an old friend came into town last night and i thought we were gonna head to a bar. i figured i'd find someone to buy me a drink, there'd be a little flirting, and i'd head home relatively unscathed.
gowanus ballroom is, on foot, nine minutes from where i live now (according to my iPhone map app).
{let me first say that the idea that i am a mere nine minutes from a place where people actually go to spend a saturday night out is revolutionary--thrilling. washington heights had its perks but no way was i getting anyone, ever, to come to me. usually i'd travel 45 minutes or an hour in one direction to get downtown for a real-deal-new-york-city-saturday-night-experience}.
so like i said nine minutes. on foot.
around minute seven i started to get nervous. i crossed the gowanus canal, turned into some sort of parking lot and there were two naked men and marshmallows.
no. not the start of a joke. rather the start (or some part) of a performance art piece.
the gowanus ballroom is, according to its website, "an alternative exhibition space." last night the two-storied space housed an art exhibition featuring a live eel, a hanging piano, a treehouse (you better believe i climbed the thing--you're only young once), live music, and quite a bit of nudity.
{and at 2 am the hanging piano came crashing down onto the tower of champagne glasses}.
it was not a typical saturday night. there were no phone numbers exchanged. no nuanced flirting from the safety of a barstool. there wasn't even air conditioning. but i wouldn't have traded the experience for anything in the world. because it was just that--an experience. if i'm gonna live in new york i want to do things that can only be done here.
i won't be back every saturday and it won't be the kind of thing i'll bring my brother to when he comes for a visit--he wouldn't be able to make heads from tails of it and there would be quite a lot of guffawing about hipsters. but i will return (carefully choosing my companions when i do).
if you want an experience--an adventure--an only-in-new-york-moment add this to your list.
(and for the instagram user who asked if that's an orb in the fire-breathing photo--hell if i know, but you certainly got the hair on the back of my neck standing straight up).
8 comments:
wow! what a unique experience. i'd like to give this place a try, for certain!
so creepy.
In Phoenix we have first friday. Similar to what you have going on in your pictures here. It's the first friday of every month. Lots of fun to attend and channel the inner artist.
anddd my list just grew. this right here...this is why i live in new york.
meg just have to say you look amazing in your red dress!
this has me intregued-- if only i lived in new york so i could check it out.
I love the blurriness of your photos- from the description of your night, it seems fitting. I am no hipster either, so maybe this would not be my thing, but I'll be darned if I wouldn't have loved to see the piano crash onto those champagne glasses!
This definitely sounds like something I'd like to experience at least once! [as you know, you won't find anything like this in Houston.]
ummm.. wow?!
i'm sure i'd be blushing like crazy at the nudies, but nonetheless still sounds awesome.
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