They descend on our city each December, smelling of pine needles, whispering of foreign lands. They are nothing like your ex-boyfriend the i-banker. They know how to do things, like use chain saws. And they wear flannel because they are cold, not ironic. Ladies of New York, take note: For the next few weeks, an unusual breed of man is in town. And if you don’t usually buy a Christmas tree, you might want to rethink that.
“I’ll deliver a tree to [women], and they’ll offer me a beer,” says Marco, 42, who asked that his last name not be used. “We’re so different than the men they know. I think they feel free to confess things to us because we don’t live here.”
Marco has been coming to the corner of 97th and Broadway for almost a decade, selling 7-foot Fraser firs and Douglas pines to the Upper West Side residents who have come to adore him.
“These guys are so civilized,” says June Pascal, 64, who lives nearby and has been renting out her guest room to Marco each December for the past few years. “They work with nature. They’ve traveled extensively. They’re such sweet guys.”
Adam Matthews, 30, a carpenter from Buffalo, says New York ladies have been paying him an awful lot of attention. “Either that or they just really like to talk about Christmas trees,” he laughs. Behold, the Christmas tree vendors of Manhattan. Think of it as our gift to you . . .
