Comments on: What Makes New Yorkers Love New York?

By: Nitsav

Nitsav — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 19:16:06 +0000

I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m currently in New York. But I can have something up in 24 hours or so (battery almost dead now) for Dave’s FPR fix…

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 18:21:18 +0000

Six days and no posts — are you guys on strike or something?

By: Daniel

Daniel — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 10:33:00 +0000

Sam,

I don’t know if there is a Waldbaum’s in Manhattan, but out here in Far Rockaway, that’s your best bet, a great full supermarket. The outer boroughs, having a bit more space, allows for larger stores, so you can actually find, for example, Wal-Mart, Stop and Shop, etc. If you live in upper Manhattan, just go across the border into the Bronx and you’ll find a large Target.

By: Nik Jackson

Nik Jackson — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 00:55:35 +0000

Check out how these clever elders share the gospel…
http://www.youtube.com/proffac

By: Sam B.

Sam B. — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 13:03:26 +0000

Kaimi,
The supermarkets (at least in Manhattan) have improved since you left. (I don’t know about the other boroughs, except that a huge Fairway just opened in Brooklyn). In Manhattan, there are some big supermarkets with all of your standard processed goods, and pretty bad, but edible, produce. Last I lived there, there was a Gristedes (think Ralphs, maybe) around the corner when we ran out of milk or eggs or needed an onion for a recipe. There was also a Food Emporium a couple blocks away (think Albertsons). All sorts of bodegas with overpriced stuff. I always took the subway to Fairway for my main shopping, which is quirky, but you get used to it. And in the last two or three years, a huge Whole Foods and a couple smaller Whole Foods have opened. I rarely bought there in New York, but it’s been as lifesaver in Virginia. (Kaimi, even the Columbia area has a Food Emporium or something like it now, and I think they just reopened a new, improved West Side Market, but it would have been within the year I’ve been gone, so I’m not sure). There’s also a Trader Joes in Union Square.

You mostly aren’t going to get the wide aisles you’re probably used to (or at least the I was), but it’s not that hard to grocery shop, at least on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Plus, a lot of places deliver. Plus everyone I know uses FreshDirect, an online grocery delivery (I’ve never used it, but it seems to work really well: you pick like a 2-hour window when they’ll deliver, iirc). Or you can do like we did: learn to cook like New Yorkers, using the stuff they have in the stores you like.

By: Kaimi

Kaimi — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 03:44:23 +0000

The good:

-The food. Not just restaurants. The grocery stores. The cheese shops. There’s nothing like it.

-The resources. Columbia and NYU.

-Cool old buildings; old churches; architecture; 500 year old streets.

-You’re one plane flight away from _anywhere_. Everyone flies to NYC.

-You can get pretty much anything you need even if it’s 2 a.m.

-Fun street fairs.

-Really cool wards, with people like Richard Bushman in them.

-Cool parks for the kids.

-No car.

The bad:

-No big supermarkets. This is cute in a lot of ways; but sometimes it takes forever to figure out which little grocery or hardware store carries the item you want.

-The city is kinda dirty. Dirty, salty snowy slush really sucks.

-JFK airport is evil.

-No yard, unless you can shell out big bucks, or unless you live in an outer borough. This can become a big deal if you’ve got kids. The park is _not_ an adequate substitute (though it’s not a bad substitute, either).

-It’s really, really expensive to live in the city. You’re buying in a market that’s skewed by the presence of Goldman Sachs bankers (lots!) who make 20m a year.

-No car.

By: Nitsav

Nitsav — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 23:49:47 +0000

I have a class to teach and then a plane to catch, so I can’t respond to any more comments soon, but keep them coming please.

By: David J

David J — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 23:19:29 +0000

Nitsy, NY is cool if you like big cities (I assume you’re talking about the city, not the state as a whole). I’m not a city dude, and I have to say that in NY, you can have it all. I lived upstate NY as a kid for a few years and absolutely adored it. The woods are thick, the thunderstorms are loud, the insects aren’t too bad, and the sky at night is breathtaking. So even if you’re an outdoorsman, and you live in the city, it’s a few hours drive upstate and you’ll forget you’re next to one of the world’s most bustling metropoli. I think the Appalachian Trail actually makes an appearance on the west side.

By: Sam B.

Sam B. — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 18:47:14 +0000

(Steve’s “everything” includes McDonalds. But you’re in New York, so don’t eat McDonalds.)

By: Nitsav

Nitsav — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 17:32:21 +0000

Thanks for these comments. Keep’em coming. I was under the impression that whole wards from NY were in the bloggernaccle, so there have to be more of you.