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eing a New Yorker,
probably more thanbeing a resident of anyother place on Earth, isa choice.Evenif youare bornhere, you choose to stay—certainly,
thereare easierplacestolive.The rest of us have sought this
placeout,havemovedacrosstheHudson or the world, for the
opportunitytoloseourselvesand become ourselves and, in the
process,totakepleasure inthejostle of other people’s dreams.
Thisis a portfolioofpeople-watching: a collection of 24
NewYorkerswhostandoutfrom the sidewalk menagerie like
apparitions,courageousmembers of the resistance fighting the
forcesofplacelessnessthat gaveus Hudson Yards. Daniel
Featherstone has been documenting New York’s characters for
years, shooting on some of the same street corners as fellow
photographer Bill Cunningham. After Cunningham’s death, he
has continued the tradition, searching for people who are “always
dressed for the day, and you can see them dressing like that every
day.” Few of them are young anymore. “I’ve always been attracted
to the older generation because they seem to be more individuals
than the younger generation,” Featherstone says. And then we
asked six novelists, also New Yorkers, to go further and find out
who a few of these remarkable individuals are. Of course, we
could have assigned enough novelists to write 8 million more
biographies—this is another reason to love New York.
We are all, always, both urban anthropologist and subject of
another stranger’s fascination; the people-watcher and someone
worth watching. This city wouldn’t be the same without us.
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