mr. zabar turns 80.
the upper west side is home to me like my favorite pair of kicks.
i sort of hate that they’ve changed so much but everytime i put them on i am in love all over again. the vibe is the same.
so now Zabar’s is 80 and i reminisce about Little Me running around trying to act like i know where everything is - wandering around star struck and touching everything i can get my hands on. vats of smelly foods. wonderful gadgets. pretty kitchen-y things that still don’t make sense to me.
I am heartened to know that mr. zabar himself is such a force in the neighborhood, holding on to properties full of mom-and-pops and acting like a bank for his employees and families.
this is why people stay in their neighborhoods for so long. this is why it makes it hard/impossible to leave a place where you have spent the majority of your adult life.
things change all around us but there is a core to those blocks that i love and that make me feel like the Little Me in pictures is the same as Big Me in brooklyn.
the vibe is the same.
