Saturday, March 7, 2009

Am I More East Coast than West Coast?


I'm beginning to wonder... Although I was born and raised in the Coeur d'Alene/Spokane area, all my tastes seem to lean to upper east coast. Even when I was younger I noticed this. Consider this:

Music: Most of my favorite bands come from either England or the NY/NJ area. For as long as I can remember, my dreams was always to go to a gig at CBGB's. Alas, that is no longer possible, but my whole taste in music revolves around what took place there in the 1970's and 80's. Here are some of my favorite east coast bands: The Ramones, the Bouncing Souls, Thursday, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Bryan Scary and the Shredding Tears, My Chemical Romance, Interpol, and so on.

Food: One of the things I love about the upper east coast are the beloved neighborhood restaurants and deli's. Mom and Pop shops that make the best food. Amber and I are not fans of chain restaurants. We like a place with history and personality. The closer a restaurant is to violating health code the better. That means they're paying more attention to the food. I watch a lot of Travel Channel and I salivate at some of the shops I've yet to visit. I'm dying to get a pastrami sandwich from Katz's Deli in NYC. My favorite will probably always remain Primanti's in Pittsburgh. Here's how a Primanti's sandwich goes: Sourdough then meat of your choice then fried egg, then cheese then french fries then coleslaw then sourdough. There's a pic of one of those sinful suckers in one of my previous posts.

Philosophy: When I think east coast, I think blue collar, hard working, fast paced, not the most aesthetically pleasing, kinda dirty, and neighborhood oriented. All things I look for and try to be. Like food, I like a place with history and personality.

Landscape: I did grow up in one of the most beautiful places in the world. However, I do enjoy the deciduous forests of the east especially in fall.

The bizarre thing about all of this is that I've never been to NYC or Boston or Philly. Yet, these places have always appealed to me, even when I was young. I'm really craving a pastrami sandwich.

Well, here's to moving to Phoenix...

p.s. trivia: how many rock icons can you pick out in the above picture?

1 comment:

Jen said...

Hi there Larry, so I wanted to thank you for the reminder that Oohs and Ahhs came out the other day, I can't get enough of it. I think my fav songs so far are dramatic irony, audrey, Hallie, and you know whatever is playing at the moment i'm listening. REALLY like it.

And I have been listening to White Lies a little bit, there isn't very much music available, but what they have is great. Death is amazing, I have listened to that one so many times, and To lose my life. You rock Larry :)

Good luck on the moving, I hope your family will be happy in AZ