A New York Minute

So I'm standing on a side street in the village and a guy walks past me holding a bottle of wine on his way to spend time with some friends. He's greeted at the railing of a nice brownstone apartment building as he makes his way up the steps. This immediately reminded me of about a dozen different New York based TV shows that I've seen over the years. You know the one, where friends are just hanging out on the steps of their apartment in Brooklyn or SoHo on a beautiful spring afternoon, talking about life in general. It was a great moment, which kind of summed up my visit to New York City.

I was there back in May for a few days which marked only my second visit there, and my first in a very long time. The first time I was there, I did a lot of the tourist-y things like Times Square, Central Park, Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center and just about every major museum in the city...(at the risk of sounding like George Costanza, the bathrooms at the Brooklyn Museum were particularly nice.) So this time around, I really didn't have the desire to do all that stuff, besides not really have a lot of time. Instead I, for the most part just wondered around the city, walking as much I possibly could in the two and half days I was there.

I work here in Toronto at Deluxe Post Production, so on the first afternoon in New York I went to visit Deluxe New York over on Hudson and I got a great tour of the brand new facility...(brand new as in not even finished yet). I was anxious to see how the new offices were coming along. They looked great and have an outstanding view of midtown Manhattan. As I was talking to Russ about the progress and all, he started joking about stealing my department from Toronto and bringing over to New York. But instead of being defensive about it, I found myself telling him to "go right ahead. I'll just move here." Of course we were joking around, and I love our facility in Toronto. But given the right circumstances, I'd move there in a second. I especially love that area around Deluxe. The whole Greenwich Village/SoHo/NoHo area is wonderful and is where I spent most of my time. It truly is beautiful.

I've been lucky enough to travel quite a bit in my life and I've seen some amazing cities both here and in Europe. But I have to say that New York is truly my favorite. No city that I've ever seen has more character than New York. Others may have more history, but New York has this wonderful history all it's own that I find difficult to describe. It's more of a post-modern history I suppose. A rich tapestry of colour and mystique that, in my opinion is unrivaled. L.A. has some of that for me as well (especially to someone who works in and loves the film industry.) But I would describe Los Angeles as a whole lot of empty space with certain areas of magic here and there. New York is just replete with it all over. It's in the air, wherever you go.

My visit was of course too short. I didn't do or see everything I wanted to. I already have plans to return in the fall though...probably around October. I'm already looking forward to it.

It's an amazing place. If you haven't been there yet, you need to go.