Bright Lights, Big City
The year after I graduated college I floated around Buffalo. I worked part time at Clayton’s Toy Store on Main Street and avoided the fact that I was deeply in love with New York City and too scared to move there. I used to pour over CraigsList apartment listings imagining my fabulous New York life.
One afternoon I got a voicemail from a videography company in Buffalo who offered me a job. I had been half-heartedly interviewing for work, and when I listened to the voicemail I burst into tears. I knew in that moment that moving to New York wasn’t just a dream of mine it was something I had to do. So I turned down the job and committed to moving to NYC.
Not long after I made that decision I found a listing for an apartment on 15th Street in Park Slope, Brooklyn. It was for a single room in a little house that was occupied by three girls from California. It was a more personal listing than I’d previously encountered where the ladies talked about their annual Christmas party and the BBQs they hosted in the summer. It seemed like a warm, fun environment. I stalked one of them on facebook and it confirmed the welcoming vibe I got from the listing, so I mustered up the courage to email her back and set up a time to see the apartment. I drove down one weekend with a friend and left the California girls a bag of Buffalo sponge candy as a thank you gift for showing me the space.
A few minutes later my future roommate Alyssa called me back, presumably on a sugar high, and let me know I was in!
I moved to Park Slope, Brooklyn in August of 2010.
I was 23 years old, had saved up three months of rent, and didn’t know anybody. I remember being so grateful for my roommates because these girls took me under their wing. They introduced me to their friends, showed me where to get groceries, taught me how to hail a cab, and how to order a martini.
One night, Alyssa was heading into Manhattan to meet some friends for a night of dancing. She was always dressed to the nines and told me to wear heels because we would be taking a cab to and from the club.
Ashley, Katie, me and Alyssa at our annual Christmas party.
I slipped into a purple satin mini dress and we hit the town. In the cab on the way back from my first big night out, I remember her pointing out of the window over the Manhattan Bridge back at the view. I turned around to see the view of the city and was gobsmacked. My stomach filled with butterflies.
New York looked gorgeous. Against the dark sky of the night she was lit up like a Christmas tree. I remember the pride I felt for finding the courage to move and love I felt for my new home.
According to official Sex & The City rules, ten years later I’m officially a New Yorker.
While I had big plans to get drinks on the rooftop of Rockefeller Center in the Rainbow Room, due to COVID my anniversary plans with New York will probably be a little more low key.
An iced coffee at the playground, a slice from down the street. Taking a stroll back down to my first apartment on 15th street, just six blocks from where I live now.
I don’t know the next time I’ll be on the Manhattan bridge at dusk, but I’d never miss an opportunity to turn around and swoon over the view of this magnetic metropolis. Transporting myself back to that 23 year old girl with big dreams to make it in the city.
Xx,
Written by Erin Bagwell
Copy edited by Diana Matthews