The View from Apartment Four

More than any other city in America—and perhaps the world—New York is the one place that draws people looking to prove themselves in their respective fields, be it writing, drama, or business. There is truth in that popular song lyric: “If I can make it there, I can make it anywhere.” Sadly, making it there was easier in the mid-1960s than today. The “why” behind this is complicated and up for conjecture, but the evidence is clear: more people in power had the time, patience and generosity to help promising newcomers then as opposed to today when contacts and sources are more closely guarded. For veteran journalist and author Skip Rozin, his journey began in 1965 on the most western block of 77th Street in New York City, in a second-floor front apartment that, if you lean just right, offered that prized real estate attraction, a glimpse of the Hudson River.

In his debut memoir, The View from Apartment Four: On Loving and Leaving New York (77th Street Press, August 30, 2019,) Rozin takes readers on a deeply personal and emotional tour as he arrives in the city at the age of 24 to write, carving out a career by any means possible, first typing and editing and then writing everything from obituaries to news and feature articles to books under his name and other people’s. His single-minded pursuit is derailed, however—ambushed by marriage and the birth first of a daughter and then triplets (two boys and a girl). Inevitably, Skip moves on to join those other New Yorkers forced to leave the city as they confront adult responsibilities once avoided in youth.

Rozin illuminates his world the way only a journalist and true writer can—with incisive wit and unflinching honesty—and his stories weave together to form a moving and often times humorous portrait of a writer’s hit-and-miss efforts to remain viable. The result is a love letter (and breakup song) to the city that never sleeps during a transformative era where a cast of eccentric characters, iconic landmarks, and experiences shaped him as a writer and then as a father. Ultimately, it’s a profound perspective of urban life—the dramatic changes in the Upper West Side from a 1960s neighborhood of friendly shops and affordable restaurants to the latest hot destination in the new millennium, competing with Tribeca and SoHo and their high-priced meals and exorbitant rents. From a place that welcomed the middle class to one catering mostly to the rich; change in the people who once called it home, who left as they placed greater value on space and convenience than excitement and opportunity.