Adams Street

I wrote this post in the summer of 2021 actually. It was the first time I had attempted to write in such a way. It was very fun and freeing to do so and I wanted to do more of it... it just wound up taking me 3.5 years to actually do so. In the end, I found it entertaining and good to look back at, so I wanted to share. Enjoy!

“Don’t you live around here?”. I was taken aback and caught off guard. I do live here. I have for quite some time actually, but despite this impatient, rude person correctly nailing some stranger’s primary residence, it ultimately did not help the situation. I was being berated for something I really didn’t even need to be a part of, which put me in a confused feeling of “Sean, you have no reason to get pissed off at this”.

It was a Sunday afternoon and I had spent a good chunk of the day inside. I attempted to play basketball in the morning, shooting some hoops alone at a nearby park. Barely five minutes in though I, to the fault of nobody but me, proceeded to jam my finger pretty badly retrieving a missed shot from, and I kid you not, literally two feet away. Maybe it would just be that kind of day?

Now spending time in an air conditioned apartment on a hot summer day may seem like a New Yorker's paradise, but after a year of basically being forced inside due to a pandemic- well, one gets itchy to go outside to do- anything really. I have found myself getting excited to do things such as scoping out the fictional residence of the Patty Duke show. Yes, a show that I barely knew about and watched a grand total of five minutes of, was getting my endorphins popping. This day all I wanted to do was order a chicken sandwich from a bagel shop two miles away (and spoiler: It’s not even that great of a chicken sandwich).

So I was on my way, walking down the street. “What street?”, you ask and I respond with "Jay St"… in which I only know because I had to look it up for a dog walker about a month ago. You see, at this time I lived in Brooklyn. I had been a full time resident of NYC for about five years at this point, which meant I sold my car five years prior. I walk and use mass transit to get everywhere I go. 

Now do I pay attention to street names? Frankly, no. I know landmarks very well and how to get to places via them. I can tell you where the best slice of pizza is in most neighborhoods. I can tell you the exact subway entrance where the nice homeless man sings a song about “being careful going up and down the stairs”. I can tell you the exact place AND time where you have a good chance to encounter an old lady jogging in just sneakers and a teddy in the middle of the night AND that she’ll wink at you as she’s doing it. But try walking around the city anywhere south of the grid looking at street names, especially places like the Financial District- they don’t do much help.

But here I am in Brooklyn, my mind wandering, when out of nowhere I hear “Where’s Adams Street?!”. Surely this person must be talking on their phone, maybe to their phone, maybe just to themselves, but surely not to me. Then an even more rude, right-in-my-ear, “YO, where’s Adams Street?!”. If I was wearing headphones as I normally do I’d most likely just keep walking. I mean sometimes I do take them off to help people out- but they have to at least say “Excuse me” or something along those lines first. It’s also quite a badge of honor when you can quickly point somebody in the right direction to something that is half of the time, literally around the corner. But my ears were naked at this point, so I felt I had to answer.

“I don’t know, actually”, I replied. Then I was going to be on my way when they hit me with the “Don’t you live around here?!”. Again, I’ve already stated my answer- why did I have to give this person additional information? But for some reason, to save face(?), I told them that I just don’t pay attention to street names. As I said this I felt embarrassed- but why? I wasn’t the person holding a phone with a navigation map open scoffing at a complete stranger for not providing the answer they wanted.

I then tried an alternate solution, which is completely logical and, at least I thought, thoughtful and potentially helpful. “Where exactly are you trying to go? Like the Brooklyn Bridge, a store, restaurant?”. Their reply, “Adams Street”. Gee, thanks.

Well, at this point one can only shrug their shoulders and leave, which I did. I heard some huffing and puffing. I thought about it and how it made me feel for about ten steps. “Well good luck getting help for anything”, I said to myself before getting back into just not thinking about it. I walked on and I came up to the next intersection, the road which turns into the road for the Brooklyn Bridge- I looked up at the sign… “Adams St”. All I could do is laugh.