Sebastian White Online :: Romancing the Roof Deck

ESSAYS

Romancing the Roof Deck

By Sebastian White | July 2005

People say I'm crazy for paying as much as I do to rent an apartment in Boston. It's hard to defend the logic of paying exponentially more than the annual per capita income of most third world countries—each month—just to share an unremarkable two-bedroom apartment in a fifth-floor walkup.

But it's a beautiful and vibrant place, I tell people.

Still, life in the city isn't always easy. It can be claustrophobic and exhausting. It's difficult to get away.

In a place where tiny apartments and tinier rooms force us to downsize our lives, the uncommon presence of a roof deck smells earthy and spells “space,” a wide-open arms departure from the stresses and strains of life on the ground.

High above my neighborhood's main drag, the roar of traffic reduces to a dull murmur. The downtown skyline shimmers, the only break in an otherwise endless 360-degree panorama that stretches from the mountains to the sea. Only here, where reality meets a ceiling of clouds, is it possible to begin to appreciate the scale of the city and revel in its madness.

My flowers and vegetables grow more unruly as they wend and wiggle their way up the lattice that forms a low perimeter around my deck. They create a spectacular oasis of greens and pinks and reds, my own Monet en plein air.

Who needs a country house when it’s possible to bring the country to the city?

Even on dreary days, which are rare this time of year in New England, it's an enviable retreat. Fog rolls in off the sea, bringing the crisp, cold air. It hangs densely over buildings and lingers romantically before moving inland. In its path, lofty office towers and urban landscape disappear and reappear.

The winds shift and the neighborhood is inundated with the roar of jets reverberating through the air. My garden trembles. People complain, but from the heights of the roof deck, the sight of a hulking 747, lumbering to get off the ground en route to Europe, only enhances the mystique of city living.

I think a lot about my roof deck. I think about the ways in which this most simple and sumptuous of enchantments can say a lot about oneself.

You see, in a subtle way, urban life is stratified in terms of roof deck haves and have-nots. But in this quiet caste system, there is an even more subtle division, based upon the superior qualities of one's deck.

My cousin’s, with its prime location at the peak of San Francisco's tony Pacific Heights neighborhood, is sublime. Here, the mood is ethereal and the quotidian cycle predictable. In the morning, a chilly fog envelops his lush garden of snapdragons and petunias. Air swirls quickly through the sky, dancing its way toward the far shore. By the warmth of midday, the winds shift and the skies are a welcoming blue again, revealing brilliant vistas north, south, and east.

In Los Angeles, where every aspect of life seems more self-indulgent, my friend Manuel boasts a Jacuzzi on his deck, a touch that makes a starlit perch high in the Hollywood Hills even more magical. Hot tubs are the ultimate form of roof deck snobbery, if only because everyone secretly wants to have one. As it is, replete with dramatic views of the imposing and storied sprawl that has for a century drawn glory-seekers and lotus-eaters, this impressive deck takes the cake for romance.

Edmond, a neighbor of mine in Boston’s South End, is well regarded in our social circle for his attractive, if small, deck. We have a good-natured roof deck competition running. Ed boasts of the qualities of his outdoor space and his unique views while I relish in the size of mine.

Indeed, my roof deck is large and sturdy. It doesn't teeter over the street or the alley. It backs up to a row of lush greenery that shoots up from the alleyway and spills shiny vines over the railings. Disguised in a camouflage of flowers and vegetables, it is a private retreat for reading the Sunday paper, for entertaining friends, for contemplation.

At night, as the world begins to darken and the breathtaking skyline flickers to life, this simplest of escapes makes the exorbitant expense and enervating extremes of city living all worth the high cost.