{"id":150809,"date":"2025-08-16T15:24:19","date_gmt":"2025-08-16T15:24:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/150809\/"},"modified":"2025-08-16T15:24:19","modified_gmt":"2025-08-16T15:24:19","slug":"touching-the-dorilton-and-other-extremely-valid-uws-fascinations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/150809\/","title":{"rendered":"Touching the Dorilton and Other Extremely Valid UWS Fascinations"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"B<\/strong>y Yvonne V<\/strong>\u00e1vra<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>The other day, I was sideswiped by a small existential crisis\u2014courtesy of the Rag\u2019s comment section. Nothing too serious, just one of those record-scratch moments when joy runs into a wall of perfectly reasonable questions: Why care? Why does it matter? What\u2019s the point?<\/p>\n

What set it off? An article about a 10 train pulling out of the 103rd Street 1 train subway station<\/a>. Yes, that 10 train\u2014the one discontinued in the late \u201960s. I guess the city\u2019s wild old heart wasn\u2019t quite finished with us after all. My sense of wonder was all in\u2014the not-supposed-to-be-there always flips the switch. My brain perks up like, 10 train? Tell me everything.<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s full of weird little glitches like that. Here are just a few I\u2019ve come across in the past two months: A bra slung over the railing leading up to a Chase bank. A Croatian book\u2014not for sale\u2014on a CVS shelf. A man casually eating spaghetti while leaning against his car. That last one might not sound so strange at first, but take a second to picture it: a whole bowl of spaghetti, eaten standing up on the sidewalk. That\u2019s not a beginner move\u2014that\u2019s a confident choice in the world of snacks-to-go.<\/p>\n

But back to my inner child\u2019s glee over the 10 train and the moment it took a hit. Someone in the comments asked why everyone was so obsessed with a wrong train number. Why was it worth writing about? Another reader jumped in, lamenting the waste of time and internet space on a simple error. Oof. Sudden jolt of perspective. Precious pixels, squandered. The joy had left the station.<\/p>\n

Then it quickly rolled back in.<\/p>\n

The comments only deepened the intrigue, sending my wonder into a fresh new direction. Because isn\u2019t that fascinating again? Why do we care about the things we care about? One person lights up while another yawns. I\u2019m thinking about my nephew, who knows everything about garbage trucks worldwide; my friend, the walking IMDb page; and another friend, who\u2019s obsessed with noodles.<\/p>\n

To me, a noodle is a noodle\u2014however it shows up, I\u2019m here for it. But I\u2019d have a hard time telling exceptional noodles from mediocre ones. I just don\u2019t have that kind of palate. Maybe I haven\u2019t found the right noodle to blow my mind yet, but as long as something\u2019s got a good hit of salt and comes in happy colors, I\u2019m going to have a good time eating it.<\/p>\n

My friend, however, keeps a list of noodle spots on his phone\u2014linked to a map showing all the places his noodle joy has yet to take him. He goes on and on about flavor, balance, and toppings up and down Broadway and Amsterdam. Many words about hand-pulled, fermented, fried, and steamed. It\u2019s all noodle to me. But I do love watching the passion in a fellow human\u2019s eyes.<\/p>\n

\"\"Meanwhile, I\u2019m a sucker for buildings. And I\u2019m so happy to finally have found the right moment to share this with you: there\u2019s a hollow section in the facade of the Dorilton at 71st and Broadway. I haven\u2019t brought myself to find out why yet\u2014and honestly, I\u2019m not sure I want to. The mystery of it all is such an alluring space to bumble around in. The building is solid stone until\u2026 knock knock, knock knock\u2014it\u2019s plonk plonk. Suddenly hollow. I get a kick out of knowing that now.<\/p>\n

And how do I know? Because I touched the Dorilton. Why did I touch it? For absolutely no reason. I was just walking toward Broadway, minding my own business, touching the buildings\u2014and then, by chance, knocked on a hollow piece of the Dorilton.<\/p>\n

But every time I tell someone, I\u2019m left a little disappointed. The hollow facade doesn\u2019t seem to spark much excitement in my companions. No one gasps. No one seems to wonder what in the world of architectural shenanigans is going on here. If you know, please tell me. Or wait\u2014don\u2019t. Once I know, it\u2019ll just be\u2026 that thing I know.<\/p>\n

Actually, I\u2019m kidding. I\u2019d love to find out. No, seriously, I insist. Tell me. Kill the wonder, if you must.<\/p>\n

Interest is wildly individual, and isn\u2019t it wildly interesting to see what makes someone else\u2019s brain light up? Even if we don\u2019t get it, we get them a little more\u2014and inch a little closer together. How fascinating that we\u2019re all out here, caring fiercely about things all over the map. Or maybe that\u2019s just me again. In which case, I\u2019m sorry if I\u2019ve wasted precious internet space. In the end, everything\u2019s all noodle to someone\u2014in the best or worst way.<\/p>\n

\"\"Yvonne V\u00e1vra is a magazine writer and author of the German book 111 Gr\u00fcnde New York zu lieben (111 Reasons to Love New York). Born a Berliner but an aspiring Upper West Sider since the 1990s (thanks, Nora Ephron), she came to New York in 2010 and seven years later made her Upper West Side dreams come true. She\u2019s been obsessively walking the neighborhood ever since.<\/p>\n

Subscribe to West Side Rag\u2019s FREE email newsletter\u00a0here<\/a>. And you can Support the Rag\u00a0here.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Yvonne V\u00e1vra \u00a0The other day, I was sideswiped by a small existential crisis\u2014courtesy of the Rag\u2019s comment…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":150810,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,5717],"class_list":{"0":"post-150809","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-city","11":"tag-newyork","12":"tag-newyorkcity","13":"tag-ny","14":"tag-nyc","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-united-states-of-america","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","19":"tag-us","20":"tag-usa","21":"tag-yvonne-vavra"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115039139697752848","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150809\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/150810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}