No it's not a glittery skyline of skyscrapers or an iconic landmark or your typical photo of a yellow cab. It's not Central Park West or Madison Avenue. It's not SoHo or the now-trendy Meat Packing district. It's not a bridge.
It's a sewer cover which I tried to make all artsy. But it's still NYC to me. Still part of the bite of that Big Apple.
It's an absolutely gorgeous day in Manhattan. I am out and about the UWS at meetings. I LOVE days like this.
I was waiting to cross a busy avenue when I took this pic. I've done this a thousand times before.
Nothing special.
Nothing iconic "NYC" about this at all.
I think it's interesting what images NYC evokes for NYers and non-NYers.
I don't think of yellow cabs or landmarks.
My NYC:
It's the place where I grew into the woman I am today. Where I have lived, worked, laughed, loved. It is 20th street in Chelsea. It is my dingy apartment on 1st and 10th. It is walk-up buildings and late drunken nights. Getting high in my dorm room at NYU. (I mean, no I never did that). It is La Jumelle in SoHo. The old Bell Cafe. When the Palladium and Limelight were actual clubs. It is Spanish Harlem. It is Yankee Stadium. It is the F train, the N train, the 2. It is the bodega on the corner. It is dining in some of the best restaurants in the world. It is up and down. It is good and bad. It is full of hope and despair.
It is fast and busy and unforgiving and kind all in a NY minute.
How does one photograph all that? I can tell you that any beautiful picture of "iconic" NY can't even begin to fully capture what is "New York" to me.
From my sole trip to the city when I lived north of Syracuse (total hick country), I don't have many real 'snapshot' memories. It was 1989, the end of the Koch years. I remember heading down into the subway early in the morning and how it reeked of urine. How everyone laughed and cheered when a UPS driver cut off an overly agressive driver trying to get around him, but no one looked at anyone else when they laughed. Walking through Morningside Park to get to the Cathedral of St John the Divine and thinking we might have made a BIG mistake. Staying at the Milford Plaza -- remember 'The Lullaby of Broadway' ad? -- and looking out onto the roof of another building for three days, with barely enough room to walk around the bed. They were filming Look Who's Talking Too outside of FAO Schwarz. Going to a movie, and people wandering in and out during it, buying drugs or .... whatever. Like I said: the Koch years. I'd like to go back now and see how different it is. Not that I'm any less of a bumpkin now, but at least I wouldn't be terrified the entire time, and I hear it's MUCH cleaner and safer than it was at that time.
I like this shot, though. Seeing home and happiness in the mundane. It's good.
I've only visited the city twice and the bright lights of Times Square stay in my memory, the Empire State building and the Twin Towers we visited only weeks before 9/11. There was also a massive sandwich at the Carnegie Deli. Finally the sounds of all the car horns sets NYC apart from other mega-cities we've visited.
Last time I was there, my sister and I got drunk in several bars and I ended up walking back to our hotel, laughing and carrying my shoes (gross). I remember feeling as unjudged as I've ever been, all free to be you and me, who cares if my crazy gets out because everyone else is crazy, too.
I remember a tree lined street with beautiful old buildings, I wish I knew where, and I had the strongest desire to live there. I still do.
Much earlier, in the late '70's. I remember riding on a bus down 42nd street with my mother, and she pointed out several prostitutes, telling me that's what happens to girls who come to NYC with dreams and no plan. I thought they all had really cool shoes.
@carolb thank you for sharing! I enjoy reading responses like this. NYC has changed since the 70s. I barely remember it then as that was the decade I was born but I remember how it was in the 80s when we would drive through Times Square and head up to the Bronx where relatives lived. It was scary to me then. It has changed. Times Square is overrun by Disney now. Also in 1996 I saw Ed Koch at the voting booths lol. One of my fave NY moments!
@tonydebont thank you too for sharing, Tony. I think one thing memorable about NY is the sounds--different languages, traffic, beeping horns, subways.
@lizzyjane66 awesome story too! And I've been that drunk girl too that needed to take her shoes off and walk for some reason lol. I think in some ways it is a great place to feel free and unjudged...in other ways not so much. But one can definitely march to the beat of one's own drum and most likely not be ridiculed for it...or even noticed!
First of all, I have to disagree with your statement, "Nothing iconic "NYC" about this at all." There's something about the starkness of the composition that definitely says, "New York City." Maybe it's the slight blue tinge that gives it some life and character...I dunno. But you're wrong. Sorry.
NYC is so vibrant, alive and diverse (diverse in the non-politically correct sense) that it can't help but be fascinating.
My favorite memory is when we were going to the Intrepid Museum and were walking from the subway. We passed something really oddly fortress-like...a walled citadel in the middle of Metropolis. It didn't bristle with guns, rather, it bristled with antennae. As we approached the river, we turned the corner and found ourselves walking through a small knot of people doing yoga in front of the citadel's walls, facing it as they moved and stretched. Even adjusted for NYC, it evoked a serious WTF? response. As we passed the knot of yoga-ists, a person dressed like the others but not yoga-ing handed us a pamphlet near a gated driveway into the fortress. We took the brochures and then scampered across the mouth of the driveway. Being safety-conscious, we looked both ways before we did so. And then it all fell into place.
Near the driveway (which we saw on closer view was profoundly fortified), hanging on the fortress walls, were flags...pennants of red with a gold star. And the pamphlets in our hands said, "Falun Gong." We were walking past the Chinese Embassy. Interesting encounter...nothing iconic, but definitely nowhere but New York.
I like your mundane sewer cover (I took some similar shots in Paris, nobody ever takes shot of these things, I guess).
I also liked your narrative, and completely agree with considering NY a totally different experience from the stereotyped versions we usually see (also here on this site, I'm afraid). I visited NY 3 times so far (and will be there next September for 5 days), once I stayed for a month - ages ago, 1986, while my husband was doing an exchange visit as a surgeon at the Sloane Kettering. I remember I felt the vibrant pulse of the city but also the fatigue of such a high pace and frenetic rhythm.
As for sensorial memories, I would add to your list the heat and smoky smell of the street when it's hot and your soles stick to the tarmac... Great place to be, though....
@timerskine Tim, thanks for sharing your story as well. Love to hear stories like this. What an interesting experience and, yes, probably something that happens only in New York.
@mara19500 thanks for sharing as well. Reading these comments has been really fun for me. Also, I am glad you mentioned the heat an smoky smell in the summer here. I once saw someone actually fry an egg on the pavement during a heat wave just to see if it would cook. It actually fried. He didn't eat it thankfully.
I like this shot, though. Seeing home and happiness in the mundane. It's good.
I remember a tree lined street with beautiful old buildings, I wish I knew where, and I had the strongest desire to live there. I still do.
Much earlier, in the late '70's. I remember riding on a bus down 42nd street with my mother, and she pointed out several prostitutes, telling me that's what happens to girls who come to NYC with dreams and no plan. I thought they all had really cool shoes.
I love your narrative.
@tonydebont thank you too for sharing, Tony. I think one thing memorable about NY is the sounds--different languages, traffic, beeping horns, subways.
@lizzyjane66 awesome story too! And I've been that drunk girl too that needed to take her shoes off and walk for some reason lol. I think in some ways it is a great place to feel free and unjudged...in other ways not so much. But one can definitely march to the beat of one's own drum and most likely not be ridiculed for it...or even noticed!
NYC is so vibrant, alive and diverse (diverse in the non-politically correct sense) that it can't help but be fascinating.
My favorite memory is when we were going to the Intrepid Museum and were walking from the subway. We passed something really oddly fortress-like...a walled citadel in the middle of Metropolis. It didn't bristle with guns, rather, it bristled with antennae. As we approached the river, we turned the corner and found ourselves walking through a small knot of people doing yoga in front of the citadel's walls, facing it as they moved and stretched. Even adjusted for NYC, it evoked a serious WTF? response. As we passed the knot of yoga-ists, a person dressed like the others but not yoga-ing handed us a pamphlet near a gated driveway into the fortress. We took the brochures and then scampered across the mouth of the driveway. Being safety-conscious, we looked both ways before we did so. And then it all fell into place.
Near the driveway (which we saw on closer view was profoundly fortified), hanging on the fortress walls, were flags...pennants of red with a gold star. And the pamphlets in our hands said, "Falun Gong." We were walking past the Chinese Embassy. Interesting encounter...nothing iconic, but definitely nowhere but New York.
I also liked your narrative, and completely agree with considering NY a totally different experience from the stereotyped versions we usually see (also here on this site, I'm afraid). I visited NY 3 times so far (and will be there next September for 5 days), once I stayed for a month - ages ago, 1986, while my husband was doing an exchange visit as a surgeon at the Sloane Kettering. I remember I felt the vibrant pulse of the city but also the fatigue of such a high pace and frenetic rhythm.
As for sensorial memories, I would add to your list the heat and smoky smell of the street when it's hot and your soles stick to the tarmac... Great place to be, though....