Scary New York

Townhouse in Gramercy Park

"Living in New York is scary. Here I am living in this lovely townhouse, and when I walk outside I'm right in the middle of all the terrible things going on."
Neil Simon, Conversations with Neil Simon

New York Identity

"I liked not losing my New York identity and my New York way of saying 'wintuh' in February and 'waituh' in restaurants. When I walked the streets of New York, cops in police cars would call out, 'Hey, Neil. How you doin'?'  with just enough of the sound of Little Italy or a hint of an Irish brogue passed on down through their family of patrolmen. It made New York seem like a small town to me."
Neil Simon, The Play Goes On

(Not) Mecca

Lincoln Center

"Forty square blocks bounded by Lincoln Center on the west and Cinema II on the east is not the center of the goddamn universe. I grant you it's an exciting, vibrant, stimulating, fabulous city, but it's not Mecca... It just smells like it."
William Warren (Alan Alda), California Suite

NY vs LA

Long Island City

"When its 100 degrees in New York, it's 72 in Los Angeles. When its 30 degrees in New York, in Los Angeles it's still 72. However, there are 6 million interesting people in New York, and 72 in Los Angeles."
Neil Simon, Playboy Magazine