new york stories
“excuse me. could you please tell me how to get to chinatown from here,” i asked the young waiter at the italian restaurant.
“just walk that way,” he replied, pointing down a soho street. “um …”
he paused, and looked slightly troubled by what he was about to say.
” … keep going until you start to see lots of, um, chinese people. you’ll know when you are there.”
they turned out to be excellent directions.
i spent a little less than a week in new york city in july. and i did a lot of walking around by myself. you see, my friends all have real jobs, so they have to, like, work during the day. but i had my camera to keep me company.
so i took a lot of photos. i have posted 100 here for your perusal. many of them were shot in chinatown, which actually looks and feels a lot like china. except, in new york if you make a wrong turn, you end up in little italy. that doesn’t happen here in shanghai. our chinatown seems to go on forever.
when i wasn’t in chinatown, i was usually stumbling onto the set of a television show. while in brooklyn, i happened upon the filming of a chase scene for nypd blue (click here to watch a clip … you’ll need quicktime). in soho, i noticed a small group of people looking up and — instead of taking cover, which is what you should probably do in such a situation — i looked up, too. and i saw sara jessica parker sitting in a window. they were filming sex and the city.
i rarely have celebrity sightings in shanghai. or maybe i do. how the hell would i know?
also: added 60-some more photos from my home state of pennsylvania. ever see a tractor pull? well, you won’t ever need to if you watch this movie. i believe this is the montour-delong fair’s slogan: “come for the tractor pull, stay for the goats.” you can see all that and more here in my pennsylvania album. if you’re a newcomer, or a latecomer, feel free to check out all of the not china photos taken during my summer of sars u.s. tour: hawaii, georgia, d.c.. philadelphia and montana coming soon!
09.10.2003, 10:08 PM · Photos, Summer Tour 2003, Video