New York City

Here's my list of the top reasons I live in NYC. The list is ever-evolving, for better or for worse, just like the city itself.

1. The view of the skyline from our apartment (at right)
2. The Gandhi statue in Union Square
3. Finding new bookstores
4. St. Mark’s Place
5. Seeing celebrities (Scarlett Johansson, Jimmy Fallon, Mila Kunis, and many more)
6. Book signings
7. Central Park Sketching Meetup
8. The Met (especially its secret storage rooms)
9. Shows and movies set in NYC, and seeing them filming – Spider-Man, How I Met Your Mother, Across the Universe, etc.
10. People watching
11. Stuyvesant St. from the church to St. Mark’s Books
12. Central Park botanical gardens – especially wisteria arbor
13. The city never sleeps – stores are always open
14. The High Line
15. Belvedere castle
16. Bond St.
17. Madison Square Park at night (and the fountain)
18. All tile mosaics in subway stations
19. Freeman Alley
20. The Met’s European sculpture gallery
21. Chipotle on St. Mark’s
22. David's Bagels bagels
23. Morningside Park overlooking the city
24. Street Fairs
25. Grand Central Station at night
26. Running into people you know
27. Walking north into Herald Square
28. The Gates
29. Bryant Park in winter – ice skating
30. Union Square art sellers
31. Stuyvesant Park
32. Giant painted movie posters on 23rd St.
33. Bleecker Street
34. Deliveries from everywhere all hours, and FreshDirect
35. Ol’ Manhattan Mall food court
36. South Street Seaport
37. Astor Place
38. Central Park Chess & Checkers House
39. New York City Halloween night
40. Idlewild Books
41. Central Park Alice statue and water there
42. Madison Square Life Insurance building colored lights
43. Park walk along East River
44. Father Demos Square
45. Tom Otterness sculptures in subway stations
46. NY Comic Con
47. Tudor City overlooking the UN
48. View of the skyline from the Q train over the bridge
49. Pasta Pasta Pasta
50. Bryant Park in summer
51. The fountain at 1st Ave and 31st St., and the tree lights
52. Cosmic Comics
53. Seeing the Empire State Building from 19th & Broadway
54. New Flatiron building pedestrian areas
55. The fact that industries cluster together – plant town, lampville, chess street
56. Central Park ravine
57. An absurd amount of magazines available everywhere
58. No-pants bar crawl (and homeless person)
59. McNally Jackson
60. People singing in the subway
61. All the cool bars/pubs in our area
62. Running into Meetup Groups
63. Central Park log huts on the hill
64. Seeing obscure theater shows
65. Teletubby in tree
66. Posto & Piola
67. Scary house on 18th St.
68. 20th street between 9th & 10th avenues
69. Imagine mosaic and nearby arbor
70. Columbus Circle fountain and globe statue
71. View of the Brooklyn Bridge from the Meetup office
72. View of the Statue of Liberty from the IAC building
73. Mars 2012
74. Times Square late late at night
75. Brooklyn public library
76. Church on Broadway and 10th St.
77. Fountain at 8th and Chipotle
78. Goya’s disasters of war – and NYC galleries in general
79. This photo: (fake Gap ad)
80. Stuy Town fountain lights in winter
81. Tree thing on 15th St.
82. Irving Place
83. Physical Graffiti building
84. Nice building on 4th st.
85. Dylan’s/CPK 60th St.
86. Union Square holiday village
87. Central Park rocks on the lake
88. Protests
89. Naturally hot apartments in the winter
90. Evolution store
91. View from old apartment
92. Intersection at 14th & 9th ave, including Apple Store
93. Superhero Supply Shop, Brooklyn
94. Roller skaters in Central Park
95. Staten Island Ferry
96. Chess players in Washington Square Park
97. World Financial Center mall
98. Weird statue at St. John the Divine's cathedral
99. The Frick Museum
100. The ol'-timey wooden escalators in Macy's

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