Good morning,
Friday. It's a particularly beautiful morning in New York- the type that makes
you remember what an honor it is to live here- the way the sun shines on the FDR on days like today is well worth the price of admission. And now that I've been back just
over two years now, it's difficult not to feel nostalgic for the New York that
once was- and unless you've been cave dwelling, you know that New York (and
everywhere) has indeed changed, a lot, and not always for the better.
In my mind, there are very few neighborhoods (none in Manhattan really) that are impervious to the sea changes postmodern life hath wrought. We live in a post 9/11 city, a heavily wired age, and a post Sandy city. Queens will become the new Brooklyn one day, and Hell's Kitchen will become the new Meatpacking District. It is very hard to go anywhere in this town (and I call it a town because somehow, after all these years, it feels small to me) and not be able to get a kale smoothie or a pair of Isabel Marant sneakers. The Brooklyn lifestyle is now in the pop culture canon as something aspirational, where back in the day, it's where you lived if you were more working class, more salt of the earth, and less sea salt infused. Where has the old New York gone? Where can you still see it the way it used to be if you wanted to? Where can I still get a shoeshine or a regular coffee with Sweet and Low if I wanted it? Midtown, kids. Midtown- it's the last bastion. Here's why.
There's something about midtown Manhattan that is just so special. If there's one line in a song that midtown can own (I'm talking midtown east, from 42nd-about 50th, from about 3rd Avenue to Fifth Avenue), it's that line from "Across the Universe" that says: "nothing's gonna change my world". There are no Organic Avenues here. There are no boutiques selling fancy sneakers we can't afford. The coffee shops here are largely for coffee drinking, and not for endless days of free wifi and freelancing - nobody's virtual living room is in midtown.
Because midtown is really a no man's land for coolness. It's never been cool, and hopefully it never will be. Because people come to this part of town for one thing and one thing only- they come here to work. There are no mixed used lofts here. It's not work/life here. It's simply work life. And since work is a very huge part of our New York identity (first question from any New Yorker is almost always 'what do you do'?), midtown really matters.
I've been freelancing in midtown for the past week and I can't help but feel wistful about it. I started my career in advertising in this very neighborhood. For many of us of a certain age, we schlepped from our apartments on the Upper East Side (my first one was at 72nd and 2nd) on a highly crowded 6 train to work in midtown. We'd take the train to Grand Central and get right to it. Back in the day, all the ad agencies were right here- Y&R, JWT, FCB, DDB- all here. In the good old days, long before I worked in advertising or was even born, agencies settled here because of the easy commute to points north of the city. You could live in Connecticut or Long Island and hop right on the train at Grand Central. But because this neighborhood was all about work, it never really got the spice of other gentrified spots in the city. And because I started my career here, I have major love for it. At one time, working in midtown was an advertising rite of passage.
The weird stores selling statuary and porcelain sculptures, the old shoe repair joints, the barber spots, the noodle shops, the places where you can get a new watch battery. The fact that you can still eat a cheap lunch here. The grit of old buildings, the smokers huddled outside of big office towers (I used to be one of them), the rush, the buzz of commuting. The myriad of lunch spots selling salads with too many ingredients, the sense that you may never find a cab, hard as you may try. (Uber has helped with that tremendously- they lurk around midtown, a big bonus to postmodern life).
The bridges around Grand Central. The fact that there's always steam coming out of somewhere. The affectionate nature of calling Lexington Avenue "Lex", as in, "meet me at 43rd and Lex". The sloping side streets. GRAND CENTRAL. Oh, how I love Grand Central. The random clothing stores like Bolton's and Strawberry and shops like Jam Paper selling hot pink envelopes. And how very much happened to me, or for me, in midtown. The shit went down here. Many times.
Midtown was the setting for a large part of my young work life. It was the site of my first real job, and then my second and third. It's where I interoffice dated (the only time) as I nursed a broken heart and bonded over beer and a mutual love for the Rolling Stones. I watched with amusement as a former boss, on his first day, kicked the shit out of a copy machine that wouldn't cooperate. I ran to deposit checks at the former Fleet bank on 42nd Street because I was so broke and had to make rent. I bribed the workers at more than one Kinko's in midtown with bottles of alcoholic beverages because a presentation had to be printed overnight. I ate lovely oyster stew at The Oyster Bar in Grand Central with my dad, who came in to visit me from Philly one workday and take me to lunch because he was proud of his little girl. I debated whether a temp we had hired was homeless, as we noticed she wore the same clothes every day and traveled with far too many bags and was always in the office before us. I had a million interns in midtown- Dutch and Scottish and everything in between- I still speak to almost all of them. I had bosses who set me free and showed me the way- who hired me from ads I answered in the New York Times (Lord bless them). I learned how to work smart and fast. I bought a new pair of jeans at some random shop in midtown for my first date with my now husband because I hated my outfit I was wearing to work that day. My eyes were wide open in midtown. I learned a lot of what I know to be true in midtown. I learned to come with solutions and never problems in midtown. I smoked cigarettes in my office in midtown. I read the New York Post every day in midtown, usually with a hangover. I cut my teeth and sowed my oats in midtown. So how can I not love it here? It played a huge part in my life, and I only realized that this week, as I came to work here yet again, this time as a freelancer with a bit more confidence and experience, and a husband who I have much more in common with than a love for Keith Richards (he's more of a Beatles fan, but that's not here nor there).
And sure I've become one of those girls who hate to go above 14th Street (with the noted exception of the Upper East Side, another neighborhood I feel very poetic about), but I take great comfort in midtown, and the fact that things stayed very much the same. Sure big box has moved in (Zara, Sephora, Urban Outfitters, H&M and many more), but these are businesses that somehow suit this neighborhood- quick pop by places where you can buy something reasonable to wear when you hate your outfit and have a hot date after work. And yea, there's an Equinox that makes an ok kale and cucumber, but for the most part, this place hasn't changed, and that's why I love it. I love that the optical shop and LaCrasia, that store that sells hats and gloves, are still in residence at Grand Central. I can't say enough about Grand Central by the way. My love for that structure knows no bounds. It's just so damn classic and iconic and full of energy and life. And so is midtown itself- its heaving old buildings holding so many workers all trying to make a living and live the dream while eating a sandwich from Au Bon Pain. As you get older, you very well realize that everything changes, and I'm grateful that midtown stays the same. (This, by the way, is only a love letter to Midtown East. Midtown West can suck it. I hate Times Square. Always have, always will).
So much of who I am and my journey in this thing called life has had to do with the work I do. And so much of that work has been done in midtown, and for me, this neighborhood is worthy of an ode. I like that the more things change, the more things stay the same around here. I wouldn't have it any other way. Big ups to midtown for never trying to be too cool or too chic. Don't go changin' now. There's still much work to do.
Cause that's what's up this up above 42nd Street East Side of a Friday in the best city in the world. Yours, in getting the job done, right here in midtown. See ya at 43rd and Lex. XO