Taking in some memories of my first time to New York : Chicago and New York trip part 5

Empire State Building , what a beauty

I awoke in New York refreshed and ready to tackle the day ahead . I had alot of options. The best thing about travelling by yourself is to do the following. Wake up each morning point to yourself and say what do you want to do ? Call me a selfish old prick but travelling in large groups is a nightmare for me as everyone wants to do something different and the whole process is slow and laborious.

Classic New York ,subway and street scene

With that in mind I decided to see if an old friend of mine was around to go into Manhattan and visit my old haunts from the first time I came to New York. I knew my friend was an early riser as she normally took her dog for a walk so messaged her to see if she was free . We arranged to meet in a few hours and go into Manhattan. Prior to this I had to take in one of culinary delights of New York , a deli sandwich , more succinctly a pastrami deli sandwich. I messaged another friend who lived in the area for Deli recommendations and he suggested “Stay Fresh” deli which is on Broadway near Flushing Ave station of anyone in New York wants to check it out. I took a walk down there and was immediately reminded about the differences between ordering food in UK and USA . Namely the choices. I went for the option which was a classic deli meat , cheese , and salad . Seemed simply enough. I of course stated I wanted pastrami as my deli meat and then came what cheese ? ……..Ah …….my mind slowly trying to think of a cheese while negotiating a few days worth of beer …… what cheese do you have ? . Queue quickfire New York style rattling them off chedder,swiss , american , provalone …. Ah provalone yea that one. What bread do you want .. a normal roll or a hero a big one (he could see I was struggling). I was like a hero ...ummm yea …..and the salad just lettuce tomato ? YES !!!. Whew made it

Tip jar sign in the deli

I then stettled in and waitied for my sandwhich while taking in the awesome New York conversation around me. They were talking about Rocky and eating raw eggs and protein. It is too much to try express in words but anyone who has been to New York or lives there knows what I mean. I got back to the hotel and devoured this beast with a gulltonous smile on my face.

Then my friend Andy messaged to say she was outside. A little background on me and Andy. We have known each other since 2007. Andy has been on all the US tours I was involved in barring the last one where I organised my own tour with my own band . The times before was with another band and she was basically like tour manager/driver/merch person/motivator and all around legend. Turns out out we had not seen each other for 8 years so was absolutely bouncing when I left the hotel to meet her. It is so awesome to see someone I had not seen in a long time and we chatted all the way to Manhattan.

My plan was to go on a little journey back in time to when I first arrived in New York in 2003. Let me take you back a couple of years . I first came to New York in the summer of 2003 . The old band I was in “Police and Thieves” befriended a New York band called “The Star Spangles”. They invited us over to New York to play some gigs and hang out. Between us we chipped some money together. I had just got back from having a shoulder operation in South Africa so literally had no money but I was going . We stayed in their rehearsal room which for those of you who don't know is literally a room with equipment in it , we took turns sleeping on the floor, couch whatever we could find and lived there for 2 weeks, occasionally taking showers and walking everywhere its no wonder I didn't get with any girls I must have looked and smelt like a tramp. Oh to be young an reckless.

One of the first places we went to was the rehearsal room , I couldn't remember exactly where it was I knew it was near times square but couldn't remember the actual cross street . I thought I remembered the building and took a photo of the entrance.

I later found out the cross street was 38th and 8th Avenue so this is just a picture of a random door. After that we went to the the site of the Bellvue Bar . This particular bar is not there anymore but it has been replaced with another bar.

I still have one of the cards from that journey as you can see it is dated 27th of July 2003

The barman could hear we were not from New York invited us over and with a round of shots proclaiming "welcome to New York fellas!" . A very special memory for me and hence why I had to go to the site . After that we went to the site of the Mars Bar this place was notorious in 2003. It was an absolute dive and this is exemplified by the graffiti that used to adorn the bar “daycare for drunks”. It was an amazing place for us lads to check out the real beating heart of the underground New York scene. As an aside note the bass player met his future wife here. They kept in contact got married and started their own vintage shop called “another man’s treasure” in Jersey City Check out the website here .

Sadly the Mars Bar is now a bank

I'm not going to go into a gentrification rant cause that's really boring now so will just say I had a little moment and told Andy about what went down there .

After that we went to a pizza place nearby that Andy took me to. It was really rad and was filled with a lot of signed pictures from the famous clientele.

Barbara Striesand

Lionel Ritchie

These assholes

This asshole

After that we took a train back to my hotel . Throughout the whole trip me and Andy chatted a lot we caught up with what each other had been up to . Our struggles , our hard times , how we had both been through the rigour, got some help and we are now both doing great, It was really awesome to chat to an old friend and I cant begin to put into words how great this trip has been in meeting with old friends and making new ones . Andy you are a legend and I look forward to seeing you again ...lets not leave it 8 years this time.

I was going to include my attempt to meet up with a steemian but that will have to have its own post as I think I have waffled on enough stay tuned

If you want to read the other posts regarding this journey check out these links

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4