Going Vertical In New York City

While in NYC, I stayed at a friend’s. Her place is on the 27th floor. Being on the 27th floor was an experience. I live in a place that actually has an ordinance limiting the height of buildings to three stories, so my movements are predominantly lateral and not vertically.

I cannot remember the last time I took an elevator above the sixth floor. I imagine it has been many years. In fact I think it was in Little Rock in 2001. (Why was I in Little Rock you ask? Well, for money, obviously. What other reason is there to be in Little Rock?)

I am not afraid of heights per say. This is not to mean I go hanging over roof sides. I just prefer to give them a little space, of approximately my length, lest I stumble and fall over.

Actually, what I hate the most is elevators. This comes from an in depth exposure to elevator horror stories my freshman year of college. I am sure you have all heard the story from my college where a ton of people squeeze into an elevator for a picture, in standard freshman fashion. The elevator slowly starts sinking from its stop on the eighth floor. A guy at the front gets half way out of the elevator, when the elevator drops two stories, cutting him in half and leaving the rest of the occupants bumped, bruises, and stuck with half the body of their friend.

It stands to reason this is traditional freshman lore. That being said, my sophomore year two elevator repair men, on an elevator car, plunged from the top of an elevator shaft crashing to the bottom, over six stories. That is not lore; it was carried in the papers.

So, I don’t like elevators.

But this elevator didn’t have any of those scary characteristics found in elevators: acceleration/deceleration that requires airbags, excessive delay in door opening, bottom of the elevator cab being six or more inches below/above the destination floor, and there are more, but since I reference them so rarely, I can’t remember them. So this elevator passed my inspection.

Being on the 27th floor had some interesting qualities. First, you always have instant hot water. You never have to wait for the hot water to push out all the cold water in the pipes. This was a great novelty. (Obviously, I was not the only one on the 27th floor.) Second, they don’t build with wood to 27 stories. In CA, everything is wood. So I walk around my house, and nearly everything gives a little. Not on the 27th floor. It felt so solid.

I would say, I have lived the majority of my life capable of changing my clothes in front of my windows, risking flashing a hibiscus, oak trees, ivy, bamboo, etc. To be on the 27th floor, and have people, potentially hundreds of people, about 150 meters away capable of looking into the window, that is just weird. And even worse was my friend’s pair of binoculars sitting window side accentuating the fact that people were looking.

The view was amazing, just lines of skyscrapers stretching away, and little yellow taxis zigging and zagging in no apparent direction.

And more importantly, the nice quiet respite was so needed for the country mouse after a day at play in the city.

So, if you ever go vertical, I recommend the 27th floor.