a guide to new york city (Taylor’s Version)
Welcome to New York, Taylor’s version (well, my interpretation of her version). In light of starting my next chapter post-life-in-NYC after having lived in the big apple for the past two years and attend the legendary Era’s tour in NJ back in May of 2023, I thought I’d pay homage to the city Taylor and I so very much love. This is my interpretation of Taylor’s NYC, thus a very much for fun and putting my own twist as a Swifty on one of the best cities in the world ;)
References in songs:
“the lights are so bright but they never blind me” (Welcome to New York, 1989) + “the lights and noise are blinding” (New Romantics, 1989)
Times Square but go for the broadways usually late winter. save during 2 for 1 broadway week (Jan-Feb) early fall (Aug-Sept)!
there are also a lot of discounted things that young ingenues (*cue Nothing New) can take advantage of: 30 under 30 ballet tickets, 40 under 40 opera tickets. You bet every weekend I was making the most of those deals!
“they say you bought a bunch of land somewhere// chose the rose garden over Madison Square..."Madison Square Garden (the Lucky One, Red TV)
check out the NY Knicks and other concerts! The production value on watching a Knicks game at MSG is something I’ve never seen before. I also got to watch Trevor Noah on tour there and it was electric.
“we’re signing in the car getting lost upstate” (All Too Well, Red TV)
check out the Metro North (Hudson line, with stations at Grand Central or 125 Harlem) to take some lovely hikes in Cold Springs & Beacon if you don’t have a car.
my favourite secret living in the UWS is the Riverside Park up past 86th street (but especially 96th) and onwards, where you get to walk through the trees and the leaves are falling like puzzles into place.
you can also check out the 1,2, & 3 subway lines where you can take a look at the views of the Hudson River from the Met Cloisters (counterpart of the MET) and Wave Hill! These are often overlooked treasures—
“I rent a place on Cornelia Street" (Cornelia Street, Lover)
Cornelia street is in a neighbourhood that is great for wandering and window shopping. Just take a walk in the West Village :) Some restaurants here.
“Back when we were card sharks, playing games” (Cornelia Street, Lover)
Hex & Company!
“cry like a baby coming home from the bar, sneak in through the garden gate” (Cruel Summer, Lover)
Vanderbilt Gate (east side of Central Park at 105th St.)
“I'm sitting on a bench in Coney Island” (coney island, evermore)
I was cheesy enough to do it, but I took the long subway ride to Coney Island in the winter, in the middle of January and sat on a bench and listened to Coney Island. I wasn’t lucky enough to witness Snow on the Beach but you can. I think there’s something magical about going to the beach during the winter (having grown up in the Pacific Northwest and near the beaches in the winter).
"someday I'll be living in a big ole city" (Mean, Speak Now)
“guess you're in New York today, and I don't wanna need you this way // This is falling for you and you are worlds away. In New York, be here” (Come Back... Be Here, Red TV)
“back to a first glance feeling on New York time // back when you fit in my poems like a perfect rhyme” (Holy Ground, Red TV)
“dive bar on the east side, where you at?” (Delicate, Reputation)
“third floor on the west side” (Delicate, Reputation)
“up on the roof with a school girl crush// drinking beer out of plastic cups” (King of My Heart, Reputation)
“staring out the window like I'm not your favorite town. I'm New York City // you're the west village” (False God, Lover)
need Taylor say more, the West Village is gold.
“back and forth from New York…sneaking in your bed (Daylight, Lover)
“you know I left a part of me back in New York” (hoax, folklore)
“heartbeat on the High Line” (cardigan, folklore)
check out the High Line and then shortly after, maybe the Chelsea Market or the Whitney Museum?
“you booked the night train for a reason…” (champagne problems, evermore)
take a trip to Rhode Island (the last great american dynasty, folklore) and then take a train back
or if you want the vibes, which I do and put on Red (TV) on my treks from DC or Boston on the night trains… you can book any type of NE regional train with Amtrak and cue her songs as you stretch out your legs and look out at the window and pretend you’re in a movie (peep, Laufey’s song Like the movies).
Places Taylor has been spotted
Neighbourhoods
Tribeca (perhaps some of you already know where Taylor’s apartment is but to respect her privacy, I’m just going to put this neighbourhood as a wonderful place to visit)
Bowery (alluding to the pseudonym of William Bowery, aka Joe Alywn) who co-authored a few songs with Taylor and a reference to the times they spent together as a couple in this lower manhattan neighbourhood
NYU (receiving her Honorary Doctorate in Arts in 2021, the same year I graduated with my MA at Columbia)
Food / Restaurant
Whole Foods, 270 Greenwich St. (Tribeca)
Sarabeths, 339 Greenwich St. (Tribeca)
Bubblys, 120 Hudson St. (Tribeca)
Locanda Verde, 377 Greenwich St. (Tribeca)
The Smile to Go, 22 Howard St. (SoHo)
ZZ’s Clam Bar, 169 Thompson St. (SoHo)
Waverly Inn, 16 Bank St. (West Village)
Via Carota, 51 Grove St. (West Village)
Lafayette, 380 Lafayette St. (NoHo)
The Polo Bar, 1 E 55th St. (Midtown East)
Del Frisco’s, 1221 6th Ave (Midtown)
Koi NYC, 40 W 40th St. (Midtown)
this is super special as koi fish appear in all of her 3 midnight music videos and she used that as an easter egg to hint at Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) dropping on national koi fish day on July 7th!! Ahhh… I’m speechless, so if you want to go to Koi NYC to make it full circle?
ABC Cocina, 38 E 19th St. (Gramercy)
Zuma, 261 Madison Ave (UES)
Lover’s of Today, 32 1/2 E 7th St. (East Village)
Shake Shack (Madison Square Park)
Gorilla Coffee, 472 Bergen Street (Park Slope)
Milk Bar birthday cake (locations across NYC)
Other
McNally Jackson, 52 Prince St. (SoHo)
ModelFit, 212 Bowery (Bowery)
Saturday Night Live studio, 30 Rockefeller Center (Midtown)
New York's Beacon Theatre for Tribeca Film Festival, 2124 Broadway (UWS)
ABC Carpet for home supplies, 888 Broadway (Union Square)
Zarin Fabrics, 72 Allen St. (LES)
Sources
These Are The Restaurants Where You’re Most Likely To See Taylor Swift, Delish
Taylor Swift’s Guide to New York, a Guest of a Guest
Inside Taylor Swift’s New York, Style Caster
P.S. For more about NYC, I have a whole page dedicated to my time there with links to my specific blogs about them :-) It was a twenty something’s love story.
