Palimpsest
Earlier this month I found myself working on the Upper West Side and unexpectedly flooded with so many memories of when I first moved to New York.
I moved here when I was 17 to spend the summer studying Musical Theatre at NYU. I met so many dear friends that summer and I also fell in love with New York. I lived on 85th and Broadway in a dorm full of other kids who were there various other summer programs but I was the only one there there for my program and so was largely unsupervised.
I spend my summer drinking Dr. Peppers from McDonalds (which was a new thing in NY that summer), and wondering around the UWS feeling just like Meg Ryan in "You've Got Mail." If only I had found my Tom Hanks. Of course I studied too, and took class, discovered the Drama Book Shop and saw twelve Broadway shows in six weeks. And I grew up a lot.
Now that I am living in New York as an adult I find most, if not all, of the things I discovered about the city that summer have changed. But when I go back to those placed that I used to love it reminds me of who I used to be and what it felt like to be falling in love for the first time.
There's the Barnes and Noble on 72nd and Broadway where I had my first Frapuccino and where I scoured the media section for Broadway soundtracks and DVDs that were new to me. The store where I also waited in line to get the last Harry Potter book when it was released at Midnight. The Palace Theatre to me will always be the home of Legally Blonde, a musical I saw four times that summer. And Tower Records down the lock where I got my Original Cast Album signed by the principal cast and where Jerry Mitchell asked if I was a dancer.
The art in the stations on the 1, 2, 3 subway line is perhaps the only thing from this time that remains. To this day when I am on that line I feel a sense of panic about knowing my lines for class and more than a little remiss without my morning Coke and Luna bar. Though the rest of the places that defined New York for me that summer are gone, just standing where they once were, walking those streets, I am able to put aside my grumpy adult frustrations about New York City and just be in love. If only for a few hours. I heart you New York. " I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I new your name and address." -xo Sydney
I moved here when I was 17 to spend the summer studying Musical Theatre at NYU. I met so many dear friends that summer and I also fell in love with New York. I lived on 85th and Broadway in a dorm full of other kids who were there various other summer programs but I was the only one there there for my program and so was largely unsupervised.
There's the Barnes and Noble on 72nd and Broadway where I had my first Frapuccino and where I scoured the media section for Broadway soundtracks and DVDs that were new to me. The store where I also waited in line to get the last Harry Potter book when it was released at Midnight. The Palace Theatre to me will always be the home of Legally Blonde, a musical I saw four times that summer. And Tower Records down the lock where I got my Original Cast Album signed by the principal cast and where Jerry Mitchell asked if I was a dancer.
The art in the stations on the 1, 2, 3 subway line is perhaps the only thing from this time that remains. To this day when I am on that line I feel a sense of panic about knowing my lines for class and more than a little remiss without my morning Coke and Luna bar. Though the rest of the places that defined New York for me that summer are gone, just standing where they once were, walking those streets, I am able to put aside my grumpy adult frustrations about New York City and just be in love. If only for a few hours. I heart you New York. " I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I new your name and address." -xo Sydney
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