New Yorker's Ain't That Bad

Momma Glad actually asked me to write this up.
Yesterday we ventured into Manhattan in Leaping Lena (Mom's car) to go to my favorite little neighborhood restaurant in the city.  Specifically went this weekend because I know that this and next weekend the parking will be a little easier since people are out of town for vacation.  Got great parking and scored a table outside.  Amazing experience and she loved the food.  Well, she asked about the restroom.  I told her that the restroom was downstairs and the stairs steep and  very narrow.  She said, "let me look at them"  So after we settled up our bill I walked her inside to check it out.  One look at the stairway and she said, "Oh my, I can't do that".....So we exited the side door next to the stairs and headed to the car.  She said, do they have a McDonald's I can go to?  Well mom they don't have McDonald's with parking lots in Manhattan and the bathroom may be in the basement anyway.  What about a gas station?  Well mom they don't really have many gas stations on the island either.  There are a few stations on the edges of Manhattan but no guarantee they will have a bathroom you can use.  She said, "Well what do people do here for gas?"  Honestly mom most people in the city don't have cars.....We can head back home but we may get jammed up on the bridge, since they are doing construction.  She is like, "Oh"  So I am racking my brain...I headed toward my old hood. Union Sq. and Gramercy Park area.  I said to her, " it isn't just finding a place with a bathroom on the first floor, I have to  be able to park the car and get you in."  So I think, let me hit Irving place.  Parking may not be awful and there are several restaurants....If nothing else, Pete's Tavern, (made famous by O'Henry's Gift of the Magi fame among others) is there.  So I head up Irving Place and find parking across from an upscale Japanese restaurant.  I walk in and ask the hostess if they have a ladies room on the first floor.  She said yes,  I asked her if I could possibly bring my mom in because she couldn't walk the stairs at the place we had brunch.  She pointed to the  back and said in a heavy accent, "it's OK" So I retrieved mom and took her in.  I thanked the hostess on the way in and again on the way out.  I promised her we would come back and have a meal there. She said, "you very welcome", and made a slight bow.  On the way back to the car mom said, "you know that was the prettiest place I have ever used to restroom in"  Mom was grateful that someone let us use their facilities without having eaten there.  Today mom told me to write this up with instructions to tell people, that "not all New Yorker's are mean and hateful like some people think"