spanish spoken was by the nannies wheeling those strollers. This place will have a very different complexion in 5 year’s time. And the dusk walk back across the Brooklyn Bridge on a clear and balmy evening is one of the highlights of our visit to date. This could have been assisted by an excellent meal we had at a mod Mexican place over in DUMBO (Gran Electrica) where we had an Australian waiter who was quite a hoot, and regaled us with a number of interesting observations; compared with 10 years ago there are 10 times the number of Australians living in New York, him being one, and that you can tell Australians because they drink wine with their meals while the locals go for cocktails (which on a quick scan around the dining area proved to be true). We were also cautioned about the concept of “Well Drinks” – cheap, happy hour spirit based drinks, than can leave you feeling quite UN-well.

While we were at DUMBO for some cultural pursuits, we will leave the conversation about them for a future posting that could include reflections about the New Gallery of Contemporary Art, a Stravinsky opera at the Met, the new Whitney Gallery, a play at La Mama here in the east village, and Peter’s happenchance just-round-the-corner-from-Broadway performance debut (you won’t be reading about it in Variety).

So for now good bye and we hope to have you drop by for the next installment in the near future.

Peter & Dianne O’C

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Photos

New Day in New York
Morning view from our East Village apartment - the lights on the Chrysler Building start to fade into a new day

DUMBO - Wot, No Elephant?
Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass

Fire Escape Streetscape
Red frontages, metal fire escapes and water towers are characteristic of the East Village

Jet Lagged? Feeling Like Death?
.... then this is just the place to go for a killer cocktail, and we can see it across the street from our apartment window!!

Bright Lights, Big City
Returning to Manhattan from Dumbo via the Brooklyn Bridge walkway

Comments

[Pauline]

Already looking forward to your next posting
Great to read the start of your US adventures. Enjoy!

[GemB]

Woo-hoo!
I'm so glad to have the next instalment of your travel journal to entertain and delight! I was only recently wondering when/where your next trip would be, thinking it couldn't be too far away (in timing, not distance). What a surprise to see you in the US of all places. P.S. 30 years ago is a lifetime for some... P.P.S. Watch out for those flying elephants

[Brendan]

Reply from Sydney, Australia
Hey P'n D, great that you made it safely and comfortably, and great that Alastair Cooke has arisen from the bar across the road to once again regale us with his excellent observations. When Lib and I were there we were in LES, whoever he might be, and know the Wholefoods store very well - couldn't believe the prices compared to Australia .... but that was 2012 and so a Whole 40% better than where the dollar is now! Not sure if we mentioned the excellent local-ish restaurants we tried - Saxon and Parole, and one deep in LES maybe called Schimmels?? And, of course, the Harry Met Sally deli, Katz, which is on Houston, and which you will leave wishing there had been about 3 kg less pastrami on your rye and speaking with a Jewish-Bronx accent. Looking forward to the next letter, goys!