5 Reasons New York Isn't Dead (Nor Will It Ever Be)
“No one should come to New York to live unless he is willing to be lucky.” - e.b. white
photo: @newyorkcity
NATIVE NEW YORKERS
This is a city where a 10-year-old girl can tell you which train to transfer from if you’re trying to get to Brooklyn Heights from the Union Square station. When you grow up in a city like New York, you learn life’s out of the ordinary habits earlier like knowing that Saturday morning are for bagel runs and how it’s very rude and annoying to be the person hogging up the sidewalk. Keep it moving. My friends who are born and raised New Yorkers to this day, carry the most sensibilities of anyone I know. Any time I needed help with anything, an apartment move or even a couch to crash on, it was always my New Yorker friends that would step up to the cause. It’s natural for the homegrown locals to want it to stay old New York forever, because old New York was pretty effing great. That is why during this pandemic that New Yorkers hustle to save their local mom and pop bodegas, diners and independent stores, because people help other people.
SONGS ABOUT NEW YORK
The catalog of musical lyrics written about New York City are endless and classic. Let’s see there’s a song about the “Only Living Boy in New York”, Jay Z and Alicia Keys now iconic “Empire State of Mind”, Elton John’s poetic song “Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters” about a first trip to New York City, indie band Interpol’s “NYC”, Billy Joel puts you in a “New York State of Mind”, Cat Power insists that you’ll “never be Manhattan”, and then of course the power house of karaoke tunes, Frank Sinatra’s “New York New York” is a legacy.
And all the lyrics about this bright, shining town is always true.
THE PIZZA 🍕
New York City is home to the best slice. This is not up for discussion. The fancier the pizza joint, the meh the slice. Stick to the small shops, anything with “Famous” or “Ray” or “John” in the name. For a proper sit down, authentic downtown New York pizza, Rubirosa’s humongous slices are an absolute must to devour.
BROADWAY
The theater district is the most whimsical section of the entire city. It sparkles, it glooms, it’s filled with sorrows, haunted by ghosts and the reason for millions of visitors to flock and wait in line to see a Broadway show. The history of its beginnings in the 1930’s is worthwhile to learn about, during a time that’s not so different from modern day.
ALL THE CREATIVE PEOPLE LIVING IN NEW YORK
It was once said that “There are 8 million stories in the naked city” and that was back in 1948, so imagine how many there must be now, born out of the creative people in New York. Tina Fey, Katie Holmes, Marc Jacobs, Julianne Moore, Whoopi Goldberg, Robert De Niro, Michelle Williams, Joan Didion, Ethan Hawke, Debbie Harry, Kerby Jean-Raymond, Patti Smith, Chloe Sevigny, Greta Gerwig, Greta Lee and the countless other artistic, creative talents that make New York their home. Also the artists who began the movements, designed the art scene, gave birth to the whole New York City vibe; Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Lou Reed, Ingrid Berlin, Notorious BIG and more whom have passed on and probably partying it up in New York 3.0.
New York City can never die, it’s not allowed in the grand scheme of things. It is resilient, it’s been through street wars, Times Square’s birth, death and rebirth, deep financial recessions, 9/11, hurricanes and now with a pandemic. New York doesn’t know how to give up.
