Big Heart

Third Avenue

"My hometown New York also has a big heart. It doesn't like to see itself in that way, but we do come together when need be, often in moments of crisis."
Anthony Bourdain, Vogue Magazine

Spanish

"Spanish is the language of the early morning in Manhattan. At the bagel place where I get my coffee, everybody, customers and counter help alike, are papi or flaco or hermano—or addressed by country of origin. Doesn't matter if Spanish is is even your language. At this hour, it's what's spoken. It's how things are done."
Anthony Bourdain, Medium Raw

East Village

Target in the East Village

"I don't even want to talk about what the East Village used to be like compared to today. It was like Mad Max, post-apocalyptic. Now, it looks like a fucking Dave Matthews concert."
Anthony Bourdain, The Layover

New York Citizenship

JFK Airport

"You know what's great about New York? The threshold for citizenship as a New Yorker is actually pretty short. If you come to New York and you still like it two years after you arrived here, and you still think it's great and you're having a good time and you haven't been just totally ground down and go limping back to wherever the fuck you came from, you know what? You're in!"
Anthony Bourdain, The Layover

Destination Resort

Little Italy

"New York is becoming a destination resort, offering the same nonthreatening, family entertainment districts as Southern Florida or the 'new' Vegas. The way things are going, the city I love will soon present one unbroken vista of theme restaurants, chain stores, Starbucks, and merchandising outlets for the film studios—a smokefree Disney Zone and amusement park for every flabby-assed, no-necked fanny-packer and rube who thinks waiting on line outside the Hard Rock Café is a thrill ride. Survival of the fittest has been replaced, judging from the docile herds waddling through our streets in search of T-shirts and theater tickets, by survival of the fattest."
Anthony Bourdain, The Nasty Bits