New Jack City

Rooftop Garden View at the Metropolitan Museum of New York

It seems as though On Top of the Hill has been on hiatus for a few months, but here I am in New York City with one week left on my heart pounding journey through America's toughest, strangest, and most incredible city and I definitely felt the need to say how much this town has meant to me.


Tommy's Rooftop spot


Manhattan via Brooklyn

In 24 hours, I packed up my house in SLO, watched my brother graduate college in LA, took a red eye, slept in Milwaukee, got Cam settled in Queens, met up with Adam in Manhattan, and threw one of the biggest bangers this town has ever seen. Since day one I've been on my grind... Which is lesson one:

If you're not on your grind like everyone else, you wont survive.

There is an aura of working chaos here that has infected everyone perfectly. People dont sleep, they need to work out, and they love to party. It all works together to keep the pace up as well as keep people moving. It seemed peculiar at first, coming from the Bay Area, but the longer I stayed here the more I understood. You have to work as hard as you can to get what you want, you need to fail in order to progress, and you need to have fun in order to stay sane. Which brings me to the second thing I've learned in the Big Apple.

Getting a building with roof access is like getting a signing bonus.

Rooftop parties are the shit. Everyone loves being able to settle down, take in the chaos, and reel at the beauty of this legendary city. Definitely one of the best roofs I have ever been to was for my girl Michelle's 21st birthday. 20th floor, amazing view of the New York skyline, good vibes, and having a keg all lead to a legendary night. For most of summer here in NYC, I was working in SoHo at a random clothing store. Nothing spectacular, but it did give me an opportunity to spend a lot of time in one of the trendiest spots in the world. SoHo is unbelievable but we've been trying to stay classy and going to as many museums as possible. Which leads me to my final lesson.

New York City Museums go hard in the paint.

In the past 2 months, I have seen at least four museums all over the city of New York. All four (The Metropolitan, Museum of the City of New York, The Museum of Natural History, and The Museum of Modern Art) house incredible buildings, each with their own style and genres. My favorite of which had to be the MoMA. Only In this six story ode to performance pieces and troubled artists has the world seen beauty and such pain mixed together so effortlessly. Seeing The Postman by Van Gogh or Les Demoiselles D'Avginon by Picasso in the flesh have given me a love for art that I would never have had unless I came to this incredible city.


Mad Decent Block party, South St. Sea Port

All in all, New York has welcome me with open arms and I can certainly see myself living here for an extended period of time. It's infectious. The people, the places, the parties have all shown me what it takes to work for something as hard as you can so you can make something of yourself. Now I have a few days left and will spend everyone likes its my last.

Cheers, New York.