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And Here’s to Many More
So, I wanted to bake Erik a cake. But since he’s on the other side of the country, where my sources tell me the bathrooms not only have windows but those windows have views, I got an assist from a local expert for a digital version. Rachel Thebault, the owner of Tribeca Treats (sniff), allowed me to reprint the recipe for Erik’s favorite, Devil’s Food Cake with Chocolate Frosting, from her cookbook, iced with this apt inscription. Make it at home, and when you do, raise your fork:
To Erik: thank you from us — your readers — for your smarts, your humor and your contribution to the neighborhood. It’s no small thing. You should be proud. You gave us all a water cooler, a backyard fence to yell over, a place to meet and share and schmooze. The Tribeca Citizen has reinforced for all of us why we love living here (and sometimes reminded us why we hate living here) and what makes this place really feel like a small town in the biggest, best city.
You left a legacy.
And I hope to keep it alive. So enough about him, here’s a bit about me. Hopefully not too much to bore you.
Dear readers, this thing works because it’s a collaboration, an exercise in participation, an exchange. I’ll tell you all I can learn; you tell me what you know. Ask me about stuff you don’t know but want to find out and I’ll dig for it. In short: KEEP THE TIPS COMING.
To give you some context, I got here before 200 Chambers, but after the Miller Highway. Before Bed, Bath and Beyond but after Gee Whiz. Before the German School of Manhattan, but after Church Street School. I take classes at Downtown Dance Factory and Xtend Tribeca, drink at The Patriot and The Odeon and Tiny’s, and I’m currently seeking a new regular restaurant. (We are serial monogamists, going to the same place over and over. First it was Upstairs at Bouley, then Blaue Gans. We left off there.) Lance Lappin gave me my first professional haircut when I was 18 and living on Long Island (long story).
I’m what I guess you could call a classically trained journalist: I was raised in a tradition passed down by hard-boiled newsmen (yes, men) at Columbia Journalism School, then got my first reporting and editing job at The Riverdale Press in the Bronx. In a weird only-in-New-York-coincidence, I wrote a couple stories for Erik when he was at Budget Travel magazine, years before I even moved to Tribeca. I taught at Columbia J-school for 14 years; I now teach journalism at Hunter College.
I’m married and have three teenaged kids, two of whom went to PS 234 and one who’s in college. Over the years and across the three kids, we’ve spent 35 seasons watching Downtown Little League or Downtown Soccer League games. I’ve been on the board of Friends of Washington Market Park since we moved here in 2004, and I am an appointee of the borough president to the Hudson River Park Trust. We moved here in part for the parks; they have not let us down. Oh, and I was on Community Board 4 for 14 years, part of that time as chair.
I bought the Tribeca Citizen from Erik because it combines all my interests and skills in one tidy heap — and because I didn’t want to see it go. With your help, we can keep the conversation going. ~Pam Frederick
133 Comments
Comment:
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Congrats !
Great News
Congratulations Pam! Wishing you many many years of great success and we won’t call you the new Erik for long….promise!
Congrats Pam! What a great match (of mission and driver)!
Have fun (while working hard)!
Grateful,
JUDY
Thanks, Judy!
A perfect marriage of talent and love for the neighborhood! Like Erik, Pam has both in buckets. Now off to find a forkful of cake…
Thanks, KPD.
I’ll miss Erik (as he well knows) but I’m excited to get to know you and this post heralds great things!
Welcome! Thanks for taking this on! I look forward to your new directions. Who knows?
Congratulations, Pam! Perfect gig for you.
Thanks, Elizabeth~
Thanks so much Pam. Good luck.
Goodbye Erik, we’ll really miss you!!!! :-( Can we still follow you on Instagram?
Welcome Pam! So glad you are keeping TC going!!!
Thanks, KP!
Congrats Pam! Looking forward to reading your newsletters
Thanks!
Wow! what a great venture, Pam. Congratulations. I love your first column, cake and all. But do you really have three TEENAGE kids? That is simply amazing!
As you grow into the publisher/editor/boss you were meant to be, remember your friends (and students) at Columbia Journalism. You make us proud. We’ll be happy to send stories your way.
best of luck in your new adventure,
Ari
Thanks, Ari! I have, and I always will. And thanks for your note!!
Congratulations, Pam! Can’t think of a better person to take over TC. Looking forward to seeing what you’ll do! xx
Thanks, Chris!
This newsletter is great!
Erik was great!
You are great!
Nothing could be better!
Good luck and thanks!
Andy
Thanks, Andy!
Welcome aboard!
Thanks, Dizzy!
Congratulations Pam!
Very well written introductory piece! My Dad would have been proud of that one too, I am certain! And to think we’ve known you before almost all of that wonderful history you wrote about (post the above mentioned haircut though!)
I still think of your dad with his two copies of the paper — one of which no one was allowed to touch but him. And Todd knows, I am still wearing my Cape Cod Times sweatshirt, what, 34 years later?? Yipes.
Congrats to you, Pam—we couldn’t be happier! Though we will forever miss Erik’s wit, insights & unfiltered opinions, your first posts already convey many of those same qualities, but thru your own lens and experience. Look forward to enjoying your work for many years to come!
Thanks, Steven!!
So glad to have you, Pam!
Congratulations Pam!!!
Thanks, Mel!
Great to see you there, Pam, even all the way from Los Angeles. xo
Watch out for Erik…
Erik, CA’s gain, NY’s loss. A million thanks for your extraordinary work.
Pam, Terrific news that you’ll be taking over the helm–congratulations!
Thanks, Alice!
I was wondering who’s running this site. Wasn’t sure if Erik has has moved to the West coast and since the “voice” is pretty much the same. Thanks for introducing yourself, and welcome.
p.s.
I grew up in Riverdale and went to then four-year comprehensive J.F.K. H.S., and I’m a Hunter College alumnus, so there’s the 1 to 2-ish degree of separation. Not that you or anyone asked…
Well, as a journalist I’m always asking. Was just at JFK the other day. Looking as hulking as ever. And…Go Hawks.
Welcome on board! Thanks for taking over…
Thanks, Will.
Pure awesomeness! Blogs like this one have become increasingly important and necessary. Good luck and congratulations!
Thanks, Pedro!
Good luck Pam. I look forward to keeping up with the local happenings.
I’m so glad you’ve taken this on, Pam. It is good news for our community. Congratulations and Welcome.
Congratulations and all my best in my old hood.
Francesco
so comforting (and exciting) to know we are in good hands!
Thanks, Liz
Welcome!! So glad the TriBeCa citizen is still alive
Welcome Pam! So glad you’re continuing this. I look forward to reading.
Welcome! My family and I have been around a bit longer (we helped build PS 234 and Washington Market Park) so to have you mention those two favorite places as special to you as well makes you aces with us!! Tribeca at its best is a community. The Tribecacitizen is our local bulletin board. Thank you thank you for keeping the chatter over the back fence going.
Hi Jean, I know who you are! Thanks for the welcome.
Excited for Erik for fresh horizons after creating this great rag, and excited for you Pam for picking up the torch! Everybody wins.
Thanks, Cat!
This is great news! So glad that you are continuing this dearly beloved blog and newsletter!
Pam, can’t think of a more perfect place for you to land…this will keep you on the streets and in the know We send well wishes from NH to Tribeca, and maybe even a lead or two…funny thing is, you may be the one showcasing for us the gifts of community…big city informs small town…an endeavor for our times. Good luck in sampling and displaying new places and faces, garnering readers as participants – enjoy the ride!
I only recently found out about Tribeca Citizen and I am glad to see it will carry on. Thank you for your work as a community journalist and CUNY colleague. I am amazed at how little I know about the comings and goings of people, places and politics in Tribeca despite living in IPN for more than 25 years, and having a son who experienced Downtown baseball, soccer, Manhattan Youth and PS 234.
Thanks! And send me any news you have of goings-on at IPN. (and you have a great commute!)
Tribeca, and maybe even a lead or two…funny thing is, you may be the one showcasing for us the gifts of community…big city informs small town…an endeavor for our times. Good luck in sampling and displaying new places and faces, garnering readers as participants – enjoy the ride!