Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I currently live with my parents in Connecticut, and made plans a few months back to move to the city with my good friend from college, Jeff (he also lives in CT).
Quick blurb about me: I'm 24, single, work 100% from home. I also play in a band and our gigs are usually downtown (only playing about one big gig a month with rehearsals mixed in-between). I do like going to bars, being social and partying, but I won't be doing that multiple times a week or anything crazy. I like going to the gym, running outside/going for walks (I value green/outdoor space).
Jeff will be reverse-commuting to Greenwich CT, so his only main preference is to live on the Upper East Side so he can take the subway from 86th or 96th to Harlem Metro North Stop and make his commute shorter.
I said I was fine with that, I didn't care so much about specific location. My main priorities are a bigger/nicer space since I'll be working from home every day and don't want to be depressed, and a relatively easy way to get to East Village where most of my band/partying activity will be happening. Upper East Side provides more spacious apartments than what you'd get downtown for the same price, and subway access with 4/5 and Q express lines get downtown in a flash, so it checks both of those boxes. Plus, good green/running/walking space with Central Park and Carl Schurz Park, and East River right there.
I know UES is generally quieter, more family oriented, but I feel like especially as you go east of Lexington into Yorkville there's a lot of people my age, some decent nightlife in the 70s/80s on 2nd, etc. and generally it's a pretty good place to "live" (as opposed to focusing on the "partying" aspect). It's not necessarily my "first choice" but again I don't care that much.
However, when I've been talking to friends lately about my plans with Jeff, a bunch of them have been saying things like "why would you live up there? It's boring/dull/full of old rich people. You're a young musician, you need to live downtown/in East Village. There's no reason to live above 14th street". I then explain that Jeff needs to live there since he commutes north every day while I don't have a commute, to which they respond "well then don't live with him. Find a new roommate".
I've been trying to brush off what these people say, but I'm wondering if they're right now. I don't want to miss out on the "young NYC experience" (even though I'd be partying/hanging out downtown anyway). But Jeff and I have already started touring apartments, so I can't really just tell him I'm out and find a new roommate. It'd be pretty ****ty to bail on him now, and he definitely won't live in the East Village because it would add 15-20 mins each way onto his commute every day.
I had thought I was in a pretty good situation, living with a good friend in Manhattan, easy access to subways/rest of the city, able to come back to a quieter neighborhood after partying/having gigs downtown. But now my head is spinning and I'm worried I'll end up miserable. Should I just keep going with my plans with Jeff, enjoy it the most I can, and if I don't end up liking it I can move when the lease is up?
Look at it this way - you're signing a lease for a year. Then at the end of that year, you'll have a year of knowing the city better and at that point you can decide whether you want to move out to a different neighborhood. It sounds like a good start in NYC to me. Stop worrying so much. The subways operate 24 hours a day. So does Uber.
I owned a co-op in Yorkville years ago, on 91st and Lex, I liked the area, I used to walk from 91 st to Times Square and back many times, Manhattan is small so you can hang out in the village and go back home to the UES with the bus, subway, Uber, etc. no big deal. Maybe you will meet a rich old lady on the UES, lol.
Move Downtown. Bring your music equipment with you. Upper East Side folks will pummel you for noise and with good reason. Your people belong in the same building...making noise together. You will be much happier this way.
I currently live with my parents in Connecticut, and made plans a few months back to move to the city with my good friend from college, Jeff (he also lives in CT).
Quick blurb about me: I'm 24, single, work 100% from home. I also play in a band and our gigs are usually downtown (only playing about one big gig a month with rehearsals mixed in-between). I do like going to bars, being social and partying, but I won't be doing that multiple times a week or anything crazy. I like going to the gym, running outside/going for walks (I value green/outdoor space).
Jeff will be reverse-commuting to Greenwich CT, so his only main preference is to live on the Upper East Side so he can take the subway from 86th or 96th to Harlem Metro North Stop and make his commute shorter.
I said I was fine with that, I didn't care so much about specific location. My main priorities are a bigger/nicer space since I'll be working from home every day and don't want to be depressed, and a relatively easy way to get to East Village where most of my band/partying activity will be happening. Upper East Side provides more spacious apartments than what you'd get downtown for the same price, and subway access with 4/5 and Q express lines get downtown in a flash, so it checks both of those boxes. Plus, good green/running/walking space with Central Park and Carl Schurz Park, and East River right there.
I know UES is generally quieter, more family oriented, but I feel like especially as you go east of Lexington into Yorkville there's a lot of people my age, some decent nightlife in the 70s/80s on 2nd, etc. and generally it's a pretty good place to "live" (as opposed to focusing on the "partying" aspect). It's not necessarily my "first choice" but again I don't care that much.
However, when I've been talking to friends lately about my plans with Jeff, a bunch of them have been saying things like "why would you live up there? It's boring/dull/full of old rich people. You're a young musician, you need to live downtown/in East Village. There's no reason to live above 14th street". I then explain that Jeff needs to live there since he commutes north every day while I don't have a commute, to which they respond "well then don't live with him. Find a new roommate".
I've been trying to brush off what these people say, but I'm wondering if they're right now. I don't want to miss out on the "young NYC experience" (even though I'd be partying/hanging out downtown anyway). But Jeff and I have already started touring apartments, so I can't really just tell him I'm out and find a new roommate. It'd be pretty ****ty to bail on him now, and he definitely won't live in the East Village because it would add 15-20 mins each way onto his commute every day.
I had thought I was in a pretty good situation, living with a good friend in Manhattan, easy access to subways/rest of the city, able to come back to a quieter neighborhood after partying/having gigs downtown. But now my head is spinning and I'm worried I'll end up miserable. Should I just keep going with my plans with Jeff, enjoy it the most I can, and if I don't end up liking it I can move when the lease is up?
From the position of an "old" but not "rich" person, I don't think Yorkville is either. It is the most economical (although of course not cheap) part of the UES, with population of mixed ages. There is plenty of outdoors life, but not trendy enough for a 24 year old musician. So you don't leave Jeff high & dry, why don't you start the lease with him, and if you can't stand it, swap your part of the lease with someone looking out to get out of the Village, maybe for financial reasons (landlords are amenable to that, provided that you have a solid replacement tenant ready). Or put up with Yorkville til the end of the lease - as noted here, Manhattan is not that big, and the train gets from Union Sq to E 86th in no time).
Move Downtown. Bring your music equipment with you. Upper East Side folks will pummel you for noise and with good reason. Your people belong in the same building...making noise together. You will be much happier this way.
Dude I'm not going to be doing full band rehearsals in my apartment. When we rehearse with our drummer we go to a dedicated paid rehearsal space like Rivington. If I practice on my own I use headphones.
Dude I'm not going to be doing full band rehearsals in my apartment. When we rehearse with our drummer we go to a dedicated paid rehearsal space like Rivington. If I practice on my own I use headphones.
Excellent. Many are not as kind and thoughtful as you are.
I think you’ll be fine. My rule of thumb: Live where it’s quiet, have fun where it’s wild. I suspect you may come to appreciate the relative calm of the UES when you have to get up for work the next day, even if work is in your pajamas in the living room. Biggest downside I see is maybe having to lug an instrument on the subway. But people do it all the time.
Yorkville in particular houses (or does in normal times) tons of recent college graduates, due to its relative affordability. You'll be fine. If you find you don't care for it, you can move. Having a good stable roommate situation is valuable in itself.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
