City Dweller by Birth
I have always been convinced that the first 4 years of my life being on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago in a high-rise made me a birthright urbanite. My brother, 4 years younger, began life in a suburban home we moved to in Michigan, then on to another home in New Jersey, and has a disdain for cities. I live in Downtown Los Angeles, this ever-growing epicenter of roughly 2 square miles that was left as wasteland up to about 20 years ago. We are pioneers, arriving from the Westside about 12 years ago. I visit NYC, certainly Manhattan, more than my brother, who is 60 miles away in NJ, opposed to my being transcontinental. The only times I hear of him in the city is for a Yankees game on a rare occasion and maybe a couple times for medical procedures.
My brother and I have little in common, but one thing has always been the enjoyment (I stop short of "profound love" as that goes to far stronger aficionados) of musical theater (my range is a little broader). Among the ONLY things we ever went to Downtown Detroit for in our years there was theater. The first show we saw was Annie when I was 8 or 9, making my brother 4 or 5. We both then went to see Camelot with my Mother. I think I went with my parents to see A Chorus Line. These are before I was 11 years old and I feel like I am missing at least one other. But, overall, Detroit at the time otherwise offered little and was mostly dangerous. Once we moved to New Jersey, the City was a mere 35 miles away and my oyster, something I had relished every summer I visited my Nana and Uncle for as long as I could imagine with only had dabbles of visits to the Big Apple until now.
The most common "family outing" following our move remained theater, all the way up to my Mother's early passing some 26 years later. I would guess from 1985 to 1991 (move to Chris finishing high school, me my BA and my parents' divorce), we as a family, or some collective thereof went to at least 6 Broadway shows including Les Miserables, Cats, 42nd Street, Into The Woods, Phantom of the Opera and more. My Mother sent me with one of her former students to see Song and Dance starring Bernadette Peters, still one of my favorite Andrew Lloyd Webber shows albeit less known. During that period to this day, seeing theater is a very important part of my life. I've probably seen no less than 300 various performance of just theater, never mind concerts and other live performances all around the world. I've had great fortune to be at the right places at the right times for seeing some most 'notable' cast members. I don't know if Chris has seen a non-school production in 20 or more years.
Being a good big brother during high school, I took Chris and his friend both to Ratt with Poison and KISS concerts at Madison Square Garden, the KISS concert being the only one somewhat enjoyable for me. My Mother (and the parent of Christopher's friend) felt comfortable with my escorting them because we could take trains, etc. She would have been far less likely; hell I would have been far less likely, to want to escort them to Cobo Hall or Pontiac Silverdome.
Getting out of Michigan, which I had often referred to as a long-term prison sentence (which wasn't entirely warranted but I was very unhappy), meant new opportunity. New Jersey was already some of my happiest memories of my childhood from our summer vacations. New York City was the grand prize. For Christopher, he was being uprooted from everything and everyone he knew and his interests and goals differed. He also is 4 years younger and at ages 12 and 16 there is a definite spread. However, at 46 and 50, I can say our vastly different perspectives on living (and that goes beyond where) are great. But, while I was very young, I do recall and certainly have seen the 8mm movies and pictures of being taken in a carriage, then stroller from our apartment to the Lincoln Park Zoo. I was on city buses with my Mother probably from infancy and certainly by the time I was walking. I understood traffic signals and staying on a sidewalk before pre-school. Christopher may have gone to the Detroit Zoo once or twice in 12 years, by car. We had no sidewalks in West Bloomfield and not even many traffic signals for years so he could have easily gone the first decade of his life in suburban bliss not knowing such basics. The only time he would have ridden a school bus daily was at Morristown High School and on field trips. My Mother and I took taxi cabs every week in the beginning of my life, and my husband and I are looking to sell our car and live mostly with taking a Lyft and using a scooter, along with our subway. Again, an alien concept to Christopher who has 2 cars even though he is the only driver.
I recall being really young, in fact during Nixon's resignation, going out to the Hamptons (NY) and crossing the George Washington Bridge for the first time. This guy was yelling at Nana that my door wasn't totally closed and she thought he was crazy. He was a "hippie" after all. I was so in awe crossing the bridge and looking at the skyline I proclaimed "it's too bad George Washington wasn't alive to see this, he'd be impressed." I later remember walking around bored out of my mind on what seemed like a very large yard with huge trees (I don't recall it being on water and since I was 5 it would make sense I wasn't allowed out to the sound or ocean alone) in our only trip to a place my Uncle once had some partial ownership in out on Long Island while my Mother and Nana cried hysterically over Seagram 7 and Nixon told the nation he was leaving office. I don't hear the question asked often, but yes I know where I was on August 9, 1974, at 5 years old; in Westhampton, NY.
Some years later, I had a cousin who I still don't know how she is related to me or what her name is, other than that she was from Oklahoma, tall, blonde and from the McPhee side of the family, so my Grandmother Hutchinson's (Nana) side. Her visit provided me with my long awaited trip to the World Trade Center and first of what would be hundreds of train rides on NJ Transit into Manhattan. I proclaimed on the PATH train as we went under the Hudson River that it would be nice if they had windows so we could see. My Mother or Nana responded with "maybe we would find Jimmy Hoffa."
While attending Cranbrook School, we had a period called interim. Over this spring break period, you could travel to various places to learn about new places, history, skills and self improvement. I desperately wanted to organize a group to England. We had budget limits as this was already a stretch of an additional expense for many families already paying high tuition, books and other costs. Showing my first talents in being a travel planner, I scurried, searched, spent hours on the phone (remember, no internet) and got us within $100 of budget for the one week trip. Someone noted that not everyone would have a passport and that it was not only an additional expense, but took time. In short, it was not approved. Instead, I made a trip to Boston happen. New England would have to do if England wasn't to happen this year. Our flight back was routed through La Guardia. I was allowed to not continue on as long as I was met by a family member. Nana took a bus from Sparta into Manhattan, then another to the airport to meet me; an endeavor only for the most resilient, not ot mention a 65-year-old woman on her own. We went to Brooks Brothers as I had shirts to return or something but really wanted to see the store, not that we didn't have them in Michigan or New Jersey; it wasn't the same. If I recall, it might have had something to do with my learning that Ralph Lauren started as a tie salesman at Brooks Brothers in New York. We went to Radio City Music Hall. Nana, who had already spent probably 3+ hours hauling herself from Northwest New Jersey to Queens into Manhattan, then stood in line for 2 hours to get us tickets to see Five, Six, Seven Eight Dance
with Sandy Duncan. While she waited in line, I was allowed to go take a look at Rockefeller Center, stop and light a candle for Great Grandma Hutchinson at St.Patrick's Cathedral (still the one Catholic thing I will do when at a Catholic church for each of my deceased family members, half of whom are not Catholic) and then, after checking in a couple times, I got to meet her at Lindy's. It was there I was introduced to the New York cheesecake. I had heard of, seen on TV and in movies, but now I was there eating it for myself. It was love at first sight [and taste]. I am not a huge sweets person, but cheesecake, and it has to live up to a high bar, is at the top of the list. Years later, I was a bit heartbroken to see Lindy's gone as much or more for the memories than the cheesecake itself. Nana and I started what became a staple stop in taking people into the City for years.
A couple of summers later, a few years before we moved there, my Aunt Linda took me into New York to meet up with my Uncle Frank who worked just blocks from the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan. I was given NYC survival skills and learned some great negotiation techniques that day. We rode the subway and I was told how far to keep my hand from another, not to ever make eye contact, never look intimidated. We went to the jewelry district and I learned to "deal" and brought back my Mother a gold "tennis" bracelet at quite the steal after walking away I don't know how many times. We went to Trader Vic's at the Plaza Hotel. It was there I was served my first cocktail.
Chris was too young to remember the Hamptons. He didn't go to the World Trade Center with our cousin, though I took him into the City at least a couple times. I know I had taken him to the World Trade Center, a few other places as a teenager and I bet to Lindy's too, though he more often than not had little interest in going into the city other than to see a play. I have no idea if he has ever been to Radio City Music Hall. I would put money down he has never been to Carnegie Hall and may not even really know of it. Chris went to college outside Philadelphia, then in Western Connecticut. He has lived in northwest New Jersey, closer to the Delaware Water Gap (as in "way out" from the city) for years. He lives in a gated community that is nice but 5 miles or more from a grocery store. I live in a condo above one. My year in Vermont (see earlier entry), is the only time I lived in an area of less than 500,000 residents. I spent a couple of years in Riverside, CA which is a mid-size city in the "Inland Empire," home to over 4 million people, so hardly small, that is also an extended suburb of Los Angeles. But that sprawl I loathed as well. The only thing I adored was my craftsman home located in a historic district on the edge of Downtown Riverside; not surprising one of the only areas that was truly more of a city. My husband and I love to visit all sorts of environments, but as we look long-term towards retirement I don't imagine us really wanting to live somewhere more "remote," "quieter," or similar words that make me quiver, where we can "slow down." Thankfully, we have a couple more decades to really determine our best solution. Chris is undoubtedly like a far greater number of Americans and want even more peace and tranquility than the gated wood he lives in today. Perhaps I am fooling myself and will feel differently down the road. But my history has not shown this to be the case yet.
3550 N. Lake Shore Drive #602, Chicago, Ill
My first home
My brother and I have little in common, but one thing has always been the enjoyment (I stop short of "profound love" as that goes to far stronger aficionados) of musical theater (my range is a little broader). Among the ONLY things we ever went to Downtown Detroit for in our years there was theater. The first show we saw was Annie when I was 8 or 9, making my brother 4 or 5. We both then went to see Camelot with my Mother. I think I went with my parents to see A Chorus Line. These are before I was 11 years old and I feel like I am missing at least one other. But, overall, Detroit at the time otherwise offered little and was mostly dangerous. Once we moved to New Jersey, the City was a mere 35 miles away and my oyster, something I had relished every summer I visited my Nana and Uncle for as long as I could imagine with only had dabbles of visits to the Big Apple until now.
The most common "family outing" following our move remained theater, all the way up to my Mother's early passing some 26 years later. I would guess from 1985 to 1991 (move to Chris finishing high school, me my BA and my parents' divorce), we as a family, or some collective thereof went to at least 6 Broadway shows including Les Miserables, Cats, 42nd Street, Into The Woods, Phantom of the Opera and more. My Mother sent me with one of her former students to see Song and Dance starring Bernadette Peters, still one of my favorite Andrew Lloyd Webber shows albeit less known. During that period to this day, seeing theater is a very important part of my life. I've probably seen no less than 300 various performance of just theater, never mind concerts and other live performances all around the world. I've had great fortune to be at the right places at the right times for seeing some most 'notable' cast members. I don't know if Chris has seen a non-school production in 20 or more years.
Being a good big brother during high school, I took Chris and his friend both to Ratt with Poison and KISS concerts at Madison Square Garden, the KISS concert being the only one somewhat enjoyable for me. My Mother (and the parent of Christopher's friend) felt comfortable with my escorting them because we could take trains, etc. She would have been far less likely; hell I would have been far less likely, to want to escort them to Cobo Hall or Pontiac Silverdome.
Getting out of Michigan, which I had often referred to as a long-term prison sentence (which wasn't entirely warranted but I was very unhappy), meant new opportunity. New Jersey was already some of my happiest memories of my childhood from our summer vacations. New York City was the grand prize. For Christopher, he was being uprooted from everything and everyone he knew and his interests and goals differed. He also is 4 years younger and at ages 12 and 16 there is a definite spread. However, at 46 and 50, I can say our vastly different perspectives on living (and that goes beyond where) are great. But, while I was very young, I do recall and certainly have seen the 8mm movies and pictures of being taken in a carriage, then stroller from our apartment to the Lincoln Park Zoo. I was on city buses with my Mother probably from infancy and certainly by the time I was walking. I understood traffic signals and staying on a sidewalk before pre-school. Christopher may have gone to the Detroit Zoo once or twice in 12 years, by car. We had no sidewalks in West Bloomfield and not even many traffic signals for years so he could have easily gone the first decade of his life in suburban bliss not knowing such basics. The only time he would have ridden a school bus daily was at Morristown High School and on field trips. My Mother and I took taxi cabs every week in the beginning of my life, and my husband and I are looking to sell our car and live mostly with taking a Lyft and using a scooter, along with our subway. Again, an alien concept to Christopher who has 2 cars even though he is the only driver.
I recall being really young, in fact during Nixon's resignation, going out to the Hamptons (NY) and crossing the George Washington Bridge for the first time. This guy was yelling at Nana that my door wasn't totally closed and she thought he was crazy. He was a "hippie" after all. I was so in awe crossing the bridge and looking at the skyline I proclaimed "it's too bad George Washington wasn't alive to see this, he'd be impressed." I later remember walking around bored out of my mind on what seemed like a very large yard with huge trees (I don't recall it being on water and since I was 5 it would make sense I wasn't allowed out to the sound or ocean alone) in our only trip to a place my Uncle once had some partial ownership in out on Long Island while my Mother and Nana cried hysterically over Seagram 7 and Nixon told the nation he was leaving office. I don't hear the question asked often, but yes I know where I was on August 9, 1974, at 5 years old; in Westhampton, NY.
Some years later, I had a cousin who I still don't know how she is related to me or what her name is, other than that she was from Oklahoma, tall, blonde and from the McPhee side of the family, so my Grandmother Hutchinson's (Nana) side. Her visit provided me with my long awaited trip to the World Trade Center and first of what would be hundreds of train rides on NJ Transit into Manhattan. I proclaimed on the PATH train as we went under the Hudson River that it would be nice if they had windows so we could see. My Mother or Nana responded with "maybe we would find Jimmy Hoffa."
While attending Cranbrook School, we had a period called interim. Over this spring break period, you could travel to various places to learn about new places, history, skills and self improvement. I desperately wanted to organize a group to England. We had budget limits as this was already a stretch of an additional expense for many families already paying high tuition, books and other costs. Showing my first talents in being a travel planner, I scurried, searched, spent hours on the phone (remember, no internet) and got us within $100 of budget for the one week trip. Someone noted that not everyone would have a passport and that it was not only an additional expense, but took time. In short, it was not approved. Instead, I made a trip to Boston happen. New England would have to do if England wasn't to happen this year. Our flight back was routed through La Guardia. I was allowed to not continue on as long as I was met by a family member. Nana took a bus from Sparta into Manhattan, then another to the airport to meet me; an endeavor only for the most resilient, not ot mention a 65-year-old woman on her own. We went to Brooks Brothers as I had shirts to return or something but really wanted to see the store, not that we didn't have them in Michigan or New Jersey; it wasn't the same. If I recall, it might have had something to do with my learning that Ralph Lauren started as a tie salesman at Brooks Brothers in New York. We went to Radio City Music Hall. Nana, who had already spent probably 3+ hours hauling herself from Northwest New Jersey to Queens into Manhattan, then stood in line for 2 hours to get us tickets to see Five, Six, Seven Eight Dance
with Sandy Duncan. While she waited in line, I was allowed to go take a look at Rockefeller Center, stop and light a candle for Great Grandma Hutchinson at St.Patrick's Cathedral (still the one Catholic thing I will do when at a Catholic church for each of my deceased family members, half of whom are not Catholic) and then, after checking in a couple times, I got to meet her at Lindy's. It was there I was introduced to the New York cheesecake. I had heard of, seen on TV and in movies, but now I was there eating it for myself. It was love at first sight [and taste]. I am not a huge sweets person, but cheesecake, and it has to live up to a high bar, is at the top of the list. Years later, I was a bit heartbroken to see Lindy's gone as much or more for the memories than the cheesecake itself. Nana and I started what became a staple stop in taking people into the City for years.
A couple of summers later, a few years before we moved there, my Aunt Linda took me into New York to meet up with my Uncle Frank who worked just blocks from the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan. I was given NYC survival skills and learned some great negotiation techniques that day. We rode the subway and I was told how far to keep my hand from another, not to ever make eye contact, never look intimidated. We went to the jewelry district and I learned to "deal" and brought back my Mother a gold "tennis" bracelet at quite the steal after walking away I don't know how many times. We went to Trader Vic's at the Plaza Hotel. It was there I was served my first cocktail.
Chris was too young to remember the Hamptons. He didn't go to the World Trade Center with our cousin, though I took him into the City at least a couple times. I know I had taken him to the World Trade Center, a few other places as a teenager and I bet to Lindy's too, though he more often than not had little interest in going into the city other than to see a play. I have no idea if he has ever been to Radio City Music Hall. I would put money down he has never been to Carnegie Hall and may not even really know of it. Chris went to college outside Philadelphia, then in Western Connecticut. He has lived in northwest New Jersey, closer to the Delaware Water Gap (as in "way out" from the city) for years. He lives in a gated community that is nice but 5 miles or more from a grocery store. I live in a condo above one. My year in Vermont (see earlier entry), is the only time I lived in an area of less than 500,000 residents. I spent a couple of years in Riverside, CA which is a mid-size city in the "Inland Empire," home to over 4 million people, so hardly small, that is also an extended suburb of Los Angeles. But that sprawl I loathed as well. The only thing I adored was my craftsman home located in a historic district on the edge of Downtown Riverside; not surprising one of the only areas that was truly more of a city. My husband and I love to visit all sorts of environments, but as we look long-term towards retirement I don't imagine us really wanting to live somewhere more "remote," "quieter," or similar words that make me quiver, where we can "slow down." Thankfully, we have a couple more decades to really determine our best solution. Chris is undoubtedly like a far greater number of Americans and want even more peace and tranquility than the gated wood he lives in today. Perhaps I am fooling myself and will feel differently down the road. But my history has not shown this to be the case yet.
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