My daughter Ocean wanted a day of walking and shopping in Manhattan, so we headed down to the SoHo neighborhood. I didn’t know that “SoHo” stands for “South of Houston (pronounced HOW-ston by New Yorkers) Street”. No surprise, I am not a big shopping guy, but I enjoyed watching Ocean and Nadia bond and have fun together. The day was also an insight into contemporary youth culture for me. Ocean went to Instagram to find a trendy bagel shop and landed on Leon’s Bagels, which were pretty good. She loved eating a bagel and people-watching in Washington Square Park in the neighboring Greenwich Village. The area originally was a burial ground for the poor and victims of yellow fever in the early 1800s. It is estimated that the remains of 20,000 to 25,000 anonymous people are buried under the park. Today it is a vibrant public gathering place and we enjoyed watching some Norwegian soccer fans enjoying the city.
Ocean next wanted to go to the Brandy Melville flagship at 509 Broadway in SoHo. I had never heard of the store, the clothes looked like a Banana Republic or Gap, to me, nothing special. However, for teenage girls, as I was joking, it felt a bit cultish. HBO’s Brandy Hellville and the Cult of Fast Fashion tells the origin story of the company and their use of social media influencers to develop a devoted brand loyalty. I felt like I was working at a girls’ school, monitoring high school break duty. It was easy to identify the company’s demographic. Brandy Melville Italian CEO, Stephen Marsan sounds like a creep.
Some other highlights from the day were walking around the “campus” of New York University. I put campus in quotes because it was basically nice office buildings in Greenwich Village, not the typical camps (see my Adrian College visit blog post). We also walked by Nord Anglia’s NYC campus as well, again, just an office building. I had to take a break and explored Union Square while the girls continued shopping for shoes and clothes. This was the site of the 9/11 memorials and America’s Labor Day (early September), began from protests taking place in the 19th century. I found the Teach Yourself Arabic book ($10) I was looking for at the Strand Book Store. I could have spent the entire day in there exploring its “18 miles of used books”. It started in 1927 and is the last remaining book store from that era.
I am lucky to have two beautiful women in my life!
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