New York City ‘feels like home’ to former Chelsea resident

MANHATTAN — New York attorney Joe Garmon grew up in Chelsea, but he seemingly was destined to live in a big city.

“As a little kid, I remember in my mind having this image of being in a city, going to my apartment, unlocking the door and walking into it,” Garmon said. 

It didn’t take long for Garmon to focus on the Big Apple. “There was probably always a part of me that wanted to live in New York,” he said.

And he has no regrets. “I love New York,” he said.

Now an attorney at Davis Polk & Wardwell on Lexington Avenue in Manhattan, Garmon’s New York attraction broadened over time. “When I was young, some of it had to do with television and culture portraying it as ‘the’ place to live,” he said.

As he got older, he was drawn to New York by its atmosphere of “acceptance and inclusion,” values that were becoming increasingly important to him, he said. “It’s truly the largest melting pot in the world.”

New York’s a big change from the smaller towns Garmon knew. He was born in Rome, Ga., lived in Columbus, Georgia, and, when he was 10, moved with his family to Chelsea, where he graduated from Chelsea High School.

“I grew up in a very insular community, where everyone looked the same, thought the same, acted the same,” Garmon said. “This isn’t a knock on Alabama. It’s just about what my experience was and now is.”

Garmon’s world broadened a bit at The University of Alabama, where he graduated magna cum laude with degrees in political science and communications in 2011. 

“Then I really pushed myself to think about the life that I wanted to cultivate,”Garmon said.

He earned his law degree as a minority student at Howard University in Washington, D.C., a historically black school, finishing No. 2 in his class.

That experience “opened my mind to all walks of life, a lot of struggles that I haven’t had to deal with, and it framed the way I now view the world and people and how I want to live my life,” Garmon said. “New York is a good backdrop for all those things.”

He joined Davis Polk & Wardwell full-time in 2014 and has worked in many areas, including litigation, cybersecurity advisory work and developing a data-breach database to assist victims.

Working as an attorney is satisfying, according to Garmon. “I love people, and I like speaking with them, hearing their stories and understanding their goals and needs,” he said. “Every day presents a new challenge.”

New York is not perfect, with “train delays, weird smells, extreme heat and bone-chilling cold weather,” Garmon said.

The city’s also a tough place, according to Garmon. “There are lots of people who are living on the streets and who, despite it all, grind to make ends meet,” he said.

That makes Garmon feel grateful. “I look around and remember how blessed I am,” he said.

He’s also trying to give back to the city. “I’m flexing my activism muscle now through [the law firm’s] pro bono program,” said Garmon, who has worked with transgender clients and asylum seekers.

The city — still a cultural hotbed — also spurred Garmon’s creativity and lifelong literary ambitions.

In 2016, Garmon wrote and published a novel, “At the End of Goodbye,” about two New York 20-somethings. It’s based on his experiences and those of his friends.

“One [character] seemingly has everything, and the other has nothing,” Garmon said. “[The novel] looks at the struggles that happen here, but it also looks at the struggles that happen in friendships as you get older and your lives drastically change.”

Garmon said he’s blessed with a great group of friends in New York. “I feel very integrated and supported,” he said. 

And yes, he has that cool city apartment he dreamed of as a kid — in a high-rise inBrooklyn Heights.

Garmon enjoys Brooklyn, with its parks, breweries and restaurants. “It doesn’t have all of the headaches of the city,” he said. “It feels a bit less crowded.”

He misses his family in Chelsea and friends in Birmingham, but it’s not hard to visit. “The flight’s only two and a half hours,” he said.

And though Garmon won’t declare himself as New York lifer — “We make plans and God laughs” — he said that he’s “very happy” there.

“New York absolutely feels like my home,” he said.