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Leaving on a jet plane

March 17, 2005 By pia

I used to be a much more sophisticated traveler. I used to think nothing of going to Europe for a weekend or a month.

Now I go to California because I’m in love with the vastness, the unknown, the noirish quality I find from having read too many mystery books set there.

Frankly Europe’s become too expensive for me right now, and I know the east coast like the back of my hand

I realize that there’s a great heartland in between coasts but I need the ocean. I live for the ocean. It calms me down and makes me appreciate everything in life.

I used to be a beach snob but a couple of years ago I wandered into Sheepshead Bay and walked to Brighton Beach then Coney Island.

I fell in love with Brighton’s Russian quality. Women with flab hanging out of their bikinis–okay that wasn’t a high point.

But it’s just a subway ride away, and on those days when its too cumbersome to go to Long Island or somewhere else, it’s perfect.

I shouldn’t have qualified that. It’s like a trip to another world; the boardwalk and streets are bustling. It has some of New York’s best and (to me) weirdest night life. The night clubs are perfect Russian–lots of vodka, lots of toasts–have no idea what they’re saying but who cares. People dress up. Women wear very expensive designer gowns as a matter of course. It’s like being transported across worlds.

I have Russian friends so I go along for the ride. It’s a New York and a life style unlike any other part of the city.

I also bring out of town visitors there if they know New York and want to see something really different. They love going to the beach during the day, and the night life.

It did take my friend and I nine hours to get home after the black out, but that’s a whole other story. In retrospect it was fun.

What part of your city, town, area, do you take people to that’s not on the usual tourist beat?

Filed Under: 9/11, New York Stories Tagged With: 9/11, New York Stories, personal essays

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Comments

  1. mrsmogul says

    March 17, 2005 at 9:38 pm

    I am still a beach snob. When I am in NJ visiting my sister, I like to go to Bradley Beach. Gorgeous place! We’re so alike I have to be near the water. When we buy our home in US it has to be by the beach too!

    ps. i responded on my comment box but i will write it here too: It’s How Clean Is Your House

  2. strawberrie-shortcake says

    March 17, 2005 at 10:26 pm

    I am a fish! …but having been in Ky much of my life I have not had the luxury of being snotty beach b**** 😉 …Just a little river rat. I love to sit on the point with my toes in the water ..just doesn’t get any better ..and the wine is not bad either;)

  3. Ally says

    March 17, 2005 at 11:07 pm

    When I lived near Cardiff, in South Wales, I used to like to take people ‘up the valleys’, to the old, defunct mining towns. They are linear settlements huddling between the hilltops, which in the winter are terribly bleak and in the summer glorious.

    The towns themselves seem thirty or forty years in the past, with high unemployment and people reluctant to travel more than five or six miles to work.

    It was like visiting another world, and I loved it whenever I went. I ended up moving up there, and it was some of the happiest times – a real sense of community.

  4. bopperholly says

    March 18, 2005 at 12:38 am

    Ive lived in Huntington Beach, CA my whole life and dont go to the beach as much as I should or would like too. I dont have to many tourist friends, but I would take them to the Bolsa Chica wetlands (I love it there, so relaxing)

  5. Michael says

    March 18, 2005 at 1:42 am

    I’ve only been in my current city about a year, so I haven’t explored all the nooks and crannies just yet.

    But growing up, my dad was career mililtary and so when we started to learn all those nooks, crannies and short cuts, that meant it was time to move. LOL

  6. windspike says

    March 18, 2005 at 4:23 am

    We live in tourist destination city…so, if you don’t mind, we are going to keep our little secret locations, just that, secret.

    I would love to see some photos of your boardwalk. I was, recently, at the Santa Cruz Beach Board Walk…and it was wonderful…and the Coconut Grove! Yahoo.

  7. MongaKim says

    March 18, 2005 at 4:24 am

    I’m addicted to The Outer Banks in N. Carolina…. From top to bottom and everything in between, beautiful!

  8. Mac says

    March 18, 2005 at 11:13 pm

    Frascati. You’re eating there Sunday night. 🙂 Sorry we couldn’t have better weather for you.

  9. Pia says

    March 19, 2005 at 12:45 am

    I love your beautiful blog, and it’s so nice to run into another named Pia.

  10. keisha says

    March 19, 2005 at 3:02 am

    Thanks for the comment the other day. I will go by your new blog later today. I’d love to travel to Europe for the weekend but i’ll be damned if i pay close to a 1000 for a 3day trip…lol

  11. Dave says

    March 19, 2005 at 3:38 am

    Try Japan. Tokyo’s great and so are the people. No fear of getting mugged and if you lose your wallet, you probably will get it back money intact….

    Dave

  12. Junebugg says

    March 19, 2005 at 9:13 pm

    I live in rural North Alabama and the usual tourist spot is the Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville. But I love Bankhead Forest, part of the Black Warrior National Forest. We have one of the largest protected forest in the USA. Part of it is STILL unexpolored. You can canoe, ride horses, hike camp, fish, or just ride the gravel backroads for days watching all manor of wildlife.

  13. Hiromi says

    March 20, 2005 at 8:07 am

    I just read that you are headed to San Francisco. I live in San Francisco and there aren’t too many places that I haven’t taken my visiting friends and family to. Most of the city is very out of towner friendly. The city itself is gorgeous! Frascati is a WONDERFUL suggestion for dinner. It is absolutely one of my favourite restaurants in town. The gnocchi is to die for and the wine list is wonderful! If you get a chance, just enjoy the beautiful views of Sausalito, the Golden Gate Bridge and the Dome of the Palace of Fine Arts from the Marina Green by turning around in a slow 180 degrees. It is awe-inspiring.

  14. Mace says

    March 20, 2005 at 7:47 pm

    You seriously aren’t missing much by not visiting the mid-west, darlin’. I moved to “The Heartland” from the East coast about 10 years ago, and I now know why the call it “The Heatland”…. because for the most part, the brain isn’t here.

  15. panthergirl says

    March 20, 2005 at 8:58 pm

    Pia…when I’ve taken tourist friends to Brooklyn, I have shown them the incredible Victorian houses in the Ditmas Park section. If you haven’t checked it out, do!

  16. squarepeg says

    March 21, 2005 at 12:48 am

    gorgeous blog and good writing. here in my neck of the woods (israeli hi-tech), there are lots of russians and I’m fascinated by them for some reason, especially the men (who are rarely even good-looking). hm. must write about that. have been trying to learn russian, even.

  17. Tara says

    March 21, 2005 at 4:09 am

    When my friends are vising the city, I love taking them to Little Italy, I know it’s touristy but I know the better places to eat there and where to get fake purses nearby in Chinatown, which always delights tourists especially going into the creepy backrooms for them. I still call it Coney Island and enjoy walking the boardwalk in the summers too.

  18. Z.Z.B. says

    March 21, 2005 at 5:30 am

    Nice site! The writers of the ZardozZ News Portal search for interesting feed content and we came across your site today. I would like to invite you to add your site’s url to the ZZ OpenRing as your material appears interesting and aligned with our readership. If you are interested you can find further information at the ZZ OpenWeb. This is not meant as spam but as an invitation. Hope you’ll join us…

  19. Ticklebug says

    March 21, 2005 at 7:20 am

    I can’t tell you how much I miss California. I lived there for almost 7 or so years with my husband. Actually, now we are toying with the idea of moving back there in about a month later. But the decision isn’t final… yet.

    Did I tell you I love NY? My husband and I visited several times and love that place to death. If our families were over there, we’d move in a NY minute!

  20. Doug says

    March 21, 2005 at 9:40 pm

    How is California less sophisticated than Europe? I was in Germany last month and they don’t even have Denny’s! I hope you enjoy your visit and that our hospitality surpasses its reputation.

  21. Mac says

    March 21, 2005 at 10:39 pm

    Midwest. Been there… yeck. The eastern and Western oceans must be the well-spring of sanity, because there’s a whole lot of ignorance in between. You are a charming dinner companion. Ed and I were honored.

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About Me

I live in the South, not South Florida, a few blocks from the ocean, and two blocks from the main street. It's called Main Street. Amazes me too.

I'm from New York. I mostly lived in the Mid-Upper East Side, and the heart of the Upper West Side. It amazes me when people talk about how scared they were of Times Square in the 1970's and 1980's.

As my mother said: "know the streets, look out and you'll be fine."

What was scary was the invasion of the crack dens into "good buildings in good 'hoods." And the greedy landlords who did everything they could to get good tenants out of buildings.

I'm a Long Island girl, and proud of it now.
Then I hated everything about the suburbs. Yet somehow I lived in a few great Long Island Sound towns after high school.

Go to archives "August 2004" if you want to begin with the first posts.

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