---
title: "An Ode to the Williamsburg Bridge"
date: 2017-06-11
source: https://rossgarlick.com/writing/an-ode-to-the-williamsburg-bridge
---

![19095832\_10158925891320232\_198728974\_o](/images/wp/2017/06/19095832_10158925891320232_198728974_o.png)

She's an unconventional beauty - her cool, icy exterior; her raw strength and colossal presence; her willingness to reveal her complexity and the constant burdens that weigh her down; her tattoos and her take-no-bullshit attitude.

Her functional-industrial aesthetic is born from necessity rather than design, but today fashionistas from Paris to Tokyo seek to replicate her style, clamoring for that Authentic Brooklyn look.

A Newyorker's Newyorker, she prefers the Subway, cyclists and pedestrians to car travellers; and catering to tourists? Oy Vey!

She will show you a side of New York you haven't seen before, and tease you with a view of the city that would be picture-perfect were it not for that damn wired fence. I understand, though; she was raised in a pre-Instagram era.

I couldn't ask for a better neighbor: I encounter her on early morning runs, where she confidently greets me with an energetic attitude and love for life necessary to thrive in the city that never sleeps; sometimes I encounter her in early summer and Fall evenings when I've thought it smart to cycle from work - I curse at her for making me sweat until she relents halfway through the ride, at which point I can't help but smile as the wind rushes through my hair; I occasionally encounter her in the middle of the night - yes, she's still awake - as KC and I go for a late night stroll or decide to walk home from a night out in the Lower East Side.

She does what she does day after day, decade after decade, without a word of thanks. That changes today. On behalf of all those you have served, thank you. Keep doing you, Williamsburg Bridge.

![IMG\_20160707\_230408](/images/wp/2017/06/img_20160707_230408.jpg)![IMG\_20170607\_200734](/images/wp/2017/06/img_20170607_200734.jpg)![IMG\_20160211\_135812](/images/wp/2017/06/img_20160211_135812.jpg)![2016-09-26 06.53.55](/images/wp/2017/06/2016-09-26-06-53-55.jpg)