BW's New York Minute

I spent the past week in New York.  The trip had several high points, including the best chocolate chip cookie I have ever eaten (at Levain Bakery--thanks for the rec, DXH!), a brief visit to the Stonewall Inn, and a thorough inspection of Chicago's O'Hare Airport during an eight-hour (surprise!) layover.  You might not know that some of the most advanced airports in the U.S. are making the switch from traditional monitor displays to crudely penned cardboard signs in order to conserve electrodes.  Thanks, O'Hare, for doing your part! 

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I also got a chance to explore several different parts of New York City, and have a few observations, some gay-relevant and others not:

1. I saw few obviously gay people, even fewer obvious lesbians, and almost no butches (compared to other large US cities, that is--tough midwestern housewives notwithstanding).  This held true in the West Village, on the Upper West Side, in Times Square, Sutton Place, Battery Park, Chinatown, and on about 20 different buses and subway trains. 
2. Despite #1, no one stares at you in New York.  This is because they don't care about you even a teensy little bit.  This is both the good news and the bad news.
3. New York men wear Windsor knots for a regular day at work.  (In many other cities, a Windsor is more like a statement that you're getting all fancy-like.)
4. People in New York go absolutely batshit for smoked and preserved fish. 
   
5. We went to Henrietta Hudson's (a lesbian bar) and there were about fifteen people there.  It was loud and smelled vaguely of vomit.  The bartender was kind of butchy, as was one other woman.  No one else.  A little disappointing.  Any readers from New York want to shed some light on the NYC Butch Deficit?
6. Some Manhattanites are slightly out of touch with nature.  In Central Park, my DGF and I saw a family whose members were tremendously excited about seeing a squirrel.  Dad was videotaping, Sis was offering it her hot dog bun, Bro was trying to pet it, and Mom looked positively stricken.  I would have pointed out some nearby ants to them, too, but I didn't want anyone to pee from all the wildlife-induced excitement.
7. If you are gay, and you take the Staten Island Ferry, you will be the only gay person on the Staten Island Ferry.
8. This exists:
   

  

 

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  9.   As does this: 

 

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10.  Despite the plethora of entertainment options available in their bustling metropolis, New Yorkers are particularly fond of shapeshifting and crafts (as the selection of used books for sale at Symphony Space revealed):

And lastly, my two brushes with fame:

I am 99% sure  we encountered John Bartlett while he was out walking one of his dogs in the West Village.  I didn't know anything about him, but after we talked to him for a while about dogs and walked away, the fashion designer friend we were with told us, "Oh wow--that was John Bartlett."  So I googled him, and not only is he a famous (gay) fashion designer, but is very committed to animals, particularly dogs.  (And he's even cuter in person.)

In the taxi line at LaGuardia right after we arrived, my DGF noticed that the address on the luggage tag of the (het) couple in front of us was a few blocks from where we were staying.  Resourcefully, my DGF asked if they wanted to split a cab.  Indeed, they did.  During the ride, we learned that the woman was coming back from the west coast, where she had just been at the Frameline Film Festival promoting a film in which she had acted.  What film, you ask?  "Jamie and Jessie Are Not Together."  She was surprised I'd heard of it, and had no idea that it's been getting great buzz in the lesbian blogosphere.  Has anyone out there seen it yet?  I'd love to post a review.