“To walk the city is to invite the serendipity of coming upon a community garden or the wooden piles of a decrepit pier or spring crocuses pushing thr“To walk the city is to invite the serendipity of coming upon a community garden or the wooden piles of a decrepit pier or spring crocuses pushing through cracked pavement. It is to experience the endless juxtaposition of this with that, which is New York’s calling card.”
If I close my eyes, click my heels together three times, and imagine myself somewhere else in this world other than where I’m currently planted and wilting, I would be in the middle of a big, vibrant city. It would be the sort of place where I can walk out my door and reach the local library and bookstore, stop by the art museum, grab a coffee, pick up a loaf of bread, a tin of sardines, a jar of olives, and a bottle of wine, all without jumping into the car. I’d get my exercise without even having to make the effort to set aside extra time at the end of a long, satisfying day. The author of this book, the architecture critic for the New York Times, took me on a virtual walk and left me hungering to get back to New York City once again. Through a series of short essays, which were essentially conversational interviews with architects, historians, urban designers, and landscape architects among others, the reader is taken on a journey by foot through eighteen neighborhoods across four of the five New York City boroughs. The experience was wholly invigorating.
“The Germans say “spazierengehen,” the French “promener” or “flaner,” all of which imply more than simply getting by foot from one place to another. They suggest a journey, a lark, an excuse to wander, to get some air, escape the house, consume an ice cream cone or a podcast while pretending to exercise. To walk New York, as opposed to experiencing it through, say, a car window, is to expand time.”
During these walks, we are dipped in and out of the past and the present. Tidbits of the history of the city and its neighborhoods are interspersed with the current skyline, the architectural marvels, and the people that inhabit these places. I learned quite a lot along the way. The tone is fun and engaging, and the love for the city shines through the words of the author and his interviewees. The city’s democratic spaces and its culturally diverse population are emphasized and celebrated.
“… New York… is inseparable from the memory of the parents who raised me to love the city in all its chaotic, crowded, imperfect, precarious, diverse, humane glory and democratic ambition.”
It’s also important to point out that the book is loaded with exquisite photographs highlighting many of the buildings, bridges and parks noted on these strolls. The book itself is a treat to hold. It’s one that I plan to refer back to during the many, future visits I hope to make to the city. I even had a resourceful coworker cover the book for me at the library in order to extend its shelf life, if you will. That way, if I happen to stop for a slice of thin crust pizza on Bleecker Street, grab some dumplings in Chinatown, or eat an ice cream cone at Morgensterns, I won’t risk spoiling the beauty of this gem!
A resounding thanks to Justin whose review and contagious enthusiasm for the city helped make my end of year reading land on such a positive note!
“The philosopher Immanuel Kant associated cosmopolitanism with hospitality and a common understanding that human beings are members of a universal community with a shared right of humanity. By this definition, New York City just might be humanity’s greatest achievement.”...more
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