“...drunk and wearing flip-flops on Fifth Avenue”

Pick a point to start and then choose a destination; the story is the journey in the middle. 23rd Street and 6th Avenue, south east corner at the PATH exit. PATH trains run to New Jersey, and only recently cost $1.00 per trip. Now they cost $1.50 per trip, the same as a subway ride. Is this fair? Only the brave go to New Jersey, and the bravest, like me, actually live there. The inevitable NYC conversations are living arrangements and rent. Where do you live again?, they ask. But I can take comfort knowing that my commute on the PATH is only twenty-five minutes from another state to 23rd Street while those residing in the NYC boroughs take much longer. But this is about Manhattan...

A huge hole used to occupy that city block corner of 23rd and 6th which over the past year has grown to six, seven, now eight stories. Down 23rd to the west is the Chelsea Hotel where Sid and Nancy once lodged. Walk south on 6th for two blocks to 21st. On the north side of 21st is a magic shop--the window display was once an Eiffel Tower surrounded by a hundred little stuffed dogs and cats. The meaning of this was obscure, but visions of a city run by cats and dogs haunt my dreams. I was walking down this street in my morning route to work as a large black unleashed dog was walking towards me. Before collision I dodged; the dog’s owner yelled obscenities at me. (Should he be reminded that dogs must be leashed?) On 5th Avenue, look north to see the Empire State and Chrysler Buildings and the street disappear into a hazy grey of traffic smog and green of Central Park. Look south to the Woolworth Building and the World Trade Center. Stroll tall past Fifth’s shops and make a left to Union Square before getting to 14th. That street just isn’t pretty.

On warmer days, the restaurants spill out over the sidewalk, and in the park people cram into little bits of green areas. The street market fills out the area during the week. On the west side of the park one man always sells incense; another always flashes a box with a Rolex. On the east side of the park look north to what would be Grand Central Station if not for the MetLife Building reminiscent of a 2001 monolith. (A lot of good it did us then). I won’t bother to go into where the flying cars and moving sidewalks are because I still like the sound of feet hitting the pavement. At Union Square and 14th, either walk down straight as an arrow 5th towards the arch in Washington Square Park and New York University, or (more preferably) angle down Broadway. While most of New York’s streets pride themselves on their building block efficiency, Broadway casually idles through the city towards the northwest. No one questions it. Closer towards 10th, a church and its grounds are on the left. Homeless people camp out on the church steps. But one function of a church has always been to provide shelter. One homeless man had written his life story on a piece of cardboard: "Fucked".

Head into NoHo, but really don’t bother with neighborhood acronyms. They are used to confuse tourists. The city wants their money, but not them. More shops on the left, NYU on the left. Records shops, clothes shops, cafes--spend your time here, act bored, smoke a cigarette (outside only), waste your cash. To the east (we’re facing south) is the East Village with innumerable little bars and restaurants worth a visit. A bit farther to the west is the West Village (obviously) where the streets fall off the block pattern. A person can get lost in a place like that.

Are you tired--do you want to sit down? No? Let’s move on. Cross Houston (not pronounced like the city). This is now SoHo, but we are not worrying about those neighborhood names. Push through Canal and Chinatown, rip-off designer bags and strange fruit vendors. City Hall is on your left, look across to the Brooklyn Bridge. The old church and cemetery are wind worn, or taxi exhaust worn, sitting out of place with the skyscraping tributes to modern commerce on all sides. Which leads us to the largest of them all: the World Trade Center. In front of you are the Twin Towers, apparently pinning Manhattan island down to the planet. Because that is what it is after all--just an island. At the WTC, the PATH can take you back under the river or the subway back uptown. This is enough for today.

But really, you should see this for yourself.

[Other people had other plans. The absence of the World Trade Center lets sunlight burn down the city avenues as it hasn’t for forty-odd years. The sun, at least, is warm. The height of those two towers seems unreal looking back at photographs, like some paper plan for better living through design by Le Corbusier. Well that idea didn’t work--let’s see where everything went wrong with the world and start again. --January 2002]