I remember a woman named Disco Sally. She was about 80 and went to Studio 54 every night on Rollerblades

When I arrived in New York in the late 1970s the city was broke and dangerous. But it was vibrant. I remember crazy taxi drivers and lots of traffic. And fantastic people with that trademark cynical sense of humour. They were a little scary at first, but I soon discovered their willingness to help anyone who needed it. I took acting classes and came across three aspiring actresses who needed a roommate – my social life grew from there.

Studio 54 was a regular hangout. It was an incredibly exciting place yet completely nerve-wracking at the same time. We’d get there no earlier than midnight and there would regularly be 200 or so people on the sidewalk waiting to be let in. The doorman, Mark, would stand on a box and point at people. You had to be famous, good-looking or a real character to walk through the doors. I remember a woman named Disco Sally. She was about 80 years old and went to Studio 54 every night on Rollerblades. Models, designers and rock stars made up most of the crowd. I had a photographer boyfriend who I would go with. A moon hung over the disco area and a spoon would rise out of the ground to meet the moon’s nose. People behaved badly all over the place. The really cool people were allowed into the basement, but I never made it down there. I wasn’t that cool.

The New York of today feels a little less spontaneous. In the 1970s and 80s we made last-minute arrangements. We’d be out for an afternoon cappuccino at the Fiorucci store when we would run into people and make plans for that night. Now the clubs have promoters, organised guest lists and you have to sit at a table and order a £100 bottle of vodka. Every party is a PR event. There’s a new and wider audience for gossip. Whereas once the talk was confined to New York, now, thanks to the internet, it spreads. People living outside the city know what’s going on and are interested in it. Ten years ago it was unheard of for paparazzi to hang around outside restaurants, but these days they’re always crouched on a bench outside Da Silvano on Sixth Avenue and Bleecker Street.

There are some fun places in the West Village I recommend to out-of-towners. There’s always a great crowd at The Spotted Pig and another favourite is a little bar called the Rusty Nail on Perry Street. It’s all tan chairs, great people and fantastic Mai Tais. They serve a hot dog wrapped in a pretzel, which is so good, but don’t eat three like I did once. In the city, one of my favourite things to do is have a late lunch at Otto, a Mario Batali restaurant. Morandi’s and the Waverly Inn are fun, too. People swarm to places in New York. They’re like bees attracted to one place one moment and another the next. In the mid-1990s the place to been seen at was Bowery Bar. It was a crazy restaurant full of models, directors and actors, and there was always dancing. I got a lot of my material for my books just from observing all that went on there.

The people still make NYC. They’re smart, interesting and do great things with their lives. It’s a major media city so everyone knows exactly what is going on, all the time. And they want to talk about it, which means you have to be on your toes. I met a woman once who refused to go out without reading all the latest major publications because she knew they would be the topic of dinner-party conversations. Everyone lives life in the public sphere. Apartments are small so life is led in the office, on the streets, in the restaurants, clubs and bars.

Fashion is the other major industry and you can’t escape it. I pass people all the time on the street and think, ‘Wow, that’s a great outfit.’ But if you want to see real fashion, look at the more mature ladies on the Upper East Side. I’ve seen women in their 90s, dressed up in Pucci and Dolce & Gabbana, pulling up in their limos outside the cafés on Madison Avenue in all their finery.

I still love the city as much as I did when I first arrived. It’s an adventure. My girlfriends and I used to say that more crazy things could happen to us in two days than happened to most people in a month or a year. We would go to a little club and end up on stage singing with Dan Aykroyd and his blues band, or find ourselves watching the tennis with Donald Trump.

And there was always a scandal involving a guy. When I was in my 20s and 30s I had no trouble getting a date. Men would ask you out back then. They would call you up and ask you to dinner, just as you see in Sex and the City. But the dating scene has got harder. New York is full of beautiful women. And they are all smart and accomplished. So it gets competitive. The city is a great place for female friendship, but not a great place to find a partner. Don’t go to New York to find love, but do go there to find your life.

Candace Bushnell’s One Fifth Avenue (£12.99, Little, Brown) is out now.