New York, New York, a helluva town.
The Bronx is up, but the Battery‘s down.
The people ride in a hole in the groun’.
New York, New York, it’s a helluva town!!
Hubby and I recently returned from a six-day jaunt to New York City where we visited our younger daughter, now an English Professor at Hofstra University. I had visited there several times in the late 1960s when I was living in Pittsburgh working for ISA (Instrument Society of America) as its Standards Coordinator. It was a different city then. I was warned NOT to take the subway late at night, and NEVER to go to Central Park, warnings taken very much to heart being pretty much fresh from the south, and at 26 still very young.
Neither of us had visited the city since the mid 1970s when we had to drive there from our home in Windsor, Ct. to renew Hubby’s expired passport so he could fly home for a family emergency. It was a Saturday and we were afraid it might be impossible to carry out our mission, but somehow the city where everyone was supposed to be rude and uncaring came through for us; the passport was issued, and he caught a flight to India the very next day.
Naturally when our daughter moved to Queens in late summer last year, it was the New York of the 60s that I remembered, when it was considered by most people I knew to be the most dangerous city in America. Former Mayor Rudy Guliani has been credited, rightly or wrongly, as being the one who cleaned up the city, but it’s been suggested by some that the drop in crime may be due to a decline of the population of teenage males. The Crack epidemic began to ease up in the early 1990s, which the New York City police commissioner says police effectiveness had more to do with than they’ve been given credit for. Whoever or whatever brought about the change, I have to say that I had a great time visiting and look forward to going back again some day.
My next postings will continue with observations about other aspects of my visit. For now, I will leave you with this photo that I took at the South Street Seaport in Lower Manhattan; everytime I look at it I’m reminded of the sailors in ON THE TOWN with just one day to see everything in New York. I understand the drive to do that, but after six days I know I’ll have to go back again and again just to scrape the surface.
New York, New York, a visitor’s place,
Where no one lives on account of the pace,
But seven millions are screaming for space.
New York, New York, it’s a visitor’s place!
My Wintersong 
Although I lived in New Jersey for eight years before coming to Pittsburgh, I spent most of my free time in New York, sometimes even working there. I still return there as often as possible. I never run out of things to do or see. I would like to move into the Mettopolitan Museum of art and stay for six months. That’s probably the only way I would get to see everything, at least at that point in time. They keep changing things. Just walking down the street can be a wondrous adventure; again because things keep changing and you never know what discovery you will make next. It’s always been a magical place for me; I’m glad you enjoyed it also.
I hadn’t thought of it before your comment, Ruthe, but that’s a wonderful idea! moving into the Met for six months! It would also be a good idea to have about a dozen pairs of new feet on hand so I could walk and cover more territory without having to stop and rest. Indeed the city’s a haven for people-watchers like me who like trying new foods, and seeing and learning new things. I’m having a hard time trying to figure out my favorite things in order to write about them in some kind of logical order in future posts. Oh well, haphazard has worked just fine so far. Thanks for your comment.