NYC Extremes and Expectations

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It was an afternoon made up of extremes and "no judgments". Would we go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to see the high art of our civilization or walk the Upper East Side to see the boutique highlighted on the "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills?"

 

Because there are all kinds of art and civilizations, we went uptown to the boutique.

 

Meeting up in Penn Station after work, my daughter and I determined that the way to the store was via the "Q" uptown and the Second Avenue/72nd street stop. En route I realized I had been a suburbanite for too long— having only learned about this subway line's progress on local television news. Just like a tourist I was impressed by the chrome and steel especially the escalator— a nearly vertical rise to the street above.

 

But the best part of walking among the many shops in this area is the people watching: parents with young children pushing small strollers and carrying backpacks and violin cases. How different was their parenting from mine when parks and beaches may be limited but theatre, music and art abound?

 

Soon we reached the boutique, but it was gone. True to the fickleness of New York commercial real estate we found an empty storefront stripped bare except for straight pins and carpeting. The only thing left to do was to about face and pay tribute to these entrepreneurial housewives by pricing some Chanel purses at Bloomingdale's. To put it all in perspective, you can buy a green patent leather clutch or use the same dollars for a semester of community college.

 

The day went on with some other pleasant observations and absurdities— the city bus driver who liked my SuperBowl XLVIII hat, the $17 grilled cheese sold in the basement of Bloomies (thanks, but no thanks), the single sale of the day belonging to Duane Reade (four individual packs of plain M&Ms to bring home to the family). For a day in which there were no expectations, a day in which we welcomed distraction— this was one of the best days I have had in a long time.


A contributing writer to the Herald since 2012, Lauren Lev is an East Meadow resident and a direct marketing/advertising executive who teaches advertising and marketing communications courses at the Fashion Institute of Technology/SUNY, LIU Post and SUNY Old Westbury.