-- By Tom Phillips
I liked it better when you could sit on people's stoops. The latest "security" measure in New York is landlords installing chains and gates on the front stairs of apartment houses, to keep off people looking to sit a spell.
Stoop-sitting is not a right -- the landlord owns the stairs -- but it is a tradition in New York. Anybody's stairs were public space, with a few unwritten rules; you moved aside politely when a resident was entering or leaving -- you didn't make too much noise or leave a mess. Any resident of the building could ask you to leave, but they rarely did.
The stoop was a crucial vantage point -- to observe the life of the block, to see the world go by, to take advantage of chance encounters. I spotted my future wife on the sidewalk as I sat on a stoop in Chelsea.
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| West 13th Street |
Stoop-sitting is not a right -- the landlord owns the stairs -- but it is a tradition in New York. Anybody's stairs were public space, with a few unwritten rules; you moved aside politely when a resident was entering or leaving -- you didn't make too much noise or leave a mess. Any resident of the building could ask you to leave, but they rarely did.
The stoop was a crucial vantage point -- to observe the life of the block, to see the world go by, to take advantage of chance encounters. I spotted my future wife on the sidewalk as I sat on a stoop in Chelsea.
