Living the Dream with Nina Tarr at Dream House

This Must Be The Place explores the perfect spots, hidden gems, and secret slash not-so-secret retreats of New York’s luminaries and lunatics.

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Between rent hikes, dead-end jobs, and the hot smell of garbage, life in New York can feel like a nightmare. Despite all that, wildly talented up-and-comer actress, comedian, and vinyl DJ (not to mention music curator and podcaster) Nina Tarr is living the dream–especially if your dream is to never work in an office. After years of spinning vinyl, going from the west coast to the east, and from small venues to swanky rooftops, Nina’s taste for eclectic disco, soul, and funk has landed her a number of enviable positions curating music for the likes of Vegas’s Superfrico and Tribeca’s own Roxy Hotel, where she gets a discount on drinks and we meet up at the bar.

“My mom’s a Persian immigrant,” she tells me, “and I think it’s that immigrant mentality that’s made me like, almost pessimistically frugal. But isn’t life for the living? Human beings are feeling things, we touch, and taste, and smell. I want to feel good and look good and smell good. I want to experience it all." I agree, of course, I’m a sensualist. “I like that word,” Nina says, continuing on. “I’ve always been an independent person, and I feel really lucky that my life affords me a kind of freedom and independence. But I’m worried that I’m tenderizing myself, because I don’t think I could go back, I used to wait tables, I don’t want to do that again. That’s why I save so much and how I was able to survive during the pandemic.” Pointing to a big picture window looking into a plush luxury condo across the way she asks, “fuck is that an apartment? Are we supposed to be able to live in a place like that? I wonder…I feel comfortable now, but this city just surrounds you with shit like this, and are those people happy? Does having more just make you want more?”