Final ;top
Why I Love ...
Manhattan
Whether it’s whiling away an
afternoon at a museum or
popping into a sushi joint for
tempura, talk show legend
Dick Cavett says there’s no
better place to live than the
Upper West Side
Dick Cavett made a career out of his ability
to spot societal trends or size up wily politicians, but when it comes to New York City,
his adopted hometown, he’s downright wistful. The Midwest native got his first taste of
the city while on a three-day layover en route
to his first semester at Yale.
“My very favorite place in New York is
the first step I ever took when I came from
Nebraska on the train,” he says. “I remember
the exact spot: 44th Street and Grand Cen-
tral. I stepped out into the night air and kept
saying to myself, over and over, ‘Am I in New
York City at last?’ ”
After graduating from college, Cavett
knew there was only one place he wanted
to live. “I knew I belonged in New York, and
I hated not being there,” he says. His first
Big Apple residence was a studio on West
76th Street. “It was a roach-infested dump
and $60 a month,” he recalls. “My second
apartment [on the same street] was wonderful because it had two rooms and looked
down into the garden of Carl Ballantine.”
Now Cavett’s life as a New Yorker revolves
largely around the Upper West Side, the
neighborhood he has called home for more
than 40 years.
Cavett is still passionate about the city,
and his mind is a steel trap for memorizing
addresses. He can rattle o; the street names
and building numbers of every place he has
lived in Manhattan during his rise through
the world of television writing, and later as
host of his own Emmy-nominated talk show.
Cavett got his start writing jokes for Jack
Paar’s Tonight Show in the ’60s. That stint led
to a brief stand-up career at clubs such as the
Bitter End and his own acclaimed talk shows
on various networks. His 2010 memoir, Talk
Show: Confrontations, Pointed Commentary,
and O;-Screen Secrets, was a best-seller, and
he currently contributes to a blog for The
New York Times.
Cavett has come a long way from his
one-room bargain. His current digs overlook Central Park and he’s fonder than
ever of his neighborhood.
“I do love the West Side. I would never
use the word funkier ... God, I just did,”
he muses. “But I love the kinds of stores,
restaurants and museums that are here.
Theater is nearby and, of course, there’s
the park. I don’t go to the usual hangouts in
Central Park. I’ve discovered a few secret
places where no one can find me.”
—STACE Y MORRIS
The best
places to ...
GET AWAY
FROM IT ALL
Central Park
“I love Belvedere Tower,”
Cavett says. “And there are
one or two places that you
can hide completely. I got
the idea from Katharine
Hepburn, who had her own
secret place in the park
where she was able to
climb on rocks, get some
sun and not be seen.”
PRACTICE YOUR
JAPANESE
Raku II
57 W. 76th St.; 212-873-
1220; rakuupperwest.com •
“This is one of my favorite
neighborhood restaurants
… and I always like to shock
the waiters by ordering in
Japanese,” says Cavett, who
is fluent in the language.
“I love the Raku sushi and
seaweed salad, and the
vegetable tempura is crisp
and lovely.”
SIP A COCKTAIL
WITH ATMOSPHERE
The Blue Bar at the
Algonquin Hotel
59 W. 44th St.; 212-840-
6800; algonquinhotel.
com • “It’s one of my favor-
ite places,” he says. “Even
their lobby is wonderful. I’ll
always remember the time
I saw James Thurber there.”
