Luckily for us, we got to spend a part of our trip staying with my boyfriends brother's Godmother (got that?) in Lexington Avenue. From our $5 a night dump of a hostel to a beautiful marbled interiored brownstone... Well, let's just say we thought we'd won the lottery! It was one of those that have the green awning outside, door men in brown stuis who hail you cabs and even give you money to get in one (the tennants and the staff of the buildings do become a family, hence the whopping tips at Christmas time). Her apartment was stunning. A giant bedroom, two bathrooms and an open plan kitchen and living space. The area was just too gorgeous. Slap bang in the middle of the Upper East Side, one of NY's most affluent areas, it felt like we were living 'the dream' as Chantelle Houghton of Celeb BB fame would say.
The East village is full of artists and designers and the style 'Heroin Chic' is very in. Girls with leather, ripped tights, red lipstick and the men... well, the same but without the tights and lipstick. We met a man in a bakery who grew up in Knightsbridge and now lives in Harlem but works in the East Village. He had maintaned his English accent and was a friendly chap. He told us about the joys of living in New York and how he kept a Coyote as a pet, dragging it around on a big chain. He then rode off on his bike, waving until he was out of sight. I love this area of town. Old hippies walk around as if it is still the 70's and modelesque fashion babes strut along the streets as if i-D's life depended on it. My boyfriend felt it was slightly affected. Like Camden, perhaps, a bit naff and desperate to be something it was a long time ago. I myself thought it was a refreshing change from the Chanel warriors of the Upper East Side.
The East Village is steeped in history and the best example of the is The Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street. It's a bar and was the setting of the Stonewall Riots (1969), which is considered to be the starting point of the modern gay liberation movement. Coming here was especially poignant for my boyfriend and I because, on that day, we'd seen on the news that the results had come in for legalisation of gay marriage in NY. The results were as thus: gay marriage was not to be made legal. Fury and anger ran through the streets of New York and me and my boyfriend were horrified. How, in 2009 (as that's when the vote was), can people be against something like that? Anyway, as we were leaving NY we found out that the result was bieng challenged and the vote re-opened.
Opposite the Inn is a little park called Christopher Park. In this park are a couple of benches and two statues (one of two gay men standing and one of two lesbians sitting on a bench) made by George Segal in the 80's. Aesthetically, I think the style of the statues is slighlty dated. The paper mache effect is not for me, but they set the scene of the area and it wouldn't be the same without them. It's also a great thing for tourists. A gay couple walked past us and took a picture. We asked if they wanted us to move and they said 'No, this is more natural. A gay couple, a straight couple and a couple of lesbians all together!' Sounds more cheesy then it was; at the time it was very funny...
If you're going to come to this area, appreciated that its hey-day was the late sixties, earley 70's. I don't know if you can tell by looking at him, but my boyfriend is obsessed with this time period so we spent about an hour searching for the old destination of 'Fillmore East', the venue for all the important gigs. Now all that is left is an old post, covered in mosaic, with the name of some of the artists who performed there. Love, Jefferson Airplane, The Allman Brothers, The Doors etc. We asked about ten old men with long hair and each one of them looked at us, their eyes glazing over with happy memories, their hands shaking like Ozzy Osbourne. Each one pointed us in the wrong direction.
