It’s 1971, and all this suburban virgin wants is to move to Manhattan, become a fashion artist featured in The New York Times, and find true love. In the process of becoming a “real Noo Yawka,” she discovers survival skills she never knew she had, or would even need. Hell’s Kitchen and Couture Dreams is a valentine to that time and place.

 Why?

My old artwork and letters and scrapbooks that went all the way back to childhood had squatted in my parents’ attic long enough. Hauling them back to my place, I realized what I had long suspected—that I am a natural born archivist and collector. (We won’t call it hoarding just yet!) Sucked into both the minutia and plethora of what I had saved—some remembered, some forgotten—I simultaneously started to write about the period of my life that seems most profound. I was eighteen when I left home and moved to New York City. But somehow, I couldn’t shake my roots. So I decided to try and understand them. And, finally, embrace them.

 A Memoir-Scrapbook

Here is where I will share both word and visual snippets of what I am calling a memoir-scrapbook. It is also a way to share my love of New York City with others, and vice versa. I have no idea what I will post here, but I know I will have fun, and hope you do, too! Please follow for updates!

—Sharon Watts