I don't love New York City
- kath
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Re: I don't love New York City
i luvvv new york, but apparently in very small doses. i've only been a few times, extended weekends basically each time, but i had a fucquin blast. a great convention... the unicorn tapestry... the architecture... belmont... seven people crammed into a cab goin to some dive in the bowery just to sing allman brothers... new year's eve in times square, with a cop on horseback tryin to run me over... siiiiiiiigh. ohhh, and driving in new york is its own... unforgettable experience.
new york charges me with some unpeggable thrill that just doesn't leave me til i leave it. (london does the same, although it's a diff thrill.)
but i really wanna live away from cities. and i tell ya, new york *is* expensive. i aint used to that... what do they call it, standard of living rates or sumthin? every gotdamn thing was at least double what i'm used to, price-wise. there might be trouble for me if i hafta invest in a pack of marlboros.
edit: almost forgot.. throw in zefferelli's la boheme at the met. ya ya. and injuring patrick stewart.
new york charges me with some unpeggable thrill that just doesn't leave me til i leave it. (london does the same, although it's a diff thrill.)
but i really wanna live away from cities. and i tell ya, new york *is* expensive. i aint used to that... what do they call it, standard of living rates or sumthin? every gotdamn thing was at least double what i'm used to, price-wise. there might be trouble for me if i hafta invest in a pack of marlboros.
edit: almost forgot.. throw in zefferelli's la boheme at the met. ya ya. and injuring patrick stewart.
Last edited by kath on 23 Apr 2014, 14:21, edited 1 time in total.
- hookfinger
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Re: I don't love New York City
I can understand the love for NYC but honestly not anymore than any other big city. I lived in Chicago for awhile and loved it (for awhile). Still feel more for it than NYC. I also live near Philly and have spent plenty of time there and love it. And even some of the larger medium size cities have plenty to offer. I love St. Louis and Baltimore but more than either I enjoy Cincinnati. Mostly though I like living within a couple of hours distance from these places. Close enough to visit and easy enough to get away from when it becomes too much.
As for Florida, it is a useless piece of land dangling down like the limp penises of all retirees it attracts.(Not having experienced Miami, it may be somewhat different.)
As for Florida, it is a useless piece of land dangling down like the limp penises of all retirees it attracts.(Not having experienced Miami, it may be somewhat different.)
Oh boy is it getting rough, when my old world charm isn't quite enough.
- kath
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Re: I don't love New York City
hookfinger wrote:I can understand the love for NYC but honestly not anymore than any other big city. I lived in Chicago for awhile and loved it (for awhile). Still feel more for it than NYC. I also live near Philly and have spent plenty of time there and love it. And even some of the larger medium size cities have plenty to offer. I love St. Louis and Baltimore but more than either I enjoy Cincinnati. Mostly though I like living within a couple of hours distance from these places. Close enough to visit and easy enough to get away from when it becomes too much.
As for Florida, it is a useless piece of land dangling down like the limp penises of all retirees it attracts.(Not having experienced Miami, it may be somewhat different.)
of course, *i* think new orleans beats em ALL.
... not that i'm biased.
- Six String
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Re: I don't love New York City
I would love to visit someday and probably will but like Kath, I'm not interested in living in a big city. I enjoy taking drives out in the "country" and being able to park within a block of a restaurant or theater or whatever and not spending more money to park than the event I'm attending. Sacramento is big enough to give me what I need most of the time as far as cities go but I'd be happy in a smaller town tbh. If I won the lotto I would live up in Mendocino or Northern Sonoma county
away from town and be happy. When I was younger the big cities excited me and they still do when I go but I'm pretty content where I am.
Correction: if money was no object I would live in Scotland.
away from town and be happy. When I was younger the big cities excited me and they still do when I go but I'm pretty content where I am.
Correction: if money was no object I would live in Scotland.
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B. Dylan
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Re: I don't love New York City
Okay, so New York has a lot of things to do blah blah blah, but it is still a huge mess. And don't say that's why you like the place; the smell of urine is just part of the ambience. Maybe I am biased living in a city that fixes the potholes and spends money on luxuries like paint, but damnit, Tokyo is bigger than New York and the trains, busses and taxies are spotless and work well. There are NO potholes in Tokyo. And business is done straight with no dread that I am being taken. I would have thought that New York improved itself in the years since I was a boy but no. The same potholes and the same shmutz are still there. One taxi driver told me there was one huge pothole that has been there for 20 years. He told me that just after my bones were rattled by a big one. And talk about crowds we went into a Trader Joes supermarket in Manhattan and the check out line wound from the registers back all around the store's inside perimeter back to the entrance. The nearby Whole Foods was only slightly better. It would take an hour just to pay! I don't know, there is a feeling of desperation there I haven't seen in any other modern city. Nah, I don't need New York. Seattle, SF, Amsterdam, Paris (Love it!) and Tokyo are so much more ... pleasant.
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- GoogaMooga
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Re: I don't love New York City
NYC has this ongoing cool reputation, I've lost count of all the "City that Never Sleeps" travel articles I've read about it over the years. A while ago, I overheard two Danish teen-age girls saying, "New York is just the coolest!" I maintain that it peaked in the 1950s.
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- Maryann
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Re: I don't love New York City
if NYC wasn't still the coolest, why are there still major celebrities and moguls buying up property?
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Re: I don't love New York City
I Are Smart wrote:if NYC wasn't still the coolest, why are there still major celebrities and moguls buying up property?
it's the center of finance
"When the desert comes, people will be sad; just as Cannery Row was sad when all the pilchards were caught and canned and eaten." - John Steinbeck
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Re: I don't love New York City
I've never been to New York but big cities in general make my skin crawl a bit. I love visiting London but it really doesn't take very long at all for the crowds to annoy me. I can taste the pollution. I'm always happy to head up north again to be honest and I just feel more comfortable in a place like Edinburgh. I can see the hills and the sea in the distance. There's space, you know?
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Re: I don't love New York City
Goat Boy wrote:I've never been to New York but big cities in general make my skin crawl a bit. I love visiting London but it really doesn't take very long at all for the crowds to annoy me. I can taste the pollution. I'm always happy to head up north again to be honest and I just feel more comfortable in a place like Edinburgh. I can see the hills and the sea in the distance. There's space, you know?
London doesn't have the quality of life anymore unless you're pretty wealthy.
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Re: I don't love New York City
hookfinger wrote:I can understand the love for NYC but honestly not anymore than any other big city. I lived in Chicago for awhile and loved it (for awhile). Still feel more for it than NYC. I also live near Philly and have spent plenty of time there and love it. And even some of the larger medium size cities have plenty to offer.
I am fond of many American cities and agree that many have a lot to offer, but I think New York is different from the rest in every way.
take5_d_shorterer wrote:If John Bonham simply didn't listen to enough Tommy Johnson or Blind Willie Mctell, that's his doing.
- kath
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Re: I don't love New York City
Goat Boy wrote:I've never been to New York but big cities in general make my skin crawl a bit. I love visiting London but it really doesn't take very long at all for the crowds to annoy me. I can taste the pollution. I'm always happy to head up north again to be honest and I just feel more comfortable in a place like Edinburgh. I can see the hills and the sea in the distance. There's space, you know?
as someone who grew up around too many people and spent most of her life around too many people... yes, space is all i really want. i have a lil more where i am now (i can see some hills and the stars at night not too obscured by city lights), but it just aint enough. i would like to live somewhere where i can't see anybody else's house from where i'm sittin. i would like to crank a stereo without having to think of the houses on every side of me. i would like not to hear neighbors screamin at each other or cop cars on the street. holy rollers at my door. other people's lawn mowers. animals gettin run over.
i need to try harder at this. mwhahahaha. er, if there are any places like that left.
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Re: I don't love New York City
Sal Paradise wrote:Goat Boy wrote:I've never been to New York but big cities in general make my skin crawl a bit. I love visiting London but it really doesn't take very long at all for the crowds to annoy me. I can taste the pollution. I'm always happy to head up north again to be honest and I just feel more comfortable in a place like Edinburgh. I can see the hills and the sea in the distance. There's space, you know?
London doesn't have the quality of life anymore unless you're pretty wealthy.
I do regret not living there for a few years when I was younger but truthfully I don't think I would have had enough cash to really enjoy it.
Griff wrote:The notion that Jeremy Corbyn, a lifelong vocal proponent of antisemitism, would stand in front of an antisemitic mural and commend it is utterly preposterous.
Copehead wrote:a right wing cretin like Berger....bleating about racism
- Maryann
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Re: I don't love New York City
GoogaMooga wrote:I Are Smart wrote:if NYC wasn't still the coolest, why are there still major celebrities and moguls buying up property?
it's the center of finance
but they choose to live there, at least part of the time... if it was all about finance, then they could just sit back and collect rents from other parts of the world... obviously there's an appeal...
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Re: I don't love New York City
I Are Smart wrote:GoogaMooga wrote:I Are Smart wrote:if NYC wasn't still the coolest, why are there still major celebrities and moguls buying up property?
it's the center of finance
but they choose to live there, at least part of the time... if it was all about finance, then they could just sit back and collect rents from other parts of the world... obviously there's an appeal...
there's a social aspect of it, too, if they were scattered, they couldn't mix and make deals, no cocktail parties
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Re: I don't love New York City
So then it IS cool...
- Guy E
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Re: I don't love New York City
I said I love it and I’m sure I’ll miss it when we leave. But it has changed a lot in the past 38-years and I think what I’ll miss the most about NYC is the past… and maybe more to the point, me being young in the NYC of the past. Don’t get me wrong, the club scene is much better-managed than it was 35 or 40 years ago. But I liked the music back then a lot better than what’s on offer today. I like eating out, but only if it’s affordable. There are always reasonably priced restaurants to be found, but not as many as 20, 30 or 40 years ago.
It’s never taken me long to get to work and I could always walk. I have never owned a car or any other internal-combustion-driven contraption. That’s a big plus. The subway system works very well these days… I’m not sure when/where the OP’s negative experiences come from. An unlimited Metrocard costs $112 and pretty much meets all my transportation needs.
The rich and entitled can really burn me up though, and there are a lot of them milling about these days.
It’s never taken me long to get to work and I could always walk. I have never owned a car or any other internal-combustion-driven contraption. That’s a big plus. The subway system works very well these days… I’m not sure when/where the OP’s negative experiences come from. An unlimited Metrocard costs $112 and pretty much meets all my transportation needs.
The rich and entitled can really burn me up though, and there are a lot of them milling about these days.
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Re: I don't love New York City
Stephen James Solomon wrote:And talk about crowds we went into a Trader Joes supermarket in Manhattan and the check out line wound from the registers back all around the store's inside perimeter back to the entrance. The nearby Whole Foods was only slightly better. It would take an hour just to pay!
Why would a visiting tourist go to fucking Trader Joes? I don't go there for the very reason you state, but checking out in our local supermarket is NBD... there's never more than one or two people in any of the checkout lines. I did buy champagne for a party last year at TJ's liquor and while there was a long line I don't think it took more than 4 or 5-minutes to check-out... they have 10 or 12 cashiers.
This winter was bad and the streets do seem especially rugged this spring.
NYC used to have a lot of soul. I wouldn't say that it really does anymore... or maybe it's more hidden. I lived in Versailles for a year and spent a lot of time in Paris. Obviously, that's a fantastic city, but for me personally, I can't imagine being as happy there as I've been in NYC. Chicago has a lot going for it, and plenty going against it. Tokyo... I'm not even interested in visiting there.
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Re: I don't love New York City
I've been there a couple of times and have no love for it. It's dirty. The subway is a disgrace. And the people are often rude.
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Re: I don't love New York City
I first went there when I was around 19. Back in those days NYC was more dangerous and even in Manhattan one street would be pleasant and the next suddenly dodgy. However it had fantastic book and record stores and lots of places to pick up collectibles etc. I miss that and will complain that sometimes it resembles a big outdoor mall with oversized Best Buys etc. replacing the places that oozed culture and cool.
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