On Someone Else's New York

I'm the king of New York: And so is he, and so is she and so are they.

Early in his novel, Whitehead brings up the phenomenon of millions of New Yorks, each one belonging to the individuals who live in and experience the city or have at some time in their life. Being that I work in a restaurant where I socialize and work with people who have nothing to do with NYU, I often hear about New York experiences completely different from my (and all of my NYU friends') NYU, West Village, Manhattan-based life. For most of the people I work with, I can only imagine what they do after and before work, somewhere in Brooklyn, painting, auditioning for plays, building furniture, doing drugs. My life barely resembles the lives of the people I work with, except for the job we have in common, yet we are all experiencing the same city on a daily basis. I've decided that for this post I will contrast the details I know about the "New Yorks" some of the people I work with, and my own.

I live in Alphabet City with my sister, also a student. We have a very cute "authentic" village two bedroom apartment and our neighborhood is made up of small longstanding communities as well as newer businesses such as restaurants and bars. We usually do basic grocery shopping at Key Foods, a supermarket chain largely concentrated in Brooklyn, with only 4 stores still in Manhattan. The buildings are mostly old red brick, four or five stories high, maybe a little graffiti on the front door. My super's name is Pedro Gomez, but everyone calls him Pete. Pete is probably from the Dominican Republic and when he mumbles monosyllabically about fixing the lock on our front door or installing the carbon-monoxide detector, he has an accent. He says the F word a lot, especially when he's on the phone. I have class at the NYU "campus" four days a week in various buildings on Broadway, Washington Place, Waverly etc. I work two or three days a week in the West Village about 10 minutes from "campus". My boyfriend lives in a dorm near Union Square and I almost never go there. On weekends and other nights when I'm feeling up for it, I go out with my friends. We used to go to clubs in the Meatpacking district a lot, but I think we all got a bit tired of it and bogged down with work, and now I find myself at bars in my neighborhood more often. I'm a downtown girl. I know the East Village and West Village pretty well. I've walked around both of them many times. I feel alienated when I go uptown, as if I don't quite belong there and I'm only on a field trip. I don't even like going to Central Park that much - the hoards of people crowding the green spaces as soon as spring arrives rob the park of its natural element, in my opinion. School, work, home, friends. Downtown.

John lives in Astoria Queens with his girlfriend and his cat Zoe. They have been together for 7 years (John and his girlfriend, not John and the cat). John grew up in Georgia. Five or six days of the week John takes the subway into Manhattan and down to the West Village where he is the sous-chef at an upscale restaurant. He's been working at the restaurant for almost 4 years, ever since he graduated from the CIA in upstate NY and came to the city to cook. John hates the restaurant he works at, because it has become his entire life. His friends are the other cooks and some of the front of house staff. He spends more time at the restaurant than he does at home. He has a few favorite spots to drink after work, all in the West Village. He likes Daddy'Os (they have good tacos and tater tots), Blind Tiger and sometimes if he's tired enough he'll just go sit at Ditch Plains. On some of his days off John goes out to dine with his girlfriend. He has enjoyed meals at many of Manhattan's finest restaurants and usually gets styled out when they know he's the sous-chef at another upscale restaurant. He says he didn't love Daniel (cork in his wine and bones in his fish for $600?) but he loved Sotto and Bar Blanc and Chanterelle. John also cooks sometimes when he's at home and he gets his produce from the greek and asian grocery stores in Astoria. When he's at work he often has to go to the Union Square greenmarket to buy ingredients. He likes local and seasonal produce, but everything's cheaper in Queens. John plays the guitar and often talks about going to an open mike night in Queens to play some of his songs. He smokes a lot of pot when he's not working, and plays a lot of video games in his apartment. He loves going to K-town for Korean barbecue. Work, work work, smoke, guitar, girlfriend. Queens, West Village.

Dillon was born in Colorado and moved to New York after college. Her older brother lives in Brooklyn with his wife and son, and Dillon lives in the same building. Her father has a loft in Tribeca that Dillon often house-sits. Her father lives a bachelor's life with the family dog, Hubert. Dillon is an actress by training and goes on auditions all over Manhattan. However, Dillon loves Williamsburg. Her apartment, her brother, her gym, her favorite yoga instructor, are all in and around Williamsburg. Once a Hassidic Jewish man living in her building asked her on a date. She was reminded of her absolute apathy toward religion. Dillon often spends time at her father's loft in Tribeca, which has views of Gwenyth Paltrow's apartment and the Hudson River. It is a wonderful place to relax, and throw a party. Dillon also dog-sits two spoiled Portuguese Water dogs (yes, like Bo Obama) from time to time. She gets paid $100 a day to sleep in the lavish Tribeca apartment that belongs to the dogs' owner and to cook the dogs gourmet meals. Dillon thrives in New York City, for the most part. At times she feels as if the city is folding in on her and she feels anxious and depressed. She sees her therapist at his Union Square office once a week. Her therapist suggested she try taking Prozac to treat her anxiety. She filled the prescription but never took the pills. Work, yoga, dog/house-sitting, auditions. Williamsburg, Tribeca.