Chameleon of a City

Bowery

"It seemed like New York was changing every time I blinked. One way one moment, and then completely different the next—a chameleon of a city that never fit into one box, that never clung to one descriptor. It was always something new, something exciting, something never before seen."
Ashley Poston, The Dead Romantics

Land of Geniuses

College Walk at Columbia University

"Oh New York! Was I living in total darkness? Had I ever seen a truly modern beauty? No, not until I set my eyes on you. Ah beautiful city! Are all the natural and human resources deposited in you? Who transformed you into such perfect beauty? Is it the hands of men? Are their hands different from other hands? A land of geniuses. Oh New York, tell me, tell me."
Anne Tanyi-Tang, Two Plays

Romantic Relationship

Williamsburg

"I think New York is full of people who have escaped from wherever they’ve come from, unless they were born there. It’s still my favourite city and I still have so much more of a romantic relationship with New York than any other place."
St. Vincent, MOJO Magazine

Rewashing Itself

Central Park Reservoir and Fifth Avenue

"As grimy as it is, New York is constantly rewashing itself and endlessly redefining what it means, and a new group of people will discover that. I just love the crap out of that. The key to New York is that you don't fall in love with your New York--just be sure to get out of the way and watch what's coming because that's a good way to get hit by a bicycle cab."
John Popper, Suck and Blow

Fabulous Way

Lower East Side

"New York was cheap, poor, run-down and dangerous. In its own fabulous way of course."
Glenn O'Brien, quoted in Sothebys.com

Songs to Sing

Spotlight on Broadway

"This Broadway's got
It's got a lot of songs to sing
If I knew the tunes I might join in
I'll go my way alone
Grow my own, my own seeds shall be sown, in New York City."
Bernie Taupin, Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters

Tourists in New York

South Street Seaport

"It's too easy to spot tourists. The sensible sneakers, maps, and cameras are one dead giveaway. But the real trick is to watch their eyes. New Yorkers don't bother swiveling their gaze to take in the whole view anymore. Tourists walk around with gawking eyes like soup spoons, ready to slurp everything up."
Hannah Orenstein, Love at First Like

Work Ethic

Chelsea

"What's cool about New York is that people really prioritize work here and there's a lot of strength in that. It can be distracting and it's obviously hard because it's a lot of comparison, but I think—and I'm trying to dance around saying 'hustle' because that's really corny—the work ethic and the drive to be here is what has kept it NY."
Paloma Elsesser, Vice

Glittering Gifts

Zuccotti Park

"Almost anything might happen to you in New York . . . the fabulous city like a great Christmas tree, so brilliantly lighted, with so many glittering gifts perpetually being handed out."
Vivian Gornick, The Odd Woman and the City

Fate in New York

Rose Hill

"One's fate in New York relies on a person's ability to strike a healthy balance between Dionysian life-lust and Apollonian moral stamina and self-restraint."
Robert Dowling, Slumming in New York

Iconic Place

Top of the Rock

"New York is an iconic place, and one of the symptoms of iconography is that we graft our identities onto that image, borrow the certainty of its familiar dimensions, at least until we find our own."
Melissa Febos, The Atlantic

The City That Won't Say No

Park Avenue South

"New York is a city that's not going to tell you no. It's only you who can tell you when you have to go home and go to bed. So unless you have a great sense of personal responsibility, you can get lost here."
Lenny Kaye, quoted in All Hopped Up and Ready to Go

Full of Characters

Puck Building

"He was an interesting character, but New York is full of characters, they're all over the place."
Lawrence Block, A Dance At The Slaughterhouse

Resilient New Yorkers

West Chelsea

"I'm a New Yorker and this is my home. I knew that New Yorkers are resilient and that New York City would not only survive, but thrive."
Donald Trump, Never Give Up

Relationship Ecology

Downtown Manhattan

"New York has the worst ecology for any kind of relationship. How is it possible to sustain anything when there's always someone else on the horizon?"
Marlowe Granados, Happy Hour

My New York

Brooklyn Bridge

"Just as I hit the midpoint of the Brooklyn Bridge, the sun reflects off the Midtown skyscrapers one by one, making the whole city sparkle. It's my Manhattan now, my Brooklyn, my New York. For the first time ever, I feel like I belong."
Gemma Burgess, Brooklyn Girls

Exhausting Back and Forth

Times Square subway station

"Living in New York requires using all your muscles—that's what's so exhausting; the going back and forth. But it's also what makes us so strong and resilient; we are constantly adjusting, constantly in flex. What's next is in our hands."
Thomas Dyja, New York, New York, New York

Having Money in New York

Fifth Avenue

"Mom used to say New York was a great place to have no money. There's so much free art and beauty, so much incredible, cheap food. But having money in New York, I remember her saying one winter as we window-shopped on the Upper East Side, Libby and I hanging on to her gloved hands, now that would be magical."
Emily Henry, Book Lovers

City, Country, World

Carlon Arms Hotel

"I am writing in a hotel in New York, which is simultaneously a city and a country and a world."
Yelena Bonner, quoted in The City

Island of Misfit Toys

Times Square

"I always feel New York is an island of misfit toys. It’s a place where you can really be true to yourself or come to discover yourself."
Thom Browne, Vanity Fair

Mythic City

Midtown Manhattan

"We lived seven years in New York, not quite consecutively, but my love affair with the city stretches way back before that, and I know it will never end. For me, beyond having been my home, it’s always been a mythic city, a city of dreams and ambitions and camaraderie and romance."
Anaïs Mitchell, Spin

Underdog City

"Spot" at Hassenfeld Children's Hospital

"New York is always New York, and it almost feels like an underdog city right now. I feel very proud to be here. I love it."
Mark Ronson, GQ