Why I Live in New York New York Cool’s Holly Golightly Tells All Written by Noelle Ashley Photographed by Noelle’s Friends Opposite Photo by Krisztina Fazekas

You can take the girl out of Manhattan…actually; you can’t take this girl out of Manhattan, at least not for long. I’ll confess: I can’t give up the Empire State.

When I say I am a quintessential New Yorker, I don’t mean to say that I’m pushy. I’m talking about my love for the Big Apple. People complain about noisy, crowded streets but that’s a small price to pay to live in the capital of the world. For me, it’s easy to block out the honking horns and piles of garbage on the pavement. If you look up, you see skyscrapers and lights that shine all night long.

Living in Manhattan, you’ll quickly learn how to mash potatoes on four inches of counter space. But with countless cafes and free deliveries, you don’t have to. You can eat every meal at a different restaurant and never run out of options as new ones spring up constantly. And while it’s true that affordable apartments are tiny, New Yorkers don’t spend much time in them. I sleep in my studio apartments. But when awake, I prefer to explore my backyard, the one that stretches from uptown to downtown.

Noelle Sightseeing in Manhattan

I have lived on the Upper East Side (80th Street and 1st Avenue; 85th Street and 1st Avenue; 90th Street and 3rd Avenue), Midtown West (50th Street and 8th Avenue) and the Financial District (45 Wall Street). The previous four years, I dormed at Columbia University in Morningside Heights (112th Street-116th Street and Broadway). Columbia was my first choice of the Ivy Leagues for three reasons: location, location, location. Living on campus let me do everything I had dreamed of: I worked on Wall Street; starred in television commercials and independent films; met U.S. Presidents, First Ladies and Senators; published celebrity interviews; competed for Miss America through the Miss New York Scholarship Program; earned money modeling; covered Fashion Week; partied with Paris Hilton; and even wrote novels set in Manhattan. Going on acting auditions, I knew that if I lived and breathed in New York amidst the city's restless energy, I could go to bed unknown and wake up a star.

Noelle at Ono at the Gansevoort Hotel

You walk down 5th Avenue and there are a million sights to see: people from all different backgrounds with distinctive styles; large fountains; statues; musicians performing for free; and authors like Steve Martin signing books in Barnes & Noble. One couldn’t possibly name all the New York wonders, but there are: trendy hotels; horse-drawn carriages along Central Park; the white tablecloths of elegant restaurants; creative store fronts with the newest fashions on display; and office buildings with great architecture.

For shopping, indulge at Henri Bendel, Bergdorf Goodman, Bloomingdales, Macy’s or Lord & Taylor. You can get a makeover any time of day. Also, the sheer volume of people lets fitness centers offer yoga, Pilates, kickboxing and other classes every hour of the day. Twenty-four hour cafes and drug stores are further proof of how New York is nothing if not accommodating.

Noelle on the Roof of the Gansevoort Hotel

The day-to-day conveniences tend to make Manhattanites more productive. Most people here talk fast, work hard and overcome obstacles daily. Mayor Rudy Giuliani knew we were survivors long before September 11th.

New York’s breed of resilience applies to nightlife too. For example, now that the iconic CBGBs has closed its doors, ten more bars will rush to take its place. This got me thinking about my favorite spots that vanished without warning, places I considered irreplaceable, and what inevitably replaced them.

There was Le Cirque, the gourmet French restaurant where I celebrated my college graduation with a delicious dinner and then a chocolate plate of divine desserts. Unfortunately, the day came when we had to say adieu to Le Cirque.

Now Alain Ducasse offers a magnifique alternative. Le Cirque was in the New York Palace Hotel with a lobby bar and the hip, 2nd floor Villard Lounge (all still open), but Alain Ducasse is in the Essex House, an equally elegant hotel which serves drinks in its piano lounge.

Pangaea was the celeb-filled nightclub where I drank huge glass bottles of Voss water in between mixed drinks. My friends ordered vodka and champagne by the bottle. We’d walk in, bypassing the line, after dinner at Butter (next door), Baraonda (upper east side Brazilian spot) or the celeb-owned Man Ray, after drinks at Lotus, Bungalow 8 or Suite 16 (8th Ave/16th St.) Joonbug.com and other party photo sites took our pictures. Once I posed by wrapping myself up in the curtains hanging from the ceiling and peeking out. Sometimes we danced on the padded bench of seats around our table, with our backs against the wall – a wall, I might add, which was adorned by a pair of antlers protruding into the air.

Noelle at the Waldorf Astoria

When Pangaea disappeared, Marquee filled the void. I went there with a fashionista friend and the bouncer almost made us pay. I think he wanted $30 and indicated that we should be grateful, since most people don’t get in. But we were dressed to get in for free. Our sophisticated selves had skipped the line, and the cover charge, at every exclusive place in New York, L.A., Cannes, London and various posh places around the planet. We stood there in shock until a Marquee regular passed by. He had left to make a call and on his way back in, he asked us to join his party and uttered the three magic words that made the bouncer comp us: “They’re with me.”

I still miss Windows on the World, the restaurant where I had one dinner, one lunch and many nights in its bar, The Greatest Bar on Earth, with superlative views from the World Trade Center’s 107th floor.

Noelle in New York's Glorious Back Yard

After Sept. 11th closed Windows on the World, I sought out height in other skyscrapers. The Rainbow Room displays the city skyline sixty-five stories above Rockefeller Center. I organized a cocktail party there one snowy December night, and the fancy ballroom was perfected by the D.J.’s selection of Sinatra’s classic, “New York, New York.”

What will replace CBGBs? Your guess is as good as mine. But one thing is certain: parts of New York will never close. The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Metropolitan Opera for example. Lincoln Center’s generous supporters make sure it will last forever. I can hum the tunes to the performances I enjoyed there, most recently, The Barber of Seville.

Another New York staple where I’ve seen the Met perform is Central Park, which holds free Opera Nights every summer. I saw Madame Butterfly there while picnicking with friends from my screenwriting class at Columbia. The park attracts sun-tanners to the Great Lawn. You can see Belvedere Castle or row a boat in the lake. In fall, the park provides a paradise of foliage. At least I can sleep tonight knowing Central Park will never cease to exist. New York would not leave its children to survive on concrete alone.

There’s still so much about Manhattan that I haven’t mentioned, from working overtime to joining community service projects to securing a poolside spot at the Gansevoort Hotel or Soho House. New York encapsulates everything you might want, from career opportunities to the arts. It is the capital of culture, finance and fashion. It is the home of those who left home and found a new one.