Cute Little Paper Blog

Tag: New York

  • New York City

    New York City

    I’ve lost track of the times I’ve been to New York City. If I had never met my partner (who’s from New York), I probably would not have had the chance to see it in all the different ways that I have. I don’t know if summer or winter in the city is better. For one, summer in the city means a happier Long Island. But being bundled up in New York doesn’t stop New Yorkers.

    The first time I went to New York City, it was for a month. I stayed in both Nassau County and the Upper East Side of the city and took everything in for the first time. It was Christmas and everything in New York was exactly like I had pictured it. Plus, my partner’s mom is a New York City Tour Guide (apparently there is an exam you take for this certification). We went on one of her tours.

    Then we went back three different times for three different weddings. Two in the summer, one in the winter. Perhaps I am not from the East coast and only came into this habit as an adult, I feel cool telling others I go to New York for weddings. 

    One winter, I went to hang out with my uncle and watch musicals. I think in one weekend we saw three shows. We’re crazy. I stayed at one of my high school best friend’s apartments. It was an awesome time that involved too many late nights and junk food. 

    One winter I went to the city to a conference. I got to know a small aspect of Columbia University. I showed one of my other best friends around Coney Island and Brighton Beach, the gritty Russian side.  

    One summer I spent a whole week lazing around Long Island. I hopped boardwalk art fairs, got my nails done, and ate a lot of pizza rolls. 

    New York has always been a place of good memories. Despite it being portrayed in the media as a place that is fast-paced, I’ve only seen the casual laid-back side of New York, and I don’t really want that to change. 

  • Boston & New York City

    Boston & New York City

    This summer I spent a month on the East Coast. As a kid, I had never been to any part of the East Coast. Most trips my family took were to the West Coast or Southwest. So as an adult, I get excited exploring the kitschy colonial buildings and idyllic towns of the East.

    I spent three days in Boston. I met up with my best friend, rented a cheap motel room, and had an awesome girl’s weekend! My favorite place was the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum. I had just finished listening to podcast Once Upon a Crime episode about a mob-related robbery of artworks from the museum in the 1990′s, that still have not been recovered.

    The museum blew me away. They retained much of the original architecture so it feels like a turn of the century palace! It is naturally lit by skylight. The terrace that is the center of the museum is breathtaking, lined with airy plants and delicate stone structures under an extremely tall sky-lit ceiling. It’s so beautifully designed. Each room of the museum doesn’t feel like a traditional museum, with rigid and plain rooms. Instead, the rooms are dark, draped in robes, and feels more like an antique shop than an art museum. Apparently, the rooms are set up in the exact same way Isabella Stewart Gardner had and only minor changes have been made. That includes the way the art is displayed. There are even spots in the museum missing certain paintings, which are from the infamous robbery, left empty and eerie.

    It’s inspiring how a place can feel so lost in time amidst the ultra-modern, somewhat gritty city of downtown Boston. Unfortunately, I only spent a few days in Boston. I spent the next ten days in New York, meeting up with friends and trying new things.

    On this trip, I also got to visit more areas of New York I had not previously been. Places include:

    1. Red Hood Food Vendors for papusas and baleadas. It was kind of out of the way… but an interesting find. I just finished Visitation Street by Ivy Pochoda and have been intrigued by this melancholy place.
    2. Tenement Museum. I’m starting to get the hype about this place.
    3. Vaselka for Ukranian classics like borscht, pilmeni, and chicken kotleti. It brought me back to living in Russia. Also, isn’t East Village so fun? It’s my favorite neighborhood in Manhattan!
    4. Belmont Stakes. Say what you will about horse racing but man, the ponies sure are pretty, and it’s fun to win money.
    5. Pinball arcade behind a laundromat in Brooklyn. Beer only though, but beggars can’t be choosers. This was another place I scoped out on Atlas Obscura.
    6. TWA Hotel Food Hall. This is attached to the Jetblue terminal at JFK airport. It’s so cute!!

  • Brooklyn & Manhattan

    Brooklyn & Manhattan

    One of the best parts of traveling, for me, at least, is all the paper memorabilia that I encounter on the way to the destination. A business card written in French for a French company and a flyer for a French cafe actually in France are things so peculiar and special, especially if it’s a faraway land. It feels foreign in my hands. The words, and even the paper that it’s printed on feels different. But it doesn’t even have to be as far away as France for it to have it’s own explainable, quaint charm. The typeface, even the logos and the borders of movie ticket stubs from a theater that is not your local theater are enticing in its own way. Whatever piece of paper it is, its almost always more remarkable than the same of its kind back at home.

    Scraps collected during a three week long trip to New York. As a Native Texan, New York might as well be as far away and foreign as France.

    Collecting scraps along the way is another form of souvenir collecting. Buying souvenirs for friends and family members was always something that came natural for me, but buying a gift for myself to remember that trip while I am on that trip is weird, too self-involved. Choosing that one perfect item to carry back home seems too calculated. Souvenirs, like memories, and like memory keeping, should be acquired naturally. 

    I save all my little pieces of paper in an envelope until I get home. Or I tuck it into a notebook. This is a business card for a comedy show, a rubber stamp shop, and a Cajun-themed pizza place in New York City.

    We acquire scraps so rapidly that in our hometowns, it becomes an annoyance. Your pocket fills up with gas station receipts, concert stubs, flyers handed out at a busy walkway. You get a sticker for attending an event at a gallery’s latest exhibit. You get a wristband for going to concert in a bar. But in a new town, those things can be collected for later.