No other city has so fully captured my heart like New York City.
First it captured me through the magic of film.
Then in person, for the first time, in 1999.
On my return home to Australia, I found pockets in both Sydney and Melbourne that reminded me of New York. Especially the Art Deco buildings. So beautiful.
So many memories…
❖ Wedding dress shopping with my sister.
❖ The fortune teller!
❖ Screenwriting courses at The New School. How I love being in a classroom. How I love to learn. Yes, I was that kid in the classroom. Leaning forward, scribbling everything down, asking questions. Though I do recall a time when I managed to upset a teacher by talking, and he threw a piece of chalk at the blackboard. The sound of it hitting the board & splintering was shockingly loud; it made all of us jump! It shut me right up! (I like to think I wasn’t the only one talking!!)
❖ The train from Connecticut to the city. All the folks going to work, in their dapper suits & tailored dresses, and reading their large newspapers.
❖ Grand Central Station, stepping out onto the platform, immediately enveloped by the musty old underground train station smell, then scooped up by the wave of humanity, up the platform, to the grand Main Concourse, and then out onto the streets of New York City!
❖ The, to die for, salad bar at the station!
❖ Walking the streets as the seasons changed. Just like in the movies!!
❖ A winter evening, off to see a broadway musical, all the way from Connecticut. None of us really dressed warmly enough.
❖ Inside the Norwalk train station early one morning, finding a large African American man sitting with his legs blocking the stairs. I freeze. Heart pounding. He looked down at me with kind, sad eyes, and tentatively started to sing the ‘Don’t Worry, Be Happy’ song, then moved his legs to let me pass. As my fear dissipated and a smile crept across my face, his voice grew and swelled with joy, filling the enclosed stairwell. I’m sure my smile stayed on my face for most of the train trip to the city; thinking about it now still brings a smile to my face.
❖ And Central Park!
2023 – Central Park: Gapstow Bridge & The Plaza
Acrylic on canvas 30.5cm x 30.5cm (12×12 inches) by Arwen Munro, December 2023. Upstairs Music Box, Ambleside, West Vancouver, Canada.
I’ve been back to the city twice since then, in January 2018 with my 10-year-old daughter and again in January 2025 with my almost 17-year-old daughter and almost 19-year-old nephew. So many amazing memories from both of those trips, too!
Have a wonderful day! 🌱
NYC has magic, maybe because it holds so much potential. In my youth, as I drove in on the Westside highway the city gave me flutters, just like a new love. That hasn’t entirely gone away (although now I’m ready to escape after a few weeks). And NYC delivered the magic- a career, interesting friends, tiny romantic apartments, cheap delicious food, the arts…
Your painting captures that romance. Xx
I love that, NYC has magic and delivered magic. Interesting that it now takes only a few weeks and you’re ready to escape. It is an intense place, I can see that. My trips have not been long enough to get to that feeling, just long enough to feel a bit sad to see the city recede in the rear view. Xx
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