It’s about time you met this lady. Her name is Mary Lane.
She lives in New York City. Has for almost 6 years. Wonders if that is enough time to call herself a New Yorker. Knows it is in some circles, but not the ones that matter. She lives in Hamilton Heights, a Manhattan neighborhood that most people have never heard of. If she wants to feel bad ass, she can say she lives in Harlem. If she senses you’ll worry or judge, she can say, “just north of Columbia”.
Mary Lane’s go-to pizza place, Bella Vita, is on a side street of Times Square, a block away from where she works. Yeah, she works in Times Square, often on weekends. Which means if you catch her on the way to work on a Saturday night, steam is pouring out of her ears. Why can’t people move through Times Square? I hate tourists! She doesn’t really hate tourists. She loves entertaining them. Lucky because that’s her job.
Magnolia Bakery is too cliché (really too sweet) even for her. She prefers her cupcakes from ChikaLicious or Sprinkles. But hell yes, she loves a good cupcake. Macarons even more, but those little French cookies have never exploded as a New York trend. She’s never bought a pretzel from a street vendor, and part of her feels a little sad about that. You’ll think she’s a vegetarian when you first meet her, but nope, she’s not. To tell the truth, ML is a bit of a snob and thinks hot dogs are icky. Her drink is Bacardi and pineapple juice, though she’s recently developed a great fondness for tequila. Wanna see a gal do a tequila shot without flinching? That’s always been easy for Mary Lane. Sometimes she wonders if there’s something wrong with her taste buds.
Her favorite subway line is the D. Favorite building is the Chrysler. Favorite bridge is the Brooklyn Bridge. Honestly, no other bridge makes much of an effort. Favorite park is Central Park, no matter what the season. There’s a castle there, how do you compete with that? Favorite neighborhood is the West Village because she doesn’t know it that well. It still holds the thrill of the unknown, sometimes a New York girl needs to feel the thrill of being a little lost. Favorite river is the east river because, yuck, New Jersey. Lord, Mary Lane is a total New York Cliché.
No kidding. She’s such a big New York Cliché, for years she’s identified herself as such. Writing a personal blog about life in New York City, it always felt safer to take advantage of the easy anonymity that the internet allows. As she became a better writer, Mary Lane began revealing more of her vulnerabilities, realizing truth and honesty breathe life into words like nothing else. The prouder she became of her writing, the more she wanted to attach her name to it. At the same time, she became tentative to let the whole world know these were her struggles. Her heart breaks, her doubts, her triumphs, her moments of abject ridiculousness.
Then she thought, Hey, this is me. I have nothing to hide. I’m going to own it. Own my words, attach my name, show you just what I look like. Will there be ramifications? Maybe. But this is who I am, how I think, how I write. Hiding behind anonymity makes me look ashamed, cowardly, or at the least tentative. No, internet, I am none of those things! I’m a New York Cliché and damn proud of it!
So hi, hi everyone! My name is Mary Lane. This is my blog. Nice to finally put a name and a face to it all, don’t you agree? I would love it if you would introduce yourself in the comments section, just say hi! Have you been reading for a while, or did you just stumble here today? Does my name get the song “Penny Lane” stuck in your head? What’s your proximity to NYC? If you blog, link me up! I pinky promise to reply to each and every one (for once). Let’s tear down all the yellow caution tape of mystery, on all sides.
If you support my uh, shall we say Blog Coming Out, I hope you’ll share New York Cliché on…shall we say your social media platform of choice. You can find me on Facebook and Twitter. True thanks to the best readers ever! Here’s to taking it to the next level as my true self!
All photos taken in Rockefeller Center by John Michael Decker.
Hey Mary Lane I loved it & I think all us New Yorkers are one big cliche even though we hate to be !!! Uptownmomlife.com another New York girl in the New York world maybe we meet in Central Park while eating macaroons !! Flavia
Hi Flavia! Thanks for leaving a note 🙂 How long have you live in NYC? Great to discover your blog and I love macarons any time any where, especially Central Park. So you know about Macaron Day? It’s THE BEST http://newyorkcliche.com/2013/03/22/macaron-day-new-york-city/
Lovely to meet you! Well done for your blog coming out. I’m Collette, I live on the coast in the south of England and I’m envious of your New York lifestyle!
I love the name Collette! Nice to meet you and your blog and your lovely little dolls! I’ve always wanted to visit England, so we should just swap lives for…how about a week?
Like The Holiday! LOL!
So good to put a face to the blog! I’m Robin. I moved to the city last Fall for school and am slowly accepting that I may be a New York cliche as well 😉
Hey Robin. You always leave awesome comments, it’s the best! Hope school is going well 🙂
Hi Mary Lane!
Hi Jill!
Hi Mary Lane! I like your blog. I blog kind-of anonymously as Pepere the Cat but my real name is Katie and I’m from England. I’m going to New York over the Easter weekend for the first time ever (first visit to the US, in fact) and I can’t wait to discover your city. 🙂
Hi Katie! That great you have a trip planned to NYC! First timer! If you need any ideas of fun things to do. NYC is lovely in the spring, so good timing. My top recommendation is The Easter Bonnet Parade, it’s quite the experience on 5th Avenue- I wrote a post about it with lots of pictures- you might see if you want to check it out! http://newyorkcliche.com/2013/04/01/nyc-easter-bonnet-parade/
Hi Mary Lane! Totally agreed that Bella Vita is awesome!
Right? Would never expect to find such a cute, affordable restaurant in Times Square! They’re slices are great and reasonably priced. Any onewho goes to Sbarro or Olive Garden when this place is so close is a foooooooool!
Hurrah! Now everyone knows your name.
hehe and now one knows your name! I’m guessing you’re one of my friends, who’s always known my name 🙂
New York is a shithole of pretension and image obsessed idiots. I hate this blog so much. Try blogging without “New York” attached to your work, I’m sure it would be fine.
You’re my first true troll! haha! I’ve reached a new level!
I enjoyed reading this since I grew up in NY but moved out to California. Ny is a wonderful city and to me it will always be home. Thanks for sharin this!!!!
We’re exact opposites! I grew up in California and moved out to New York! I feel very bicoastal- at home on each side of the country. San Francisco is my home town- what part of CA are you in?
Nice to put a name to the blog, pleased to meet you Mary Lane. I’m Vanda and I’m far away in Tasmania, Australia.
So far you win for greatest distance from NYC! Pleased to meet you as well, Vanya. Thanks for reading.
Actually, I have the song “Mary Lane” from Reefer Madness: The Musical in mind. NICE TO MEET YOU! The D line, huh? And the West Village is my favourite too because You Will Never Truly Know Her – Some Mysteries Will Never Be Revealed!
I was going to say that song but I know it’s not all that well known! Shoulda known I could count on you! And that describes the West Village perfectly, bravissimo.
Hi Mary Lane , I’m fr
So sorry about the unfinished comment. I’m from India, as far away from New York as you can get. I’ve been introduced to the madness and the glamour of New York through books nod movies. Some day when I visit your city I hope we’ll get to meet 🙂
Is India farther than Austrilia? Is it sad I’m not sure about that? Regardless, it is awesome to have readers who come from the other side of the world! “Glamor” and “madness” captures this city very well, in reality not just on the screeen or page. Please do let me know if you ever visit!
Hi Mary – so glad to finally meet you. I’m Edward and I now live in a tiny town called Owen Sound in Canada. I travel to NYC as often as I can. My brother in law still lives near Times Square, which I love as it is so handy to so many things. Keep up the great writing!
Edward, thanks for saying hi! Oh Times Square, it can be a bit of a tourist hell hole on weekend nights, but I do love it. It’s the heart of the island!
Hi Mary, great post. Pleased to have been a reader for many months and to have had some mystery about you but also pleased to see you for you. I live in Lincolnshire in England, been to NY and loved every minute.
Here is my blog
racheve.wordpress.com
Rachel 🙂
I had several friends tell me not to make this reveal, to keep the mystery. But I decided hell, mystery isn’t what blogging is all about! And if striping away the mystery means I get to meet so many awesome readers- I’ll never regret it no matter what. I hope to visit England in the not so distant future, excited to read about Lincolnshire life on you blog 🙂
Congrats on your big reveal. Life is too short to remain anonymous!
My thoughts exactly. It’s also to short to sit here wishing I was traveling like you- I better do something about that one… Thanks for reading!
Brave step out of the digital closet, love your blog!
Thank you! The header photo of your blog is so glorious I want to dive into my laptop screen an just live in it! What language do you write in?
Haha it’s Curacao on the Dutch Antilles, I’m here for my internship but it’s practically my home away from home since i have family here. I write in Dutch, it’s a blog about everything that’s happening here during mu internship!
Hey Mary,
big kudos for stepping out of the blogging closet,
I hope I can one day do the same and with the same feeling of taking pride in your own accomplishments and writing that you described so well.
XXX Moi
I was in the blogging closet for 5 years! It’s not a bad place, but it does feel good to take ownership and step out. But there’s no rush, I’m sure you’ll do what feels best for you. Thanks for saying hello!
xxx ML
Mary Lane is an adorable name. It’s like the name of the female lead in a romantic comedy! 🙂
(Hi, I just found your blog a couple weeks ago and binge-read all your posts! I love NYC and visit it often… and I love those insanely sweet Magnolia cupcakes.)
Aw thanks, Crystal! I love my name. At one point I used to go by just Mary, but the 2 really belong together. Thanks for leaving a comment! I always love it when my stats show someone’s binged on my posts (Netflix style hehe) but I rarely know who they are! I’m flattered! And I totally love Magnolia too, really. It’s just funny it’s become cliche for local New Yorkers to be snobs about them. Their pumpkin whoopie pies in the fall are to die!
Hey Mary!
Love the blog. A fan already. I live on the other side of the world, sunny Singapore! I’d probably drop by in New York at some point this year and I need to know the “must see” places. After all, you are a New-Yorker now eh?
Mark
My blog: http://threehundredand65letters.wordpress.com/
Singapore! That’s going to be a long plane ride! I will try to come up with a post for you (and others)- some New York must-sees. Thank you for reading and saying hey!
Hey, Mary! Love this post, love this blog. Hamilton Heights was my first home in the city, and I too, assuming like most of us, have a love/hate relationship with tourists. I blog at littlegirlandthebigapple.com and am always looking for other NYC bloggers to follow/gather inspiration from 🙂 Good to be able to put a face and with a domain name.
Hey Mandy! I love connecting with fellow NYC bloggers. Bet you lived near me, was Harlem Public your neighborhood bar, or did you move away before that (awesome) gentrification? Following you on twitter and I look forward to reading more!
I literally moved a month before Harlem Public opened up — and it would have been around the corner from my apartment, so sad! I still visit the area from time to time and am moving to Wash. Heights soon, so kind of back up there (just further North). And thanks for the follow 🙂 I really enjoy reading about your adventures!
OMG finally! when I first made this account I accidently followed you! I am so glad I did!! you have amazing talent! Now can I steal it for writing class??!!
Yay! Thanks! And thanks for following! I would rather you not steal my writing, probably wouldn’t go over well with your teachers! But thanks for reading!
Hi Mary Lane! 🙂 It’s so nice to (officially) meet you! 🙂 Lovely photos, and I’ve been following your blog for awhile. I’ve been able to watch the progression of your blog and your writing, and even though it was good when I pressed the follow button, it’s gotten much better. Here’s to many more posts! 😀
I love the way you’ve done this, the third person works really well.
I just stumbled here today. This was a nice introduction of you! I loved the pictures that accompanied this. I was half expecting a Mary Tyler Moore hat toss at the end lol! Anywho, you’ve gained a new reader! Feel free to check out my podcasts!
Cheers!
How fun 🙂 Nice to ‘meet’ you! Ahh, New York… and all its wonderful surprises…
Hi Mary Jane! I’m Christiarne from Sydney, Australia 🙂
I love the way you have “come out”. I’ve had your blog bookmarked for a while now and I love hearing all your New York stories! Your writing is so unique and intriguing, like I’m listening to you rather than reading. I’m obsessed with all things NYC and cannot wait for my first visit at the end of this year! 😀
What I love about this is that WE BOTH SHARE THE SAME MIDDLE NAME!!! AAAGGGHHH!!! Love it. 🙂
I KNOW! I’ve been wanting to tell you forever 🙂
Haha! You could have. I wouldn’t have told anyone! I’m a Scorpio; we’re excellent secret-keepers. 😛
Hey there!
I am from India and its really exciting to finally put a face to the person who has shared such amazing stories and experiences that I want to move!
Love your Blog! <3
– Aspiring New York Cliche! 🙂
Love love LOVED this!! x
I’ve been thinking of coming out myself! It’s inevitable anyway, so wish me luck since my shit’s so salacious! And drug-fueled….
Nice to meet you!
Do you wander at all into any of our other boroughs?
And yes on tourists. Navigating their stopped herds on fifth avenue is one of the innate skills of all NYCers.
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Hi Mary Lane,
I live in the Western NY area (Buffalo/Niagara Falls). I am glad to see that you are writing a blog about different things in your life. I am looking forward to reading it.
I know some of your work quite well (She wails), but I am interested in your thoughts and perspectives of NYC when you are working there. I have not been in the City since I was 17 (1993) and lived only about an hour or two away from it. It was beautiful then, and I am sure it is just as beautiful now.
Thank you for all you do to make us smile.
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