Manhattan Living (New York, Amsterdam, Murray: how much, neighborhoods, theatre)

[LookingtoLeave]

Originally Posted by LevityNYC

I think a lot of it has to do something with Friends and Sex in the City. TV shows such a glitzy image of these living spaces that in reality they would have no chance to afford. A 3 bedroom apartment like in Friends would easily run 3800 a month rent. None of them work real jobs...come on....someone working in a coffee shop living in a 3 BR in Manhattan??

Sex in the City is even worse. Fashion magazine writer??? They make what like 35000 a year? NYC isnt all about walking 5th Ave with your quirky friends buying Gucci bags after your fancy lunch, before dining out with a bottle of wine, and heading out to an equally fancy bar to meet a wallstreet hunk.

Its about living in a cramped apartment with roached and noisy neighbors, while eating egg sandwiches from the corner deli.

I wish more people (specifically young people) understood this.

I can understand younger people wanting to move there since that's the best time to do it, but what I don't get is how someone can say they want to live somewhere they've never been. I'm not specifically targeting the original poster-this is in general. Then all you have to base your opinion on is tv. If you can say you definitely want to live there after 2 or 3 visits or so, I say hell yeah, it's a good choice then.

[blender]

Oh, back to the TV thing...

Us oldsters wondered this back in the sixties and seventies, and now with Nick at Nite today's twentysomethings can ponder this question:

How could struggling part-time actress Ann Marie (Marlo Thomas) afford that big apartment in "That Girl?"

[impreziverex]

i'm all about dreams. Although the situation seems far-fetched. It can be done of course, but lets face it you will never have a price range that will be as broad as 1k-4k/mo. I would be more concerned about where my job will most likely be located, what is a realistic salary for the position, and work from there. To me it just seems silly to save that much money only to blow it on mid-town rent; while getting into entry-level career. Make sense? And visiting before you move anywhere goes without saying....I hope.

[lauralove181mn]

Originally Posted by impreziverex

i'm all about dreams. Although the situation seems far-fetched. It can be done of course, but lets face it you will never have a price range that will be as broad as 1k-4k/mo. I would be more concerned about where my job will most likely be located, what is a realistic salary for the position, and work from there. To me it just seems silly to save that much money only to blow it on mid-town rent; while getting into entry-level career. Make sense? And visiting before you move anywhere goes without saying....I hope.

Well, like I said, there will be 2 salaries coming in. And my boyfriend will have a couple years work under his belt (he already works for the local newspaper while going to school and will get another job for a couple years after college) when we're ready to move. I've already researched the average salaries of the starting position in my career path. This isn't just something I'm doing on a whim here. Do you think I'm crazy? I've been researching the move, costs, jobs, areas, crime, etc. for over 2 years now and will continue to until I've moved there. I've also stated over and over again throughout this forumn that I plan on visiting at least 5 (not including all the visits I'll be making while apartment searching) times before we move, because the move will not be for maybe 5-6 years from now. Not to mention the fact that my cousin has just recently moved to Manhattan with her husband and sharing and apt. could be a very plausable idea.

[blender]

Though I tend to present realistic-to worse case scenarios, I think I now get where you're coming from.

Yes, contemplating a move to NYC is a big life-changing decision which shouldn't be taken lightly and the social, economic and professional costs and benefits should be researched as thoroughly as possible, but there's a point where you worry too much.

If you were someone who was not a city person or didn't dream of living here I'd say if you can't just go with it maybe you shouldn't move here because this city can be stressful and it may not be worth it to you if you're stressing about it at this stage.

But since you really want to move here and have done your share of research, just do what feels right and join the rest of us negative, brusque, neurotic, paranoid, delusional, cautiously optimistic and pollyanna-ish non-Native New Yorkers who love being here! Everything eventually works out!

[NowOrNever]

Originally Posted by stretch00

Anything south of 96th street is fine.

Anything north of 96th street may or may not be fine, depends on the neighborhood.

Each neighborhood in Manhattan has its own flavor. Upper east side tends to be wealthy professionals. The meatpacking district tends to have younger people interested in nightlife. Chelsea has a significant GLBT population.

Crime is not a significant problem in most of NYC. This perception is more of a holdover from the 1970s. By any reasonable way of measuring crime (per capita), NY is safer than any other major metropolitan area.

I will second Eugenebrklyn's advice. Consider Brooklyn or Queens, unless money really is no object to you.

What area is the meatpacking district?

[Nugget]

West Side around 14th Street

[LookingtoLeave]

Originally Posted by lauralove181mn

Well, like I said, there will be 2 salaries coming in. And my boyfriend will have a couple years work under his belt (he already works for the local newspaper while going to school and will get another job for a couple years after college) when we're ready to move. I've already researched the average salaries of the starting position in my career path. This isn't just something I'm doing on a whim here. Do you think I'm crazy? I've been researching the move, costs, jobs, areas, crime, etc. for over 2 years now and will continue to until I've moved there. I've also stated over and over again throughout this forumn that I plan on visiting at least 5 (not including all the visits I'll be making while apartment searching) times before we move, because the move will not be for maybe 5-6 years from now. Not to mention the fact that my cousin has just recently moved to Manhattan with her husband and sharing and apt. could be a very plausable idea.

If it's something you still want to do after 5 visits, then no, you're definitely not crazy! It's good that you're doing your research now, but keep on it since you're not looking to move for another 5 yrs or so and we all know what you see now will not be the case then. It's great that you already know someone who lives in Manhattan. So many people stay somewhere to get themselves on their feet for a few months or so and like with so many things in life-things have a way of working out. I wish you the best of luck!!!

[BXGEAR]

For me, the only reason I remain in New York (Manhattan) is because of its urbanity. That's sort of biased I guess because I'm interested in Architecture, Urban Affairs, City Planning, and Urban Design. stuff like that

[LookingtoLeave]

Originally Posted by BXGEAR

For me, the only reason I remain in New York (Manhattan) is because of its urbanity. That's sort of biased I guess because I'm interested in Architecture, Urban Affairs, City Planning, and Urban Design. stuff like that

I love the architecture of NY, but I also love the diversity of people.