Vadim.com

Bright Lights, Big New York City

Last Update: June 11, 2002

[I got a great feel-good email about this page - glad you are enjoying it!]

As one grows older, there sets in a realization that life will make it increasingly difficult to shirk away from responsibility. So, gotta get while the getting's good! ;) Having lived as a suburban boy for most of my life, I decided it was time to try life in the big city. In the process of migrating from Palo Alto to San Francisco (the big city), I parted ways with my company, Rentals, and decided to take a bigger step. Rather than simply heading off for the big city, why not do it right and go live in THE BIG CITY? What could be bigger than... New York City! Actually, as an ulterior motive, my grandfather lives in Brooklyn, and I really wanted to get closer with him as I had not been for much of my life and my grandmother passed away a year prior.

So, after some painful packing (down with the 3 bedroom house, time to bring one suitcase with me) it was time to rush off to New York. I was already in conversation about a possible job there and decided to pack in an awesome trip to Japan right before coming. Rushing back from Japan on a red-eye, dropping off Japan gear, gathering NYC gear, partying, and heading back to the airport (same day) for a red-eye to New York proved to be unnecessary as the job did not work out. Still, it got me to New York in record time, if in somewhat of a sleepy mood.

Having nothing set up in New York, I was glad to have Deep, a friend for most of my life, offer me crash facilities in his pad at the W Hotel in midtown (he was on assignment in New York). I used that time to settle in a bit - find a place to sublet, orient a bit, make contact with my grandpa in Brooklyn and start to get to know my way around. Sadly, I packed spring clothes and left my only jacket in the driveway in California. As Murphy would have it, my third day in New York saw snow come down in late March. Welcome to New York, you silly Californian!

So I made my first purchase in the big city - a black leather jacket (well, midnight blue, but I'll claim color blindness if anybody asks) for some warmth. Off to start being a diligent tourist in New York!

9/11

I certainly did pick an interesting time to come to New York. It's difficult to lay down in words how I feel about 9/11. The most I can say about it is that I'm both relieved and saddened that I was not there on that day. My grandma's birthday was a few days before, so I was in California with Amie at the time. It was hard to believe the first caller about the twin towers collapsing, but the reality did sink in soon. I managed to get through to most of my friends on the phone that day - thank goodness everyone was okay (my cousin barely - stuck on the subway on his way to work there). I felt like I abandoned the city to an extent. Even though there was not much to do, still I felt as if I let down my home by not being there at its time of dire need.

Returning shortly after planes were flying again, I passed over the site on the way to a landing at LaGuardia. The pilot has a lump in his throat announcing to us that we were over the site. New York was in a state of shock, but it is a credit to the resiliance of the city that the crowds returned and the city gradually got back to nearly normal in about a month. I knew things were okay once again when I got cursed out by a bus driver for putting in my MetroCard upside down. Ah, pleasantries New York style...

Housing

Finding a place to live in New York is no small feat, especially pre-9/11. Not knowing any neighborhoods, I looked around for a bit before settling on a sublet near Gramercy Park - a lovely and quiet area with lots of convenient stuff nearby, really nice roommates (it's a 3 bedroom) and a nearly unobstructed view of the Empire State Building out of my window. I feel lucky to have found that place as it was in very good shape and the people there (John and Doannie) were really easy to get along with. But all good things must come to an end, so eventually Jason, the guy who I sublet the room from (he went off to Florida for a month and a half) came back, and I moved out to stay with my grandpa.

One of the many positive aspects of NYC is the proximity of Europe. I can fly to London faster than to San Francisco from here, and sometimes cheaper. So lodging at grandpa's lasted for 1 day until I set off for a week of biking around France - the Detour De France with some friends I met up at ultimate frisbee here in Central Park. Returning, I stayed a few more days with grandpa before he flew off to California to visit my mom.

Upon return, I signed up another sublease in a neighborhood I really enjoy - Greenwich Village / NoHo, on a street with 2 chess shops right by Washington Square Park and SoHo. Where else are you going to find that? I stayed there for two separate sublet periods as it's a great location for work and play, I have a couple of excellent housemates (hi F&C!) and it's quite reasonable, which makes up for the tininess of the place and the fact that I can barely handle the noise level there. I was going to check out the Upper West as my third neighborhood, but when an opportunity presented itself to sublet my own 1 bedroom on the same street (Thompson) in the central Village, I could not pass it up. After all, I moved to New York to live big city life, be in the center of it all. Let's count how it works to serve that end:

Of all the countries in the world, the USA is the "leading", thus being the center of it all
Of all the cities in the US, New York is the ones that by and far comes to mind, thus being the center of it all
When young (hip ;) folks go out in New York City, the top location they go to is the Village, which is the center of it all
And in the Village, the true center is at 5th Avenue, which gets renamed below Washington Square Park to... Thompson!

So I really did live in the center of it all. I'll just use a couple of factoids to drive that fact home - it would take me a year to sample all of the restaurants within a 10-block radius of my place, one per day. Also, 3 of the top 10 jazz clubs in the US are located within those same 10 blocks.

Travel

Was I truly settled in New York. Not totally. I have only twice spent 3 consecutive weeks there. Between my frequent hops back to San Francisco, and my ventures elsewhere such as France, L.A., Japan, Vegas, New England, Salt Lake City (for the Olympics) etc., I find myself en route to and from the airports here way too often. The most painful part of a journey is typically getting to and from the airports, as none of them are convenient (at least one transfer of public transportation or a long and expensive cab / Supershuttle needed). It took a concerted effort to stay grounded in NYC as there was so much else in close range, but it did happen a couple of times.

Work

There is so much to do in New York, it's hard to find time to work. ;) It's fortunate that the job did not work out, as I would have had little time to actually explore New York. As it turns out, I'm playing tourist nearly full-time, and can continue to do so for a year straight without running out of things to do here or starting to repeat myself. So the work I have done to date has been some consulting here and there, some business plan development, and networking.

Yes, the question of "so when are you going to look for a job" does come up frequently. My answer changes from time to time. Current answer - probably in August when it's too darn hot to run around all day and you want an air conditioned office. I would optimally like to find a job applying technological know-how to really improve efficiency and user experience in a New York style field (media, fashion, finance, advertising, ...). For now, it's making contacts and getting to know the fields.

Update: I ended up working with a wireless sports game maker called SportsFutures - great folks for an idea a little too far ahead of its time in the US. The company ran out of money and I promptly resumed my touristy ways.

For networking, New York is a rich field to reap! I have found an ultimate game similar to the one in Palo Alto - played mainly by friendly Internet folks. In fact, that's the folks who organized the trip to France. There are a lot of companies in Silicon Alley, and being a volunteering kind of chap, I got quickly recruited to be the Technology Director for the Silicon Alley Entrepreneurs Club, a member society of over 4000 members who hold monthly free bashes. I'm helping out with their web site and some of the procedural stuff.

People

Honestly, my biggest concern about moving out to New York was landing in a city where I don't know anyone. Thanks to all of my friends (thank you!) for putting me in touch with people out in NYC, I have been able to meet a lot of great folks! Unlike the general opinion that New Yorkers are difficult to approach, rude, and unfriendly, I found that if you make an effort, they are more than happy to open up. Perhaps the reason for the image is that crowding in the city leads to privacy and quiet times not having to talk to anyone being a rare-found commodity valued at a premium. So most New Yorker are either loud or avoid contact - both towards the extreme. But I have been pleasantly surprised.

There was a standing open invitation for visitors to New York, and several people have already taken advantage of it. Just in the first few months I saw many folks visiting - Deep here in my first days as a New Yorker, as well as several people from Northern California - Amie a couple of times, Karina at the Statue of Liberty, Erik, Carrie, Jim, Sue, Michael, Matthew.

Play

Now we're talking! This is why I came to New York in the first place! I will try not to be terribly long-winded about things, just give a short account of what I have done in the time here. There are many self-conducted and volunteer lead walks, which are a great way to familiarize oneself with a compact city.

Sights

New York City has some real architectural marvels - it had many buildings that were the tallest in the world in their time including, the Flatiron building (pictured) - the first skyscraper, the Empire State Building, the World Trade Center towers [sadly, I wrote this part pre-9/11], and the Chrysler building.

New York has one of the most impressive skylines in the world, and I tried to capture it here. While that works, my picture of the Empire State Building at night is a little less clear.

One of the best tours I had was of Grand Central Station, which has a long and sordid history, typical for New York. The most disgusting part was a patch of the ceiling which they left uncleaned - and it looked black, especially in contrast to the marble around it. There was one main source of the stains - nicotine deposits. Conclusion - smoke and your lungs will look like this. Bleh! The tour ended with one of the rooms converted to a gathering room where the next generation of US chess grand masters were practicing, and a shopping gallery that is simply jaw-dropping.

Unlike cities on the West Coast, NYC is rather European in having a history. Part of that history is that it has some amazing churches and cathedrals, like St. Patrick's (pictured) and the simply huge St. John the Divine where I saw a free concert by the NY Philharmonic, along with about 10,000 of my closest friends. And no visit to New York would be complete with a visit to Times Square, where you see me and a Virgin. Now I know Times Square very well indeed as it is the starting and ending point of Broadway shows, being in the middle of all the theatres and having at its center TKTS, the half-price, day-of ticket booth. It's a close call whether I have spent more money on rent or at TKTS thus far. ;)

United Nations

New York is the world headquarters of the UN, and after visiting their building in Geneva, I had to blade to the local version. It is a large complex right on the water, with only the main conference rooms available for public tour. There are gifts from almost every nation in the world here, such as the plaque from Iran pictured here. Two of the large meeting rooms are pictured below. At the time of my visit, they had a photo exhibit that was truly disturbing - the after-effects of Chernobyl. Despite the obvious atrocities, I am still a nuclear-power advocate.

Statue of Liberty / Ellis Island / Staten Island Ferry

No New York tourist should leave without a tour of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. After a couple of failed attempts on previous New York visits (you have to arrive early as the last ferry out is at 2:30 or so), I finally made it when Karina was visiting. The views from the ferry alone make the trip worth-while, though the crowds can be daunting. Then again, I have not made it to the Empire State Building due to crowds yet, but that's a different story.

Over 40% of Americans alive today can trace some lineage to the 12 million relatives that were processed on Ellis Island. I am not one of them. Nevertheless, it is quire impressive how this small island facility served as the entrance gate to the country of opportunity for nearly half a century. I was enthralled by the stories, videos, and exhibits, probably because of the trauma of my own immigration. For instance, I didn't know that it was only 3rd class passengers that got processed there - 1st and 2nd class were let off in New York first. Here is a picture of the main hall of the main building - sans benches - and that's about the size of it. I'd recommend the trip, especially seeing the hopeful but scared faces in the old photographs.

The same ferry takes you to Liberty Island, the home of the Statue of Liberty. She is an impressive lady. Trivia fact of the day - the French had a much easier time raising funds for the lady that we did for the pedestal she was to stand on, and we almost had to send her back when sufficient funds could not be raised. Only the public appeal at the end saved her. Crowd size did deter us from going up to the top - a trip I will make another day, though we did brave the hour long line to get inside. The highlight must be having the chance to pick liberty's nose.

Museums

Being a museum fanatic, it's easy to go hog wild in New York. The book of museums of NYC has a table of contents - one museum per line - that's 3 pages long! I was going to see a museum per week, but this have proved to be an illusive goal. Instead, I decided to focus in on some museums that are really good and taking my time to truly appreciate their exhibits. Thus far, I have become a member of the Met (Metropolitan Museum of Art, pictured) and the AMNH (American Museum of Natural History, pictured as well). These two are the main museums of NYC, which border Central Park on the West and East sides, and between them probably have as many impressive exhibits as the rest of the city's museums combined. My method of attack has been to pick a section and see it thoroughly in an hour or two per visit, thus avoiding burnout. One of the advantages of membership is the ability to drop in and do just that, anytime. Well, almost anytime. Here's the first insider trick to visiting NYC - don't come on a Monday! Most museums are closed, Broadway shows are off, and people are generally depressed at having to go back to work after a fun weekend.

My favorite special exhibits at these museum were the Vermeer works at the Met (Dutch 16th-17th century painters are my favorite), and a recently opened Genomics exhibit at the AMNH (explaining the implications, applications, and theories of gene research).

In addition to the two main museums, I have been to a good selection of smaller ones throughout the city:

New York Public Library - not strictly a museum, but it had an excellent exhibit on Mapping the West - evolution of maps, descriptions, and attitudes towards the western United States as it was being discovered. The double lions out front and Bryant Park behind make it a worthwhile architectural visit in addition to the exhibits.
Guggenheim - A truly unique building shaped like a cylinder with a spiral "floor" that winds around for 6 floors, and a large empty space in the center. I had the nearly irresistible urge to don roller blades / skates a la LA Story and cruise down the floors. Next time. ;) While most of the exhibits were a bit too modern for me (think single rip in a piece of canvas), there were some big works of modern art that were really good.
MOMA (Museum of Modern Art) - The first time I took a tour to try to understand some of what modern art is all about, and somewhat succeeded. It took is "From Drip to Pop" meaning Pollack's horizontal canvases to repeated images of Marilyn, and I think I understand a little about what and why. I will not try to explain here - ask me if you wanna talk about it, or really set me straight.
Whitney Museum of Art - More precisely, it's a multimedia museum. The coolest exhibit by far was a large chunk of 3 walls with projectors on them, and two stations out front where museum-goers can type in search terms. The work than found things on the internet about the terms (sayings, images, sounds), and moved them around the walls. They were zoomed in and out, time delays between typing in terms and seeing them appear, and other effects that created quite an interesting dynamic collage. I sat and typed for better part of an hour.
Jewish Museum - In addition to the standard exhibits, which were interesting to me, there was a special section on Marc Chagall from his early years. I had never seen a historical rather than religious presentation of Judaism before, and it was interesting to see how the beliefs evolved over time into what I consider "Jewish" beliefs today.
Transportation Museum - Housing an exhibit on trains through the ages, and the stories and pictures of construction of the various subways of New York. Did you know that the reason there's such a hodgepodge is that the lines used to be private and compete? They wanted to go to the same places. So when they purchased and consolidated, there was a lot of silly duplication, which is how the lines run now.
Photo Museums (uptown and midtown) - A rotating museum of photographs. The most interesting exhibit from the time I visited was photographs of men from the 1800s, a pre-Freudian time when human contact between men was not considered taboo. In fact, it was a custom to take photos of two friends with arms around each other, on shoulders, holding hands, etc. It's interesting to think about how now the implications in our eyes are that they are gay couples, whereas in reality it's impossible to know who really are and who are good friends.
Grolier Club - This is a library / book club that's a spin-out of the Smithsonian institution, rotating 4 exhibits per year. I went especially for their Voyages exhibit, which though small, was right up my alley! It's a display split into three parts - voyages of geography (exploration), the mind (scientific discovery), and imagination (arts). It's amazing to gaze upon works such as the first printings of Darwin, Kepler, Galileo, de Gama, Magellan, da Vinci, et al. The one that was the most surprising was the first book to use a fold-out panoramic perspective as a map.
New York Historical Society - Right next to the AMNH, it has amazingly preserved stuff from the history of New York (from George Washington's desk to the best quality 9/11 photos.
Brooklyn Museum of Art - There is life outside of Manhattan, and this version housed the Star Wars exhibit which I went to see just before returning to California for a viewing of Episode II.

I also got to be a part of art - sitting and chatting with Alex on a cool looking bench suspended above the bay, an art class passed by and we got to hear about the esthetic value of our seat - as well as our contribution as a semi-permanent part of the art.

Sounds

It's fair to guess that more current musicians got their start in NYC than anywhere else. I'm doing my best to try to find those auditory gems before they get discovered elsewhere. This means going to many jazz clubs, clubs with a variety of music (rock, folk, etc.), seeing the NY Philharmonic, many street performers (some quite good), ethnic music and basically wondering around based on recommendations looking for great sounds. One recommendation was a band called Little Jinn, whose lead singer, Christina, I got to know through Jason, the guy I sublet the room from. Here they are in action.

I tried to catch a free concert in Central Park for the first time to see the Crash Test Dummies, only to find out later that the concert was in Castle Clinton, in Battery Park on the south tip of Manhattan. Nevertheless, the 2 hours in line paid off with 4th row free seats to a wonderful performance!

I then tried to catch a Sunday free concert in Central Park's summerstage, but it was over capacity by the time I got there. Still sounds great from just outside!

Favorite Jazz Clubs: Zinc Bar (small and smokey, but with great music), Blue Note (play there yourself after 2 am for free), Small's (where the big names go after a show), Village Vanguard (saw the 35th anniversay show there, with a sax player from the original crew!).

Met Opera - it is the best opera house I have been to in the US. The highlight was going to War and Peace - my first opera in the US in Russian. Magnificent production - quite grandious.

Yes, I did manage to get to Carnegie Hall without practice, practice, practice. There is a second way - into the audience. And all that takes is tickets, tickets, tickets.

Shows

I really like Broadway. And off-Broadway. And off-off-Broadway. And experimental, though that's harder to find. Musical. Drama. It's all good. So rather than trying to be complete (I averaged about 2 shows / week), I'll enumerate some of the highlights of theatre.

The Producers - Yes, you expected it on this list, and it actually lives up to the hype. Gotta see it with Lane and Broderick! I stood in line from 6 am, but it was worth it as I scored a 6th row center seat via a cancellation. Before 9/11 as well.
Lion King - Saw this one slightly before Halloween, and craved having one of their costumes. Go standing room - you get to be at the back and all the animals walk right by you on their way to the isles and stage.
Dogeaters - My book club read the book right before my NYC trip, so I had to see the show. It's based in the Philippines, and I have to admit that I actually enjoyed the show more than the book.
Blue Man Group - Their show Tubes tries to be a full audience participatory event, and succeeds pretty well. The crowd was not much as much into it as I had hoped they would be. We got seated next to one of the audience tubes, through which a back-stage voice convinced us to cheer-lead the audience into screaming for the group. Only some of them did so.
Beauty and the Beast - Disney sure knows how to put on shows. I have not seen Lion King yet, but this was rather impressive - detailed colorful sets, story-book characters and backgrounds, grandiose effects and music.
The Full Monty - If you liked the movie, you'll love the show! It had so much energy, and you could tell that the cast was having so much fun, that you couldn't help yourself but enjoy it.
Donkey Show - This is an experience more than a show. It takes place all around you at a disco club as you dance the eve away. The story of a Midsummer's Night unfolds with 70s characters in full outfit strutting their stuff in spotlights that move around to track the action. John was kind enough to lend me an outfit to truly fit in. Yes, that's me on the right...
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - I had doubts going in as Jack Nicholson did an awesome job in that role, but Gary Sinese really pulled off a splendid performance, making this one of my favorites shows to date.
Batboy the Musical - Not the batboy of Robin fame, but rather a hilarious story of what happens to those "Half-boy, half-man born in Ohio" kinds of stories published in the Weekly World News when they grow up. The lead actor was really good, and having second row seats didn't hurt.
Dinner Party - John Ritter acted well in it, but I was really impressed by Henry Winkler, who played almost a dynamic opposite of the Fonz, and very convincingly at that.
Kiss Me Kate - A play about a group of players acting out Shakespeare. The singing was really good, though the filler material was a bit lacking.
Search for Intelligent Life in the Universe - Caught the Lily Tomlin one-person play a day before it closed. Best part was trying to explain the difference between soup and art (of a painting of a can of soup) to aliens.
The Invention of Love - Another referral from book club. We had such a good time with Tom Stoppard's The Real Inspector Hound that I just had to catch this play of his. My favorite actor from Dead Poets Society - Neal (the one who shot himself) was one of the two lead actors. Very well done, though I wish I would have read the play first as a lot of it blew right by me.
The Allegorist's Wife - Appropriately, the tale of a barely sane couple and the wife's outlandish mother; a family of ex-Russian Jews; set in NYC. Not a great play, but had its parts.
Stones in His Pockets - A moving 2-actor show about Ireland. Wonderful acting (many parts, 2 players), having front row seats didn't hurt. Biggest crowd - 8 folks came with me for that one.
Proof - Got to see this one with Jennifer Jason Leigh who was only okay in act 1, but really came to life in act 2. Can't go wrong with a play about math geeks in love, can you?
Dragapella - unexpected surprise of a great show! 4 guys in drag singing their big hearts out above Studio 54.
Cabaret - Speaking of Sudio 54, the rewowned club of old was transformed to a wartime German cabaret club with Brooke Shields doing a very passable job singing and speaking with a British accent. Gotta go again - I sat in the balcony, but you gotta see the show from the tables on the ground floor.
Several plays starring my friend, Aysan Celik (look for her on Broadway soon!)
The Graduate - It's somewhat different in flavor from the original, but works quite well. Unfortunately, it wasn't Alicia Silverstone that was involved in the nudity on stage.
42nd Street - Dance mania! It's on 42nd Street, and about a Broadway dancer. Meta-musical?
QED - I loved Richard Feinman's books, and Alan Alda really did him justice in it. I could see how it's not for everyone, but being a geek I truly enjoyed it.
An Almost Holy Picture - Kevin Bacon doing a one man play? And doing a respectable job? Nah!
Aida - The third in Disney's trio, with expectedly great singing and stage sets.
The Crucible - It's a hard play. Hard to swallow. Liam Neeson made it especially so.
Cressida Among the Greeks - Off-off-broadway with really powerful acting!
Under the Lintel - Good show about the plight of the wondering jew. One man show, but it didn't need more.
Hedda Gabler - I had not seen this play before. Women - sheesh! ;)
Love, Janice - Not only a good historical perspective on the life and time of Janice Joplin, but with rather impressive band / singer doing Janice.
Necessary Targets - From the creator of Vagina Monologues, a powerful women-only play about roles in a refugee camp.
Mystery of Charles Dickens - Let it remain a mystery. The highlight was the acting by the guy who dies in Four Weddings and a Funeral.
Golden Boy - One-timer, revival, good show!
Sweet Smell of Success - I liked seeing John Lithgow live - he's really tall. But the show was only marginal.
Nothin' But The Dame - My introduction to behind-the-scenes Broadway in this women-only one-time fundraiser.
Noises Off - Noises were certainly on!
Robin Williams - Not really Broadway, but one of my favorites doing standup. Okay, paying over $300 to go to this was probably a bit much, but when would I ever see him perform live again?

Dance

You can find just about every kind of dancing every night somewhere in Manhattan (usually in multiple places). Here are the 3 that I enjoyed.

Tango Meets Swing at Manhattan Center Grand Ballroom - I had a bad experience with a dance partner that flaked on me (I told her I was a total novice), but the place was so fun that this was easy to overlook. On a huge ballroom floor, I learned my first steps of Argentine tango. Sadly, it was only the first two steps. But then two bands alternated and finally played together - a top-notch Argentine band playing tango and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra (yup, the one lead by Marsellis) doing swing. They were amazing to just watch and listen to, and then to fly on the dance floor - awesome!
Exit - Mixing it up at the club of clubs - 6 dance floors of hip-hop, techno, Latin, etc. where we danced the night away (most of it anyway). It's hard to imagine that a larger dance club exists as a non-rave regular venue.
La Belle Epoque - Back for my second tango lesson in a much smaller place with a much more patient partner. ;) It's a cute restaurant with a small dance floor decorated in a very Parisian flavor with good food and a live band.

Family

One reason I'm in New York is to spend some time with my relatives here that I see very infrequently. I got to live for a while with grandpa, who I can see really appreciates having someone else in the house - especially since grandma passed away at the end of '99. My cousin, great aunt and others are all within a 5 minute walk of grandpas as well. It's interesting living in Bensonhurts - a little piece of Russia transplanted to Brooklyn. Most of the talk on the street is in Russian, as are the store signs. The only clue that you're in the U.S. is that people transact in dollars.

There is another cousin who has made the move to suburbia for family life. One reality about living in Manhattan is that you adopt a center-of-the-world attitude. You don't travel anywhere, the world comes to you. It was hard to break the paradigm for a trip out to Jersey, but it was worth it to see their house, their family lifestyle, and spend some quality time with their endless bundle of questions and energy, also known as Kevin.

Cousins galore - while my mom was visiting, she and I went up to Poughkeepsie for a Seder with a cousin and her husband, kids, and friends.

Outdoors

One of the big reasons I don't think NYC, or any other similar environment, has turned into a long-term residence is that I'm too much of an outdoorsy guy. It's not easy to get my fill in NYC, but that doesn't mean I don't give it a valiant try.

The biggest outdoors addiction I carried over from California was ultimate frisbee. I got desperate here after not finding a game for two weeks, and ended up traveling up to northern Bronx for my first game (an hour and a half each way). Fortunately, shortly thereafter I found a game in Central Park of friendly folks who I tried to play with since. Still looking for another game to join on a more competitive level, but at least I have something. The group is great!

Another carry-over is roller blading. For the first month here, I didn't have my blades with me. That had to get remedied on my first trip back to the Bay Area! When I got my blades up to NYC, I realized that I had no brake left, and the brake connector had worn through. No problem - put on some wrist-guards and off to jockey for position with taxis through the streets of NYC. I really should be wearing a helmet, eh? It's such a great way to get around though (when not raining) - I can usually beat any other form of transport, save for express subways without transfers, on my blades. The next goal is to participate in the local blade gang - the Wednesday night skate.

Before I had my blades, I had to find a way to get around that was faster than walking. Walking fast was fine for the first few weeks, but then the desire for speed kicked in. So I stopped by a discount store to purchase an imitation razor scooter. It was a cheap imitation indeed, where the steering bar would rotate independently of the front wheel. Not good. I got my money's worth out of it - all $15 that I paid for it. When it got beyond repair, I utilized the NY recycling method - I left it unattended for 5 minutes while shopping at Borders. True to form, it was gone when I stepped back outside.

Manhattan is an island, so a natural outdoor pursuit here would be water-based. So one Sunday morning, I managed to get up ridiculously early (had to get the bus in from Jersey at 6 am), and go kayaking in the Hudson river. There is a group that sets out for the Statue of Liberty at 8 am, but I had wrong information about the starting point, and by the time I got there, I just saw them pulling away from shore. Doh! At least I got to go kayaking around the piers a bit. Definitely need to do the full thing another morning.

Ben, a friend from ultimate, is an avid hang-glider, and late July he got me and another friend to come out for the first time. The 10 hours of driving to New Hampshire and back were well worth the day of running down a hill with a hang-glider, and finally flying out of a control being winched forward just a few feet off the ground. It's' something I just had to try! But I don't think I'll got back for a while - too hard to actually get good at. He also led a hike an hour north (by train) of Manhattan in the Hudson River Valley. It was quite nice to find nature that pristine, so close to the big city.

Washington Square Park

Since I'm going to be living in the Village for the summer, I got to know my local park - probably the second best in all of Manhattan. It's 3 blocks from my sublet and is a square / park around a large fountain where a lot of activity takes place, especially on weekends. By day, I observed jugglers, acrobats, and other street performers. There are some amazing acts in the park as it's the local hang-out for NYU students.

In one corner of the park, there is a few chess tables, made famous by the Searching for Bobby Fisher movie, where local action takes place. It reminds me more of a shell or poker game than chess. Where else could you be quietly observing a speed chess game when a guy comes up to you hollering Hey buddy, buddy, you a chess player? You a player? Show me yo' stuff. Come on, five bucks. Tempting, but no... As it turns out, the street I live on has three (count 'em - 3) chess stores on it. As I said, where else but New York?

Two weekends per year, all of the local artists (well, it seems like all of them anyway) come out to show their stuff at the Washington Square Park Art Fair. I managed to catch one of those days, and walked around unique artists for no less than 2 hours. Some of them were really good, and I was tempted to acquire some artwork, but having no place to show it was a big deterrent.

Central Park

When talking of parks in New York, one invariably comes to mind. The grand-daddy of all parks in the U.S. The one, the only... Central Park. It's a huge park, especially considering the prime real estate it's on. It's such a pleasure just hanging out, reading a book, watching the people pass by, seeing the park in bloom, walking around the various fields, throwing a frisbee, running around the aqueducts, blading around the loop, enjoying music and kids by the zoo, the boats on the pond, the fountains and secret gardens. I have yet to see a concert in Central Park - later this summer. Rather than ramble on, let me just throw up a few shots.

Food

Everyone in New York seems to own a copy of the holy book, and let it dictate how they spend much of their life. Of course, I'm referring to the Zagat restaurant rating guide. New York has such a plethora of amazing restaurants that I won't attempt to enumerate by gastronomical experiences. Suffice it to say that New Yorkers take their dining out seriously, and I have been exposed to much of this. There are expensive restaurants and ridiculously expensive restaurants. Okay, there are a few reasonably priced places, but they are seldom found in Manhattan. Besides, when dining is a focus of an evening, as it has been on several occasions, you want a nice place to go.

I love cooking and making due more than going out though - somewhat of an oddity here. I think it's because the kitchens here tend to be rather small, with dining rooms a mere dream, so eating in well is not really an option for many. However, if the occasion arises, there are several amazing food stores, with ingredients being very fresh and tastefully arranged. There are lots of small local corner stores - on just about every corner - where you can get your basic supplies, many 24 hours a day. But there are no supermarkets. Maybe in Brooklyn and Bronx, but not in the hot spots of Manhattan - there's just no space. What they consider a supermarket here would pale in size comparisons with the meekest of Safeways.

So what do I miss about the food situation? Safeway is one of them. Good Mexican Food. Great sushi (though there is good stuff here). A dinner table, and occasions for dinner parties in.

What's the best of the foods here? Bagels. I love bagels. I love NY bagels. I gorge on NY bagels. I'm in heaven. The king of bagels so far is Essa Bagel, which has two locations, one being a mere 3 blocks from my former sublet. Sadly, I have to find a new bageling hole now. Also the water. Maybe it's related, but NYC has great tasting water, straight from the tap. No Brita needed, thank you very much. Pretzels, with mustard. Every street vendor has 'em for $1.25. And bananas - sold on street corners, ripe, ready to go, to be acquired as you walk by for a quarter. What else could you ask for?

I have been told great things about NY pizza, and having tried a few, I have yet to be enamored. Chicago style pizza is the bomb, but the NY variety is a little too thin and oily for my tastes. Maybe the right place and I have not met each other yet. Time will tell - I am willing to give it a fourth chance.

Games

Being too busy to find a role-playing session, I have at least found some people interested in doing board game nights once in a while - hope to get that going soon. In addition, Gregory introduced me to a monthly poker game. I went twice - tripling my money on the first night (beginner's luck?) and giving it all back on the second.

Other

There are lots of other things I managed to do here that were a lot of fun, but not nearly so easy to classify. Here is a sampling.

I managed to drag a couple of friends to the New York Auto Show. You can take the boy out of California, but you can't take California out of the boy. Maybe it's the fact that I miss the 3 cars I left behind, or the experience of driving topless (the car, not me, nobody wants to see that). Maybe I just like seeing what's in the car pipeline. But I went and saw. My next car, if I had to choose one from the show, is the BMW remake of the old British classic Mini, due in 2002, with probably a convertible version out by 2003.

Being a when-its-convenient-for-me kind of Jew, I decided to volunteer for a mitzvah - a group event where you gather to perform a good deed somewhere. The group I got assigned to was sent off to the Bronx House - a Jewish community center in (duh) the Bronx where we split into two - one cataloguing books in their library, and the other planting shrubs in their lawn. For some reason only God will know, I was assigned to the tree and shrub planting party. Given my black thumb of death, I would be surprised if even a single plant survived contact with me there, but it was a lot of fun on a great day out with some interesting people.

Another experience worth repeating is dropping into a comedy club. I tried Comedy Cellar in the Village with a friend, and while some of the comedians were mediocre, a few others were actually pretty good. I had a few genuine laughs, and the humor was not as garbage-level as I feared.

While Glenn was visiting, he, Michael, and myself witnessed a car break-in and robbery. While Glenn valiantly shadowed the perp, I called the cops, and Michael and I drove around looking for him, eventually finding him on Glenn's call. He was selling the stolen radio at the moment. He got nabbed, I testified later, and he's serving 4-7 last I checked. The cop on duty told me when we were testifying later that the number of break-ins in his district was halved after the guy was locked up. Our small contributing to cleaning up New York. ;)

Summary

So after this barrage of experiences, I usually look somewhere between these:

Back to Vadim's home page