Last week marked five years since I moved to New York. Three and a half years living in Queens, a year and half here in Brooklyn, and all the while working in Manhattan. I consider New York my adopted home. It's now a part of me and I'm a part of it. Maybe LA is in my future. Maybe I'll get back to living on the gulf coast of Florida again someday. For the moment though, at least until this lease is up, I'm a happy Brooklynite.
When the Phillies play the Yankees every year, I tend to post about it quite a bit on Facebook. This is because I'm a Yankee fan. Now, I'm not a Yankee fan because I moved to New York. I'm a Yankee fan because I come from a family of Yankee fans. My grandfather, my uncles and cousins, all Yankee Fans. Paul O'Neill was my favorite player as a kid. One of my favorite things to do during my summers as a little Mergs was to come in after a long day of wiffle ball, and plunk down to watch the night game on WPIX11. So, in spite of what some folks think, I didn't become a Yankee fan when I moved here. I was born into it.
As I was growing up and embracing the pinstripes, I was shunned and looked down upon by the red and powder blue wearing, Mike Schmidt adoring Philly Fans that seemed to outnumber me all my youth. According to them, I had it all wrong. I had no sense of loyalty to my home state. So, if Donny Baseball was ever to come strolling down Wilkes-Barre Blvd, and I wasn't willing to spit in his face, then I was a trader of sorts to where I where I was raised.
I've been to Phillies and Eagles games before. I could never, ever see myself as a Philly fan. I'm not about to bash those crazy, yet loyal folks thought. That's not what this is about. Even thought I'm happy to live the rest of my life without stepping in Citizen's Bank Park again, that doesn't mean I don't have a tremendous amount of respect for The City of Brotherly Love. Why would I not respect and admire the city that produced Rocky, the cheese steak, and It's Always Sunny. It's a part of PA.
Somewhere in the middle of supporting my baseball team via my status these last few years, I sensed that some of my online peeps got the idea that I was putting NY before PA on all fronts. One angry friend of mine even told me that, "I forgot where I came from." That is hog shit, gang. I love where I grew up. The older I get the more I love and respect Pennsylvania. I write about the city so much simply because I'm here. If I was still in the Wyoming Valley then I'd be writing about The Wyoming Valley. So as I continue my hard living here in NYC, I think about my home state often. The things I miss about it. I thought I'd share some of my favorite things about PA and why I love them and miss them so.
Wings - One simplest joys of the bar food world. A chicken wing covered in some type of spicy sauce, with blue cheese and celery on the side. I come from a place where you're no more than a fifteen minute drive to a wing night ANY NIGHT OF THE WEEK. Each bar or restaurant back home with a recipe all their own. Kelsey's, Major League, Pizza Bella, Frog Pond, I miss you guys! You take those little drums and flats and make magic happen. I've made a pilgrimage to Anchor Bar in Buffalo, NY. You my friends, are simply better. Much better. Another thing I love about wings back home is that 99% of the time, they're served in an establishment that also serves...
Pizza - Yes I know NY is the undisputed pizza capitol of our country. While the round Neoplitan style here is plentiful and delicious, is it rare that a pizzeria in NY will also serve wings or that a wing spot will also serve pizza. This is tough because where I'm from, Pizza and Wings go together like PB & J. It's just how it is. Besides not being able to get this dynamic duo together, I miss the different take on pizza that so many places in PA have. That square, sometimes even fried, crust that is just not found in the big apple. Yes, you can find a Grandma Pie on every block here, but I've never seen anything resembling the artisan genius of Kelsey's, Newtown Cafe, and Pizza Lovin.
The Weather - I consider myself lucky to grow up with the four seasons. Seeing the leaves change, the snow blanket my yard, the cherry blossoms bloom, and swimming pools across the neighborhood come to life, was a staple of growing up in PA. I never thought about it as a kid or even as a teenager. I took it for granted. It wasn't until I moved here that I realized what I had. NY has four season too. They're just different. Cold, BlackDirtySnowCold, Hot, and Balls Hot. Somewhere in the middle of that you get a glimpse of nice weather but if fades quickly.
The Bar Specials - Dollar Pitchers, 50 cent drafts, Penny Til You Pee. They're what made my tolerance what it is today. Last time I was in Bloomsburg I spent a whole night getting sloshed at Clancy's. When I told the kid to close my tab I though, "Okay, bought two rounds for everybody, five Jameson's and four Buds for me, three rounds of shots, and the two vodka and sodas for the girl I thought was digging me, but is now nowhere to be found. Should be around $100.00. $115.00 maybe." Forty bucks. I mean, ya gotta love that.
Driving - Yeah, $2.50 will get you anywhere in NY on the subway. Who the fuck wants to ride the subway? Sure, you can take a cab. Cab from my work to my home, $28.50. C'mon man.
Going to the Movies - First matinee of the day at Cinemark in Moosic, still my favorite movie theater in the world, $4.50. Full Price, $8.00. NYC $12.50 regular, $16.50 3D, $22.50 IMAX. Tack on my nacho and candy habit and I have to start saving now to go see The Dark Knight Rises. Combined with the overcrowded, over chatted theater, it's like playing Cinema Russin Roulette every time ya go to AMC.
The Cost of Living in General - This is what $300,000.00 gets ya in PA. This is what $300,000.00 gets ya in NY.
The Lack of Pretentious Douche - Throw a rock in NY and you'll hit a D-bag. For every quality human being I've met here, and I keep company with some truly incredible people, I've come across a hundred yuppie jerkoffs. People so please and satisfied with themselves and their parents money that I can hardly stomach it anymore. NY is a place that revolves around the dollar, and too many people here love their money to a point that it overrides their ability to practice basic manners. It's all over the island of Manhattan and it is growing by the second.
I could go on with Bazaars, the outdoors, Abe's Hot Dogs...but I won't. And after five years do I still think is NY cool? Bet your ass I do. It's very, very cool. It amazes me everyday.These are just a few of things I miss about where I'm from. So even though I'll continue on in an abusive relationship with a very sexy woman named, New York City, part of my heart will always belong to my first love. PA.
Happy Wednesday Gang.
Wow, you came from PA and immediately got an apartment in Queens. Good for you. Most people stay with friends up here for a week or two while they look for a place. But if you did that, you'd surely mention that and thank them for giving you a couch to sleep on. So, I guess that didn't happen.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I'd argue that there are as many Yankee fans in NEPA as there are Phillie Fans. In my circle of friends, there are more.
As a fellow PA Ex-pat, I hear what you're talking about. Here's my comments on your comments:
Wings: I don't know how it is by you, but up in the suburbs, it's nigh impossible to get mild wings with any sauce on them. You order mild wings around here, you get tiny pieces of fried chicken. That's not right, man.
Pizza: Or the artesan genius of Old Forge pizza. In the NYC area, you'll get stone hearth baked, foo foo pizza that really doesn't qualify as pizza. In PA, there is far much more diversity while still be a pie.
Weather: Not much difference out here in the burbs, so I can't comment about that.
Bar Specials: Well, everything is cheaper in NEPA. Back there, you can get a pitcher of beer for $5. Around here, you'll be lucky if that gets you one glass. And that's at a dive bar too.
Driving: Driving is impossible in the burbs. It's not as homicidally bad as driving in the city, but out here you have people who drive Lexus SUVs who think since they had loads of dough, the traffic laws don't apply to them. Merge without a signal? Their entitled! Pull out in front of you then go 10 mph below the speed limit? It's their right.
Going to the Movies: It is more expensive here. But crowding and noisy can be avoided if you wait a week to see a new film. All the idjits go the first weekend. After that, regular people come out and see it.
Cost of living: I live in a condo. It's a glorified apartment. I could have bought four houses in NEPA for what we paid for it.
Lack of pretentious douche: There is more douche per capita in the NYC area than anywhere else in the country. And an overwhelming sense of entitlement too.
Please let it be know to any and all readers of this blog that my good friends Bill and Jen opened their home to me not once, but twice while I was making my way from PA to NY. They treated me as if I was a member of their own family and made a difficult transition far, far easier. They were not mentioned in the "Keystone" post because any and all references to NY, were to New York City in particular and not Westchester where I lived with them for a few weeks. If I ever post about people who have inspired and supported me along my journey in life without question or a second thought, they would be the first two people I mention after my family.
DeleteSee, was that hard?
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