Village Parrots

As you may have gathered from previous entries -- Debra and I love New York. We started going up at least once a year in the early 90's. We don't do a lot of sightseeing; never been to the Empire State Building or the Statue of Liberty. We do a lot of theatre. Five shows in a typical four day trip.

Every morning, as Debra sleeps, I slip out of the room to watch the city wake up and to enjoy a different deli. Something about a bagel and the New York Times and the smell of the city that makes you feel a part of it all. I always bring breakfast back and Debra starts her day with breakfast in bed.

We like to explore and the subway starts our journeys. We used to visit pet shops or rather, parrot shops. We have been to Urban Bird, which has since closed, and Parrots n Pups on Christopher Street in the village. We have not been to 33rd and Bird or Birdcamp yet but we plan on visiting the next time we're in town. But I digress....

I thought at one point that it would be nice to establish a relationship with a shop that would sell our birds in the city. We would handraise them and ship them for immediate delivery to their new owners. I called Holly at Parrots n Pups and explained our plan. She was cool to the idea but said that the next time we were in town to stop by and we'd get to know each other.

Three weeks later, Rachael, Jon Russo (an actor friend of ours) and I walked into the shop. The clerk was very attentive until we told her why we were there. At that time she "iced" us and basically showed us the door. Said something about not buying birds from out of town and was very rude. Holly wasn't there at the time.

Being a resourceful person...I got home and created the website, Village Parrots. I focused this site on Manhattan and specifically Soho and Greenwich Village. Since then my anger has been replaced with a truly wonderful set of friends in the city. Jim Murphy was one of our first customers and has since bought another bird. Hugh Choi got a Vos last year and we talk at least once a month. Hugh's friend Shannon has a parrot on order and is expecting delivery in a couple of months.

There are many, many others. Jon has since moved to Paris. Hugh is annoyed at us for boycotting the city due to the smoking ban. We'll most probably return to NYC soon. It'll be nice to meet everyone face to face and swap bird stories.

- posted by J-Birds @ 8:08 PM |