NEW YORK--Lower Manhattan still feels familiar to a once-frequent visitor. Yet there are changes since we last visited here for the Tribeca Festival in April 2018.
Renovation of LaGuardia Airport is nearly complete, and the $4 billion transformation--with floor-to-ceiling windows, art curated by the Queens Museum, and a design that allows travelers to navigate gates quickly using technologies such as hands-free bag drop and digital ID screening capabilities--completely redefines the formerly dingy, morose space.
Concerning public transportation, there's no need to fumble at a confusing vending machine to buy an MTA MetroCard any more. A touch system called OMNY allows us to tap a credit card or a phone before boarding a bus or entering a subway station.
MetroCards--which cost $1 (they expire after a year, supposedly because wear and tear eventually renders their magnetic strips unusable) and needed to be refilled regularly--were introduced in 1993 to eliminate the need to carry and collect tokens. MTA discontinued the use of tokens in subways on May 3, 2003, and on buses on Dec. 31, 2003. The MetroCard is expected to be phased out by April 2024.
The Q70 bus from LaGuardia to Roosevelt Avenue/61st Street (where subways are available) and back to the airport is free. Not the subways, though; they're $2.75, and have been since March 22, 2015.
After taking the N train to Canal Street and climbing up the stairs to the broad thoroughfare known for its bargain (knockoff) sidewalk shopping, I could smell marijuana everywhere. Imbibers show little concern about indulging in public, and law enforcement doesn't seem to care.
Nearby, a serene gathering of Tai Chi practitioners are working on sequences of movements in a park at Canal and Chrystie streets, just east of the Bowery, early on a weekday. On the edge of the park is a huge homeless camp.
Soho Garden Hotel at Canal and Broadway, where we've stayed many times while attending Tribeca, is abandoned; its doors are locked and the building is dark. An energy efficiency poster on its door gives it a grade of D.
Dogs, from a giant Hungarian Komondor to tiny feisty chihuahuas, doodles, Pomeranians, Corgis, and retrievers, make us miss our four-legged girls yet feel at home in the city. An attractively vinyl-wrapped van labeled Pet Cab NYC is dropping off a well-groomed schnauzer at a SoHo doggie day care on Mercer Street near couture retailers such as Prada, Chanel, and Balenciaga, as well as stylish restaurants like Lure Fishbar. A doorman chats with the driver. "Business is good," she tells him.
Grocery shopping in mid-1980s Manhattan happened mostly at bodegas and small family-owned chains like Gristede's and D'agostino's. Then, in the 1990s, I discovered Food Emporium, which resembles the big supermarkets in Cleveland and Little Rock, complete with roasted chickens to go and take-out salad bars.
Now, there are few Food Emporiums. Whole Foods (I know how to find just about anything in the locations at 250 Seventh Avenue in Chelsea, 95 E. Houston Street, 4 Union Square South, and 270 Greenwich St. in Tribeca) and Trader Joe's on 14th Street in Union Square (with its reasonably priced nearby wine store) are always busy, along with specialty food shops and offerings from practically every restaurant that learned to cope with carry-out during the pandemic.
There are zillions of independent coffee shops; each seems to have its loyal fan base. I still like Starbucks best.
Rice to Riches, a rice-pudding purveyor which opened in 2003 at 37 Prince Street, remains in place, much to my surprise. Among the whimsical messages on its window include: "Finally, a rice pudding that doesn't suck." Although fond of rice pudding, I can't see paying $5.75 for six ounces, although its Sex Drugs and Rocky Road flavor sounds intriguing.
We didn't make it back to a favorite pub, Nancy Whiskey, at 1 Lispenard St.; the last time I was there a woman at the bar generously offered me a sip of her favorite beer, which she highly recommended. I agreed and ordered one.
Street vendors still sell bagels, pastries and coffee (bagels are $1.25-$1.50 now), with many specializing in Halal, Mexican, Jamaican, vegan, Greek, Indian, and just about everything else. Fruit/veggie stands have been here for decades (I like to visit in the late afternoon, when bananas are reduced to five for $1).
Hungry visitors seeking sustenance may get confused when seeing logo-ed tents that resemble food vendors but are express sites for free covid tests. They seem to be on every block. Masks aren't required anywhere as far as I could tell.
Fashion isn't what it used to be; women are wearing tights with unsexy athletic bra tops, or baggy jeans and long-tailed shirts. Everyone's wearing pricey athletic shoes. I didn't see any women in power suits and heels, but never made it any farther north than 40th Street on this visit.
The go-to hairstyle is a messy twisted knob at the top of the head. Tattoos are popular on all ages and sexual identities.
The populace seems to have figured out that sharing sidewalks is better than playing a game of walking directly toward oncoming pedestrians and trying to force them to get out of the way, which must be some kind of power play.
In spite of, or because of all this, it's good to be back. And since American Airlines is resuming nonstop service from Little Rock to LaGuardia starting Nov. 3, a return trip is likely.
Karen Martin is senior editor of Perspective.
kmartin@arkansasonline.com