The romance of rooftops

Rooftops have intrigued me and appealed to me since I was 17 and in Manhattan at the end of August 2001. (One day we went down to lower Manhattan and I remember that the World Trade Center was a fact of life, just there - seemingly viewable from all over. A few weeks later, on 9/11 and in the days following it, I kept thinking back to how we had been in New York so close to when everything changed. I wondered if I would have taken more pictures of the towers or done something differently if I'd known they wouldn't be there anymore less than a month later.) My parents and I were staying at a hotel in mid-town, on a fairly high up floor. We had a really nice room with multiple windows, and through one of them I could access a sort of balcony/fire escape. I think we were there about 3 or 4 nights and I climbed out on to it every night. I could see the Chrysler Building which was so cool and one night, at an apartment building across the street I could see some people having a dinner party on the roof of their building. It looked like something out of a movie - there were bright white christmas lights and what looked like a big table with people gathered around it. I was in awe. It looked so romantic and lovely and fun. I wished I were there, eating on that rooftop too. From that moment, I loved rooftops, despite never having gone on one.

Fortunately that changed in Berkeley, where so many of the apt buildings and co-ops on Northside had accessible roofs. I went on multiple rooftops in Berkeley over my time there but two will always be tied for my favourite. The first is the rooftop of CZ, a co-op on Ridge Road, which I love because of two different memorable nights I spent on it - the first in September 2002 and the second in October 2003. Both times/events/scenes were like something out of a Hollywood movie. And both times I felt so happy and lucky to be on a rooftop. My other favourite rooftop was the rooftop of my beloved Hilgard apt building. Whenever someone would come over to my apt, I would always take them up to the roof.  From both the CZ and my apt building's rooftop I had amazing views of the Bay Area. I could see the Bay Bridge, the Golden Gate Bridge, the lights of Berkeley and Oakland, the Oakland docks in the distance, and the San Francisco lights and skyline across the Bay. Both rooftops, at the risk of sounding so overly cheesy, were magical. The views of the sky, of the city lights, the Bay - just writing this and thinking about them make me miss the rooftops and miss the Bay.

Berkeley and the Bay at night

Rooftop of CZ

Another thing I love about rooftops are the conversations that take place on them. In addition to many fabulous conversations on the rooftops mentioned above, when I went back to visit Berkeley in November 2006 I stayed one night at K.'s (and formerly L.'s but she had moved out by this point) in the Rockridge neighbourhood of Oakland. In the four months since I had been gone, K. had discovered she could climb out one of the upstairs windows and sit on the roof. It was different from being on a flat rooftop. Here, we were more on the side of the roof - sitting on it as it sloped down. But K., L. and I had a lovely time that night sitting out on the roof (how I love November in California!) just talking for a long long time. In the same vein, I have loved - since I first heard it in October 2003 - the PJ Harvey song "You Said Something". I was hooked from the first line "on a rooftop in Brooklyn one in the morning." And I still like the song all these years later.  

Toronto has cool rooftops too. N.'s aunt and uncle can apparently access the rooftop of their building on the Danforth from which you can apparently, according to N., get a great view of the skyline and downtown. Ever since N. told me about that rooftop I have wanted to go to it but the one time N. was painting his aunt and uncle's apt and therefore could have invited me over and taken me to the roof, he didn't! Annoying. I still wish I had gotten to go on it :) L.'s old condo building in Toronto had a rooftop patio which was also really cool. Maybe one day I'll get to live in a building in Toronto with a roof!

I told this friend L. (yet another L.!) I had in Austin about my love of rooftops and she told me about this short story by an Indian writer named Anita Desai called Rooftop Dwellers. I read it and loved it. It's about a young woman living on a rooftop in Delhi and about the community of rooftop dwellers she became a part of. I don't remember too many details but I do remember the main character being able to see so many other rooftops, and by extension so many other people living their lives on neighbouring rooftops, from her own front door. It was a very good story.

Rooftop dwellings in Delhi

I also like vistas of rooftops and Paris is the best for that. I love the view of Paris from Sacre Coeur in Montmartre mostly just because you see all these distinct Parisian rooftops. And though I know those roofs aren't made for rooftop patios or rooftop dinner parties, they are still very beautiful. But overall I would prefer a roof I could go out on over the roofs of Paris.

Rooftops of Paris with Sacre Coeur in the background