Living in Greenwich Village was long my dream before it became my reality. Reality is, of        course, more complicated than dreams. But one of the marvelous things about this place is that it feels like a Village. Manhattan is made up of a series of streets and avenues at right angles, while the Village’s streets are mostly at an angle to the rest, quite literally off-kilter. It is a place unto its own, the low-slung old buildings and genteel pocket parks, a marked contrast to the skyscrapers looming in the distance.

Another reason for its attraction is that it’s long been home to many artists and creative movements: the Bohemians, the Beats, the jazz and folk legends, oodles of off-Broadway theater.

The Village has also been the setting for some great movies like Barefoot in the Park, If Beale Street Could Talk, Serpico, and Inside Llewyn Davis.

It’s been the home of some great TV shows, too, like The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

But, judging from the tourists outside Magnolia Bakery and Carrie Bradshaw’s apartment exterior, almost 30 years since its debut, the heavyweight champ in terms of the Village’s association with fictional characters still seems to be Sex and the City.

(Carrie lived on the Upper West Side in the show but the exterior was actually in the West Village. More on that in a later blog.)

The neighborhood used to be quite sleepy, despite its legacy. But after SATC began filming and tourists began flooding in to walk Carrie’s footsteps, our akimbo’d streets suddenly grew crowded. Locals haven’t always been thrilled by the influx of gawkers, but we try to retain sense of humor. I mean, there’s nothing that induces a satisfied smile quite like watching a tourist, fresh off a Sex and the City bus tour, nose buried in their phone, utterly missing Sarah Jessica Parker in the flesh as she passes by.

Other times the humor takes a different form, with local stores joining the fun. How do you like them apples…?Text