I always liked the song “I’ve Been Everywhere”; its most famous versions are by Johnny Cash and Hank Snow. More than 131 versions exist adapted from the Australian original with lyrics adapted for the United States, New Zealand, the UK and Ireland, Canada, Finland, Germany and many other locations. I have always wanted to have a version written for me, with NYC neighborhoods, because I’ve been in all of them. In the same vein, I have worked all over town in over two dozen jobs in three boroughs. In 2014, I wrote a page about many of my workplaces, which I really should update, as I have worked in several places since. Right now, I work for a popular reference textbook with offices in Uniondale, but I have never been in the building, working from home the whole time! Here’s one of my favorites over the last few years, at #200 5th Avenue at 23rd Street.
I don’t own a single item of jewelry (my high school ring and father’s wedding ring have disappeared, unfortunately), but did work for several months as a freelance proofreader/copy editor (and making several brilliant saves) at the world’s biggest jeweler, working on their website which is published in several different languages, all of which, it seems, have different ways of punctuation and different copyright marks, etc. which I was brought in to check, as well as their customer emails, which also differ by country.
Tiffany’s flagship store is uptown on 5th Avenue and 57th Street, but their main offices relocated in 2011 to 200 5th Avenue, originally the Fifth Avenue Building when built in 1912 (its original clock still stands). The building, formerly the International Toy Center, had been home to offices in that industry; it is now occupied by Tiffany and the Grey Group (formerly Grey Advertising). Eataly, the famed aggregation of Italian restaurants, occupies the ground floor along with an ever-shifting array of retail establishments. I was likely the only Tiffany employee who regularly had lunch at Chelsea Papaya, a hot dog and papaya juice joint at 7th Avenue and West 23rd.
Walking the floor at Tiffany, I noticed several of the steel columns bearing the name Carnegie. Two titans of capitalism right there, Louis Comfort Tiffany and Andrew Carnegie.
Happy Labor Day!
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9/2/23