A Wonderful Town

From The New Yorker’s archive: pieces about Manhattan and the figures and places that make the city so unforgettable. View in browser | Update your preferences A Wonderful Town In 1962, John Updike published a Talk of the Town story about Manhattan emerging from a spring rainstorm. It’s a beautifully written piece that takes us along the boulevards and byways of the city as the writer attempts to avoid the downpour—first ducking across drenched corridors and shafts near a side street, then sheltering in the allée of a bookstore on Fifth Avenue. At certain times, Updike writes, the gusts from the deluge “had the effect of exquisitely pressing the city down into itself.” The rain, he notes, seems to intensify everything, emphasizing the sharp angles of the buildings and the vivid seams of the streets as it pours down. His piece perfectly encapsulates a moment when everyone in New York seemed to be holding her breath, waiting for a break in the engulfing tempest—in other words, waiting for the sun. This week, we’re bringing you a selection of pieces about Manhattan and the figures and places that make the city so unforgettable. In “The Old House at Home,” from 1940, Joseph Mitchell profiles McSorley’s Old Ale House, a legendary downtown haunt populated by a slew of eccentric characters. (“It is a drowsy place; the bartenders never make a needless move, the customers nurse their mugs of ale, and the three clocks on the walls have not been in agreement for many years.”) In “Mozzarella Story,” Calvin Trillin chronicles his appreciation for the culinary gems found at a small cheese shop in Greenwich Village. In “Sophie’s World,” Rebecca Mead explores the exuberant imagination of an eight-year-old who resides on the Upper West Side. In “Putting Myself Together,” Jamaica Kincaid recounts the heady days and nights of her early years in the city. (“I did not know then that I had embarked on something called self-invention, the making of a type of person that did not exist in the place where I was born.”) In “A Diamond to Cut New York,” Dawn Powell offers a sharp, witty portrait of the Manhattan literary world during the thirties, forties, and fifties. In “Revealing and Obscuring Myself on the Streets of New York,” Hilton Als describes his recent move to a new neighborhood and contemplates his life as a queer, Black writer in the city. Finally, in “Moving On, a Love Story,” the essayist and screenwriter Nora Ephron recalls her devotion to the Apthorp, a celebrated uptown Beaux-Arts building, and how she discovered a sense of place. (“All stories about love begin with a certain amount of rationalization. I had never planned to live on the Upper West Side, but after a few weeks I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else, and I began, in my manner, to make a religion out of my neighborhood.”) The storms that have battered our beloved New York for more than a year now have not yet subsided; there is still much work to do. But, every so often, we catch a glimpse of sunlight breaking through, parting heathered clouds and allowing us to envision the city finally settling back into itself once more. —Erin Overbey, archive editor From The New Yorker’s Archive Talk Of The Town Spring Rain The buildings there, steeped in humidity, seemed to be a kind of print of their own images. By John Updike | April 21, 1962 Personal History Moving On, a Love Story To move into the Apthorp was to enter a state of giddy, rent-stabilized delirium. By Nora Ephron | June 5, 2006 Life in the City Putting Myself Together Somehow, the writer, and her favorite hat, survived the heady days and nights of youth. By Jamaica Kincaid | February 20 & 27, 1995 Journals A Diamond to Cut New York “I am still so amazed at the brazenness of people who only remember you when you’ve gone into your fourth printing.” By Dawn Powell | June 26 & July 3, 1995 Newsletters Sign Up for The New Yorker’s Books & Fiction Newsletter Book recommendations, fiction, poetry, and dispatches from the world of literature, twice a week. Profiles The Old House at Home McSorley’s, the oldest Irish saloon in the city. By Joseph Mitchell | April 13, 1940 Our Local Correspondents Mozzarella Story A cheese ritual. By Calvin Trillin | December 2, 2013 Profiles Sophie’s World She leads the life of a typical Upper West Sider: the back-to-back appointments, the hours in the gym, the social obligations. But then nobody said it was easy being eight. By Rebecca Mead | October 18 & 25, 1999 Personal History Revealing and Obscuring Myself on the Streets of New York I walk through my neighborhood dealing with personal stuff, including learning how to physically and mentally defend myself against those who do not feel that my “I” should exist at all. By Hilton Als | October 25, 2018 You’re receiving this e-mail because you signed up for the New Yorker Classics newsletter. Was this e-mail forwarded to you? Sign up. Unsubscribe | Manage your e-mail preferences | Send newsletter feedback | View our Privacy Policy Copyright © Condé Nast 2021. One World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007. All rights reserved.