Going Back to New York City

by Mom

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When I told my friend I was going to New York City, she asked me why. She’d never been, so I knew before I even started to try, that I’d never be able to explain the energy, vibrancy, and diversity of NYC. It’s the type of energy words defy. Even I was grappling: ten years had gone by since I was last there, and I’d forgotten what it felt like. It wasn’t till I walked into FAO Schwartz on a Sunday afternoon that it all came back to me: kids rushing from one toy to the next, conversations swirling around me, people of all ages and cultures milling around. This was New York City.

It was ten years ago Jen spent a year in New York, going to The Fashion Institute of Technology. We’d both seen the show stoppers: Empire State Building, Times Square, MOMA, to name a few. We came back to see NYC again, how it changed, to feel NYC again; and to top it off, it was Jen’s birthday, and I was hoping to find some show-stopping fabric I could make a dress out of for Nathan’s wedding.

We had four days to do everything. Jen came well prepared: she made four detailed grid maps outlining exactly what our destinations were each day, and what route we would take to get there. Each day had between 10 to 20 stops, so we didn’t have time for distractions.

Day one was supposed to be an easy day: we landed at JFK at 7:00 AM, and knew we wouldn’t get much sleep on the plane; so we didn’t have high hopes, however, somehow that didn’t stop us from walking 34,000 steps. We must’ve been running on sheer adrenaline. After dropping off our bags at the hotel, we grabbed a coffee, and had a bite to eat at Sunac, one of our favorite eating places. We like it because it has a huge selection of fresh, delicious food, particularly vegetarian, which you can pick from and pay for by weight.

Our first big stop was Macy’s. I was completely dumbfounded by Macy’s. I expected to see a big department store barely hanging on; boy was I wrong. Macy’s was in full bloom, (literally): huge, beautiful, fresh flower installations set up everywhere. Absolutely gorgeous, show-stopping enough that people didn’t wince an eyelash at having to wait in a long lineup to have their picture taken. It made me think about all the big department stores our city had lost to online shopping, and how much more in-store shopping had to offer.

We made our way up Fifth Avenue. The Louis Vuitton flagship store caught out eye: incredibly the entire store was decked out like a stack of vintage Louis Vuitton trunks. Apparently this store is undergoing a massive renovation with no fixed completion date. I can’t even imagine what it will look like when it’s finished. By the time we got to Central Park, we were in serious need of a pick-me-up. We sat down at the cafe with the best intentions of coffee, but succumbed to a rose cider, which definitely enhanced our walk through Central Park.

I think most people have seen Central Park one way or another. They just may not realize scenes like Kevin in Home Alone 2 meeting the bird lady, and Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan in When Harry Meets Sally having lunch are shot in Central Park. I think you can even take a tour of all the places famous movies have been shot. I’ve been to Central Park several times, and never seen The Strawberry Fields Memorial to John Lennon or the Alice in Wonderland Statue. There are so many attractions and things to do, you could easily spend a few days, just at Central Park. It’s a huge park: 843 acres, which is amazing considering the value of land all around it. I like The Lake where you can rent a rowboat, and a smaller pond called Conservatory Water where people sail remote controlled model boats; both are hidden gems where you can escape into a different reality.

On our way to the Hudson River we came across The Grand Bazaar at 76th Street. It was a cool outdoor market with vendors selling mostly crafts, artwork, and vintage stuff. We weren’t expecting it, but that’s NYC, you have to expect to find the unexpected. We walked back along the Hudson River. It was pleasant, and, for once no crowds of people. We ended up having an early dinner at Planet Hollywood in Times Square, for old times sakes. Not as wowzy as before: no Arnold Schwarzenegger leather jacket or Michael Jackson white gloves, but still memorable. We made it back to our hotel early, like 7:00 PM early. It was in the middle of Korea Town, which was bustling, but quiet. When it came down to it, we would’ve slept through anything, we were exhausted.

We slept for 12 hours, and woke up ready to rock and roll. We had a big day ahead of us: East Village, Lower East Side, Dumbo, Brooklyn, and Williamsburg. There was no time to waste. We walked down Broadway and checked out Fishes Eddy at Union Square, a New York City themed kitchenware store I once bought some glasses and plates at. It was along Broadway we discovered Rizzoli’s, a very cool bookstore: filled with floor to ceiling dark wood bookcases with an unreal selection of carefully curated books. I didn’t know this, but Jen told me Rizzoli’s was also a publishing company of fine arts books, which explained the eclectic selection of books on Photography, Art, Architecture, and Fashion.

I was looking forward to the East Village; Jen told me it had loads of vintage clothing stores. Perfect, I love vintage, only I was in for a surprise. Vintage is no longer clothing from the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s, it’s mostly streetwear from the 90’s onward. Ruffle blouses and poodle skirts were edged out by jeans, t-shirts, and expensive runners. My favourite vintage store was always Beacon’s Closet, but even they had made they had changed. I should add, there are a few vintage shops more up my alley, it was just we didn’t have time to switch gears. They’ll have to wait for next time. If you told me 50 years ago, when I started looking at vintage, where it would be now, I would’ve said, “Yah sure, whatever you say.” I think the story of vintage is just one small example of life in general: is there anything you can think of that doesn’t change, other than human needs and emotions?

It was already 3:00 PM, and we were just starting to walk across the Manhattan Bridge. Dumbo was our first destination, which, in my opinion, was much ado about nothing. Brooklyn was as cool as I remembered it; kind of a groovy, hip neighbourhood. Williamsburg was worth the trip too. The main event for me was the Birkenstock store, which incredibly sold my size (43). I’ve looked high and low for these sandals, so I was happy to finally find them. We also went to a store called Kith, which was a neat athletic store selling clothes, runners, and go figure, ice cream.

It was around 7:30 when we hit a brick wall. We caught a cab to a restaurant recommended on Google, only to find a dark window with a scary clown face in it, and nothing else. Even Google makes mistakes. We ended up eating in Korea town, not making it back to our hotel until 10:00 PM. It was time to call it a day. Number of steps today, 34,000.

Day three was my day: we were going to the Garment District to explore fabric and trim shops. This would’ve been a nightmare for Kelvin, but luckily Jen didn’t mind tagging along. There are somewhere between 20 to 30 fabric and trim shops concentrated in about one square mile of NYC’s Midtown area. Where I live you need to drive at least half and hour to get to one fabric store. At first, I was a bit overwhelmed by the sheer number of choices. The other thing I had to get used to was some shops did not have bolts of fabric to look at, but rather racks of samples hanging from display racks.

My favourite fabric shop was and still is Mood. I love their selection of fabrics, and the colours are mind boggling. I ended up buying a bright pink and orange brocade to wear to my son’s wedding. However, after making the dress, and realizing I looked like Jigglypuff, a fat round pink Pokémon character that looks like it will float away at any moment, I switched gears and made another dress from turquoise Chinese silk I bought at AK Fabrics. I was surprised to find the same silk I talked my daughter out of at Mood, because it cost too much, at AK for close to one-third the price. It pays to shop around.

We made a bittersweet discovery at M&J Trimming: everything was half price. After 90 years, they were going out of business. Apparently it had succumbed to a combination of high operating costs, out-sourcing abroad, and people choosing to buy ready-made clothes rather than making them by hand. This is a familiar theme to many industries, but I think the fashion industry of which fabric belongs, has been one of the hardest hit. New York City, with a population of just over 8,800,00, and being one of the fashion capitals of the world is in a unique position to support the fabric industry. I never questioned whether New York’s Garment District would still be around in ten or twenty years, but if long standing stores like M&J Trimming are shuttering, that’s not a good sign.

Our next highlight was a stroll along the High Line. The High Line is a 1.45 mile park-like walkway which follows and old railroad track. It has oodles of flowers and plants, apparently 500 species, and rotating art installations, but the biggest draw is that it’s about 30 feet above the ground. I know, what you’re thinking: perfect for taking pictures, and you’re absolutely right. The High Line runs all the way from Hudson Yards to The Meatpacking District; we however got off at Chelsea Market.

Chelsea Market always holds a soft spot in our hearts, ever since Jen was interviewed for a video by a superstar boy band called The Wanted , who did a pop up concert at the exact time we happened to be there. That was fun. This time around, I don’t know what it was, but the sparkle of Chelsea Market had worn off. It was still the same place physically, the old Nabisco Oreo cookie factory, but the ambience had changed. It wasn’t till I got home and looked it up, that I realized what happened: the entire block was bought by Google with the upstairs floors becoming a major tech hub. This partially explained why the nearby Meatpacking District had morphed into an exclusive designer fashion district. From my point of view, the charm was gone.

Jen and I were starting to run out of gas, so we headed back to our hotel in Korea Town; not before, however, making a pit stop at Levain Bakery, the ultimate cookie experience, in my books anyways. We bought four cookies: two for ourselves and two to take home. Their best seller is the Original Chocolate Chip Walnut, packed with chocolate chips and walnuts to the tune of weighing a grand total of six ounces. We however were feeling more adventurous, so we got their seasonal Carrot Cake, and Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter. The cookies are all hand made on site, which is remarkable for this day and age. If you want to take a trip along indulgence lane, this is a perfect stop to make.

Our hotel boasted a rooftop lounge with a view of the Empire State Building, which we thought might be worth exploring. Wrong. The promise of three cider choices dwindled to one, and the wooden fence surrounding the lounge worked well in blocking most of our view, with the artificial flowers not adding anything to the ambience. We each had a drink and left for The Yardhouse in Times Square which was hopping. The Knicks were in town, and not far away from us, playing at Madison Square Gardens, only adding to the excitement, so the place was packed. Our food was good, although Jen couldn’t finish most of her pizza. We didn’t want to waste the pizza, so we set about finding someone who wanted it, which turned out to be harder than we first thought. The first couple of guys graciously declined our offer, and we were about to give up when we ran into a guy who was more than happy to take our pizza off our hands. That was the end of another fun-packed day. We didn’t walk quite as far, 27,000 steps.

Day 4 was April 29th, which happened to be our anniversary. Kelvin surprised me with a card that said, “To My Queen,” which made me laugh because we both were decked out in Royal attire, complete with crown and tiara, which is about the furthest thing from sweatpants and jeans you could imagine. It was our last full day and it was huge: Greenwich Village, SoHo, Chinatown, and Wallstreet. Our first stop was Barnes & Noble to look for a Consumer Reports magazine on Cars that Kelvin asked for. We got skunked on the magazine, but hit pay dirt with two Devil Wears Prada movie release magazines. We just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

Greenwich Village was as charming as ever: relatively quiet (for New York) windy streets with mostly low-rise buildings and a bunch of small one-of-a-kind boutique shops. We were there in Spring and it was in full bloom, stunning. I looked up a couple of shops I’d seen on Google, that were for the most part, not what I’d imagined. Great expectations.

From there it was a short walk to SoHo. We couldn’t resist stopping at Chobani for old times sake. Jen used to buy yogurt there and they would serve it in a glass bowl, which you could take home, and we still have three which I use for putting dips in. This time we got a free package of wild flowers, which we planted in our front garden, and, surprise, they actually came up. Jen and I shared a Mediterranean Bowl and a Fruit/ Granola Bowl, which we agreed was the best meal we had on the entire trip. What I always felt about Chobani is that their main goal was to create a quality product at a fair price, not necessarily to make a ton of money, and that might be part of the reason they’re so successful. It doesn’t surprise me that Chobani is the top-selling yogurt brand in the United States.

After lunch, we looked up another Kith store, which ended up being not as cool as the Brooklyn store. Jen wanted to go to a store called New York or Nowhere, but the lineup was too long, probably because they only allowed five people in the store at one time, and the store was only 1,000 square feet. Apparently it sells high quality streetwear, and does sports collaborations with teams like the Knicks. No wonder it’s popular.

SoHo led us into Canal Street which runs directly through Chinatown. Chinatown was fantastic. The color, the vibrancy, the busyness of it all was contagious. What I found interesting is that about 100,000 Chinese people live in Manhattan’s Chinatown, which apparently is the highest concentration in the Western Hemisphere. This might partly explain why New York’s Chinatown has managed to keep it’s identity. The blinking neon signs with Chinese characters, authentic Chinese restaurants, shops selling Asian fruit and vegetables give it an authenticity that is hard to find outside of going to Asia. I bought Kelvin some chopsticks from Yunhong Chopsticks, and Jen couldn’t resist a red puffy jacket with fur around the hood, that happened to have some matching slippers she also couldn’t pass up.

We were closing in on the Financial District when we came across a pub called Monk Mcginns that started out pretty low-key, but after half an hour was rocking. Once all the Wallstreet hotshots got off work, there wasn’t a spare seat in the house. Jen and I had a couple of cider brewed at Down Eastside which were delicious, and left.

We still had a few more stops to make, so we moseyed over to Century 21, where we bought a pair of Ray Ban sunglasses for Kelvin and some hair stuff for Jen. These added up to over $30, which entitled us to a free portrait for Mother’s Day. At first I was skeptical, thinking the whole process would take too long. Jen talked me into it, and we got to the portrait station around 8:00 PM, about the same time the artist, Kristen, came back from her coffee break. She came up with the stellar idea of inserting a caricature of Jen and I into a pre-made poster she did of a New York taxi cab. Within five minutes Jen and I were peering out the backseat window of cab parked outside of Century 21. I loved it, and have it proudly displayed on our mantle.

It was getting close to closing time at the Butchers Daughter, a vegetarian restaurant we planned on going to for dinner, so we split at Century 21. Luckily the Butcher’s Daughter wasn’t far away. The food was tasty, but we were careful to leave room for our last stop, Rice to Riches, our favourite dessert place of all time, serving non other than rice pudding. I got panacotta and Jen got coconut. The servings were exactly the way I remembered them, massive. I got a kick out of the man serving up the portions: he had so much character, you felt like hanging around just to hear what he said next. I told myself on the way home, there was no way I was going to eat all of my rice pudding, but once I started eating it, there was no turning back. Another big day well spent, amounting to a total of 25,000 steps.

Day five was our last day in New York City. We had a flight to catch at about 6:30, so that meant leaving our hotel at about 3:00, or so we thought, but more about that later. First, how did we spend our final day. It started for me with the best Matcha Tea I’ve ever had, and I have one everyday. It was infused with strawberry syrup; in case you’re wondering it was at Blank Street Coffee.

Jen and I checked out and left our bags at the hotel. We both went our merry way: I wanted to go back to the Garment District, and she was keen on SoHo. This is where all the self-control I had earlier shown on our trip went flying out the window, especially when I walked through the front door of AK Fabrics on 39th.

I should’ve given the concierge’s recommendation to leave at 2:00 instead of 3:00, a second thought: we drove into a complete traffic gridlock. I honestly had visions of us spending the night at JFK, on a hard seat. Our taxi driver talked the entire ride about his billionaire customer whom he lied to so he could renew his car insurance, and then got stuck driving us to JFK in rush hour. Jen pretended she was asleep, to escape talking to him anymore. By some miracle we got to the airport at 5:00, had 20 minutes to grab a bite to eat, and boarded our plane at 6:30.

I told Kelvin, before we left, this would be my last time going to New York, and at the time I honestly believed it. But now, I’m thinking of turning it into a biannual event. After all, you only live once.

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