Meet the SideTour Team: Christy
Christy’s (on the right) first encounter with SideTour was as a host (hint: it was electric), and she liked us so much that the only logical thing to do was join our team. She is tasked with finding and meeting some of the city’s most interesting people.
Where’d you grow up?
So, I think I’m going to have to keep the tradition going of claiming the best-known city closest to the one where you’re actually from. I say San Francisco, but truth be told I grew up in San Carlos, CA which is a small town about 30 mins south of the city. Since no one usually knows where this is, if I choose not to go with SF, then it’s Silicon Valley, which inevitably always turns into Google.
What’s the worst job you’ve ever had?
I feel like everyone has horror stories about time spent working in restaurants, and I’m definitely no exception. The worst job I ever had was working at a restaurant (that shall remain nameless) in New York, where for starters, part of our uniform was a headband with an obnoxiously large yellow flower attached to it. Aside from looking like I belonged at a themed garden party during every shift, I was the chosen target for our manager, an always frowning, chain-smoking woman from Albania. She would take every opportunity she could to yell at me for anything and everything. I was always getting in trouble for spending too much time with customers, not running plates fast enough, and I legitimately even got in trouble once for smiling too much. Needless to say I decided pretty quickly that it wasn’t the right fit.
Describe your perfect NYC day:
My perfect NYC day actually happened fairly recently. I started with a morning run in Prospect Park followed by grabbing a cup of coffee at Van Leeuwen, one of my favorite little spots in my part of Brooklyn. A group of us had never been to MOMA PS1, so we took the short train ride to LIC and had an incredible time taking in some of the most unexpected exhibitions; we got to play around in an enormous pit of yarn, get face to face with a live iguana and a croissant (together), listen to a sound installation that made you really believe you were sitting in a cathedral like Notre Dame, and then wash it all down with a beer in their garden. All of that works up a good appetite, so we ended our day with some of the best food I’ve had in New York at a nearby restaurant called Salt and Fat that one of us randomly remembered having heard about through friends of friends. Anything that involves friends and exploring a new corner of the city is always my go-to recipe for a perfect day here.
What’s your favorite part of working at SideTour?
Going on SideTours, of course! Before working at SideTour, I was actually a host, so for me, having the opportunity every day to meet some of the most passionate and interesting people in New York (and therefore the world), who then become hosts themselves, is beyond incredible. The other week, Alex and I started our Monday discussing architecture with one of the city’s foremost experts and then closed the week boxing at Gleason’s Gym, the world-famous spot where Muhammad Ali and all of the greats have trained - still can’t wrap my head around that one!
Favorite NYC hang-out?
For me, it’s impossible to choose just one. I could sit for hours in the pyramid extension of the Met where the Temple of Dendur is. The idea that any indoor space in New York could be large enough to fit an Egyptian temple is just amazing to me. I also love the Brooklyn Promenade at sunset, but my latest discovery, is the rooftop to my new apartment that my roommates and I had no idea about until the other day – during the summer rooftops in NYC are priceless!
