THE FIRST TIME I SAW
GUY IVESHA
Mortimer House’s GUY IVESHA on a trip to New York City
MY FIRST TRIP to New York was when I was 12 or 13. My first memory was driving over Manhattan Bridge to the skyscrapers of Downtown. The sun was coming up.
I was travelling with my mum to visit her friend who had just moved there (my father was never a big fan).
I loved how the light reflected off the tall buildings. Each neighbourhood had its own character – walking through them felt like crossing not just countries, but continents. I even enjoyed manoeuvring through the large crowds. The pace of the city was electrifying. That trip planted something in my head about New York: I’d never been to a city so dynamic.
At the time, I was living just north of Tel Aviv. I visited New York twice more as a teenager, but spent some proper time there during a three-month internship at The Mark hotel. I was living in New York and working at one of the city’s best hotels: it was a transformative experience. I came back to London and couldn’t stop dreaming about New York. I was falling in love with it.
I liked how strangers could make conversation in the subway, gym or a restaurant. No matter where you come from – you can become a New Yorker. I couldn’t say that about anywhere else in the world. New York continues to set the pace for most megacities. There’s always something new.
Even after all these years, New York still has that dreamlike quality to me. It’s only when I arrive there that I realise it’s real.
Guy Ivesha is the founder of Mortimer House, a member’s club in London with interiors from design firm AvroKO. mortimerhouse.com 我記得初次到訪紐約市是12、13歲時。我對紐約的第一個印象是坐車經曼哈頓大橋前往摩天大樓林立的市中心。此時，旭日正從遠方升起。
那次我是跟著母親去紐約探訪她剛搬來這座城市的朋友（家父向來對紐約市不感興趣）。
我愛看反射在高樓大廈上的光線。這裡的每個社區都有其風格，漫步其中，彷彿游走於不同的國家，甚至是各大洲。就連穿梭於擁擠的人潮之中，我也感到十分愜意。這座城市的節奏快速，令人精神抖擻。那次旅程令我對紐約留下深刻印象：我未曾見過如此活力充沛的城市。
那時我住在特拉維夫北部。我在青少年時期又踏足過紐約兩次，但後來有幸於The Mark酒店實習三個月，才有機會真正在當地生活。那時我住在紐約市，於城中數一數二的酒店工作：那是一個令我脫胎換骨的經驗。回到倫敦之後，紐約卻在我腦海中揮之不去。我深深愛上了這個「大蘋果」。
我欣賞紐約人即使素昧平生，也能在地鐵、健身室或餐廳親切攀談。無論你來自何方，都能成為紐約人，我敢說世上沒其他地方有這種能力。紐約一直都是世界各大城市追隨的榜樣，這裡總有新事物出現。
經過這許多年，紐約依然是我心中的夢幻國度，只有身在其中才意識到它真實存在。
GuyIvesha是倫敦私人會所MortimerHouse的創辦人，會所的室內裝潢由紐約設計工作室AvroKO主理。mortimerhouse.com