Get a taste of life in New York City

Ah, the mystique of New York City. You love it. You hate it. Doesn’t matter. You’ve still thought about it.

Try to imagine millions of people having an opinion about life in, oh, I don’t know, Jacksonville?  Or Provo? Just doesn’t work. 

New York sticks with us. It may be a dream come true or your worst nightmare — but having no opinion about life in New York City?  Not possible.

If you moved away, you think about going back. Or you have a ready list of reasons why you’d never, ever go back.  If you’ve ever visited, you’ve imagined living there. Or you can’t imagine why anyone would want to live there.

Even if you’ve never set foot on the streets of Manhattan, and the closest you’ve gotten to the Brooklyn Bridge is a Woody Allen movie you watched back in the 80’s, you have an opinion about what it’s like to call NYC home.

From the black-and-white images in classic films like Laura (1944), to the sexy, glamorous lifestyles of Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda, life in New York City is part of the collective American mind. No matter where we live, we know New York.

So what is it like to live in “The City?”  The truth is, it’s everything you’ve ever heard and more. Wonderful and awful. It’s ordinary people doing unbelievable things, and amazing people living ordinary lives.

So what about you?  Are you dreaming about starting your own New York City story? If you’re thinking about moving to New York, there are a few things you should know.

A Place to Lay Your Head

“One bedroom, walk-up. 630 square feet. $2495/month”

Lesson one for life in New York City.  It’s expensive. Really expensive. Places like the roomy apartments on Friends?  My search turned up one on the Upper East Side for a mere $16,000 a month. (And to think they managed that on coffee shop and museum wages…)

Come prepared to pay for the privilege for living in the city, or compromise and find more affordable rents in Brooklyn or Queens. 
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Party All Night Long

What would life in New York City be without partying? Sure, you could go to the big clubs with the big names, but the real nightlife is in the little hotspots in Manhattan and the Boroughs.

Check out Club Exit or the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn (does anyone else think it’s strange that they have another location in Boise? As in Idaho?)

The Art of New York City

First time readers might wonder why there’s so much about the arts in The New York Times. Guess what?  That’s just a teeny-tiny piece of the arts in New York City. 

Want to see paintings or sculpture? Head for one of the major museums like Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), or check out the galleries like Yossi Milo on West 25th Street.  Dance? How about Alvin Ailey? Opera and symphonies are around the corner from death metal and trance. Theatre is on Broadway, Off Broadway, Off Off Broadway, or on the street corner.

And oh, The Food!

No picture of life in New York City would be complete without at least a mention of the food. Sure, landmarks like Ratner’s and Tavern on the Green may be gone, but there is no shortage of restaurants. 

Go for gourmet at Adour Alain Ducasse at The St. Regis, or sample the wares at an all night diner like Odessa on Avenue A. There are restaurants representing almost every cuisine on the planet, and wonder of wonders, almost all of them deliver! 

There’s More…

The clothes.  The shopping.  The subway.  The bookstores.  The fact is no matter what you like (except maybe mountain climbing, surfing, amber waves of grain or, well, cheap rent) odds are it’s there somewhere in New York City.

And that, as they say, is life in the big city.