New York Magazine recently published a feature on New York after dark, in which it interviewed celebrities on what they get up to in New York at night time. Sarah Jessica Parker tells a story about a funny and romantic walk she took through town with her husband, Matthew Broderick.
Sarah Jessica Parker: Before we were married, we used to walk a lot because time didn’t matter.
Matthew Broderick: If we had a fancy outing in midtown, we’d walk all the way home to Tribeca.
SJP: One thing that Matthew used to do to me, he used to walk me with my hand over my eyes …
MB: I led you, and the rule was you had to keep your eyes covered.
SJP: And he would walk me into completely random places and take my hand off my eyes and I would be in the most strange, unconnected-to-the-previous-spot places. I would be in the lobby of a residential apartment complex, or a Starbucks, or at the very door of a tenement that I obviously couldn’t get into.
MB: You’re like listening and trying to figure out where you are, and then when your eyes finally open, boom, you’re two inches from a lamppost.
SJP: He would spin me and sort of make me lose my bearings.
MB: The first time it happened, we were somewhere near Union Square, and …
SJP: We ended up in the lobby of Zeckendorf Towers. I was very delighted by it. I think the reason we remember it is that it paints a portrait of a time that, for many couples, they don’t have anymore. There’s a sort of leisure, before more grown-up responsibilities dictate your life.
MB: New York has so many close-together, completely different, crazy things you can suddenly be staring at after a five-minute walk from one spot to the next. You’re in a totally new environment.
SJP: We were up late because our work often required it. Sex and the City shot really, really late.
MB: My plays, I’m always eating at midnight.
SJP: He’s on the graveyard shift. And for years, so was I. Night was our twilight. We have a lot of nostalgia about that time. Not the kind of nostalgia that makes your heart feel heavy or like someone’s stepping on your chest, but rather, I think, we really lived it. You don’t have to rush out to make the first steps in the snow, you’re just out there already making the first steps in the snow. I love those times where you almost feel alone. And when I’m out walking, I always find money. Right, Matthew?
MB: Always.
SJP: I would only pick it up if it were heads up. If it’s not heads up, I try to kick it and make it heads up for the next person. I’ve found a lot of coins. I’ve found 20s. I found a hundred-dollar bill in the lobby of a theater. I found a check recently, for a very large amount of money, like thousands of dollars, and I tried to be a proper investigator like Sherlock Holmes, and I was able to find the owner. The other night, walking home after the Oscars, we found a kazoo, sitting with a glove, together. And on the evening of New Year’s, we found a purse and all the contents in it. I wish I’d photographed and documented everything I’ve found on the streets of New York. It would complete a house, a home, a life.
(Photo via Canhappenlove)
