Eleanor (East 5th Street)

"i love that the city is something to conquer; that it takes on a personality... and you're always fighting... and you're always trying to make it, whatever that means to you, and sometimes the city totally beats you... and sometimes you feel like you made it a little bit".


"and right now i feel like i'm making it actually, i think i might be an intern at "in the life" news magazine and i'm a student and i'm a writer and ummm a runner and a reader and i'm pretty good at drinking... that's when i always beat the city!"... she said sipping a Rhum chaud au lait. The secret is OUT!

From Portland, Oregan, Eleanor has been living in the city for about 6 years and lives in the hills of northern Manhatten that is Inwood. She describes Inwood as a close knit somewhat isolated community, a hidden treasure all the way up there into the woods above 200th street.

When Eleanor has the time or just needs to clear her head, she likes to walk along the bus route, the entire time assuring herself that she'll take the next bus until she's walked 100 blocks... "if you look at the city from the bus, it all blends together, but when you walk, is when you experience New York and it's subtleties, it's peculiarities, it's architecture and hole in the wall coffee shops. People in New York live in the street, there are no closed doors, so when you walk in the city you are exposed to a human experience that is much more intimate than exists anywhere else... you know something will happen if you walk more than 20 blocks... something beautiful or crazy... everybody's living their life in front of everyone else."

Unfortantaely, Eleanor can't remember the name of any of those hole-in-the-wall places that she's found... perhaps the result of too many Rhum au laits? but more than likely she's keeping them to herself for fear of them being overrun by the masses... we all have a handful of secret gardens that we like to think of as "my place" it's kindof personal and and if you walk a few blocks you'll find your own. She does however recommend bebopping the night away St. Nicks Pub on Sugar Hill and the hot waitresses and kielbasa at any of the Polish diners on Manhatten avenue in Green Point, Brooklyn.

Although she is just a younger generation "blow-in" and doesn't recall the crime ridden, dirty "good old days" that other people seem to lament so much, she points out that nostalgia is a human characteristic and that people in general are reluctant to change and will always romanticise the past, when New York was rough and tough and "for real". The world is fast changing and New York is too and it seems Eleanor is excited to be a part of it!

Peter (Brooklyn Bridge Subway Station)

"i don't hate the place, it's just that it's very congested and everything is so expensive... all the candy stores are gone and there's nowhere to get a cheap icecream soda"

Bronx born and bred, Peter has been working for "the transit" for the past 22 years. He started as a platform conductor, a job that seems to have gone the way of the subway token (for you non-new yorkers that means extinct). Back then, the subway was scarey, "it was like the place was ready to be condemned, the trains were old, the subway stations were disgusting and everything was graffitied... it was out of control", but as we all know the subway is much cleaner and safer these days, (alas!) there is no more graffiti and wouldn't it be nice if there was a subway worker on the platform to aid us during delays & re-routes and who is trained to translate that indechiperable language they use on the intercom. Although Peter cannot fathom the thrill you would get from spray painting a train, he is even more at a loss to understand why people want to throw themsleves in front of them... he's had to clean at least one mess, which he estimates will slow us down approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes... not bad considering. As you know the city that never sleeps needs a subway that never sleeps, and during the midnight hours, the operators have to be even more vigilant... he has had a few near misses, "a lot of people like to roam around down there at night and they'll just run in front of your train, you gotta stay very alert".

Peter misses the simple merchant stores and repair shops... he used to like to sit at the counter in a candy store and have an ice-cream soda and bemoans "if i need a vacum cleaner repaired there's no vacum cleaner repair store in my area... years ago, you had all these little repair shops, if you needed an egg beater repaired or an orange squeezer, you could go to the repair store... they're all gone... now they want you to throw them away." Yes Peter, and guess what else? they don't even want you to wait until your egg beater is broken, they want you to upgrade every year... I mean if your egg beater doesn't come with a USB port, have an alarm clock and an mp3 player, you are missing out! (and for those of you who think an egg beater is a genetically modified yokeless egg in a box, let me tell they are complex mechanical machines used for whisking (you guessed it)eggs. When he's not whisking up his own omelettes, you might find Peter at Sizzler in the East Bronx, "the food's good and it's not too pricey".

Peter concludes that "the rent is outrageous, we pay more for everything and our children have asthma"... he likes to get out of town when he can... and concedes that he will probably move to the suburbs one day...

(he used to care, but things have changed
...how sad, how sad)

Jason & Samson (City Hall)

"it's so vibrant, there's never a dull moment..."

Soon to be retired from the NYPD and the NY, like many New Yorkers, Jason feels his pension will go a lot further outside the costly walls of Gotham... though it's still a year out and he doesn't know exactly where he's headed, he does know one thing: he'll really miss the city, it's energy and most of all, the people. He thinks it's the people that make New York great, "they're different, they're willing to try, and do anything".

Born in Harlem, currently living in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, he likes to go to Sugarcane on Flatbush, for rhum cocktails and tasty west indian food. He's lived in 4 of the 5 boroughs and sadly it looks like he's gonna skip Staten Island and head for the hills... and so it goes... New York loses one of it's "finest" and a beautiful english mastiff. Good Luck Jason, we'll miss you!

Richard Albright (7th between A & B)

"they always say... "i wish the people of the world could live together in peace and prosperity"... well they are doing it in Queens"

From Texas, he and his wife moved to Astoria 2 years ago and they're here to stay. He loves the diversity of the city, the subway, not having to drive and as a Shakespeare aficionado, he appreciates all the small intimate productions that play throughout the city... He especially likes Monday night Shakespeare at the Brooklyn Lyceum and this Saturday he grabbed his beach chair and the subway and treked up to Inwood Park to see Julius Ceasar. The beach chair also gets to go to beaches, such as Fort Tilden in the Far Rockaways and Jones Beach in Long Island. He enjoys the Greek Seafood restaurants in Astoria and Dominican Stew in Inwood, but he never quite knows what he's ordering and hopes to get it right some day. He also recommends a little restaurant off-indian row in the east village called Haveli.

I met Richard as he was wandering around Tompkins Square searching for the little known monument to those who perished in one of the city's greatest catastrophes, the General Slocum Disaster of 1904, when more than 1,000 lutherans from St. Marks Church in Kleindeutchland or Little Germany as the East Village was known then, perished when the steamboat that was taking them on their annual outing to the Long Island Sound caught fire on the east river. I hope you found it!

Cybil Lake (Tompkins Square Park)

"you don't live here unless you work really really really hard... which is kindof a good thing"

Yep! and like many New Yorkers Cybil has a handful of jobs... she is a film maker, a writer and works in real estate. Originally from Virginia, she has lived dowtown for 12 years, eastside & westside and recently moved across the bridge to Williamsburg. She loves New York for the eclectic mix of people but laments that the artists and writers are being forced out by sky-rocketing rents. Although she thinks New York has lost some of it's edge she acknowledges that it's now a safer place and that's the price you pay (that, and the GAP).

In her spare time, she loves taking long walks and hitting the Chelsea art galleries. For great local food she favours, Frank and his lil' brother Frankie for hearty Italian fare & cheap wine, and Esperanto, a fantasic Cuban eatery on Avenue C. Thanks so much for your contribution!

James (Tompkins Square Park)

"I Love the Freedom of not having to own a car"

Born in Hong Kong, raised in China Town from the age of 2, James considers himself and old school New Yorker, living now in the Lower East Side about a mile from where he grew up. He's travelled all over the U.S. and can't imagine living anywhere else. What he loves most is being able to walk everywhere and get around without being slave to a car. Also, being an art conservator and a vegan ain't as much fun elsewhere as it is in New York. There are umpteens of delicious vegan restaurants and bakerys within blocks of the park and of course for art galleries and museums this town is unrivaled. He loves going to the MET and sneaking into the NYU library, until increased security has recently made the latter more difficult. (Can anybody help him out?) He misses old New York and is worried that the onslaught of chain stores and Starbucksisation is stripping New York of it's character that distinguishes it from other US cities.

For eats, he reccommends Pukk a vegan thai on 1st Avenue and he'll be cheering for the METS next week! Thanks James!

Christopher (Avenue A & 7th)

"yeah new york has changed in the past 25 years... i haven't seen anybody gouged with a meat hook in a long time"

Originally from New Mexico, he moved to the city 25 years ago "because it's NEW YORK" and of course to be rich and famous which he is still working on (aren't we all...how about this christopher... i'll put you on the cover of the book if i make it before you:)

Living on 7th between C & D since 1985, he has obviously seen the neighbourhood change drastically for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer... he misses the little mom and pop shops and the cheap egg breakfasts at Leshko's, (now a trendy bar) but acquieses that it is nice to be able to walk "through" the park, and in flip flops too without fear of stepping on a needle. Still a little distrustful of gentrification, he likens the current village scene to a state fair and gets annoyed with the drunk and unruly packs that swarm the village bars and cafes as if it was mardi gras every night. (word!) One of his favourate things to do in the summer is take his son to the Pitt Street Pool on Houston and go shopping in China Town. Local places with good eats: 7A, the falafael guy next door, Niagra's a cool bar. Lets Go Yankees! Thanks man! I really enjoyed talking to you, maybe see you at the pool!