Spectacle

Pier 17

"New York provides not only a continuing excitation but also a spectacle that is continuing."
E.B. White, Here is New York

Safe Haven

"You may discover that the very aspects which make it most unendurable are what gives New York its meaning. Its inconsistencies and anonymity, its seeming indifference to you and every other individual is really what makes it a safe haven for individuals everywhere."
Maeve Brennan, quoted in Pain, Parties, Work

New York Ideology

Fifth Avenue

"New York was still New York. The whole culture was dominated by the ideology of shopping and fucking."
Bernard Henri Lévy, American Vertigo