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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. As some of you know, every year, for almost two decades, New York Magazine dedicates an entire issue at the end of the year to all the reasons to love New York. Last week, their 18th iteration of Reasons to Love New York was released. We're going to talk about it and we're going to invite some of yours. Here with me now is David Haskell, editor-in-chief of New York Magazine. Hi, David, thanks for joining us for this.

David Haskell: Hi Brian. Thanks for having me on.

Brian Lehrer: Listeners, why do you love New York? Is it the food, is it the arts and culture, the hustle and bustle, the tell-it-like-it-is attitude? Many people here possess something about the politics. They have 39 reasons to love New York in New York Magazine. Give us number 40 and 41 and 42. 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9296, or a tweet @BrianLehrer. Okay, David, spoiler alert for the listeners who haven't seen your issue, number five, because no matter where you live, New Yorkers can help you get an abortion.

Number four, because there's always room for a few more New Yorkers like meeting asylum seekers at Port Authority. Number three, because Amy Sohn is now a mayoral spokesman. Who remembers her book, Prospect Park West? Number two, because our mayor is certainly enjoying himself, and reason number one to love New York because we've started treating the subway like our living room again. There you go. I did the number five through number one countdown. Is it in order like that? Was the subway thing like your number one reason to love New York, or is it just a list without any ranking?

David Haskell: Well, right, it's not a ranked list. It's a list that was organized to try to give the readers a fun ride. We started with number one. It's really a collection of images that we put together with someone who runs an account called SubwayCreatures that just showed people brushing their teeth and shaving and eating Turkey dinner and just sprawling out into the subway in a way that can sometimes be a little bit gross, but honestly is also pretty hilarious and festive and shows the return of life to the city, which was really one of the themes of the issue.

Brian Lehrer: Of course, there's more room to treat the subway like your living room than there was before because really only 60% or so of the past total are treating the subway like their living room again, right?

David Haskell: That's true. Actually one of the last reasons we have in here is that this may be the golden age of office life. Basically, we're in this weird interregnum where some people work from home and some people work from the office and it's not really working for anybody. On the other hand, it makes it a lot easier to work from home if you have to. Those of us who do come to the office can sprawl out in a way that we weren't able to before.

Brian Lehrer: For all the talk about the quiet quitting era that we're in in professional life or employment life, there was an article I saw somewhere and I can't even remember where now, in the last week or so talking about how some members of Gen Z are really getting into office life because they weren't allowed to have it in their first years in the workforce out of college or out of whatever.

Now, suddenly they're going into the office because they can and it's like, "Wow, I get to go into the office and interact with people and do professional stuff."

David Haskell: I believe it. I personally love the office and I understand that it's different for different people and different office cultures are different across the city. Here at the Magazine, I feel like what we are doing is as close to a art project as you can do when you're covering the news in a for-profit capitalist economy. What we're trying to do is gather a lot of exciting creative weirdos and make some a project that publishes twice a month in print, but 80 stories a day on our site.

To me, doing that in person, there's a lot of joy and fun in that. Then separately learning how much of it we can do over zooms and just the ability to be more flexible is this thing that I never thought a few years ago we would discover could work. It does work, but it's just a lot more fun in person, I find.

Brian Lehrer: If you're just joining us, David Haskell, lead creative weirdo of New York Magazine is with us talking about their annual Reasons to Love New York issue. We'll take some of yours, callers, as our lines are lighting up. Your reason number two, because our mayor is certainly enjoying himself. What are you looking at? You're right. Perhaps no prior mayor has ever leaned so far into spectacle, really you think?

David Haskell: Well, I think Koch is probably the best historical example that comes to mind, for me at least. We've written quite a bit about the mayor and some of it has been very fairly critical. It felt useful in this exercise, which is to look back on the year with some warmth and appreciation to recognize how enlivening it is to live in a city where the mayor's having a blast. I don't think that was true really of either of the last two mayors.

Just personally were they exuding energy and just bouncing around the city like Bruce Wayne or Batman? We have something going on with this mayor. I don't know how long that energy level can last or where it's going to take us, but it does, for us at least, the editors here at the Magazine as we were talking about it, it does feel like you're walking around a city that's just the capital of the world when you have a mayor acting the way this one does.

Brian Lehrer: Lee Ann in Manhattan has a reason to love New York. Hi, Lee Ann, you're on WNYC.

Lee Ann: Hi. Yes, I wanted to put in a word for classic Statue of Liberty in Ellis Island. I'm a tour guide there. I'm a native New Yorker and I didn't know much about it before I became a tour guide. I think that's not so uncommon with New Yorkers. She is amazing and Ellis Island is remarkable. As I was telling your screener, both lined up at the opening of what, 100 years ago, was known as the Gateway to America until they closed the gates a few years later. Anyway, it's easy to get to. It's remarkable and she's amazing if you haven't seen her close up.

Brian Lehrer: It is great. I've done it. Yes, folks go to the Statue of Liberty. Go inside and up the Statue of Liberty as well as to Ellis Island. Lee Ann, thank you. An eternal reason to Love New York. Debbie on Staten Island, you're on WNYC. Hi, Debbie.

Debbie: Oh boy, this is an honor. Brian, I love you. New York loves you. Yes, on the other side of the river is the bridges taking on the Staten Island ferry. I just have to put a plug in for a while. Do I fall in love with New York all the time? When I see the skyline coming from Staten Island, going to Manhattan, it's pretty amazing. Brooklyn is quite tall now and New Jersey, so the skyline actually includes Brooklyn, Manhattan, and New Jersey. I just have to put a big hug to that. Thank you. Bye

Brian Lehrer: Debbie, thank you very much. The first two on the phones are both located in New York Harbor. Going down the New York Magazine list a little bit more. Number nine is because the Knicks have something to smile about the Nets. Ooh, a Burn on the Nets. Number 11, because Adrienne Kennedy is getting her Broadway debut at 91. Do you know enough about that to talk about Adrienne Kennedy, the playwright, a little bit, getting a Broadway debut?

David Haskell: Well, it's a pretty astonishing turn of events for her. Someone who has been working since the 40s and 50s and had quite an accomplished career. I think that the commercial realities of Broadway and the structural racism of the theater industry have just precluded her from even imagining is what she was telling us that this might be able to happen throughout most of her career. I think it's pretty exciting to see this play out right now.

Brian Lehrer: Debbie in the Bronx, you're on WNYC. Hi, Debbie. You got a reason to love New York.

Debbie 2: Hi, Brian. Yes, called before. I love your show. The diversity of the people in New York is what astounds me. I had to spend the several years up in New England for my education, and it was so boring. Everyone looked alike, wore the same clothes, had the same source. The diversity here in New York is just fantastic. I'm just so sorry that intolerance is becoming more of an issue here in this city, but I love it. Also the plug for the Statue of Liberty, she's beautiful.

Brian Lehrer: One second that motion and emotion for the Statue of Liberty from Debbie in the Bronx. On the New York Magazine list of 39 Reasons to Love New York, number 14 is because there's a place in Penn Station where the sun shines. The number 17, and even LaGuardia is ritzy, huh? These transportation hubs that were so embarrassing that they're here in what we like to say is the greatest city in the world are getting a little better.

David Haskell: It's true. Then we also added to that section, the opening of the East Side Access Project connecting Grand Central and Penn Station, Lincoln Center may finally have a real concert hall in the David Geffen Hall formerly the Harmonic. Then we also needed to carve out a little bit of room on that page for the fancy New City bikes. I don't know how many of your readers or your listeners have tried them yet, but the gray ones that go a little bit faster are just a game changer, and I really recommend it before it gets any colder. In winter, it might be-- [crosstalk]

Brian Lehrer: When you say go a little faster, is that because they're e-bikes or because they're a little wider?

David Haskell: Yes, that's right. There's a percentage of the city bikes that are electric bikes. Of those, a small number of them are second generation. You'll notice them because they're gray and they're a little bit bigger and they're just a souped-up riding experience. You feel pretty great.

Brian Lehrer: Speaking of moving around the city not by car, Louise in Brooklyn has one. You're on WNYC. Hi, Louise.

Louise: Hi. Good morning, Brian. I have learned, in the last two years, that trying to leave the city to relocate is very isolating because we love to walk and we can accomplish so much in our neighborhood by walking, and I just can't be confined to getting in my car for every single little thing I need. Moving out of the city is really a challenge. I don't know if I can actually do it because we just love to accomplish everything by foot.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you very much. Number 20, because the New York Post found the perfect way to cover Donald Trump. Wait, what, David?

David Haskell: On November 16th, right after Donald Trump made his announcement that he'd be running again, you might have expected that to have splashed all over the cover of the post. Instead, what they did at the very, very bottom is run a little headline that says, "Florida Man Makes Announcement. Page 26."

Brian Lehrer: Let's see. Pamela in Manhattan, you're on WNYC. Hi, Pamela.

Pamela: Hi. There are two reasons I think that New York is amazing. The first is because the bridges have a string of lights on them. It's like diamond necklaces lighting up the sky. It's beautiful. The other is that we're an island and there's a reason why we're an island. It's because we think differently. Thank God for it.

Brian Lehrer: Pamela, thank you very much. George in Manhattan. You're on WNYC. What's your reason to love New York in 2022?

George: New York is the home of Tin Pan Alley, the birthplace of American popular music on 28th Street between Broadway and Sixth Avenue. Five buildings were designated as Tin Pan Alley landmarks in 2019. This year, in April, 28th Street between Broadway and Six was codenamed Tin Pan Alley in recognition of the [unintelligible 00:14:08] African-American and Eastern European Jewish [unintelligible 00:14:12] music publishers, songwriters, and singers, people like Irving Berlin and George Gershwin. That's why I love it.

Brian Lehrer: George, thank you very much. Slight correction to the previous caller who said, because New York is an island. Four of the five boroughs are on islands. The Bronx is not. Last one from you, David. Reason number 23 to love New York, we have 15 seconds, because people are actually still opening bookstores. They are?

David Haskell: They are. There's a long list of neighborhood bookstores that have opened up this year. I live in Chinatown and right near me is a beautiful little shop called You and Me, Why You and Me Books. I recommend if anyone's looking for a Sunday afternoon activity, take a look, stroll by. It's really a beautiful, heartwarming sense of community and just the pleasures of sharing a book with a friend.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you for building community with New York Magazine's annual Reasons to Love New York issue out last week. David Haskell, editor-in-chief of New York Magazine, and thanks for sharing it with us.

David Haskell: So glad to be here. Thank you.

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