The Big Smoke
I recently spent two weeks working and exploring New York City. Specifically, I spent most of my time in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Here I found some stereotypes confirmed and debunked.
1) People here are not rude and obnoxious as many who are not from New York would attest. The only rudeness I encountered (or more accurately observed) was watching New Yorkers traverse the narrow, crowded streets in automobiles. Only during these times did I see people get confrontational and lose their cool, venting their spleen at another driver or at three traffic cops who could not negotiate a truck through a construction zone in Red Hook.
2) Along those lines, if you do all of your business in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and The Bronx, there is no need to own a car. I cannot speak for those in Queens, especially for those who live out near the border of Queens County and Nassau County. A local remarked to me that my version of why the subway and bus system is so great is that I am in no real rush to get anywhere while using it. This is a fair point, but I would rather spend an hour traveling from Park Slope to the Upper West Side in a subway car. I don't fancy sitting in traffic.
3) Someone once said that in New York, the subway is "The Great Social Equalizer". That's true. Like all social equalizers, the subway has it's own disgusting elements: the ammonia-ish smell of urine in the pedestrian tunnels of large stations, the musky body odor of a packed, poorly air-conditioned "4" train coming back from Yankee Stadium, or the filthy, unwashed floor of the "R" train. These are characteristics akin to the more disgusting elements that make us all the same: defecation, eye boogers, dried drool on the corners of our mouths, and all the rest.
4) The best food is not at the five star restaurants that some critics sing high holy praise about. It's at the hole-in-the-wall diner, sandwich shop, and corner bodega. At these hole-in-the-wall places I had a decent Philly cheese steak (though not truly authentic), good fish and chips, a killer turkey hero, and excellent eggplant pizza. Also, the bigger the dive bar (complete with cranky old union members) the better the beer.
5) The Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, and other obvious tourist traps aren't the only attractions here in New York. If you pay attention to even the smallest pop culture references, you can find just about anything in this town. Case in point, I came across this gem of a location mentioned in Judy Blume's classic "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing":
This was a good trip.
ADDENDUM:
This was a good trip until a small little storm that lasted all of 45 minutes brought JFK, Newark, and LaGuardia to a fucking standstill. I hate air travel.
1) People here are not rude and obnoxious as many who are not from New York would attest. The only rudeness I encountered (or more accurately observed) was watching New Yorkers traverse the narrow, crowded streets in automobiles. Only during these times did I see people get confrontational and lose their cool, venting their spleen at another driver or at three traffic cops who could not negotiate a truck through a construction zone in Red Hook.
2) Along those lines, if you do all of your business in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and The Bronx, there is no need to own a car. I cannot speak for those in Queens, especially for those who live out near the border of Queens County and Nassau County. A local remarked to me that my version of why the subway and bus system is so great is that I am in no real rush to get anywhere while using it. This is a fair point, but I would rather spend an hour traveling from Park Slope to the Upper West Side in a subway car. I don't fancy sitting in traffic.
3) Someone once said that in New York, the subway is "The Great Social Equalizer". That's true. Like all social equalizers, the subway has it's own disgusting elements: the ammonia-ish smell of urine in the pedestrian tunnels of large stations, the musky body odor of a packed, poorly air-conditioned "4" train coming back from Yankee Stadium, or the filthy, unwashed floor of the "R" train. These are characteristics akin to the more disgusting elements that make us all the same: defecation, eye boogers, dried drool on the corners of our mouths, and all the rest.
4) The best food is not at the five star restaurants that some critics sing high holy praise about. It's at the hole-in-the-wall diner, sandwich shop, and corner bodega. At these hole-in-the-wall places I had a decent Philly cheese steak (though not truly authentic), good fish and chips, a killer turkey hero, and excellent eggplant pizza. Also, the bigger the dive bar (complete with cranky old union members) the better the beer.
5) The Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, and other obvious tourist traps aren't the only attractions here in New York. If you pay attention to even the smallest pop culture references, you can find just about anything in this town. Case in point, I came across this gem of a location mentioned in Judy Blume's classic "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing":
This was a good trip.
ADDENDUM:
This was a good trip until a small little storm that lasted all of 45 minutes brought JFK, Newark, and LaGuardia to a fucking standstill. I hate air travel.
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