We all witnessed the numerous stories of doom and gloom that were peddled to us by NY based media outlets during the peak of the COVID-19 crises last year.
We all saw the death toll and infection rate numbers rolling across our TV screens all day and night; the images of bodies being loaded into refrigerated semi-truck trailers by overwhelmed hospital staff, and we all witnessed the the city being labeled as the epicenter of the pandemic due to being the third most international/multicultural city in America and the sixth one in the world.
After all of that, there is no way that you wouldn’t be under the impression that it was over for all of New York City’s five boroughs and it would never recover or be the same after this “once in our lifetime” crisis. The news media even likened the new state of the city back to its worst days in the 1970’s and 1980’s after it was abandoned by the US government; which allowed it to become inundated with crime, poverty and the crack epidemic; which were some of the worst times ever in the city’s history.
Since the 90’s, before rapid gentrification and me being able to live there safely as a result, I have had a love affair with the city and even back then I would visit as much as I could to immerse myself in the culture, uniqueness, rawness and one of a kind-ness that is “the city”. Even though it was almost 900 miles away from my birthlace of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and my later place of residence; Atlanta, Georgia, I knew that there was a more true connection to somewhere else I hadn’t experienced yet with my name written all over it. The big city was calling me.
With all of that said, my recent visit confirmed that the city is definitely back and it not dead like they predicted it would be. There is no denying the electrifying energy you feel from just being there and breathing the air. That power surge is still there and it’s even stronger than it was before during the time leading up to the pandemic.
As a now former resident, I can matter-of-factly say that New York City is a place that is resilient as a giant granite boulder sitting on a bed of razor blades. I witnessed this with my own eyes and every bit of my being during the six years I was a resident there. I don’t care what happens in the land of 8 million stories, it will ALWAYS bounce back. ALWAYS. The city itself is as tough as it makes the people who make it there and no other place is even remotely like it.
There is now a new re-emergence of people heading back to the Big Apple in droves. Even with the current mandatory vaccine poof fiasco going on.
The pre-pandemic population of 8.6 million has now grown to 8.8 million in less than two years. And even though rents are slowly rising back up to market rate, some of the best rent prices for NYC in over a decade became available during the height of the pandemic. Even in Manhattan.
Many of the people who had to leave against their will just missed the city and the lifestyle; myself included. People have been sitting on the sidelines in their temporary cities just looking for the right opportunity to jump back in.
The timing of my personal departure would make one think that I knew the pandemic was coming and I selfishly got out of dodge before or without telling anyone else.
My first trip back there since leaving in the very beginning of 2020 was a much needed birthday gift to myself. I was spent from the pandemic and was losing my mind just like everyone else during the shutdown. I desperately needed to go back “home” to get my “fix” and a fix it was. I enjoyed every minute of my trip and did not want to leave because the city is really home to me. Rightfully so too because I definitely earned the right to claim it as my home due to the unsurmountable amount of blood, money, sweat and tears I shed while carving out my space there. I cut my teeth and tore my ass many times over in New York City.
There are countless things that won’t ever do again in my lifetime but I would sign up for the New York City experience again in a heartbeat.
As a person who was there for six years (which seems more like eight because of all of what you experience and do) and hadn’t been back since then, it felt honestly like I never left. I slid right back into place. I have yet to able to do that in my new city; Chicago.
There is nothing like the impromptu block parties in Brooklyn, seeing
Spike Lee walking around or dining in Fort Greene, the crazy people on
the C train, the street vendors, the countless one of a kind boutiques, the restaurants, the legendary scenery and so many more things that come with the city.
I only saw about half of the normal amount of people that would normally be out on the streets and patronizing different establishments but the energy I felt each time I stepped out was undeniable. The pandemic gave the city a reset to become even better.
Even if you relocate to another city and THINK where you are now is better, unless you had a bad experience, the memory and urge of living in New York City will just keep tugging at your subconcuious like a two year old who knows it’s feeding-time.
