52. “I love the B train from Brooklyn to Manhattan. Even during rush hour. You don’t want to sit on the Brooklyn Bridge or the Manhattan Bridge forever, you know?”
—Maggie Gyllenhaal
53. “What I love about New York is that you can find somebody to yell at you when you deserve it. You can be the biggest swell on Fifth Avenue. But if you piss off the guy at the corner market, he’s gonna tell you about it.”
—Michael J. Fox
54. “The view coming over the 59th Street Bridge from Queens. I actually took down my curtains so I could see it without a hindrance.”
—Geraldine Ferraro
55. “I love the political life in this city. I love how vociferous it is, how active it is. I love that we’re yellers. I love that we speak up. I love the conflict. Social action is a constant opportunity here. It’s in our face. It’s not over there. When I lived in LA, God bless it, Watts was over there. It had very little to do with Bel-Air and Beverly Hills. We are a vertical society. We are on top of each other.”
—Tovah Feldshuh
56. “Because it feels like a small town. I’ve been going to the same dry cleaners and department store for fifteen years. My pharmacy, my deli—that’s my life, those are the people that keep me going.”
—Patricia Clarkson
57. “I love sitting by the lake in Prospect Park with my little dog feeding the ducks.”
—Shamika Cotton
58. “My children love Central Park. It’s magnificent that a public park could be like a fairyland for them. And they love Sylvia’s soul food, because I don’t cook like that, and my children love mac and cheese and fried chicken, and they can get it at Sylvia’s. And I love exposing them to Harlem.”
—Malaak Compton-Rock
59. “There’s a place at Battery Park Marina, in front of the World Financial Center, where they have a quote from Walt Whitman about New York, and I can’t remember the exact words, but it’s really a soliloquy to this great city and it moves me to tears every time I read it. It’s about how mighty New York is, how strong and powerful it is, and about what a big heart it has. I’ve lived here 24 and a half years, and New York has transformed my life. I can’t imagine living anywhere else.”
—Tim Gunn
60. “Standing on Fifth Avenue and Ninth Street and being able to look one way and see the Empire State Building and look the other way and see the Washington Square Arch. Every day, I take a few minutes and just stand there and grin. That’s perfection to me.”
—Dana Delany
61. “I went out the other morning, very early, and walked and walked, and found this café that was open, and I sat there with the snow falling and had an amazing cappuccino. Maybe it’s just because I never have jet lag in London, so I’m never up early enough, but it was a very, very beautiful, blissful moment. So thank you, New York, very much for that.”
—Keira Knightley
62. “It’s got the world’s greatest subway system. I mean everybody complains about the fare hikes, but you can probably go further on this subway system for one fare than you can anywhere else in the world.”
—Al Roker
63. “I love Grant’s Tomb. It’s a reminder of time when people could take pleasure in visiting the grave site of a president. And I love the Circle Line. I like the sense of completeness about it.”
—Mo Rocca
64. “I love the garment district. I love guys pushing big hand-trucks full of clothes down the street.”
—Nanette Lepore
65. “That people come up to me on the street and have real conversations about real things. They don’t just scream—unless they’re tourists. I was on the street the other day, and this older woman came up to me and said, ‘How are the kids? I see that Eva’s doing this and Jack’s doing that.’ Finally, after about ten minutes, I said, ‘I’m sorry, but I can’t place you.’ She said, ‘Oh, honey, you don’t know me. I know you.’”
—Susan Sarandon
66. “What I love about New York more than anything is Cha Cha’s on Mulberry Street. ’Cause if I didn’t say Cha Cha’s on Mulberry Street, I’d probably be in a lot of trouble. No, I really do mean it though. You probably get the best pastries in Little Italy.”
—Vincent Pastore
67. “I love that New York cares. The Robin Hood Foundation, the Michael J. Fox Foundation, Women for Women. I’ve been going to foundation events all week, and I’m blown away by the compassion and caring that people in New York have for people in need.”
—Donna Karan
68.“I would be in terrible straights if the taco truck on 96th Street ever went away. I think more things should be available for purchase directly from trucks. There’s a knife-sharpening truck that comes by on Saturdays. He rings his bell to let you know he’s idling on the corner. It’s very old-timey and convenient. It makes me wish milk and ice still got delivered by truck to your house. I love mobile commerce.”
—Martha Plimpton
69. “I love the Public Theater. The only place I wanted to work when I got out of college was the Public. Just the institution that it is, the Joe Papp flame that is still burning. I just love it. They throw good parties with lots of beer, and the physical building is fantastic. The Anspacher Theater is where we did King Lear last year, and it’s three-quarter round and it’s got this great high, vaulted ceiling. It’s only 250 seats, if that. So it’s so intimate, but you can get real scale. It is a terrible theater to sit in if you have bad knees, especially towards the back. And the subway runs under it, which at first you think is a sound cue. But that’s really New York.”
—Michael Cerveris
70. “I love Central Park. I love the Promenade. It is just so expansive. It’s like being in a painting. And the life is so rich. You can watch people sitting on benches or children running or playing or being pushed in carriages. It’s just so human. I love it.”
—Phylicia Rashad
71. “The idea of this city in the winter. I grew up in Florida, but it feels like Christmas here. It feels like a real holiday here. It feels like magic here.”
—Rob Thomas
72. “I like the fact that it keeps on reinventing itself.”
—Willem Dafoe
73. “I would say the croissants at Tartine. They’re the best in town. Even French people are like in shock when they have them.”
—John Cameron Mitchell
74. “I love those honey-roasted nuts they sell on the street. I bought some today. I definitely feel unchaperoned when I buy those nuts. No adult or any figure of guidance would let you buy them. But if I’m by myself and I realize there’s no one there to stop me, I give in.”
—B.J. Novak
75. “The view from my window. For a woman who’s a widow and pretty much a loner, I can walk out and I’m surrounded by NYU kids. The energy jumps off the sidewalks, and I never feel sad or bored.”
—Blythe Danner
76. “Angus McIndoe’s, in the theater district. Angus himself is a lovely man, and I think that’s why people want to go there. They want to have a drink and see theater people and eat their meat.”
—Nathan Lane
77. When I first came to NYC in 1966 to publicize ‘Georgy Girl,’ I rode on the carousel in Central Park. I sometimes take my grandchildren there, but I sometimes ride it by myself. I once saw Sigourney Weaver on the opposite horse. And I like doing it in the winter on a cold day.”
—Lynn Redgrave
78. “For me, it’s Gene’s Coffee Shop on 60th between Madison and Park. I go in there every morning. I don’t even speak to them. They cook my eggs exactly the way I want them. It gets to the point in New York where people understand each other. Where there’s not even a word said, and the food is exchanged, looks are given. It’s one of those little things that makes New York manageable. It’s an overwhelming place, and when you find these little nuggets of people and places that help you get through your day, that’s what it’s all about.”
—Donny Deutsch
79. “I was born here, it’s all I know, and everyone I love is here.”
—Gaby Hoffman