Top Ten Things I Learned in NYC
David Lanham and I traveled to New York over the 4th of July weekend, 2008. We were invited by our friend Von Glitschka as guest speakers at the ICON5 Illustration conference. I had not been to NYC in years and it was great to meet talented artists, designers and see the city. While there I learned some important facts about the Big Apple that I thought I would share with all of my loyal readers.
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10. Everyone either listens to an iPod or talks on a cell phone.
9. If I lived in NYC, I think I’d like to live in Greenwich Village.
8. Yankees fans get really upset when you tell them “Go Sox!”
7. No one in NYC bothers to read signs.
6. The line for the Empire State Building is really, really long.
5. There is a place to eat every few feet.
4. I need to buy more Apple stock.
3. Tell your traveling companion to call if he’ll be out after 2am.
2. Despite what you see in movies and TV, the people are friendly.
1. A cab ride through the heart of Manhattan is just as thrilling, nerve-wracking and expensive as a trip on Space Mountain.
A couple other thoughts:
1) Fly into La Guardia, it is MUCH CLOSER to NYC than JFK= cheaper taxicab & smaller, friendlier too.
2) The safest NYC block anywhere is in the Lower East Side- East Third between First and Second Ave.-the Hell’s Angels Block. Safe like Salt Lake City!
3) Frank Lloyd Wright’s Museum Masterpiece- The Guggenheim- is the coolest Art Museum of ALL.
4) Most everyone living in NY has an itsy bitsy apartment (compared to where ever you live) with urine smell by the street entrance.
I LOVE NYC, have many friends there, but I like living in California or Georgia better.
yay for #2. so glad we were nice to you guys.
Some More:
The official smell of NYC in summertime is “urine”.
All the couples walking together in Chelsea hold hands. Its nice.
Squirrels in Central Park will take your wallet *right out of your hand* and flip you the bird.
Hot Dogs sold on the street, while iconic, are still “street meat” and should be treated as such. (I got a hot dog once, bit in, only to find a bone chip in it.)
The subway can also be a really intense experience. Both good and bad.
Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, Chelsea, and many other places are great places to live* (but not forever, imho.)
My 2 1/2 sisters just returned from our “sexless in the city” weekend celebrating sister #1’s big birthday and we had a great time. Did a lot of the city but when we hit the Upper West Side, we felt at home. If you’re an old NY’er, there’s something about the UWS that makes you comfortable, from Zabars to the bodegas. My son lives in South Slope, Brooklyn, used to live on the UWS, and works in Chelsea. All great neighborhoods.
True that: everyone is friendly. We handed our cameras to people who took our picture; then we did the same for complete strangers. When I got on the subway (first time in a lot of years) and noticed the A/C, I stage-whispered, “Thanks to whichever mayor put A/C on the subways,” and a few folks around me said, “Amen.” In Central Park, we got directions from walkers and (slow) joggers; everyone was great.
NYC “don’t walk” signs are merely suggestions.