Nightglow Window

The Capitol Of The World

We ain't going to the town,
We're going to the city.

A fun, if meaningless, debate I once got into with my Scottish freelancer Matthew K. was whether New York or London was the capitol of the world -- whatever that means.

He argued for London, and made some good points. But let's get real, broo.

Even from a continent away, New York City is firmly lodged in my brainpan -- just like it’s probably in yours, too. Whether it’s the classic grays and smokes of an Alfred Eisenstaedt photo or the video-flecked horror from that day in September, the entire world has a mental image of what NYC is all about.

Once down in its canyons, though, you realize how deep that pool is—almost unfathomable in complexity. Media, fashion, finance—New York is the capitol of countless industries, and walking its streets you run into a parade of icons you never knew your mind collected.

Marc D. is an excellent retailer with shops in White Plains and Long Island, and on the day I first met him -- September 20, 2004 -- he took me on a full tour of NYC in his super-fast convertible BMW -- down from Long Island, over the Brooklyn Bridge to Ground Zero (his rage and despair still showing then, as it showed for most lovers of this city). Then dinner at Nobu and a buzz through Times Square and around the Empire State Building.

And on that night all of Matthew K.'s arguments blew away like dust.



A Manhattan sunset from the Brooklyn Queens Expressway. Marc made a radical pullover on that crowded freeway so I could get this shot.


The navel of a nation: Times Square at sundown.


The Flatiron Building