“Ode to the Upper West Side”; A video Valentine's Day in October

Editor's Note: Phil Lerman, former national editor of USA Today and producer of the long-running TV show America's Most Wanted, has produced a Valentine's Day video for his new Upper West Side home. Introducing the four-minute film – see link below – we asked Lerman how he got here and what inspired him to produce the video.

By Phil Lerman

As Edward Albee said in “The Zoo Story,” sometimes a person has to travel a very long way to cover a short distance.

My wife and I are both native New Yorkers: I grew up in the Bronx and she moved to Manhattan as a teenager. But we both ended up in Washington DC, where we met and started a life together.

We always knew we would come back – we just didn't know it would take 40 years.

When we sent the last child off to college, we decided it was finally time—and knew immediately that there was only one neighborhood for us. (We checked out the Upper East Side, but decided we didn't quite fit in. For one thing, we'd have to buy all new clothes.)

From the moment we tasted the sable at Murray's Sturgeon we knew we were where we were meant to be. Everything about the neighborhood – the way everyone on the street talks to you, the way there's always too much to do, the way you can never bring yourself to eat in the Village because it's in the There was that new place on 76th Street that we read about in the West Side Rag – told us we were home.

I wanted to try to capture that feeling – the feeling we have every day when we leave our apartment – so I started thinking of some funny rhymes and a video to go with it. I shot most of what is in the video on the street; A few actor friends filled in a few gaps (and if you look closely, my wife and I actually make a cameo while walking through the park.)

As we said in the video: If I grow old here with my best friend, we will feel young again in this place. The Upper West Side is the best side for me.

To watch the video, click – HERE