2 December 1970 / Paul in NYC

(NEW YORK CITY) November 26. This is...THE city. It may well be the only place in the country worthy of the name. Anyplace else just doesn't measure up.

Come to think of it, New York City is a state of mind. 10 million people living within 50 miles of one another. Polluting the blazes out of the air. Crapping in the Hudson River. Drinking Water from 100 miles away. And generally leeching off the world.

New York City is a very big place, geographically as well as population-wise. I've been there three times, and I admit freely that I have only scratched the surface.

As a matter of fact, for example, I have been driven through Harlem twice: once by Greyhound, and once by Penn Central. They tell me that a lot of people live there, and in other places like it. But that's not the New York City I saw, so it isn't the New York City I can write about.

N.Y.C.= Manhattan= that part of the island of Manhattan located north of 42nd street and south of 60th street, between 1st and 8th avenues. That is: Broadway, parts of the upper east side (swank residences), the U.N., the 42nd street theatre district, Times Square, Rockefeller Center, NBC, CBS, ABC.

What else is there to NYC? Quite a bit. I've seen some of it: Wall Street, Staten Island (what you can see from the ferry slip), Co-op City, the Bronx, Queens, JFK and LaGuardia airports... but they just seem like names. No pazzaz. They just don't grab you.

What's so spectacular about midtown Manhattan? It's hard to tell. It glitters, it glows: sometimes, it rather seemed alive to me. Maybe the Theatre is part of it: New York is the only place in the world where you can really call it the Theatre Capital T).

Whatever it is, Manhattan has it. And Manhattan is the Center of New York City. And New York City is the center of America's folklore as a place where dreams are made and broken for every resident of the town, day in and day out. Madison Avenue makes dreams for a living. Broadway's living is making dreams. And the entire city makes dreams as a hobby. Even for the visitor of 1 day, or 1 week. It’s a feeling that you probably would not get if:

1. You lived there
2. You didn't know what NYC was.

As far as I am concerned, New York is probably as close as you can get to the center of the free world. In trade, commerce, art, science, publishing (book), magazines, newspapers, transportation and opinion-making, it has no real rival. When you're there- you're where it's at, where it's happening. It's really far away. Right off!

In closing, the reports of the city's imminent demise are premature. Most seem to feel that there are many years of robust good health left in those concrete canyons, and I am among them. Why, from personal experience I can state that it is possible to walk from Broadway to 1st on 53rd at 11 pm on Thursday night, without even being mugged.

Ahhhhh..... New York.

Last time when we left you, you may recall that our hero, Captain Zommarr whose name I cannot spell either correctly or consistently) was planning to be on Mike Davis' Radio Programme, this Saturday around 10 pm. That's still true. Maybe.

That is to say, Mike Davis has been told that Zommarr will be on. Since it is his program, you might imagine that he would have some say in the matter. You would have quite an imagination. Just call Mike and Ask Him. 868-WTBS, ext4969, dl. 0-731, Saturday.