Elizabeth Strout
Although most of Elizabeth Strout’s stories are set in her native Maine, she loves living part of the year in New York. “It was so different, so exciting!” says Strout, 62, who arrived here in 1983 to teach English at Manhattan Community College. These days, she lives on the Upper East Side with her law-school-professor husband, James Tierney. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “Olive Kitteridge,” whose latest novel, “Anything Is Possible,” is now in paperback, tells BARBARA HOFFMAN how she spends her city weekends.
On a nice Saturday, we’ll take the crosstown bus to Central Park. We had one of our first dates there. We’ll sit on a bench by the pond with the toy boats, then continue to stroll on down, watching people and talking.
We used to go to the Met on Friday nights. If you eat in the restaurant there, they escort you out be- cause the museum has closed by then, so you get to walk through the empty museum. It’s thrilling.
My favorite place in the city is Gene’s Restaurant, in the Village. My oldest friend in New York took me there years ago, and I was enchanted. It’s an Italian restaurant with the best bar, overlooking the street. The bar- tender’s been there for years, and there’s a group of regulars, real Village types, who look like they might have been folk singers at one point. The food is OK, but the whole point of going to Gene’s is stepping into a place with a sense of history.
Violas Smart Shop is the most amazing little cubbyhole of a store that sells bras and lingerie and nightgowns. The woman who runs it has been there for over 60 years and she’s a riot! All you have to do is take your coat off and she knows immediately what size bra you need.
Another shop I love is Pachute, on First Avenue. I don’t even know what that name means, but I love that store. You can find long, handmade linen and woolen jackets, blouses and maybe even a dress. My daughter lives in Brooklyn, and there’s a wonderful store there called Books Are Magic. The writer Emma Straub, and her husband, own it, and it has an ambiance like no other — it sort of sparkles with enthusiasm. I was in conversation there recently about “Anything Is Possible” with the writer Amor Towles. There are so many great places to eat there. We were just in LaRina Pastificio & Vino on Myrtle Avenue. We went early when the sun was still out, and we sat by a bay window so it felt like we were on the street. It’s a real Brooklyn place, mostly young people. Of course, everyone’s young now!