...and just a few doors down from Mario and Marcel is Albert, the tailor on the block, who never closes his shop, at least that's how it seems. I pass by many times throughout the day and night and there he is leaning over a garment. He does the best work in town and when he first opened 30 years ago Mom could afford him. But now, his talent and popularity have diminished their relationship to a casual, "Would you sew this button on for me?" or an occasional hem for Mom's slacks. On my many visits to New York before moving here, I often made sure to stop in to see him, bringing something to clean or mend just so I could give him an update of my life, he was interested. A very busy store and a busy man but he always took a minute to warmly welcome me back. And now that I'm living in the neighborhood and I too can't afford him, I still stop in to say hello, and during the holidays brought him some freshly baked cake. Though I really know him little he's one of the people who makes this city feel like my hometown.
And so the shock of moving to NY is lessened by the entertaining, heart-warming characters that inhabit this hood. And did I mention the crazy redhead who yells at the dogs as they lift their legs to urinate on her brownstone stoop? She's my Mom, also an entertaining, heart-warming character!
