Location! Location! Lo-Damn it!

New york has something for everyone.  One friend said it best "No matter what you are in to, this city has it."

It's true.  This city does have a lot to offer.  But, being spoiled in Southern California, I reflected on things I miss.  Here they are.

IKEA - IKEA here are placed in Jersey.  That's not bad, but for someone who does not have a car, its like asking someone in Santa Monica to go shopping downtown and not use a vehicle.

They do have a "free" bus on weekends that takes you to IKEA and back.  Also, the 46 minute train ride to Hicksvilles (that's right Hickslville) is not too shabby, but will put you $12 in the hole.  That may not seem like much, but that can feed a whole Scandinavian family at IKEA if you buy those delicious 6 piece meatball plates they serve by the check out.  They cost like $1.99 and taste like Swedish Chef made them with his own polyester hands himself.

IKEA is great for New Yorkers because it is made of light easy furniture (will have a whole section regarding my couch about that later).

COLD STONE ICE CREAM - There are two things here in NY that you can find on every corner besides a cab and a guy selling fake Prada bags.  That is a Baskin Robins and a Dunkin Donuts.  I am not sure why they come together but they are always built into one another.  Who would ever go inside and say "I am so cold, I need hot cofee.  Now I finished my hot coffee and need something to cool me, give that cactus flavored ice cream". 

I really do miss coldstone.  The closest one is like 10 blocks away.  Sure, 10 blocks is nothing.  Heck, I walk more than that to work.  But usually I get ice cream cravings when I am either 1) lazy as hell or 2) in pajamas in front of my TV watching Family Guy.  So going 10 blocks in either of those scenarios is outrageous.

CELEBS - I had my first NYC celebrity sighting on my first week here.  It was Eric Bana.  In the celebrity world, he is on the same list as Emilio Esteves and the dad from "Alf".  Mr. Bana in my opinion is not a celebrity.  He is a guy on the TV. Like my newscaster, or that guy at 4 AM who tries to sell me a broom that can be used as a plunger.   I miss real celebs.  Southern Cali celebs. I miss the Cam Diaz at a starbucks, or Tommy Lee at the  surf shop in Venice, or Halle Berry in a car (that has some people underneath it).  I miss the people I see on the Oscars.  I saw Oliver Stone a the Viceroy once.  that blew me away.  I saw Jack Nicholson and Johnny Depp.  Great people in film.  

Don't get me wrong.  New York has its share of great actors (Heath Ledger comes to mind).  But they are a lot harder to see.  In such a small island, it is so much harder to find that celeb sighting.  I guess that is a good thing.  After all, who needs 34 paparazzis chasing a girl down a street just because she didn't take care of her kids.  Heck, out in some parts of this country, that is totally normal.

Finally: THE BEACH:  You know, they always say "You never know what you got until its gone".  Forget that.  "You never know what you had until you move to a worst climate".  I lived close to the ocean in Cali and was visiting the beach maybe two times every three months.  Now I live in New York and I keep telling myself that the minute I get out to Cali to visit, first thing I do is go to the beach.  NY does not lack a beach, it lacks the easy way to get there.  In LA, you go over Topanga canyon or take the 405 to the 10 and no matter where you come from, 15 minutes places you sand side.  But here, you have to take a bus or a cab to the Hamptons.   Sure we have beaches in long island, but again, like IKEA, its a train ride.  You basically have to leave your house at 7 am to walk the 20 minutes to Penn Station and then take the 40 minute train ride, just to be at the beach.  I miss the sun and waves and all the little families of like 17 people that come to the sand with everything from their home (oven, grill, fridge, bed).