Jack Tame: The life and energy of the best city in the world

I’m writing this in Central Park. I’m right up in the North East corner, sitting on a bench by the Harlem Meer, 100m or so from the apartment where I lived for the second half of my twenties.

It’s so familiar. The warm evening air, people laid out with picnic mats, a guy with a big plastic bin of churros. Kids chasing each other, squealing, skylarking, the sound of traffic crawling down Fifth Avenue. Across the road, staring down the length of Central Park is my favourite obscure building in all of Manhattan. The views from this thing would cost enough to make an Oligarch’s gulp. But it took until a couple of years ago for the city to finally convert it from its previous use: a low-security prison.

I haven’t been in New York for two years. When I was last here, post-Covid, it felt a bit dark. Back in the day, I used to be so blasé about safety – I felt more threatened in central Christchurch late at night than I did in East Harlem. But Covid changed that. You could sense people were fearful and untrusting.

It’s better now. More like the New York I remember.

When I landed this week, I did my usual thing. I got a coffee and a pastry, I put in my headphones, and I walked. It took me a morning until I had the rhythm of the traffic, j-walking with confidence and checking the right way up the streets as I crossed.

I rode the subway everywhere. I mostly didn’t need the map. Amazing how you can feel nostalgic for the gentle resistance of a turnstile bar, for the lurching, screaming, and shuddering of a metal subway car, staring dead-eyed through the windows into the black.

Even when a city is familiar, taking time away and coming in with fresh eyes gives you a perspective you don’t have when you’re immersed in it, living it. I’m realistic enough to accept it probably means you look at things with rose-tinted glasses. But there’s a reason all of my friends here have moved out to the suburbs. The thing that has surprised me most is that I feel it too. It’s not that I’m tired of the city, it’s just that I’m not sure I have the energy and the patience for the hustle and the horns, the concrete and the studio apartments.

One thing doesn’t change though: New York is the best city in the world.

For two simple reasons. Number one: diversity. There cannot be a city with a greater spread of cultures, ethnicities, languages, and socio-economic extremes. The thing that everyone has in common is that everyone is different. And the result of that diversity is the greatest concentration of interesting food, music, and art on the planet.

And the other reason it’s the great city is public space. Because almost everyone lives in small spaces, everything public is always busy, and every public space is used. There’s a collective experience, whether people are conscious of it or not. It means the tiny little strip of land on the corner of Madison and 110th has been converted into a community garden. It means the benches alongside the triangle of green at Broadway and 72nd are always filled with people, just watching the World go by.

And it means here, tonight, on a random Autumn evening, as Central Park’s leaves turn gold, and the sun drops below the West Side, there are hundreds of people out enjoying the moment, socialising, playing, eating, relaxing. It feels vital, alive. Even a bit magical.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack team podcast
from News Talks at Me.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
And I'm riding this in Central Park this morning. I'm
right up in the northeast corner, sitting on a bench
by the Harlem Mere, the Harlem Lake as it's known,
about one hundred meters or so from the apartment where
I lived for the second half of my twenties. It's funny,
it's so familiar, the warm evening air, people laid out

(00:34):
with picnic mats, a guy with a big plastic bin
of turos, kids chasing each other, squealing, skylarking, the sound
of traffic crawling down Fifth av across the road, steering
down the length of Central Park. Is what I think
is my favorite obscure building in all of Manhattan. The

(00:55):
views from this thing would cost enough to make an
oligarch gulp. But it took until just a couple of
years ago for New York City to finally convert this
building from its previous use as a low security prison.
It must have had the best views of any prison
on the planet. I haven't been in New York for

(01:16):
two years now. When I was last year post COVID,
it honestly, it felt a little bit dark. Yeah, back
in the day, I used to be so blase about safety.
I felt more threatened in Central christ Church late at
night than I did in East Harlem. But COVID changed that.

(01:37):
You could sense that people were fearful and untrusting. The
good news is that it's better now. It's better. It
feels more like the New York I remember. And so
when I landed this week, I did my usual thing.
I got a coffee and a pastry, I put in
my headphones and I warked. It took me a morning

(01:58):
until I kind of had the rhythm of the traffic
jaywalking with confidence and checking the right way up the
streets as I crossed. I rode the subway everywhere. I
mostly didn't need the map. It's amazing how you can
feel kind of nostalgic for the gentle resistance of a

(02:20):
turnstyle bar, or for the lurching and the screaming, the
shuddering of a metal subway car staring dead eyed through
the windows into the black. Even when a city is familiar,
taking time away and then coming in and visiting with
fresh eyes gives you a perspective you don't have when

(02:43):
you're immersed in it when you're living it, and look,
I'm realistic enough to accept it probably means you look
at things with rose tinted glasses. But there is a
reason that all of my old friends here have moved
out into the suburbs. And the thing that has surprised
me most over the last couple of days is that

(03:03):
I think I feel it too. It's not that I'm
tired of New York. It's just that I'm not sure
I have the energy and the patients for the hustle,
for the horns, for the concrete, and for the little
studio apartments that cost four thousand dollars a month. One
thing doesn't change though New York is the best city

(03:26):
in the world. New York is the city, and for
two simple reasons I reckon Number one, diversity. There cannot
be a city on the face of this earth with
the greater spread and mix of cultures, ethnicities, languages, and
socioeconomic extremes. The thing that everyone has in common is

(03:47):
that everyone is different, and the result of that diversity
is the greatest concentration of interesting food, music, and art
on the planet. And the other reason I think it
is the great city is public space because almost everyone
lives in small spaces, Everything public is always busy, and

(04:09):
every public space is used, and there's a collective experience,
whether people are conscious of it or not. It means
that the tiny, tiny little strip of land on the
corner of Madison and one hundred and tenth Street, just
around the corner from my old apartment, has been converted
into a community garden. It means the benches alongside the

(04:31):
triangle of green at Broadway in seventy second are always
filled with people just watching the world go by. And
it means here tonight, on a random autumn evening, as
Central Parks leaves turn gold and the sun drops below
the west Side, there are hundreds of people out enjoying
the moment, socializing, playing, eating, relaxing. It feels vital, It

(04:57):
feels alive. It even feels a little bit magical.

Speaker 1 (05:02):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, listen live
to talks it'd be from nine am Saturday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.