Where Am I?
You are currently browsing stories tagged with Vanity
Bearded Strangers Unite!
by Rob Williams 01/08/2012Neighborhood: All Over
I was sitting on a bench on the Lower East Side, waiting for an appointment with my barber, when a homeless lady came shuffling by, dressed in black rags. These were particularly witchy rags, it seemed to me, like she’d bought them at a store as part of a Halloween costume. Like in addition to [...]
Appearances
by Sharon Silver 12/12/2011Neighborhood: Upper West Side
I bumped into Tim Gunn again the other day. That Tim Gunn, Project Runway guru Tim Gunn. It is Wednesday afternoon, right before Thanksgiving, and I had two seconds to get to the ATM before my son Leo’s ride dropped him off. As I am crossing Broadway, talking on my cell to my mother, I [...]
The Longevity of Women
by peter nolan smith 04/17/2011Neighborhood: Featured, Uncategorized, Upper West Side
My Uncle Carmine had a theory that the reason for the longevity of women was due to the fact that their sex makes men wait for them and every minute and hour of a man’s waiting is stored within the genetic code of a woman’s body. In America that advantage of life over death is [...]
Nina’s Wedding
by Marilyn Horan 02/12/2010Neighborhood: Park Slope
If my twenty-year-old sister Janet not been maid of honor, I would not even have been invited to my neighbor Nina Milano’s wedding. Nina was 18, one year younger than I, and her fiancé Larry was just 21 on their wedding day, not that unusual in 1969, when many young men, Larry included, were drafted [...]
Hope in a Jar
by Sandi Sonnenfeld 08/21/2008Neighborhood: Midtown
I’ve become obsessed by wrinkles. Particularly the ones surrounding my eyes and across the map of my forehead that extend like arid rivers across my skin’s terrain. About a year ago, I purchased my first wrinkle cream, Oil of Olay Anti-Aging Eye Gel ($12.99) from the local Duane Reade. This was followed by Olay’s Regenerist [...]
Out with the Old
by Fran Giuffre 08/21/2008Neighborhood: Brooklyn, Park Slope
“I probably should have done this ten years ago.” This was the theme that ran through my mind when I replayed the decision to leave my profession and take up teaching at the age of 49. But then getting out of the garment business was no easy feat. I felt like The Godfather’s Michael Corleone [...]
DISGUSTING!
by Roberta Allen 01/27/2008Neighborhood: Upper West Side
The Ansonia Hotel was not your usual hotel. But we were not your usual family. By the time I was born in 1945, the Ansonia had suffered years of neglect. The live seals that once frolicked in the lobby fountain were long gone. So was the fountain when I lived there as a child with [...]
The Silent Minority
by Joseph Scalia 07/12/2007Neighborhood: Jamaica, Queens
In the divorce papers filed by my ex-wife, the second one I mean, she said I never paid attention to her. While we were still living in the same house she also said, “You never listen to me.” “What?” I generally responded from the other room. For the record, I am, in fact, a great [...]
Foreign Tongues and Native Toenails
by Samantha V. Chang 07/02/2007Neighborhood: Upper West Side
Pretty much every woman in New York City gets her nails done and why not? There are at least six or seven per two-block radius, give or take. It’s a cheap and standard luxury here, courtesy of lots of supply, lots of demand. For those who tote their bright all-smiles and pleasant politeness, it’s the [...]
Eye Only Has Eyes For You
by Martine Byer 07/02/2007Neighborhood: Upper East Side
Luciana, my aesthetician, is administering my facial. I come to see her in this upscale New York city dermatologist’s office about every three months or when I just need a pick me up. As she is stroking my skin with a warm creamy make-up remover, we are sharing our usual catch up questions about kids, [...]
College Town
by Rebecca Chace 12/31/2006Neighborhood: Morningside Heights
I’m thinking about breaking the law. Not the law of the city and state of New York. The law of the neighborhood. I live in a college town. The boundaries of this town are roughly between 110th Street and 125th Street on the west side of Manhattan, though the holdings and minor fiefdoms extend well [...]
Blue on 14th Street
by Claudette Covey 12/31/2006Neighborhood: West Village
Blue never counts the raccoon coat in her estimate. By this time in 1984, t’s too old, even though from a distance it makes her look like a rich person. The coat, which falls to her ankles, is from the 1920s and was her grandfather’s. The inside label even spells out his name in baroque [...]
