NYC

In another place and time

My parents introduced me to NYC. My dad grew up in Bergenfield, NJ with his two sisters. His father worked at a bank in “the city”. I have no idea what he really did. I do know that he started off collecting deposits from businesses in China Town. It was impressed upon me, that this was a potentially dangerous business. Both he and my grandmother were born and raised here. My Grandmother Betty’s (nee Bertha) parents immigrated from Germany and they (along with their extended family) set up a brewery and hotel with beer garden in Brooklyn. I believe my side had the hotel while the uncles had the brewery. Anyway, prohibition came and all was sold, - the brewery uncles made out with more than Great Grandma Widmann did, though she did all right. My grandfather’s family were Irish. His father immigrated twice, becoming the stereotypical Irish beat cop. His mother believed that raw tomatoes were poisonous and was much alarmed when he came home one day after eating one like an apple. These are some of the stories that I grew up hearing.

As stated, my father grew up in Bergenfield watching his father commuting into the city every day. He didn’t want to repeat this. His sisters’ settled in more rural New Jersey and my parents ended up in Ohio, where my dad had a much shorter commute. My dad was a professor, so we had wide swathes of summer time. We often spent 3-4 weeks annually at a cottage in the Hudson River Valley, built on long gone brewery money. (see how this all comes together). Over the years, I had many day trips into NYC as a child. My dad telling the stories related above as well as his time working as a cabby, how rowed a boat across the Hudson as a teenager, how my Great Uncle Ardie,(nee Adolf), would evade the prohibition agents as he smuggled booze into PA. I remember St Patrick’s, FAO Schwarz, the boring boring circle line tour, and feeling very grown up eating oysters at the Oyster Bar in Grand Central. I remember the museums and driving through the park (we always drove into the city). I remember the traffic.

In college, I came to NYC with friends twice. The first was a spring break trip with girlfriends. We stayed with my aunt at the little cottage and commuted in on a bus and had loads of fun; walking around with paper maps, getting bagels, visiting all the art museums, sitting in Washington Square Park smoking. I remember having the best outfit, which ended up killing my feet. The second time must have been during summer break,—we took two cars and Todd came too. I think there also was a stop with Aunt Grace and a commute into the city, but this time we had friends to stay with! We split into 2 groups and ended up sleeping on the living room floor of the tiniest little walk up. I remember being shocked upon learning how many people actually lived in this 2 bedroom apartment. I have many wonderful memories of this time.

I really thought that I would live here some time.

But I never did.

Time went on, and I didn’t visit again for years and years and years. Todd and I got married, we had children, we still visited the little cottage. We thought about bringing the kids down, and we really tried once. We did take them to the Statue of Liberty, but from the Jersey side - I was just panicky about bringing them in.

Our youngest Alec went to college in New York State. He made many friends who lived here. He visited a time or two. He spent 10 weeks one summer interning (!) I was SO envious. I think this was the ony place he was looking for jobs post graduation. He moved here one year into Covid, in a little walk up in the lower east side that was generously called a one bedroom. He and I “toured” the rooms via facetime. At some point he met the lovely Lily, who has lived here most of her life. A city girl! They now inhabit a lovely apartment on 42nd in Hells Kitchen. This would likely have been on my great grandfather’s beat. Since Alec has moved here, we’ve been visiting yearly, (this year maybe twice :) ).

We arrived yesterday, and I am already filled to brim with the spirit of the place. We found out just a day prior that Todd’s neice and her husband will also be in NY for the weekend, so we hung out with them yesterday afternoon,—how crazy.

For the first time, we have brought our little dog Charlie. He has his own set of social issues and bringing him is a bit of a risk. Yesterday he walked on crowded sidewalks and was very overwhelmed. We’re going to be taking him out as much as we can, and then bringing him home to hopefully decompress. Maybe he’ll ride the subway today :)

So this week, I will share our NYC adventures as well as those of Charlie, the potentially psychotic havapoo.