Who Says You Can't Go Home Again?

It's been 40 years since Karen and I lived in NYC

Friday night, left, we have dinner and drinks at the Lazy Lizard. Twenty-four hours later we have drinks at the CitizenM Hotel’s roof top bar in the Bowery (Manhattan). We were comfortable at both places.

Question: What’s the polar opposite of the East Mountains of New Mexico?

Answer: Manhattan and the rest of NYC

Karen and I first met in NYC in 1983. She was living on the Upper East Side, working at Bankers Trust’s M&A department. I was living in the Village and working at one of many advertising agencies on Madison Avenue or thereabouts. She was a born New Yorker and I was a relatively new (8 years) transplant from LA.

They were pretty heady times. Young, in-love, working hard and partying equally hard. Nights were spent in the clubs in SoHo, the Village and Tribeca. I had finally gotten through NYU and felt a huge relief. A couple of months into our relationship we traveled to England together, starting what would be a life-long love of exploring the world together.

Then we decided to split NYC and head west to Los Angeles. I was too impatient to wait the 20+ years it would take to climb up the big-agency corporate ladder in NYC. I wanted to try my hand at smaller, more entrepreneurial agencies.I could move quicker and rise faster (I thought: ). We first landed in Playa del Rey, then Hermosa Beach, then Pacific Heights in SF, then Hollywood, and finally the Arts District in Downtown Los Angeles.

Three years ago we escaped LA to the mountains of New Mexico. We were tired of the traffic and congestion of LA. We were ready for a change. Enter the East Mountains.

So, it was with some trepidation that I told Karen I needed to go to NYC for ClimateWeek and asked if she wanted to come. Could we handle NYC again at our advanced age and slow pace? we both wondered. We decided to find out.

ClimateWeekNYC is one of thee largest climate conferences in the world with more than 500 events spread throughout the city. Here Al Gore introduces a new documentary on the impact of a particular presidency on climate change.

CitizenM is part of a growing trend in hotels: heavy emphasis on public spaces, lots of pop art, use technology in place of people for service, and have tiny rooms, all of which are the same. CitizenM’s rooms were all made in Japan and are all exactly alike. Located in the Bowery, which is now a pretty happening neighborhood. When Karen and I lived in NYC, the Bowery was the equivalent of LA’s Skid Row.

This is a small part of the “High Line,” an outdoor space built on top of an old elevated train track, running through what used to be called the Meat Packing District. Cities around the world have been using this project as a model for creating outdoor space in large cities. There was even talk of doing something like this over one of LA’s freeways.

We had one day of sunshine during our week, then mostly clouds and rain. We took the opportunity to go NYU (my alma mater) and Greenwich Village where I used to live. Both were pretty much the same.

What would New York. be without its skyscrapers? This is the West Side, with the Javits Center on the left.

I love NY’s subway system. Since I tried to go to at least a dozen events spread all throughout the city. I took the subway a lot. It’s the only practical way of getting around NY. This is a shot of a connecting pathway between two trains.

Ohh mann do I miss the nightlife of NYC! Restaurants and bars around every corner at all hours. The CitizenM was located next to China Town, Little Italy and SoHo. We tried each neighborhood.

I spoke at two events, both of which were located at Columbia University. The topic: how to “catalyze” innovation in the Global South.

Many of the sessions I went to were focused on climate change and its impact on the Global South (e.g. developing countries that tend to be located in the Southern Hemisphere). I think climate leaders are finally realizing that we can’t solve climate change by “just” fixing the Global North. Moreover, the relationship between the Global North and South is a major source of tension in the climate change world. Those living in the South think climate change is the fault (and therefore responsibility to fix) of the Global North ( think industrial revolution)

Binge Dining. Every night meant a new restaurant and bar! For those of us who live in the mountains, this was a taste of heaven. This was our favorite restaurant - Rintintin - a French restaurant in Little Italy.

Not what you want to see coming into your hotel - lots of firemen and fire trucks. Fortunately, it was a false alarm.

What’s new isn’t that new, if you know what I mean

Most of the neighborhoods we re-visited were totally changed. New stores, buildings, and neighborhood transformations. But here’s the unexpected thing- NYC hadn’t fundamentally changed in the 40 years we’d lived there. It was still crowded with people, subways were still the main mode of transportation, skyscrapers reached into the sky from every angle, it was still incredibly expensive, and there was an over-abundance of night life.

As we were walking down a street one night, Karen said, “I could live here again.” As could I.

It was good to feel at home in a city that was our home a long time ago.