Meet a New Yorker: Jesse
Get to know the man with a quintessentially 90s face, who ate a bit of food and put “blending into the autumn” into the vernacular.
I’m starting a new series, I decided after one too many Pellegrino's the other night at Colonie, my new fav restaurant located in Cobble Hill that’s simply too good to gatekeep. Inspired by today’s subject, this ongoing series will allow me to dig deeper into some of the wonderfully weird people that having a large following on social media can allow you to meet.
First up: Jesse. I first came across Jesse through a video posted to the Russian & Turkish Baths’ Instagram page. “How’s it going? It’s Jesse,” Jesse boldly announces outside of the 10th Street location in Manhattan’s East Village. He’s wearing nothing but the shorts they give out at the baths.
“Um, just had a wonderful day at the baths. Just ate a little bit of food. Uh, honestly, as the seasons are changing, I couldn’t think of a better place to kind-of blend into the autumn and come and feel good and spend time with friends. Can’t go wrong.”
Naturally, me being me (claims to be so busy but seems to always have time for ridiculousness), I meme-ified Jesse. The comment section was chock full of comments that should send many of my followers to horny jail. But there were also some gems — quite a few, in fact.
“Oh Jesse… I don’t know you but I’m already so invested.”
“Eloquent, incisive, and thought provoking.”
“I'm ready to blend into the autumn.”
“Nigel Barker took the substance.”
“Loved him on the Next bus on MTV.”
“What in the eight pack is happening here?”
“Only a matter of time before he gets cast in a Luca movie or becomes a Loewe ambassador.”
“Jesse is giving me MTV Undressed and XY Magazine sense memory flashbacks.”
“He dies third in every slasher film.”
“I wish that I was Jesse’s girl 🎶”
“I think it was Plato who asked: who is this diva?”
“There is something about male torso that makes me gay.”
“The voice of a new generation emerges.”
“It’s giving Abercrombie model from the early 2000s.”
“What episode of Industry is this?”
“This is layered poetry rarely heard outside of the first few minutes of movies for a certain audience. Only Lana Del Rey might come close with her lyricism.”
“Context please! Who’s Jesse? What baths? Why are we here on this planet?”
“He’s extremely early 2010s Sean Cody-coded.”
And my favorite?
“I can’t explain it but this guy has a 90s face.”
There’s something immediately striking about Jesse. He fills a void. Perhaps it’s his good looks, which have many in the comment section likening him to Freddie Prinze Jr. (I don’t see it).
Perhaps it’s the himbo energy he emanates in the video (“what’s a himbo?” he asks me over coffee at Oslo Coffee Roasters in Manhattan’s West Village where he’s racing to finish a Rubik’s cube as I arrive). Perhaps it’s the way he makes me want to blend into the autumn, despite not knowing this was a thing one did. But if Jesse does it, so too will I. Whatever it may be that we’re starved of, Jesse is the little bit of food we’ve been craving.
To begin: Who is Jesse?
I was born on the Upper West Side, grew up in Westchester — small public high school. I think it was a super important decision my parents made for my family moving up there. My town was instrumental in helping shape the person I am today. It's a very expressive, artsy, no-judgment zone. Everyone’s very, very open. It’s a welcoming space. Then I went from there to the University of Pennsylvania. It was definitely much more rigid in going somewhere where I felt I had to be more clean cut. Now I reside in the West Village. I was working in banking for a bit, but now I work in crypto. Huge shift. I started about a month ago and honestly, I felt like it was so due. I feel all these crazy shifts in energy. Disclaimer: I’m into holistic health practices and healing. I’m very health conscious and spiritually conscious. I pay a lot of attention to, for lack of a better way to put it, the energy of things and the energy I’m putting into things and receiving from things, making decisions that way. In my free time, I’m very into calisthenics. I don’t go to a gym, I just love working out outdoors. That’s another community that I’ve grown to be a big part of. I’ve found that a lot of like-minded people are into calisthenics too, just the natural movements of the body. I’ve grown to become incredibly flexible; I’ve started doing yoga and picking up yoga practice. I’m much stronger in ways that I never was when I was going to the gym a ton. Another thing I’m really into is puzzles. I grew up doing a lot of puzzles with my mom, so I do the crossword daily and I’m always playing word games. More recently too — this is since I’ve moved to the West Village (I was in the East Village before and it was kind of gross) — I go to the farmers’ market and I love cooking. That kind of ties into the whole “blend into the autumn” tagline. That kind of just popped in my head naturally, but it really is something I practice in my day to day and more broad stroke, just in my life. I’m really into seasonal eating and seasonal wellness practices and helping your body make those transitions. Summer is super high-frequency, super high-energy. I think fall is a really important transition period into winter, the coldness, when everyone is kind of shut inside and spending time by themselves. Using this time to be mindful about it and slowing down. Not making as many plans, being more intentional about where you’re spending your energy. We charge with the sun and all the time we spend with the sun is what gives us so much energy, so it’s hard to exert ourselves in the same way when we aren’t getting as much sunlight. So, being cognizant of that and just focusing on the signals that your body is sending you.
How old are you?
How old do you think I am?
Using context clues here, I would say 25?
23.
People in the comments were comparing you to Freddie Prinze Jr., which if I’m being honest, I don’t see. Who do you get told you look like in your everyday life?
In the past, when I had longer hair, I’ve gotten Justin Bieber a bit. Which is funny because I’m a huge Belieber.
What’s your favorite Justin Bieber song?
I think my favorite Justin Bieber song would be “Swap It Out.”
I only know “Sorry.” Do you want a family?
I do. I would like to have a family. I would like to have two kids. Would I want this family to be in New York? I don’t know. I want somewhere with a bit more exposure to the outdoors, maybe somewhere by the water, maybe California. But definitely a family. I grew up with a really tight family — my parents are divorced, but I have step-parents on either side — and they mean the world to me. I’m a big family person. I try to spend as much time with them as I can. Fortunately, they live super close. They’re always coming in to visit me. It means a lot to me and I want to kind of transmit that to my own family that I have one day.
What does your family make of your viral fame?
They think it’s hilarious. I have my mom calling me, and she’s like, “Are you sure you want to do this? Make sure you say this and say this…!” I’m like, look, chill Ma, don’t worry. I was like “Evan wants to have coffee tomorrow” and she’s like “Can I come?!…”
Were there any things you were advised not to talk about?
No. Not really. I’m pretty good about keeping certain things private. I didn’t really think this was going to be an invasive interview anyway. I think this is more so getting to know each other.
I noticed you’ve followed three people since you’ve started following me, one of whom is Jonathan Anderson, creative director of Loewe. It makes me wonder: Do you have any interest in modeling?
I didn’t even know who he was; I’m not super tapped in. But on the modeling: I’ve been reached out to a couple times before, some on the street and some more directly with people that have gotten my information. They’ve told me to go to these castings and see what happens, but I never actually brought myself to go. I’ve always been interested in it and I’ve always been into fashion. I love shopping, I love dressing nicely. I keep up with… well, actually, I don’t know about that part. I don’t really keep up with what’s going on in fashion. I see things and I like ‘em. Loewe in particular — I’m a big fan of their denim. I have a couple pairs of their denim. I’m a pants and shoes collector more than anything. My tops I keep pretty neutral and then I express myself below.
Are there particular brands outside of Loewe that you tend to follow?
In general, I wear pretty basic stuff and I do most of my shopping whenever I travel. A lot of the exact brand I wear would be hard to find here. I did like Balenciaga, but not as much anymore. I do like the baggy clothes, though. I wear a lot of baggy, baggy clothes. Actually, the last thing that Balenciaga did that really caught my eye, was I really liked their last ski collection. I was really close to pulling the trigger on a few of those pieces. I’d say for the most part, my style is best generalized as Scandinavian streetwear. Neutral tones, with an attention to silhouettes. I got really into more Japanese fashion when I was out in Japan. One brand that stood out to me was Studious. They have their own brand and they curate a lot of Japanese menswear. I had a really fun time shopping in Harajuku and those areas. In terms of brands in particular that I follow, there aren’t too many. I’m just one of those guys where, if I’m walking, I don’t care if it’s a $100 piece or a $1,000 dollar piece, I’ll go and try it on and get it if it suits me. But my closet: There’s no theme. If I like something, it will find a place in my wardrobe.
What is your background?
My mother’s Cuban and my dad has an Eastern-European-Jewish background, but he’s more American than anything, really. I kind of have Polish Jew on one side and Cuban on the other. My whole mom’s side of the family was born in Cuba and that’s a huge part of my cultural upbringing. I grew up speaking Spanish. Part of the reason my family’s so tight-knit is because my mom has that Cuban in her and Cuban instinct: Keep the family close together. She calls me more than anyone, she tries to talk to me all day, she’s one of my closest friends. Cuban cuisine, that’s inspired me cooking on my own. When I’m shopping, I’m always thinking about recipes that she’s made for me. She’s such an incredible chef and definitely my inspiration in the kitchen. So, half-Cuban, half-Jewish. I think it makes for a unique blend.
For everyone wondering, what was the “little bit of food” you ate at the baths?
I had a bowl of borscht. They have a little kitchen at the baths on the first floor. Shoutout to Anvar and Yuriy, those guys are the MVPs, they make such good food. They love feeding me and I love being well fed every time I’m there. That’s always a treat after some good sauna. They make some killer borscht. That’s what they’re known for. Obviously, Russian. I had that with some Pelmeni, which is a Russian dumpling. Sometimes I go there just to eat and hang out with friends. They have a really nice roof space too that I love spending time on. Honestly, it’s just as much of a restaurant as it is a bathhouse sometimes. And a hangout. They have fresh juices too. They bless me everytime I go. It was a small bite. Sometimes I go and have huge feasts because I eat a lot. I’m very active so I have to consume a lot of food to keep up with that. But I really am a big fan of the borscht.
You’re new tagline: blending into the autumn. You said it, it just came to you in the moment, but what really inspired that?
I’m at a huge point of transition where I do feel like I'm blending into a different stage in life. Starting a new role. I just ran the Berlin Marathon. I’m not a runner, but I wanted to do it. I feel like that was a huge crescendo of all this pent-up energy I've built over the past summer. It all culminated in this huge one-and-a-half month span of my life. Right before I left my job, I was surfing in Barbados. I ended up quitting my job that week. I went almost straight to Japan. I was farming wasabi out there too, super cool. I was in a really rural area, met some friends out there, went to a farm. Honestly, reconnecting with nature a bit. That’s really hard to do here. And going straight from that, such a crazy trip, to spending two days in New York to flying to Berlin to run in this race, I was so unprepared. I literally forgot to pack everything that I was going to run in. I kind of just showed up. It felt like I was blending two stages in my life with this huge peak. Coming from a more routine, slow grind, same office desk everyday into something that now I’m personally really excited about. It is a period of blending. The same way the leaves do on the trees, the same way the weather does between days, you have to make those same transitions and if you fight it, you’re going to end up adding so much more stress to your life and it’s going to be so overwhelming. It’s going to be less enjoyable. There are different ways to do it, but I think the first thing to do is take a step back and don’t make any plans, spend some time with yourself, see how you’re feeling.
Go to Japan for a month.
Go to Japan for a month. Run a marathon. Get back and start a new job. Actually, it really is about being mindful. Today is a beautiful day, we’re sitting outside. This is awesome. I don’t know if this is going to be my social event for the day or what, but it’s chill. Not limiting your interactions, but being deliberate with them. Be careful of forcing your energy. Because in summer it’s so easy to just go, go, go. It’s getting dark at 6pm now, slowing down, but we’re still getting these beautiful days where you do want to exert some energy and it’s important to. Spending time in the sunlight while we have it. I feel like I’ve been blending. I feel like that word came to me because it’s what's happening. It was free flowing and it just came out. I don’t know, it’s just my word choice. Sometimes how I think things and the way I express them are not exactly congruent, but I think this is so accurate.
Talk to me about your ideal steam day at the Russian & Turkish Baths.
I call them the baths. Or the baña. Or schvitz. My ideal day, I check in. I catch up with the owners for about 20 minutes before I even go down. I say hi to Anvar, Vlad, Lena, all my friends. I usually poke my head out at the roof, see who’s there, see who’s chilling — guaranteed to be a good group. Maybe just hang out with them for a bit. Catch up. Soak in some sun depending on what time of day I’m there. Go down, first I’ll rinse off and then I’ll start in schvitz. That's the hottest room, they call it the Russian room. It can get north of 250 degrees there; it’s no joke. It’s more than a sauna. It's like a clay oven that you walk into. It’s not for the faint of heart. First timers sit on the bottom; there's three levels you can sit on and a big well in the middle. As you spend time in there, you cool off by dumping water on your head. You might be getting a Platza from Muktar. He’s the Platza king. It’s an oak branch treatment. It aids circulation and the oils from the branch are good for your skin as well. It’s crazy — you walk in and people have towels tied up on their heads, dripping sweat. It’s a kiln, pretty much. Pour some water if you get super hot or if you are waiting to get into the cold plunge after, then maybe not. Go from there straight into the ice bath. This is probably my favorite part. I do a lot of breathing exercises. I practice circular breathing methods and being mindful of my breath work. This gives me a great place to practice all the breathing techniques that I’ve been working on. Then I get into the cold plunge. I’ll spend anywhere from 5-10 minutes in there. And that can be anywhere from like 40-48 degrees. It’s almost like a psychedelic experience. Some people say I look crazy while I do it because I kind of kick my head back, and my mouth is open and my eyes are half-open. Then I kind of put my head underwater for minutes at a time and it looks like I’m completely passed out. Sometimes I’ll go in there and take three breaths over the course of like, eight minutes. Really slow, long, controlled breaths. And this is something that I work on on my own and have been practicing, but being able to really control your breath and the flow of oxygen in your body in there. It’s really, really elevating. My mind's always running, I’m always thinking about a million things. The baths are one of the few places where when I’m in there, I’m purely in touch with my body, not focusing on anything else but my breath. Really serene. I’m always so excited for that first dip into the cold plunge. And then I’ll cycle through a couple times. Spend some time outside in between.
Kate Winslet can hold her breath for 8 minutes. Could you best her?
Maybe we should have a challenge. [Thinks] Eight minutes, no. I’m losing that. But I’ll start training.
You mentioned that the saunas can get intense… Can you expand on intense?
More recently, the heat. The heat has been killer. When I go, I’m generally keeping to myself. Even when I’m with friends, sometimes I’ll spend time talking to them, but sometimes, we’re doing our own thing completely. That’s part of the reason I’m there, to focus on my wellness and how I’m feeling and take a break from all the talking I do during the day. I’m on the phone all day — I’m essentially a salesperson for this crypto company I work at. I’m talking, talking, talking, talking to my family, reaching out to people, talking to my friends all day. I go there to kind of shut the fuck up for a while. And think. And take some time to reflect for a bit on something that happened that day or something I haven’t really had the chance to process. From the moment I wake up to the moment I lay my head, I’m always thinking about something. But there, it’s so intense that you actually can’t think about much besides what our body’s experiencing. So, I try to stay focused when I’m there. I think that’s really the nice part about it because I think there are other people like that too.
What advice do you have for people who have never been to the baths?
You’re gonna check out the schvitz. At least step foot in it. That's like, the main attraction. That’s part of the reason that some people travel to go to this sauna in particular. But, if it’s your first time, if you know someone who goes, maybe go with a friend? If you can, it’s much easier on someone who’s a first-timer to be there with someone who has experienced it before, who kind of knows where to put your things, how to check in. It’s a super welcoming space and it’s been really busy there so you’ll have an idea of like… what you should be doing. If you don’t see other people doing something, don’t do it. There’s some people where if you don’t follow the rules, they’ll get annoyed or call you out and that can be a bit daunting because some of them aren’t shy to. That definitely happened to me in the beginning. If you’re pouring water on yourself, people are gonna go and pour it on their head, and make sure you're standing far enough away so you’re not backwashing into the well. I’m not usually one to call people out on things like that, but I know people who will. So, look at what people are doing, observe. Even if you go down there and just sit there for 10 minutes and watch what people are doing, you’ll have a good enough idea of what to do and then, go have fun. Explore. There are a bunch of saunas, cold plunges, things that everyone should challenge themselves with at some point. And then enjoy a good meal after. The food is totally slept on. I’ve never had a bad meal there and, like I said, sometimes I go there just to eat. Spend some time on the roof, chill out, take a break, get some fresh air in between rounds, and have fun with it. Don’t take it too seriously.
What if someone was like: “Jesse, would you come with me as my ambassador?”
We can open applications! I mean… I’m tight with them there. If you’re with me, you would be a VIP. But I only go during Boris week.
Many good film franchises are trilogies. You had the original video way back when, then this new video went viral, so we can call it the sequel. Do you foresee a trilogy? Do you see a third act to Jesse’s tenure on this absurd page?
I do. I mean, I love marketing it. I have fun with it. The fun part is going out there and having to come up with something on the fly to say about the place. But it kind of sells itself. Who knows, maybe Act III won’t have to do with the baths at all.
You kind of delivered a Godfather II in elevating for the sequel, evading the sophomore slump. But trilogies can be tough!
Okay so, there actually was a deleted video. It’s like the lost tapes. If you go back in the archives, someone has this video. I think that one’s a little bit…much? The way they filmed it. They followed me around and I was like, “This feels like the start to a really bad porno or something… I don’t need this up there, I feel like it wasn’t me at all.” They were like, “Do what you did last time! It was so good!” And I was like “Okay…” but then I watched the video back and that was not me. At all. I think it was more so what they wanted out of me. I’m happy doing videos with you guys, but I want to do it the way I want to do it and take a normal video. Keep it natural and classy.
What do you make of your gay fanbase? Obviously, my page has a huge gay following and comment section.
I learned gay guys have zero filter; it’s hilarious. It’s funny because I think you in particular brought that out. I mean, there are men-only hours at the baths. There is a lot of attention from the gay community on their posts as well. I’ve never been during men’s hours, but it seems there's a whole population of people that follow this account that are regulars. I think it’s all just fun. And I’m used to it; I get hit on by gay guys a lot. The comments are definitely of a different tone but they’re harmless. I’m not a super sensitive person. And also, by nature the video is…
You know what you’re doing in the video.
Yeah, they know what they’re doing getting me in the video like that. And they’re great to me so I like to help them out. But it’s just fun.
Any last words?
I want to say thanks! This is fun, and honestly added excitement to my weekend. I’m always down for a one-off experience. I knew going into this that it was going to go really well. I told myself that, and whenever I tell myself things will happen, they usually tend to. And for you to handle the whole thing the way you did, I knew it was going to be tasteful and not trying to get stuff out of me that I don’t mean or I’m not trying to say. So, as far as a first interview goes, this has been a lot of fun and I’m excited to see what Act III will be.