I touched down in New York City with a slight feeling of sadness and worry. I was returning to my grandmother’s nearly empty apartment. But it wasn’t the stuff missing that was bothering me. It was that she was missing.
I worried if New York would ever be the same for me since this is the place I always came to be with her. And she was truly the glue that held New York City together for me. I never had to find a hotel when I came here. I never needed to search for some good bagels and lox… she already had it waiting for me.
So, after a four month stint in the sun and easy-life of LA, I was back in harried, frenetic New York City for ten days. I shouldn’t have worried. I loved it all over again and more.
In just my first five minutes walking on the crammed sidewalk amongst the people it hit me all at once how great this city is and what a contrast it is to Los Angeles. Even though they are two huge cities, New York really is a true city inside and out, uptown and downtown, down below in the subterranean jungle of the subways and high up above in the posh financial offices scraping the sky. I know this has been said before a zillion times. But I can’t help saying it again: it’s the stew, the potpourri, that good old melting pot. I don’t think I ever saw it as clear as I did now after being in LA. You can’t help notice it as you walk down the crowded sidewalk. New York is a true coming together of all races, all classes, and all kinds – young and old, sane and crazy, filthy rich and broke and homeless, every race, every gender, every class. People are walking alone and yet altogether in one massive sea of life. Wall Street tycoons in Armani suits ride the public bus next to Hispanic moms with three kids in tow next to gussied up teenage girls on their way for some cappuccinos.
I had just come in from a five hour flight from LAX and I was tired and famished. I thought I’d start my stay off here with a New York ‘must:’ a greasy, floppy, delicious slice of New York pizza. But unlike the old days when you could just stand in one place and do a 360 spin to spot the nearest pizza joint, now my view was crowded with Starbucks, CVS, and other chains. Then I spotted a guy sitting on a bench with the package I sought: a white paper bag, a white paper plate, and that famous gooey slice. I walked up to him and asked where he got it. He answered in a garbled voice and I realized I was talking to a homeless man. I asked him again. And he said, “I don’t know. Someone gave it to me.”
It couldn’t have been more perfect. New York strikes again. Although often misunderstood, it’s not uncommon that New Yorkers are friendly and generous and very tolerant of one another. Many people chat up their local bums everyday and when going for a bite, often get a little something extra for that ‘guy’ they pass on the way home. Whenever my friend Mark would go buy himself a hamburger at his local fast food establishment he would get two and hand one to the guy that stood outside on the sidewalk holding the door open for customers. Better that then handing him a dollar he’d drop on liquor or worse. Although… perhaps the McDonald’s burger was just as bad?
After I walked away from my new pizza-eating friend, he called after me and yelled out that he thought the place was just around the corner. I followed his gesture up 8th Avenue and around to 23rd street. There it was – the classic New York pizzeria. It’s nothing fancy – just a few tables, that glass counter which gives you a view of the pies on offer – cheese, pepperoni, sausage, mushroom, and a calzone or two – a soft drink fountain, a brick oven and big, white cardboard pizza boxes stacked up ceiling high. I ordered a simple cheese slice and sat down to enjoy the delicacy. And here I saw it just like I had walking around outside. Every kind of citizen was coming in for a slice – the construction worker, the student, the ladies discussing interior design, the lawyer in a suit, and a mother and son. Here everyone eats a slice. Here everyone rides the bus.
It was New York… always there and always accepting. It was the same as it’s always been – except the slice was now $2.75, not $1.00 like it was when I was a kid. So I picked it up, folded it in half and took that first fabulous bite.
Kevin Fitzpatrick
As nice as the weather is in LA, there's no question that when you got off the plane you had arrived in a REAL city. New York is probably the realist city there is. More than any landmarks, its the people you remember who color your judgement about a place. Otherwise, how could you love a place with no special site to see? Yet you did time and time again on your never ending, jealousy inspiring world tour. In future posts, please don't forget to tell people that the best pizza in the world is in Chicago! We even sit down when we eat it.
David Lubin
Lisa Pizza…as I used to call you as a kid…why? Who knows…but this blog entry hit home. The one thing I still do today that I do EVERY time I visit THE city is look for that hole-in-the-wall pizza joint…the one where one slice is a four-course meal! I too have noticed that where there was pizza joint after pizza joint (followed closely by the tailor and electronics "whatever fell off the truck that day" store) is now Starbucks and CVS…good point! If you remember, there was Randolph Pizzeria which after a long day at Randolph High, I would succomb to a large pie for a mere $4.99! Yes, that's right…the whole pie…and not a Domino's 12" pie…I am talkin' a real 20" pie! Good one…loved it (now I am hungry all over again!)
Camels & Chocola
I'm so sorry about your grandma. Mine, who practically raised me, died shortly after yours, and it was not an easy thing at all. Good luck on the next leg of your journey!
Odysseus
Beautifully written!
Akila
I am so sorry about your grandmother. I do the same thing when I hit New York too — head for the best pizzerias. No matter the lines or the day, we always make it a point to visit Grimaldi's in Brooklyn. There's just something about a good old slice of New York pizza. Great post, Lisa!
islandmomma
Found you via Holeinthedonut today – I love this! Sadly for me I’ve only been to New York once, but I don’t think I’ve ever been anywhere I felt so immediately at home. I put it down to having seen everything before (several times!) in movies, and also to the international yet American flavor. A friend says there are only two US cities worth visiting New York and San Francisco, because they are the two you can walk around, and don’t need a car. Don’t know if that’s right. I suspect not, but I did leave a piece of my heart in New York – and here speaks a country girl at heart.
Hoping to return this year – don’t suppose you remember where that pizzeria was do you?!!
Abhi
LL. I read this pretty late after you posted.
Well, Newyork is Newyork. Bet that there wont ever be a place that will replace the “Republic of NY” for centuries to come.
I do miss staying there. But well,I hope I get to be there someday again!
Take care,
Abhi.
iliana
I love New York & this moving portrait of it does it justice!