My First New York: Early Adventures in the Big City - Softcover

New York Magazine

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0061963941 ISBN 13: 9780061963940

Publisher: Ecco, 2012

Synopsis

A book as effervescent and alive as the city itself, "My First New York" features candid accounts of coming to New York by more than fifty remarkable people who have called the city home. The contributors - a mix of actors, artists, comedians, entrepreneurs, musicians, politicians, sports stars, writers, and others - reflect an enormous variety of experiences. Few have arrived with less than filmmaker Jonas Mekas, a concentration-camp survivor on a UN refugee ship; few have swanned in with more than designer Diane von Furstenberg, a princess. And an extraordinary number managed to land in New York just as something historic was happening - the artist Cindy Sherman arrived in the middle of the Summer of Sam; restaurateur Danny Meyer came on the day John Lennon was shot. Arranged chronologically, these moving and memorable true stories combine to form an impressionistic history of New York since the Great Depression. Taken together, their stories are testaments to a larger revelation, one that new arrivals of all stripes and all eras have experienced again and again in New York, regardless of how the city proceeds to treat them: what the songwriter Rufus Wainwright calls having cracked the code of living life to the fullest.

About this title

Review:

“These small, glittering essays make a reader feel that the sheer force of all these dreams, this persistence, might in fact rub off on you.” (Los Angeles Times)

“No matter how rich and famous they become, newcomers generally suffer through the most absurd living conditions as a rite of passage to becoming New Yorkers. It’s proven by the boldfaced contributors to My First New York.” (New York Post)

“A breezy celebration of the city. . . . 50 famous residents describe their first days in the city―days variously exhilarating, overwhelming, terrifying, or inspiring, but invariably unforgettable.” (Booklist)

“As wacky and wonderful as NYC itself.” (Modern Tonic)

“At time hilarious and heartbreaking, all these stories are inspiring―just like life in NYC.” (Star)

“Celebrate[s] all the quirkiness, beauty, creativity, eccentricity, and artistry that is New York City.” (Pop Matters)

From the Back Cover:

From some of the most remarkable people who have called the city home, come fifty-six candid accounts of long nights out and wild nights in, of first dates and lost loves, of memorable meals and miserable jobs, of slow walks up Broadway and fast subway rides downtown. From a mix of actors, artists, comedians, entrepreneurs, politicians, sports stars, writers, and more, these moving and memorable stories combine to form an impressionistic history of New York since the Great Depression, an accidental encyclopedia of New York hotspots through the ages, and a testament to a larger revelation, one that new arrivals of all stripes and eras have experienced again and again: what the songwriter Rufus Wainwright calls "having cracked the code of living life to the fullest."

About this edition

• Publisher: Ecco
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0061963941
• ISBN 13: 9780061963940
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256