But in my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, windswept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart

there is so much to love about a city like New York. The food, the art, the constant offerings of culture—though Addie’s favorite thing is its scale.

This was 1984, so NYC was still only a handful of years removed from the Son of Sam and the blackout and all the other things that New Yorkers from that era have fetishized into oblivion.