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Wednesday February 21, 2001
"In New York you can have anything you want, and even in the old days, you could, too, so that hasn't changed. You can also find anything you're interested in here, and you don't have to have money to do so." Interview with Brooke Aster, June 2000, as printed in New York, New York, The City in Art and Literature
glimpsing the Big Apple
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off to the big apple We plan to get up at 3:45 and call Dad at 4. But he calls us first. And he is at the front door before I've gotten completely dressed. So we are early. The airport isn't open yet when we get there. Soon the desks open and the security gates. Our plane (to Houston and on to La Guardia) is quite empty on the way to Houston. We figure it will fill up in Houston. It doesn't. It doesn't seem to take so long with less crowding and soon we are on our way to our West side hotel. Too chic to have a sign outside, the Hudson Hotel. So we have to make an extra block after we miss it and have FFP call on the cell and get a description of the outside of our building for the car service driver. We eat lunch in the Hudson Cafeteria which is more a grill. They have comfort food like macaroni and cheese. One choice is with foie gras. (Stay tuned...this will be a theme. Not macaroni and cheese. But foie gras.) We didn't have the macaroni and cheese, though. We shared a salmon and tuna tartare. I had grilled fish on greens and FFP a salad with avocado and tortillas and chicken. We drank good strong black coffee at $4 a cup. The hotel seems to be trying so hard to be ultra chic, new age, new wave, too cool and under 30. The hallways and public areas are too dark with lighting as decoration but little more. Under 30 employees slink about in all black clothes. The room is very, very small. It requires a good deal of friendly understanding for two people to use it. The sleeping area is all bed. If you sit at the desk you block the way to the bathroom. The toilet has less leg room than the coach seats on airlines (even before American gave us that extra leg room). We wander about a little, going to the design store over by MOMA. It's cold and windy. FFP goes into the public library next door to the store to use the bathroom. The library is very crowded and several of the patrons look like homeless people. We planned an early dinner in the Village but we cancel that in favor of some sleep after our early start. About 7:30PM, we grab a cab and go to the Village Vanguard. We get there pretty quickly and have time to dash into the Greenwich Cafe and eat something while watching ambulances arrive at the hospital. We slip into a neighborhood drug store and get a couple of things we need. The place is a labyrinth of weird aisles. We wait in the cold for the 8:30 opening of doors at the Vanguard for the 9:30 show. We get a two top on the banquette just behind the piano bench. Unobstructed view of Branford when he plays. The group (piano, drums, bass and Branford on sax) plays some out there jazz written by the drummer. It's great. At the table next to us are four young muscians from North Carolina. They are very enthusiastic about being there. So are we. After the set, we grab a cab and help the cabbie find the Hudson.
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