So Time Out came out with this issue with the 50 Best Blocks in NYC. And guess what fancy pants? I’ve lived adjacent to two of them! The first one:
“33 East 2nd Street between First and Second Avenues, East Village
The collection of brick row houses, which historians estimate date from the 1820s, is sublime, and one of the oldest in the East Village. The cool New York City Marble Cemetery sometimes opens its gates (an asset in particular for solitude-seeking goths).”
Where I currently reside near. I love the cemetery. I always like to walk by on that side of the street. It’s one of the most startling things. You’re walking down a normal street and all of a sudden there’s a cemetery. Flynn wanted to have a photo scavenger hunt on a date in the East Village and I suggested find a cemetery. I told him he should have just had me design one for him since it’s no fun to go on a scavenger hunt knowing the answers*. Still. (By the way, there are at least 3 cemeteries that you could use for this.)
Another one was find Big Buck Hunter(I or II). If you are unfamiliar with this video game, then you haven’t lived. And if you have played this game, or are going to, play in Texas where the bonus round is shooting frogs**.
The other locale with the nice block is the last of the list, #50. This is when I lived in Queens in Woodside.
“50 49th Street between Skillman and 39th Avenues, Sunnyside Gardens, Queens
The community park here makes an otherwise nondescript block a great place for families and neighbors—people talk with fierce pride about where they live. Garages and carports ease the parking burden; even better, having a stake in the park fosters a strong sense of connection.”
The park they refer to is Doughboy Park which is on a hill. It does really tie the area together. It also seems like the most likely place to deal drugs. I suppose those are not mutually exclusive though, right? Also, my friends the Beck’s used to live right on the edge of the park and one time Lindy and I saw a couple having sex in the middle of the day there against a tree. See! It really is a park for everything.
I’ll have to check the list again to see if there’s anything in Flushing where I first lived when I moved to New York. Take a look, is your block on the list??
* if you would like me to design a scavenger hunt for your upcoming date, I will
** harder than it sounds
For a year I lived on 87 E. 2nd street, right across from the Marble Cemetary. I think it’s the oldest one in Manhattan. And someone famous is buried there, though I forget who. They filmed a few scenes of Angels in America there.
Then I moved a hop, skip and a jump away to 1st street and 1st avenue (the nexus of the universe). Those were some good times. It really did feel like the center of the universe. Now I live across from Queensboro Bridge, which doesn’t really feel like the center of the universe.
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