April 1 How I Envisioned It

Since I started this blog, I've had trouble deciding what creative direction I should take it. If you've been reading this blog, you've probably noticed. I've read a lot of blogs, especially ones written about New York City. It seems to me there are proportionately more artistic people in that city than any other in the country. Just an observation on my part. When I first thought of doing this blog, I envisioned it being like "My NYC In Color" . Today has a "Being Alone" article I really enjoyed. I know whenever I'm in NYC that I get recharged by the energy I feel walking the streets. It really is like no place else I've ever visited. So what exactly gives the city it's energy. Maybe it is the people that decide to call NYC home.
You can be yourself in New York City. Only the tourists stare, real New Yorkers have seen it all and could care less about how you look. Maybe it is the diversity of the city. I read somewhere that Queens County which is really the borough of Queens is the most diverse county in the US. It has more nationalities represented there than anywhere on Earth. When NYC was trying to get the 2012 Olympics there were ads on the subway that said "If New York gets the Olympics, everyone will have home field advantage."

I love the old buildings. The history of each building can be incredible. We took a tour of an old tenement through the Tenement Museum. We were told that over 7000 people lived in that building during the 70 years it was for rent. That one building alone has an incredible number of stories in it. Even though the city has lost many old buildings over the years, the downtown area still has the highest concentration of them. The Fulton Street Fish Market maybe be gone, but the old warehouses across the street still have businesses related to the fish market. If you look in the window, you can see the Brooklyn Bridge reflected in it.
But when something is taken away, this city always finds something to replace it. A group of food artisans is trying to get the city to make the old Fulton St. Fish Market into a green or locally produced food market. I read about the group and decided to help their cause by stopping by a one day event they held to show the city that the market could be viable. Each baker, cheese artisan, butcher, fisherman has to work their booth. We sampled truly great tasting food and talked to some amazing people that day. If you have only shopped at your local supermarket, find a green market in your area. Your dinners will never be the same.
So maybe NYC is great because of the food. The dirty water hot dogs the vendors sell may be a local joke. But the trip to the bottom of Brooklyn is worth it just to eat at Coney Island's Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs.
All these pictures were taken last summer. We just walked around the city each day. No real plans. Take the subway, get off somewhere and walk the streets. No matter where you go, you find something interesting, something good to eat and something to buy. There are street vendors everywhere. Sure some sell crap, but in a city full of artists, you can find something unique.
Even though corporate and chain stores are taking over the city, we still find "Old School" places like Economy Candy on the Lower East Side.
Now some of you may be saying "this looks like a place I would visit except for one thing, it's full of New Yorkers." Of course New Yorkers have a certain reputation for rudeness. It is unfounded. It is just that New Yorkers love to give their opinions and they do not sugar coat them. You call it rude, I call it honesty. When you are done talking with a New Yorker, you will not have to guess what he meant by that. Here's an example.
I love this city for all these reasons and more. But the biggest reason is probably for the memories. I still visit a lot of the places my German Grandfather took me as a child. Coney Island, Times Square, the Empire State Building, Rockaway Beach, Central Park, the Bronx Zoo, Battery Park, the Staten Island Ferry, Chinatown and Little Italy. Of course some places no longer exist like Shea Stadium, Yankee Stadium, Rockaway Playland and the Twin Towers. My favorite place might be the stoop of his apartment. On our last visit, the landlord had put a fence around the stoop to keep people off of it.
Hey FUCK HIM. I'm a New Yorker too!