our apartment view 17-J
River esplanade. October 1993
Well we're movin' on up
To the east side
To a deluxe apartment in the sky
Movin' on up
To the east side
We finally got a piece of the pie
Fish don't fry in the kitchen Beans don't burn on the grill Took a whole lotta tryin' Just to get up that hill Now we're up in the big leagues Gettin' our turn at bat As long as we live, it's you and me baby There ain't nothin' wrong with that
Well we're movin' on up To the east side To a deluxe apartment in the sky Movin' on up To the east side We finally got a piece of the pie
Janet DuBois/Jeff Barry
Freshly back from our epic round-the-world journey [see: Istanbul to Tokyo], we needed to find a place to live. Brian was by then an associate at White & Case making a substantial salary and I had returned to the City and easily landed another job at NYU due to connections in Personnel (HR). I was the new Assistant Student Services Coordinator of the Adult Education Program at NYU (BA at night). We were both employed and ready to start "real" lives in New York City. But where?
Brian was desperate to find an apartment in the West Village, but that meant living in another place similar to what we had just "escaped" [see: Magaw Place]. I really put my foot down - I wanted (needed) to live in new construction. Enough of this shit of pretending I liked a place just so I could say I lived in a trendy neighborhood. New York City had a LOT of substandard housing at astronomical rents. I wanted nothing to do with it.
Given that I had more free time than Brian (who was immediately sucked into long days and nights of work), I started to look for places within our budget. Now it must be said our rental budget was potentially large, but Brian also cleverly wanted to pay off his hefty student loans aggressively. While he watched his classmates from Columbia immediately propel themselves into luxurious lifestyles, we preferred a smaller upgrade, a good travel budget, and most importantly - accelerated freedom from debt. I credit Brian with having made a very good call on that. We were debt-free long before most of our peers.
During the apartment search, anything we saw in "cool" neighborhoods was overly expensive and just not that nice. The newer construction that was affordable was often in neighborhoods that were still a little "edgy" (we had enough of that, too). Finally, I decided to have a look over on Roosevelt Island at some newly opened apartments, Manhattan Park. Because of the "inconvenience" of not living in Manhattan, the prices there were significantly lower than those on the Upper East Side right across the East River. The buildings were a bit of a walk to the newly opened subway station and the tram, but the tradeoff was amazing - no cars; a two-bedroom, two bath apartment on a high floor with a VIEW; and a supermarket right across the street. It took a lot of convincing, but Brian finally agreed. I have to admit, he never really liked it there and always bemoaned the fact that we didn't live in a more "happening" place.
As it turned out, the move was beneficial because we ended up having a lot of guests and that extra room (mostly used as Brian's office) and bathroom made it a lot easier to host our parade of family and friends. As anyone with a swimming pool or pickup truck will attest to, some things in life make one realize how many "friends" one has - seemingly crawling out of the woodwork. Having an apartment with space for guests in New York (or Paris or London or Tokyo...) creates a friendship "bubble" of sorts. Even if Brian never fully liked the place, we (and our friends) made the most of it.
My memories of Roosevelt Island?
I realized that Manhattan made a noise. When standing on the esplanade of Roosevelt Island at any time of day or night it was audible - a low hum or drone of all the noises from that hive of activity across the river melded into one. It was odd - not only did Manhattan have a recognizable skyline, it also had a "sound".
Additionally, I understood the East River was not a river at all - it was a strait that large ships could pass through. I was always amazed at the huge vessels pushing their way against the often swiftly moving current. Seafaring vessels juxtaposed against all those tall buildings - they always looked out of place.
In that same East River I often spotted cormorants fishing. Were there even fish in that water? Like the big ships, those birds also appeared out of place with the Upper East Side as a backdrop.
Roosevelt Island was blustery. I am not sure if all the tall buildings across the river changed the weather patterns, but the island had relentless strong breezes (one of Brian's bitterest complaints). There were times I literally had difficulty walking to the subway station in the morning.
The most memorable highlight of living on the island, though, was the tram. One of the few urban trams in the world, it was a glorious ride. From the East Side it passed by some tall apartment buildings where people's high-floor windows bared all for passengers to see. Out over the open water there were fantastic views of the City and the Queensboro Bridge. It was fun every single time. The only issue with the tram was that it broke down A LOT. I can't imagine what people did on the island before the subway opened? Mostly we used the tram on weekends to go into the City to eat or walk over to Central Park. For our daily commutes, the Q train was a lot more convenient. Ironically for me, that line took me to West 4th Street, the station I got off at during the Washington Heights years - only one level down.
We lived on Roosevelt Island for nearly two years until Brian's constantly lobbying for an overseas posting bore fruit. We soon left New York and started a new life in Jakarta, Indonesia. The Washington Heights years may have been better socially for us, but the time in Roosevelt Island finally let us enjoy living in New York with enough money to take advantage of all it had to offer. Although brief, those were some good years, too.