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When the New York Times runs a trend story, people pay attention — and this week, the paper zoomed in on a group of Manhattan teens whose TikToks are racking up major views. Two of them, Keeva Leddy and Trip Gorman, happen to have Upper East Side ties.
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Leddy, 16, lives in the neighborhood and attends a private high school where the day begins in a light blue pleated skirt and polo shirt. She often films her routine: a quick stop at Blank Street Coffee for an oat milk latte, lunch with friends at Butterfield Market — which she called “the Erewhon of New York City” — and shopping trips to SoHo for Brandy Melville and Garage. Her account, KeevaGRWM, has drawn more than 41,000 followers, many of them fascinated by what life looks like for a teenager growing up here. “I get a lot of comments saying, ‘This is my dream life,’” Leddy told the Times.Gorman, 16, is a student at the Loyola School. Adopted from Taiwan and raised by Irish American parents, he’s lived in the city nearly his whole life. In April he started posting “day in the life” videos because he noticed no boys his age were doing it. Now he’s gained 22,000 followers and notched a viral hit: his first-day-of-senior-year video topped three million views. “Everyone loves New York City,” he explained. “There’s so many videos on TikTok that go viral just because it’s a video showing the landscape of New York City or a specific restaurant or store here.”
Both teens credit the enduring pull of “Gossip Girl” for keeping outsiders glued to their feeds. As Leddy put it, “Everyone’s still watching that, and then they’re seeing me go to the Met and these other places, and they’re like, ‘This is where Gossip Girl goes.’”
The Times also profiled Allegra Pinkowitz, a Brandy Melville employee with nearly 150,000 followers, but it’s notable that two of the most visible accounts in this niche are rooted right here on the Upper East Side. The neighborhood may be long accustomed to national spotlights, but in this case, it’s local teenagers doing the broadcasting — one TikTok at a time.
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