From downtown to out of town

It seemed the city fates were smiling on us Friday afternoon.

I had an informational interview with the editor of asap, the AP's new 18-34 news wire -- he was the roommate of Joe, one of my News Service coworkers, back when they were up and coming punk reporters. As I was getting ready to leave, he mentioned in passing "Did you know they're looking for a product manager for asap?" No, I didn't know that, and I can't find the job posting anywhere but he gave me the name and email of the woman doing the hiring. Nice little bonus info for my time.

Afterward I suggested to John that he meet me down in Tribeca for lunch.
Wednesday night, we watched Michigan lose the Alamo Bowl to Nebraska in the same heart-breaking way that seemed their pattern this season. But one bright spot in the evening was meeting Otto, a Michigan alum who for years ran a mystery bookstore in midtown and recently he moved The Mysterious to Tribeca. He raved about how Tribeca is unlike any other part of New York, much friendlier and more architecturally diverse, so on the heels of our expedition to Astoria, we were intrigued.
I shot down from the AP to Tribeca, which is waay south on the island, just a few blocks from the World Trade Center, and looked for a place to meet John. A place called The Soda Shop caught my eye, and I peeked in to see if there were tables. It was the lunch rush, and they were busy, so I asked if it would be OK to hold up a table while I waited for my husband. The waiter insisted it was fine, then the owner sent over an amazing complimentary hot chocolate while I waited. Yes, this place was the right choice, I thought.
After John arrived, we poured over the Zagat guide to figure out where the good restaurants in Tribeca are, and hopefully by extension, what the main drag is to check out. Then as we were leaving, I asked the owner what we should see on our first trip to Tribeca. He crouched by our table and gave us a great explanation of which streets are busiest, and which are the boundaries of the neighborhood ... then he walked us out of the store, up one street, over a few blocks, all the while talking about the renaissance of Tribeca, what's just come in within a few months, construction that's still happening. Keep in mind this is the owner of a restaurant, giving strangers a walking tour of the neighborhood during the lunch rush, and it turns out he's only been open maybe 6 weeks.
We wandered extensively, including popping into Robert DeNiro's restaurant, Tribeca Grill. Since we still haven't made plans for New Year's, we asked what they're doing, and the hostess explained that they didn't have any more tables for two for the $150 per person five course dinner. Then another woman added that they could do a table near the bar, if that interested us. Then a guy who I assume was DeNiro's coowner, just by how he seemed in charge and he was doing paperwork this whole time, hops up and says they could do a table near the band and though some people don't like that, you're right in the heart of the action. We said we wanted to think about it, and he told his hostess to give us her card so we could call her directly to make a reservation. I joked about waiting until the last minute, and he joked back that's how he lives his life. No pressure to decide, we're just kindred procrastinating spirits.
Craig, the owner at The Soda Shop, had all but insisted that we go to the restaurant his friends Kevin and Sharif were just opening that day in the Woolworth Building, because they could let us in to the lobby of the building. The lobby of this cathedral to commerce is closed to tourists, so it's not something everyone gets to see.
Kevin dropped what he was doing to walk us though the lobby, then offered us espresso, on the house.
A few minutes later, Sharif came by and chatted with us about how a customer had let him know the space in the Woolworth building was coming available, how Craig had given him the antique cash register at the bar, and generally about how good the neighborhood is. I told him we were thinking of moving into the area -- which by this point, we were -- and he wrote down the name of a friend of his who owns some buildings in the area. OK, so now a guy who's in the midst of opening a gigantic new restaurant in one of the best known buildings in the city was taking the time to give us a real estate contact.
Otto said he had a store in midtown for almost 30 years and he never got the feeling anyone noticed or cared if he was there. When he arrived in Tribeca, neighbors continually popped in to welcome him to the neighborhood and introduce themselves. Apparently even visitors get that kind of treatment.

After walking around Tribeca, we hoofed it all the way down to the bottom of the island, past Wall Street to Battery Park, and past the Stock Exchange, which was just crawling with cops. I thought they might have the street closed for some sort of last-day-of-trading celebration at the end of the year, but when I asked the cops what was happening, they said it's been like this every day since Sept. 11. I'm all for protecting people's lives, but it felt excessive -- more like keeping people in a state of fear to justify this ridiculous occupation of Iraq than because it was necessary. Not unlike the security screenings at the airport, which I think are more about making people feel safe than anything else.
But I digress ...

We met a an MBA friend of mine, Chris, at Penn Station and took the train with him out to his place in Summit, NJ, where his wife, Kara, made a fantastic Italian dinner. Their neighborhood felt like an older street in Plymouth, with nicely maintained historic homes. It's almost an hour's train ride from Penn Station, and this is Chris's daily commute, as Kara works as a reporter at a New Jersey newspaper and it's sort of splitting the difference. In all fairness, though, it took me about 40 minutes to get from our apartment to the AP by subway, so having an hour-long train ride where you get a comfy seat and a smooth ride above ground rather than standing up in a noisy cave isn't an intolerable thought.

That said, though, if we're going to move to New York, I want to be a part of it. I don't want to commute from the burbs, I want to walk out my door and feel the energy of the city. If we can afford it, I think that could mean Tribeca.

Michigan alumni in NYC

The Park Avenue Country Club, a huge sports bar, was packed from wall to wall with Michigan alums for the Alamo Bowl Wednesday night. It's a little weird to be in the middle of Manhattan and be in a bar where everyone's wearing blue and gold, singing the fight song, and talking about where they lived when they did their undergrad.

I reconnected with Sarah, a super energetic alum who quit a great job at Yahoo to chase her dream of entrepreneurship. She's recently launched a candy company that's gotten writeups in Business Week and Epicurious, among other places. To my friends back in A2, you can find Sweet Riot candies at Zingermans, and if you like Scharfen Berger, you've really got to taste Sarah's chocolates.

That's it for now. Gotta get started packing. :-(