New York City is a world unto itself—and always has been. In each of the City’s 259 neighborhoods, you’ll find all the things you need to survive: grocers, dry cleaners, restaurants and hardware shops. But, you’ll also find something intangible: the people from around the world who have come together to call this city home. In this love letter to our hometown, we ask seven New Yorkers a question: What are the places that make your neighborhood unique and why do you call it home?
Stellene Volandes (@stellenevolandes) savvily balances both inhabiting the upper echelons of the Upper East Side and observing it as the editor-in-chief of Town and Country. During COVID-19, the author of Jewels That Made History has rediscovered the splendor of Central Park—the irrefutable gem of the neighborhood she calls home.
“The Grotto,” Central Park East | 79th Street Entrance
Central Park has been my salvation these last six months, but especially the meadow you get to from the 79th street entrance just before you enter the Ramble. We call it “The Grotto” and it’s been the site of many masked picnics with our small circle. If you take the bridle path around The Reservoir on the West Side and look up you can see the midtown skyline—proof to me all along that we would be alright.
Nectar Diner | 1090 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10028
Classic Upper East Side Madison Avenue Diners like Nectar are great because I can talk to all the waiters in Greek and order the Corfu and Mykonos salads and pretend I’m actually there. They make the city feel like a small Greek village. The Lalaounis store on East 64th has that same effect!
Sant Ambroeus | 1000 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10021
They never stopped making those perfect prosciutto and Swiss cheese sandwiches and that heavenly marzipan princess cake which meant that even during the saddest days of this year I could send something to celebrate my niece’s graduation.
Publisher, producer, and photographer Felicia Megan Gordon (@hiharlem) calls Sugar Hill, Harlem home. Her upcoming show “Styling: Black Expression, Rebellion, and Joy Through Fashion” will be on view at the Nordstrom New York City Flagship Store from September 17 to October 29.
The Jungle (aka The Frederick Johnson Tennis Courts) | 148th Street Station, New York, NY 10039
