There is something about New York in December. The snow, the hustle, the bustle, the traffic! My best-friend Shaun was working on a project in New Jersey and this was his last weekend there. I was on my way to Boston for work on Monday and so I decided to head to New York. I’d get to hang out with him in the city and then trek my way over to MA for my work.
I couldn’t feel my fingertips, wait, I couldn’t feel much of anything. Was this how my weekend was going to be? It wasn’t snowing yet, but it was sure as hell raining a lot! Rewind back a couple of hours … I went to work on Friday, took a cab to the airport, met a character on the plane (oh how I always get stuck next to them!), landed, Shaun picked me up, went to the Hilton in the city near Rockefeller, checked in, and now we’re up to speed.
Exhausted from our busy work schedule, we both plopped on our double beds and stared at the ceiling. This wasn’t that nice a hotel… costing a pretty penny… but not that nice for being in the city. I knew if lay there any longer, the night would have been a total waste. We freshened up and headed out on the town. Our means of transportation for the night: cabs.
“Second Nature:” what a great name for a bar. It seemed like a college bar, young crowd, music was great, and the bartenders didn’t expect a good tip so we were treated like royalty. Shaun knew some friends that were there; unfortunately they were so trashed by the time we got there that Shaun’s mission seemed unlikely. A friend of my brother’s, Bobby, who is apparently a great Indian DJ, recommended this place “China Club”. Don’t go there. Final.
On a mission to finally experience “Scores” in New York, Shaun and I got into a cab and hoped that the cab driver knew where it was. Now this was one of the funniest cab rides I’ve ever been on. I swear, there were cameras in the cab, maybe an episode of “Taxi Cab Confessions”? Trying to figure out where this place was, Shaun was on his phone with some guy in India who was answering calls for 411. The cab driver made a suggestion to go to “The Meat Packing District”. Shaun and I were shocked, he obviously was not talking to us. It’s actually a famous place to go hangout and drink. Guess you had to be there. :)
Forty dollars to get in and they were only open for another hour. I say: “Hell no!” We started walking towards the main road to catch a cab again when, God smiled down upon us! Some random person on the street gave us two tickets to get into Crobar, which, by the way, is right next to Scores. I’ve been to Crobar in Miami and it rocks, however, I’ve heard stories about the one in New York. The entertainment industry is just not for everyone. I know for a fact that I couldn’t do it. It just seems like you get caught up in the scene, the parties, the late nights, the drinks, the drugs, and you miss out on daylight, just doesn’t seem like a healthy lifestyle. Flash-back: back when we were in college, Shaun, some other friends and I tried to get into Crobar on South Beach. There was this older, tall, slim, dark, curly blonde hair guy working the front. He was always there. Long story short, we didn’t get in and it pissed Shaun off Royally. Fast-forward: Guess who was at the front of the club in NY? The same guy! Was he still working the same job? Were we still trying to get into the same club? We walked right in … and both Shaun and I felt like we had finally gotten revenge with Blondie. Well, not really but damn it felt good to be inside Crobar in New York.
Two rooms, the main one was playing house/trance. The other played hip-hop, reggae, Latin, everything else that did not fit in the main room. I love the industrial style; maybe I can work that into the next business idea?
A couple of drinks later we left because the club was about to close it’s doors with us inside. Going through the underground exit to a side street, Shaun realized that he lost his phone. He had actually lost his phone back while trying to call 411 in the cab-but we won’t go into too much detail. Needless to say he was upset. We spent about thirty minutes searching for his phone, me calling it and leaving voicemails for the guy who was, at this point, probably enjoying calling of all the girls Shaun has saved in his contact list. LOL!
Saturday morning was a tough one to wake up too. First thing we did was head out, find a Cingular store to buy Shaun a new phone so he could at least stay in contact with his peeps. Here is beautiful April…
She is a friend of both Shaun and mine from Barbados. She works in New York now and we spent the next couple of hours trying to get in touch with her and her friend.
I hugged my jacket which was already hugging me because I remember my dad telling me that when there was this many people on the streets of New York it was a lot easier to get pick-pocketed. I shifted my wallet from my back pocket to the inside pocket of my jacket. Was this really safer? I maneuvered myself through the crowd trying my best not to crash into anyone at these high speeds. I must have been speeding because I definitely felt like I was in a train and zooming past everything around me.
Finally April and her friend met us At Saks Fifth Avenue, on Fifth Avenue. They immediately told us that we were spending way too much money here and that they knew where to take us.
An adventure it was, we took the train to “The Village” walked around in the cold, bought some shoes, Yankees caps, books from borders and we were done. We were definitely freezing our asses off but shopping in New York like champions! We stopped for a bite to eat at this Live Music Caribbean restaurant “Negril Café”. The restaurant had a nice lounge downstairs and I could have totally stayed and had a couple of drinks there, the music playing was already good and it was only seven, but we had already made plans for the night. Wait, why did we buy books? April’s friend works for Borders and we got a nice employee and Christmas discount, Shaun and I definitely took advantage of that. I have enough books to read for at least another year. I’m on book number two. God help me.
April and her friend went home, we rushed back to the hotel to get ready. I had not met Krista in years! I met Krista in Miami when I was in College through Marissa. See the only reason I got to meet Krista in the first place was because Marissa had an enormous crush on Shaun. Thanks Shaun. Krista is from Jamaica and currently lives in New York pursuing a Law degree. Who would’a thunk. She is one of the biggest party animals I know today. Don’t hire her. :) Shaun raved about this place called “Town” and we HAD to go there just for a drink, a mojito. I decided to skip the mojito and celebrate my presence in New York with a nice glass of Johnny Walker Blue Label. However, I have heard Shaun, Jenny and Alex rave about the rum they put in the mojitos, supposed to be one of the best rums in the world. Blue was so smooth; I had never had it out of a glass like this. It was like one of the beakers we used for the experiments in Chemistry labs back in High School, but thinner. April joined Shaun, Krista and I, and we headed over to “Hiro.”
Booji. I hate to wait outside of a club, it just doesn’t make sense. I can find somewhere else to go and spend my money if you don’t want it. (Ranting…) Back on track. A friend of mine told me about this place and said that we were all on the list. They were having a birthday party for one of her friends. We walked up the front of the club and they diverted us to the other side of the building, on the other side of the block. Did I mention it was cold. Two bitches were complaining about how cold it was. Obviously I am talking about Shaun and myself. Walked up to the beautiful girl at the door and explained the situation. You would think that two guys and two girls would get in, no problem… at least in Miami… different story here in NY. I couldn’t, for the life of me, remember whose birthday it was… oh wait, my friend never told me! Bastard! I spent the next ten minutes trying to get through with her and finally, I got the name! It was like saying “Open Sesame.” The second I mentioned the name we were treated like Royalty. No cover, coat check, escorted directly to the table, and we were ready to party!
Krista and I headed directly for the bar, we were sober still and that was definitely not acceptable by her books. She wanted two shots of Goldschlager. I had not had that in ages! I leaned over the bar, ordered the shots and this short Asian female bartender looks at me with attitude and says, “This is NOT a college bar, we don’t serve that here.” Did I commit a sin? Was I in the same country? Was I in a BAR? I’ve been to some of the most prestigious bars in Miami and they still serve anything. I wasn’t about to get into an argument so we just ordered my next favorite, Red Headed Sluts. I do not recommend drinking those shots, exactly 4 of them, or was it 7, and also drinking vodka, and scotch all in one night. Tummy ache. My friends that invited me got so drunk that they did not even know where they were or who they were making out with. We stayed by the bar and kept our distance.
After much drinking, dancing and jubilation, they were closing up and kicking people out. Honestly, it’s not a good night unless you end it by being kicked out singing “Wonderwall” by Oasis, at the top of your lungs. The four of us knew every single word. Smiles from ear to ear, we grabbed our coats and walked outside. Coats no longer were needed since we were obviously warm. That’s the plus side to alcohol, one of many, can you think of the others? Think.
We went to get food from this Mediterranean cart place right in front of the hotel. Shaun wanted pizza and so I went to the front desk to order pizza. Waiting outside in a line longer than the line to get into Crobar, we almost missed the pizza guy. Can you imagine me running behind a guy on a bicycle, pizza strapped to the rear, at five in the morning? Quite a scene :) I had a great time. In the hotel room, only 2 slices of the large pizza were touched, Shaun spilled his food on his bed and continue to eat off the bed with a plastic fork.
Sunday was my day to leave for Boston, and I had to work the next day so we took it easy. A little too easy. April came back to the city to meet us and we went to Bloomingdales to do some more shopping. We found an Indian restaurant to have lunch at and then headed back to the hotel. It was five and we had to be at the airport for an eight o’ clock flight. In Miami we have this place called the Russian Turkish Bathhouse. We go there at least twice a month to go relax in the hot tubs, jacuzzis, hangout and sometimes talk business. We knew that there was one in New York, the original one, and so we wanted to experience it. After going in circles looking for this place, we finally found it. It was in the middle of nowhere, well equipped with a broken down door. If I could only explain to you the expression on Shaun and my face at the moment, standing in front of this place we had been looking forward to for so long, gosh! Screw it, we were already here and we might as well. The place had obviously not been maintained well. The people inside had their click and it definitely wasn’t as nice as the one in Miami. Well we were obviously biased but still, we did it, we went to the bathhouse in New York and that is one more thing off my to-do list.
We only spent twenty minutes there and then realized how late we really were for our flights. Shaun is a great driver; if there is anyone I would trust to drive me anywhere it would be him. He was a little excessive this time but he got us to the airport and on our flights with time to spare! We caught our breath at a bar next to security, two beers, he got on his flight back to Miami and I got on mine to Boston for work.
Safe Flight.