"New York is where I go in my head a lot when I’m writing. I have deep imprints of the city in my backbone: sounds, smells, music, pizza parlors, Chelsea Hotel, TV, fire hydrants oozing, the Lower East Side, people everywhere living their lives inside-out, on top, and through each other… maybe there is something even more in the memories old New York in the ‘70s—unpolished, unclean, lived in. It’s all there in this coming of age story of a young Puerto Rican boy/man. I feel this story all around in my memory bank."

"It’s just a nearly perfect film. It has everything. It has humor and suspense. It has danger and emotion. An incredible ensemble cast of the people you’ve heard of and know their name — like Walter Matthau and Jerry Stiller — to the amazing actors who played the characters on the subway train. I think it captures my New York — what I love about New York, what I think New York is — so beautifully. It’s this place of cranky individuals with big personalities who make our city run. And you’d think it wouldn’t work, but actually, it does, and New York comes through. And all the ways the transit cops, and cops, and mayor, and the citizens, and the people in charge of making the trains go — all of these people amazingly work together. And you know, when the lights go off and the old man who keeps saying, “There’s going to be red lights and it’s going to stop the train,” he’s right. Actually the system works. It lumbers along but actually it works."

"I didn’t even know when I saw it that Marisa Tomei had won an Academy Award for it, but it makes so much sense ’cause she’s amazing. It’s also my dad’s favorite movie, so I literally had a tape of it. But it wasn’t an official tape, it just kind of had a strip on it that said “My Cousin Vinny.” We would put it on, and me and my grandma and my dad would sit there and just be cracking up. And I really liked it because, you know, I’m from New York City, and you know, he kind of [embodies that]. It’s the perfect juxtaposition between someone from New York City that goes to the south and all the kind of lost-in-translation stuff that occurs."

"I read this 28 years ago, when I first I moved to New York City. I’d wanted to live here since I was five years old and the book confirmed every dream I had about what life could be like if you surrounded yourself with the right people. I laughed out loud reading this more than almost anything else I can remember."

"This was one of my favorite films when I was in high school. It’s funny and has a great soundtrack. Sal reminded me of my grandfather in his Canarsie store. The film helped humanize the perspective from both sides of the counter. It was the first film I saw that shed light on the African-American experience in a changing New York City."

"Number two for me is Manhattan, Woody Allen. It’s so real-life. Again, not about any extraordinary things. It’s really true to life and true to psychology. It’s funny. It takes me to Manhattan, which I love New York City. Woody had to be on the list and, for me, he comes in at number two. Also one of the great endings in history. The score, George Gershwin … It’s amazing."