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NYC Interview 002

May 6, 2008

Hey folks.  It’s my second interview of an unsuspecting NYC resident.  Like I said in my last one:  “there are eight million stories” and this is my attempt to give out a few of them. Today’s story, or what I have of a story, is from Frances Woodruff, a long-term resident of the Lower East Side.

 

Frances is originally from Spartenburg, South Carolina. She’s been here for years and is feeling the push of the continuing real estate boom here. It’s not as bad as it was, but she’s feeling the pressure of the higher cost to stay in the City and is starting to think about moving out. Those costs are her absolute least favorite part of living here.

Nevertheless, she loves the options that living in the City provide to her and to all of us. Like me, she’s particularly enamoured by Union Square and is there often (I ran into her at Tompkins Square Park right across from the dog run). But she was quick to point out that the Time Warner Building is the can’t-miss part of NYC that she would recommend everyone see.

In terms of her Three Favorite Facts About NYC, Frances chose:

  • g. The Apollo Theater’s amateur night shows are great. Bring back the hook!
  • q. Battery Park has no relation to Everready or Duracell. The Energizer Bunny’s been spotted in the area, though.
  • z. Good BBQ in NYC? Dream on.

Frances, thanks for being a great interview.

-H

Categories: Manhattan, Three Favorite Facts About NYC, Wanderings

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NYC Interview Number 001

April 28, 2008

Recently, a friend suggested that I expand my blog to include people.  After all, NYC is a whole lot more than its places.  “There are eight million stories…” and so on.

So, I’ve started to do exactly that.  This will be a periodic posting, but we’ll see how it goes.

I was wandering around Tompkins Square Park in the Lower East Side and ran into my first interviewee/victim:  Zemer Avital.

I had a nice prepared list of questions and the like for the poor guy and he was more than willing to accommodate this strange character talking about his “blog” and all.

He’s originally from Israel and has only been in NYC for about six weeks. We got into the age-old philosophical question of whether than makes him a resident or non-resident of NYC. My position is pretty straightforward: if you’ve been here long enough to walk a block or two, you’re practically a native born New Yorker.

His favorite part of the City: the West Village. He also recommends off-off-Broadway shows as the great don’t-miss-it sort of thing to do in NYC. I agree very strongly with that evaluation.

I did ask him, as a long-time resident of NYC of six weeks, to tell me the strangest sight he’s seen so far. He answered that it was a sight at Union Square where he found a man doing a street show with a potato peeler. I knew exactly who he was talking about. That’s one of the characters I’ve occasionally looked for to put on the blog. It isn’t so much a “show” as it is a “sales pitch”. The guy has this wonderful act where he sells these peelers.

At the end of the interview, Zemer looked through my list of Resident Favorite Facts About NYC.  I will only allow three to be chosen. After lengthy contemplation Zemer chose:

  • d. Queens is the heart of NYC, but nobody knows it. Maybe if you’d send us some of those extra Brooklyn celebrities…
  • m. I keep meaning to ride the complete route of the subway, but I don’t have a spare week to do it.
  • w. “East Village”? There’s no such “East Village”, it’s the Lower East Side!

Thanks very much Zemer! You were a sport to be my first interview! Enjoy NYC.

-H

Categories: Three Favorite Facts About NYC, Uncategorized

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