Impressions of NYC

Yesterday our broker, a life-long NYC native, mentioned that she's always wondered what the city is like for first-timers. I mean, everyone "knows" what New York City is like. You just cannot escape references and portrayals of it in movies and media, let alone Las Vegas or LegoLand facsimiles--or should I say caricatures. That vicarious familiarity makes for a unique experience.

I know Laurie's comment was directed more at Titus than at me, since it literally was his first time stepping foot in the Big Apple. And I'm sure Titus will have plenty to say and write about his budding relationship with this long-time crush. But I'll take the liberty of sharing my thoughts on it too.

I've realized that I can only describe New York City as distilled city-ness. I was expecting more, well, New York stereotype. I'm not completely new to New York, and I've been to a handful of big iconic cities and smaller urban areas, so I expected that I've subconsciously averaged all those out to get a sense of what "city-ness" is, and that New York would be that locationless city-ness plus some sort of New York flavor. But I can't quite find that yet. And I am by no means saying that anything here has been bland--except maybe for the chocolate mint Tasty D Lite. It's just so city.

At the same time, this taste of city is making me a little nostalgic for California. New York is not San Francisco. It felt weird to walk around an urban area for three days without going up and down any hills. But rather than the flatness being unique to NYC, the hills are more noticeably San Francisco, and it reminds me that I'm a long way from home. New York misses the casual, sprawling pastel of San Francisco or LA that always makes me think of Wayne Thiebaud. Heh. Maybe I'll have to follow his lead and find my pastels in ice cream parlors and pastry shops from now on.