Today is the 15th anniversary of my move to New York City (!!!), so in honor of my anniversary, I’m going to list five things that characterized my early time here in the city.

1. DTUT: when I first moved here, my boyfriend (at the time) and I stayed with his brother on the Upper East Side, at E. 83rd Street and 1st Avenue. It took a few months for me to find a job, so in the meantime I spent A LOT of time hanging out at a nearby coffeeshop, DTUT. Back then the place was located on 2nd Avenue near E. 84th Street (it’s since moved a few blocks north). The place was very cozy and filled with lots of lounge chairs and couches. I’d go in the morning and get either a bagel and cream cheese or a quiche, and of course coffee. Then I’d spend about three hours sitting there reading, writing in my journal, reading the newspaper, and doing crossword puzzles. Mind you, this was in 2001 and 2002 and I didn’t have a smartphone to entertain myself with (though I think I had a laptop then…I honestly can’t even remember). I have such fond memories of all the analog time I spent there.

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