Last Saturday night, I had to go into Times Square to drop off a package to Radio Show Personality Joe Franklin, and in doing so – got a very quick and very thorough education on just how amazing New York City really is.

No offense to any other City in America, but New York City is truly one of the most unique places in the world. It is a place where literally anything and everything can co-exist without incident, a City that is still open for business in the middle of the night, a City where you could meet anyone from anywhere at anytime – and a City that affords you the opportunity to walk around looking exactly how you choose – and get away with it no matter how odd your look of choice may be.

My education began at 7:00pm Saturday night when I boarded a Manhattan-bound “Q” train at the Sheepshead Bay Station – and saw a man sitting on the train with a Mohawk that was slicked back – and that wasn’t the weird part. He was wearing an “I Love New York” T-shirt that was purposely cut completely in half down the middle, but held together by several safety pins. His pants were a combination of red fish-net with stripes that resembled the Cat In The Hat’s hat, with matching leg warmers that he wore on his arms like sleeves that had no shirt to attach to. His shoes, which sported eight-inch platforms, also matched the outfit – and so did his underwear – which he proudly wore over his pants. In most other cities, he would have been either arrested or committed, but not in New York. Upon seeing him, myself and everyone else who boarded the train simply looked, shook their head, and went about their business.

When I arrived in Times Square at 8:00pm, the City was as alive as it would be at noon. There were so many people cluttering the streets that it made it very hard to get to Joe Franklin’s office. But while inconvenient, it’s typical, because I have never seen and could never imagine an empty Times Square. After dropping off the package and spending some time with Joe and his producer Rick Russo who I have known for years, I decided that instead of just hopping back on the train, I would spend a little time in Times Square – and wound up not getting home until almost 1:00am.

While everywhere in New York City is magical, from Greenwich Village to Central Park, Times Square to me has always been the heart of the City, the one place where everything that is New York City can be found – and in only four hours time – I found it all.

In the middle of Times Square, a crowd gathered to witness a commercial being shot, while at the same time on the same corner, a man was holding a very large sign that said “REPENT” and was screaming prayers at the top of his lungs – much to the dismay of the commercial’s director. After witnessing that typical New York Minute, I continued through the Square, hearing a group of drums being played in unison. I looked around to see where the music was coming from and realized that it was coming from in front of me, but no matter how far I kept walking, I did not see the drummers. I then realized that the drummers were not standing still or sitting on a corner, but marching through Times Square beating their drums – and singing songs in a language that I or anyone else could not recognize.

After passing the parade of drummers, I noticed some Pedicabs, or bicycle-powered taxis, gathered in front of the Toys ‘R Us in Times Square, which is not only the world’s largest toy store – but actually has a sixty-foot Ferris Wheel inside the store’s lobby. The Pedicabs all looked normal, with a seat for two adults behind a man sitting on a bike who would pedal you to a destination for a small fee. One Pedicab, however, had six seats and six sets of pedals on it, kind of like a Tandem bike – except rather than each sets of seats and pedals being behind each other – this bike was shaped like a circle, basically allowing seven people to sit in a circle like at a round table and all pedal at the same time, moving forward in a single direction. And besides the bike itself, the weirdest part was that it was parked next to another vehicle you don’t exactly see every day – a stretch Hummer limousine.

As I made my way to 48th Street and 7th Avenue, I came across a seafood restaurant, with a host outside ready to inform me and anyone else that passed by about the specials of the day. Right next to the seafood place was Lace Topless Bar – with a host outside who was also ready to inform me of the specials of the day – all while another man was standing in front of both establishments holding a sign that said, “JESUS SAVES.”

After absorbing all of this, I was ready to call it a night and head home. But when I got to the entrance to the train station, I decided that I wasn’t ready to leave yet, so I headed to the Times Square Brewery for some nice homebrew – and continued my education.

I sat at the bar and was served a Blonde Ale by Nikki, the friendly bartender who I thought bared a striking resemblance to Sandra Bullock. I must have been right – because she told me that I was the fifth person that night who told her that. Sitting next to me were three guys who did not look like they were together, but instead looked like they did the same thing I did, came to a bar by themselves to have a beer. After a while, we all struck up a conversation – and I again realized how incredible it is to live in New York City.

Here was myself and three guys who just happened to coincidentally go to the same bar without any pre-meditation. After the introductions were made, I realized that I was talking to one man who lived in Australia, one who lived in Ireland – and one who lived in Brazil. And if that is not odd enough, Scott, the one who lived in Australia, noticed someone who entered the bar a few hours after we did that he knew – it was his old Australian neighbor who lived next door to him ten years ago who he hasn’t seen since – but just happened to bump into on the other side of the planet while on Holiday. Only in New York.

After my beer glass was empty – and so was my wallet – I finally threw in the towel and said goodbye to my new found friends and to Times Square – and headed back over the Manhattan Bridge to Brooklyn. No matter how many times I have been to Manhattan, which is far too many to count over the last thirty-two years, I always look forward to returning to Manhattan as if I have never been there before – because while the island itself and the buildings that stand on it always remain the same – it is the people, the places and the overall character of New York City that makes it the most magical place on Earth – and a place I am proud to call home.

Man do I love my City.