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Friday, May 30, 2008
Remembering my sorta ‘Sex and the City” days
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Long before I had three kids and a house in the suburbs, I was living like Carrie Bradshaw and the “Sex and City” gals in Manhattan — well minus the random sex (I was already married.) and the ridiculously expensive shoes (same reason). I didn’t party much in college but I made up for it during the two years we lived in New York City in the late ’90s. We were young, newly married and had no responsibilities other than do our jobs and pay our bills.
We had money and lots of friends to spend it with. It was one of the best times in our lives, and obviously — three kids later — not one that can be repeated.
We moved back to Atlanta the summer that “Sex and City” first appeared on TV and we were pleasantly surprised to see much of our former lives mirrored on the show. (We wondered if the writers had been following us around.) As the years progressed and the show turned into repeats and a major motion picture, it always makes me nostalgic for our time in the big city.
We lived on the 49th floor of a high-rise apartment near Central Park. It was only a tiny studio, but it had an amazing view of the Hudson River and doormen to boot. My husband worked as an editor for The Associated Press. I worked as an editor at an architectural design magazine. Both our offices were full of other 20 and 30-somethings from all over the country with whom we quickly made friends.
I traveled frequently for work and was “forced” to attend cocktail parties — almost always at interesting places like the Metropolitan or Guggenheim museums. (A little culture with our liquor.)
My office was mostly young women. We spent our lunch hours getting pedicures or going shopping. Our nights were spent checking out new bars and lounges all over the city.
One of our favorites, which I believe was in one of the “Sex” episodes, was The Beauty Bar. Formerly a ladies’ beauty shop, it had the old-fashioned dryers to sit under while you drank your cocktail. And the cocktail of course was the Cosmopolitan.
Two years before Carrie and the gals sipped a Cosmo on TV, a good friend of my husband’s introduced me to this fantastic concoction of cranberry juice, triple sec and vodka. It remains a favorite today.
Another favorite bar was The Universal — regrettably now defunct. Remember the episode when Samantha runs into a look-alike transvestite waiter while she’s playing Bingo in a bar? The Bingo caller was the only transvestite that I remember there. For $45 you got a pitcher of Cosmos and Bingo cards for your whole table. There were big prizes for the winners — a designer chair found on the street (which one of our friends won) and a kiss from the transvestite (which another friend won).
While I couldn’t spend as much money on clothes as Carrie and the girls, a few fashion risks were taken.
Slip dresses had just come into style, and I happened to have a hand me down lace-bodice black slip. I threw on some high heels, my mother’s 30-year-old slip, my faux fur coat from the vintage bazaar and was ready to celebrate my 25th birthday at The Beauty Bar. I felt fabulous (as Carrie would say).
I would often meet my husband and his friends after work at lounges. One time I had just bought a very short skirt to surprise him. I was walking to the end of our block to catch a cab when I kept noticing that several cars were following me and pulling over to the curb. I finally realized they thought I was a call girl. Apparently, the skirt was a little too short. (Ah, the good old days — when I was mistaken for a hooker!)
Like millions of other woman across the country, I will be seeing the new “Sex and the City” movie this weekend with my mommy girlfriends. While I am excited to see my old friends from the city, I wonder: Have Carrie and the girls moved on like we have?
