Renaissance: 75 1/2 Bedford

I was advised once while consulting over late breakfast/early mimosas in a 7th Ave restaurant sadly no longer there, one of many local pandemic casualties, be a broker but first be a man.

Well, he was actually referring to David Hume and being a philosopher but first a man. We had wandered from the apartment discussion, as happens when the tour includes literary & cultural icons on every corner.

Electric Ladyland. Edgar Allen Poe's pharmacy. All of downtown with the ghost of CBGBs at one end and apocryphally faceplanted Dylan Thomas at the other, assorted 1-beds in-between with of course more options available but we had a budget.

He was a philosophy major turned finance guy, so it was a nice budget and expensive education apparently. I let him keep educating me, I'd done my part by turning him onto what had been at the time the best biscuits & gravy other than Bubby's with their jalapeño cheddar audacity.

I don't remember what he eventually rented but we found him what fit. The connection was too strong, we had similar tastes. He was moving to my neighborhood, the West Village. I would stop brokering in 2018 to take a break from real estate, try my hand at writing some zen buddhism having worked so hard to make it to the corner of Carmine & Bleecker, Father Domo Square, just off from Joe's Pizza and the W 4th St stop.

I'm in TriBeCa this time, my old brokerage shut down. The zen hasn't sold, which seems about right. Now with old associates in a new outfit, Find Real Estate. Find Shazz.

Fits me.

New York only makes sense if you are making it make sense for you, getting what you can out of it, I would advise people. Date. Improve your resume, then your position. Make sure your next place is just better than this one. Maybe this is your starter.

Maybe it's your reward. Maybe it's time to slow down and enjoy where you're at. This is the best city in the world. You're among your peers. Beautiful, intelligent people; client, neighbor & brunch companion.

~ s.b.