Smoking Diary #16: NYC Drinking Days

Outside a karaoke club at the age of 31 (photo by Tara Copp)

by Sarah Hepola

It’s 5:45am, and we’re not in Dallas anymore. Beep-beep, kaboom-kaboom. You might notice the sirens and squealing brakes as we sit on Nancy’s balcony (which is technically a fire escape) and roll back the clock to 2005, when your narrator arrived in New York City with $7000 in her bank account and so many dreams. It was a good time: Cool restaurants, Brooklyn bars, so many martinis. But the fun turned to problems, and there were mornings when no amount of apology or charm could spackle over the mistakes.

Also mentioned: Nancy’s Chinatown neighborhood, Nora Ephron, that time I met John Mulaney while waiting for the L train, and my favorite fly-by-night conversation partners: Cabbies.

Cabs as seen from the High Line