This is the Best January 3rd Christmas Ever
A few years ago, my Uncle Eugene said to me something like, "Isn't the city beautiful, all dressed up for Christmas?" And I thought, "No. Not only haven't I noticed much dressing, I've noticed the opposite -- an absence of dress."
Then I realized -- I'd been a downtown boy while my uncle lived on the fancy schmancy Upper East Side and worked in midtown, which was all dressed up for tourists and shoppers. And these were places I virtually never went.
Since then, I've tried to make a point of visiting Christmasy New York at least once during the holiday season -- usually later rather than sooner as I've never internalized the fact that it's best to do things at the earliest possibility, as waiting could mean you'll never get the chance.
A good example of later meaning never came back when I was living in a studio apartment in Hollywood, that is, I was living in an office at Paramount Studios. (Secretly.)
In my hallway was the casting office for the early '90s series, "The Bradys" -- a more serious version of "The Brady Bunch", featuring the original cast. I really wanted to see the Bradys in their "world" and I asked the casting director if there would be a chance to do so. She told me of several occasions that would be good and I chose a day when they would be shooting a party sequence in the Brady home, which seemed a perfect opportunity to share their lives as I wanted to do. It would also be the last such opportunity before the series wrapped.
Well, when the time came to visit with Carol, Mike and kin in their "home", I received a call from The (L.A) Comedy Store asking if I wanted to do three days in San Diego, at the La Jolla Store. Because I needed the money and I needed the goodwill of the Store, I headed down to do the gig and I never got to visit the Bunch. In fact, Robert Reed died shortly thereafter.
Lesson (un)learned. Do things at the first opportunity.
But here it is, January 3rd and I'm only now making my uptown Christmas pilgrimage.
I just finished a walk up Park Avenue, one of the richest areas in town, and many of the buildings were dressed in simple wreaths; reflective of their sophisticated and understated caste. But some had nicely lit trees and the like and I opened the door to one place's lobby to get a better look.
The doorman was on the phone but he asked if he could help me and I said I was just getting some last looks at Christmas. I left but decided to take one last look -- knowing the doorman would find the loitering suspicious, but deciding to indulge myself anyway.
True to my expectation, the doorman eyed me suspiciously. But beyond that, he opened the buildings door and said, There's a big tree in Rockefeller Center that's still up. You should go see it." Meaning, that's the Christmas for gawkers like you. Our Christmas is members only.
As he reentered the building, I spoke to him in the native New York dialect, saying, "Thanks for the attitude, prick." I then said, ultra-sarcastically, "You're an elegant man."
I'm not sure he heard any of the second part as the swanky structure's heavy door was closed by then, and it's too bad 'cause that's the part I wanted him to hear. Despite the fact that he's just a regular union worker who happens to toil for the rich, he somehow identifies with them as if osmosis has placed him on a higher socio-economic plane. He is, in short, a snob. (And probably a worse one than many of the people he works for.)
It must be some version of Stockholm Syndrome or something; you know, where hostages begin to identify with the people who kidnapped them. Anyway, the exchange ruined my mood a bit but I also felt good that I had stood up for myself.
And I made a point of looking into two or three other buildings to see if the reaction would be the same.
It wasn't.
One Puerto Rican (I'm guessing) doorman was particularly nice. (Of course, I recalibrated my approach, too. I can learn, sometimes. A little. . . . Temporarily.)
Okay. Enough Starbucks electricity-taking. Gotta continue my walking tour of a real, old-fashioned January 3rd Christmas.
__________________________________
3 January, 2007 @ 20:00 GMT
http://blogs.chortle.co.uk/andrewjlederer
Then I realized -- I'd been a downtown boy while my uncle lived on the fancy schmancy Upper East Side and worked in midtown, which was all dressed up for tourists and shoppers. And these were places I virtually never went.
Since then, I've tried to make a point of visiting Christmasy New York at least once during the holiday season -- usually later rather than sooner as I've never internalized the fact that it's best to do things at the earliest possibility, as waiting could mean you'll never get the chance.
A good example of later meaning never came back when I was living in a studio apartment in Hollywood, that is, I was living in an office at Paramount Studios. (Secretly.)
In my hallway was the casting office for the early '90s series, "The Bradys" -- a more serious version of "The Brady Bunch", featuring the original cast. I really wanted to see the Bradys in their "world" and I asked the casting director if there would be a chance to do so. She told me of several occasions that would be good and I chose a day when they would be shooting a party sequence in the Brady home, which seemed a perfect opportunity to share their lives as I wanted to do. It would also be the last such opportunity before the series wrapped.
Well, when the time came to visit with Carol, Mike and kin in their "home", I received a call from The (L.A) Comedy Store asking if I wanted to do three days in San Diego, at the La Jolla Store. Because I needed the money and I needed the goodwill of the Store, I headed down to do the gig and I never got to visit the Bunch. In fact, Robert Reed died shortly thereafter.
Lesson (un)learned. Do things at the first opportunity.
But here it is, January 3rd and I'm only now making my uptown Christmas pilgrimage.
I just finished a walk up Park Avenue, one of the richest areas in town, and many of the buildings were dressed in simple wreaths; reflective of their sophisticated and understated caste. But some had nicely lit trees and the like and I opened the door to one place's lobby to get a better look.
The doorman was on the phone but he asked if he could help me and I said I was just getting some last looks at Christmas. I left but decided to take one last look -- knowing the doorman would find the loitering suspicious, but deciding to indulge myself anyway.
True to my expectation, the doorman eyed me suspiciously. But beyond that, he opened the buildings door and said, There's a big tree in Rockefeller Center that's still up. You should go see it." Meaning, that's the Christmas for gawkers like you. Our Christmas is members only.
As he reentered the building, I spoke to him in the native New York dialect, saying, "Thanks for the attitude, prick." I then said, ultra-sarcastically, "You're an elegant man."
I'm not sure he heard any of the second part as the swanky structure's heavy door was closed by then, and it's too bad 'cause that's the part I wanted him to hear. Despite the fact that he's just a regular union worker who happens to toil for the rich, he somehow identifies with them as if osmosis has placed him on a higher socio-economic plane. He is, in short, a snob. (And probably a worse one than many of the people he works for.)
It must be some version of Stockholm Syndrome or something; you know, where hostages begin to identify with the people who kidnapped them. Anyway, the exchange ruined my mood a bit but I also felt good that I had stood up for myself.
And I made a point of looking into two or three other buildings to see if the reaction would be the same.
It wasn't.
One Puerto Rican (I'm guessing) doorman was particularly nice. (Of course, I recalibrated my approach, too. I can learn, sometimes. A little. . . . Temporarily.)
Okay. Enough Starbucks electricity-taking. Gotta continue my walking tour of a real, old-fashioned January 3rd Christmas.
__________________________________
3 January, 2007 @ 20:00 GMT
http://blogs.chortle.co.uk/andrewjlederer
posted by Andrew J. Lederer at 11:27 AM
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