Julia Genina and Brian Buryak, parents to Misha and Luka, discuss with DOWNTOWN’s Riya Duddi all the reasons why they call Battery Park home. 

 

DOWNTOWN: How did the two of you meet?

JULIA GENINA : Oh, good question. We met through his best friend. I went to college with his best friend and he played hockey with him. It’s gonna be 19 years this fall since we first met and we’ve been married for almost 15 years.

 

DOWNTOWN: What do you guys do for work?

Julia: I work at American Express. 

Brian: I have my own business. I’m a cloud architect. 

 

DOWNTOWN: How long have you lived in NYC?

Julia: 1991, moved as kids~7-8 yrs old, 1st gen immigrants, Minsk, Belarus.

Brian: 1989, moved as kids~7-8 yrs old,1st gen immigrants, Odessa, Ukraine.

 

DOWNTOWN: Which schools did you go to?

Julia: I went to NYU.

Brian: And I went to Staten Island College. A lot of the friends that we have now, we all met in college. That’s so nice.

 

DOWNTOWN: And you guys are all in touch and still in the city together? 

Julia: Yeah, I feel like people tend to stay in the city after they go to college here. 

 

DOWNTOWN: What made you guys choose downtown specifically? 

Julia: You love this area. 

Brian: Yeah, I love this area. It’s just so zen here. Not too much traffic, not a lot of cars. It just struck me as kid friendly. And this is where I always wanted to live. We call it the suburbs of New York City. The green space over here is incredible, but also there are so many good restaurants and we started introducing the kids to them, too. We’ve kind of built our lives around staying downtown.

Julia: Like he has his favorite coffee shop that we go to every single weekend. The kids have their pastries that they pick there, also. Both of our offices are close by within Battery Park. And the kids just love it here, the schools are great. Everything is within walking distance and we love to walk around. Just yesterday, we walked around Soho and the West Village and Tribeca. 

 

DOWNTOWN: So what are your kids’ favorite places down here? 

Julia: Laughing Man.The blueberry or wild berry donut there, yeah? Yeah. Wild berry donut And then they also like Mexican food now. Tacombi. That’s in the Financial District as well. We also love Elbez and Tessa pizza, which is really good. I mean, we like all the places, but those are the ones that stand out.

 

DOWNTOWN:  Where do the two of you go to when you need some time away from the kids? 

Julia: So every Tuesday we have date night with another couple. Or we go have dinner around different, New York City restaurants. We go everywhere, whatever’s available. 

 

DOWNTOWN: I have some questions for the kids as well: What’s their favorite spot for treats specifically downtown? 

Julia: Laughing man. It’s a vibe.

 

DOWNTOWN: If they could spend the whole day downtown, where would it be? Them specifically, but you guys too.

Julia: Um, we usually walk from Soho to the West Village. Actually, I guess we start at Laughing Man in Tribeca. And then we just keep walking up. Through Soho all the way up to West Village. And then walk down, you know, Bleeker. And then down on the West Side Highway. So like make a circle, basically. The other place we like to go to is the park by Staten Island Ferry. It has a SeaGlass Carousel that Misha particularly loves and a playground. 

 

DOWNTOWN: Do they have a favorite park or playground? 

Julia: Pier 26…. Luca, what’s your favorite playground? 

Luka: “Central Park.” 

Julia: Yes, but downtown, where do we go usually? 

Luka: The Fish Park. 

Julia: Of course, the Fish Park. Yes. But it’s Pier 26 over here. Okay. It’s on Northmore Avenue and West End Highway.

Brian: But there’s also Teardrop Park. It’s right between buildings so you don’t know where it is unless you live in that area. There’s a cool, little area where kids can play and there’s a little slope where we take the sleigh. It’s in North Battery Park.

 

DOWNTOWN: So if a friend was visiting, where would you guys take them downtown? 

Brian: That’s easy. So we would definitely take them to the High Line. Then we would take them to Chelsea Market. Then we would take them to Hudson Yards. We’ve taken people to go up the World Financial because the view is so beautiful. And then specifically for here we would take them to the Oculus and World Trade Center. We would also take them to Rockefeller Park, the green space over there. North Battery Park. We would take them to Wagner Park. 

 

DOWNTOWN: Do you have a favorite family tradition?

Julia: I think the only tradition is literally every weekend we’re at Laughing Man. Yeah, that’s our weekend spot. 

 

DOWNTOWN: During the holidays, are you guys in the city, or do you travel? 

Julia: Yeah, we do travel quite a bit but not… like when it’s the holidays here, we like to be in the city, because there are less people. We put up a tree, they [kids] decorate it. We definitely like to go to Central Park, Rockefeller Center. Usually the tradition is we pick out the tree and put out all of the ornaments. When it snows, they like to do a sleigh ride and we’ll go to Central Park.