It's such a famous bar. We'd read about it, heard about it - and now we were here, on the streets of New York, umming and ahhing as to where to get a drink and shelter from the rain, when we remembered it.
It was a dull, late morning and the lights of the store fronts were reflected in the sidewalk, a shiny grey mirror of blurry reds and yellows at our feet, as we made our way through straggles of strangers with their collars turned up, hoping we were heading in the right direction. And then we spotted it, right there on the corner: 'Nosedive'. That's it - that's the one! The cocktail bar, the place which had only ever been a name to us and now we were right outside the real thing. A couple of steps led us up through a small glass door and into the open lounge area, large but not too large to be daunting, dotted with small circular tables, the bar all along one side. I was struck by the décor - everything a steely kind of blue, the ceiling, the walls, and the little oval signs at various points displaying the name, black on blue in a slim typeface, modest-looking somehow, like it had no need to shout or show off, its fame already a given. Pendant lights hung low, lots of them at different lengths, the combination of the subdued illumination and blue colour scheme giving the place an almost underwater feel.
A young barmaid came over to us with menus as we seated ourselves on high stools around a table at one side. I had no idea what to order but I fancied something coffee-ish, and my friend suggested a few - although I don't remember now what they were called.
And that was it, I was in New York with my two friends, ordering a cocktail on a tin-grey rainy brunchtime, in that bar which everyone has heard about, just as everyone knows of Macy's, or CBGBs, or Cafe Wha? Nosedive. Isn't it amazing what you can come up with and how vividly real it can all seem - I actually had to check the name out when I got up this morning, just to make sure it really was only the dream I had last night.
Nosedive is a great name for a bar.
ReplyDeleteI had four different anxiety dreams last night. Dunno what was going on, but I'd rather have been having a cocktail in New York...
Thanks Rol, must admit I didn't think it was too bad for a subconscious idea for a name. What seemed remarkable about the dream was that I couldn't really work out where it all came from - you know how you can normally link them back to thoughts, conversations, things you've seen, etc. but I couldn't with this one. Unless it was the quite tenuous link of reading about Catherine O'Hara's death and being reminded of her in the wonderful film 'After Hours' which is set in New York and features a bar... maybe that was it but, thankfully, completely changed from the paranoia of nighttime misadventures to a positive day trip with friends!
DeleteSorry to hear you had anxiety dreams last night, and four at that, it can be exhausting. Hope you can make up for that with some better ones - take yourself off to Nosedive for a Margarita!
What amazes me about dreams sometimes is the complexity of their plots. I mean, often they're just gibberish, but every now and then I have one where everything fits together in such an intricate way, it feels almost novelistic.
DeleteYes, I know what you mean. Do you ever write the more complex ones down? I'm sure some could be developed into coherent short stories/novels, and love the idea that they'd be truly original as dreams are so uncontrived.
DeleteYou had me there - I thought you were recounting a story from your trip to NYC when you worked for the big multi-national.
ReplyDeleteDreams as you both say can be so complex that it's hard to believe the subconscious came up with them. There is usually a link to something that's happened in the course of the day but sometimes you have no idea where it came from. Wish we understood the brain more - we use so little of its capacity it's frightening how much more there is to learn about it.
Sorry for the delay but I don't get an alert for your new posts so didn't spot it earlier.
It was just the way that name appeared from nowhere that made me want to keep a note of it here - it's so funny what our subconscious can come up with and hard to believe at times, as you say. The brain is so fascinating and in a way I rather like its mysteries - it's great to hear about things discovered through research and certainly if it can help people, but I don't think we'll ever fully understand the complexities of such a remarkable organ.
DeleteI'm hoping to get at least one or two posts out each month now if I can, that's three already this year so I must try to keep it up!
You got me there too. I am still looking for a 20th century reference to a NY bar called Nosedive. Though on reflection it is more lively to be a reality in California or Hawaii.
ReplyDeleteI can only hang on to my dreams for the first few groggy waking moments. Were the surfaces slightly sticky at the Nosedive?
If there isn't a Nosedive bar out there, then there ought to be!
DeleteThe trick is to make a deliberate effort to recall and go over a dream you've just had, I think - preferably to write it down (although later deciphering a half-asleep scrawl on a bedside notepad, written in the dark without my glasses on, might be somewhat more difficult).
A place called Nosedive really should have a sticky floor, indeed - but I can tell you, even after a few weeks of dreaming about it, that it was very clean!