A couple friends recently moved from LA to NYC, and I promised them a list of some things to do. I'm providing it here for other folks visiting or moving to the city — my suspicion is it will be of less value for seasoned New Yorkers.
But who knows? I'm not interested in turning scraps into a recommendation engine, and I instead tried to make something suffused with memories, biases, and instincts that might be a little record both of a place I love and miss and of a way to live with ruthless indulgence.
Instead of trying to explain why this is mostly a list of places to eat, drink, and buy books in Manhattan, I'll (somewhat testily) just say this: I didn't move to NYC 16 years ago to live on a block dotted with 3rd wave coffee shops and increasingly inhabited by a community of my own class. I moved there kind of accidentally, by eliminating other options. Because I had no better ideas. Because I was rejecting the Ivy League, because my parents were rejecting tiny liberal arts schools in the middle of nowhere, and because I got a little money from my college.
But I stayed for 11 years because I began to live for Manhattan's thrills. Everything people—New Yorkers and tourists alike—complain about, I love. Squeeze me into the rush hour train car with no AC. Let me feel lonely but never alone. Put me up in a hotel in Times Square (A conference I went to this summer did; I was secretly so happy).
I love wandering aimlessly and listening to jazz in the park. I love buzzing my old boss's apartment without warning whenever I visit. I love using great secret bathrooms I spent years discovering (shoutout IBS Gang!!!).
And I tear up remembering birthday sundaes and Film Forum dates with Ben, dancing until the sun came out with all my friends, screaming in solidarity at every protest and rally, spending hours looking at books with David (and killing every cockroach in his apartment for him, once!), meeting Marcel while playing pool, pushing a shopping cart up the entire length of the island with Coco & Will (our battle cry was "No cop, no stop!!"), sharing a mental map of every downtown loosie spot with Paul, and falling in love with Shar over and over again.
I hope this list inspires you to be both indulgent and generous. What I hope is obvious by now is that I didn't make these memories alone. I made this spreadsheet for Ben W and Amanda, but it's dedicated to everyone who's shared their Los Angeles with me (including them!). Your sense of place and sense of community mean everything to me. Thank you.
love,
alex
ʕ ·ᴥ·ʔ SOON — a Thai artist who lectured corpses about death!! (and the greatest living sculptor of Climax, NY??) ...... Nozlee once told me they love the empty promises I make down here. LOVE YOU, you're welcome, and I promise to make some of these happen eventually ...... Now I'm remembering the malted boysenberry soft serve we shared at Superiority Burger ...... mmmmmm ......