New York: Day 3

Day 2. Casey and Kevo are supposed to meet us at 10:30 so we can catch a train to Philadelphia to spend the day there. At 10:18 Kevin finally answers his phone and alerts us that they are still asleep. So AJ and I go to the train station to get tickets. They can meet us in Philly. Problem, tickets are $40 more than expected. We can Philly and decide to go to Harlem. Why? I'm not completely sure. But on the subway ride I come up with a good reason. When I die I want to think that I would have lived a good life. But in the unfortunate event that I don't, at least my epitaph will read, "Josh, who walked the streets of Harlem."

We arrive at 125th and step into another world. We slowly peruse. We find ourselves outside the Apollo theater. We walk inside to take a peek. We are immediately informed that unless we are part of a stage crew we can't enter. I tell them I am part of a stage crew. One eye blink later and we leave. Something is strange. Eerie, even. I am not racist, just observant. We are the only white people on this block. After 15 or so minutes of wandering around, we finally see another white man. I want to be excited, but my mind won't allow it. He is in handcuffs and being placed in the backseat of a police car. Oh shit. So we walk a few blocks off the beaten path when I spot an abandoned basketball court. I feel that this is a great picture opportunity, but become acutely aware of the presence of 6 men on the corner opposite us. Staring. Yes, still staring. I casually place my camera inside my jacket pocket and pray I live to tell about this. The men disperse gently, yet approach in our general direction. We turn around and follow the same route from whence we came. We find ourselves at the police station - AKA, our hangout - and don't veer more than 3 blocks from it at any given time.

We decide to get some cigarettes in a mild attempt to fit in. We walk into the gas station - right across the street from the police station - and AJ buys isne cigarettes and a lighter.
Note: Another observation. The polite convenience store clerk is black. No problem whatsoever, except what happens next.

attendant: What color lighter you want, bro?
aj: Black.
...slight pause from attendant.
aj: I mean red, or blue...or pink. All colors are good with me [insert nervous laugh]. We leave even more nervous than before. Walking down the street I see another great photo op, a run-down alley surrounded by apartments. I take the picture.

aj: Yeah, I'm sure what these people want to see is some California guys taking pictures of how they live. 'Oh, look at us with our camera exploiting your poverty.'

I want to make a smart-ass comment, then realize how right he is. Once again, camera in jacket pocket. A man approaches us at a fast pace and as he passes he sings out, "Haha! Welcome to Harlem," and walks across the street. It is time to leave.

We leave.

Casey and Kevin are about 3 hours from arriving in Manhattan, so we decide on visiting Central Park. Two minutes after we enter the park it starts to rain. We head across the street, see Trump Hotel and Tower, and enter the Time Warner plaza. There is a large bronze statue upon entrance, and the man bears a disproportionately small penis.

Photo op.

We ask a pretty young lady to take a picture. At first she seems timid. Then when I pretend to hold the itty-bitty penis in my hand, she laughs. Back to Times Square. At ESPN Zone we meet the bartender who is a Cali girl. Two suits sit next to us. We talk. They are reporters for Reuters. I am jazzed. A few beers later we leave to meet Kevo and Casey. With them we venture to Rockefeller Plaza. Kinda cool I guess. We eat a hot dog from a stand. Always wanted to do that.

Later we go to Long Island to visit Casey's friend Pat. We have some drinks. I forget my camera at Pat's. We head back to Manhattan, except we board the wrong train. Two stops later, we get back in the right direction. We go to a bar. I don't know the name of it, or in what section of the city we are for that matter. I just know that the lights inside are all red. There are a lot of people. After a drink or three Kevo and I set our beers down, in the same exact spot, and go outside to try to talk to some girls. We come back in a few minutes later, and one of the beers is gone. It is mine, because Kevin's is still full. What kind of satanic force steals a man's beer?

We all spend the night mingling with people whom I've never met before and before you know it, we all hit the wall. That very wall that after 6 hours of bulldozers and beer just make you want to fall asleep. But we can't. The girls we are with want to go get some food. So we go to this place up the street called Ziggy's. I order a 12 piece mozzarella sticks to share with somebody, but after every gets their greedy fingers on them, I was allowed one stick. We call it a night, or early morning, after that and go home.