I'm moving to New York

[Suffice]

I know i haven't been posting much. The last few years of my life have been hectic and rather unsatisfying, in terms of intellectual and professional advancement. Work has been good, but I've hit a plateau, with no prospects in sight. There are no jobs in Cali for someone with my interests and only a Bachelor's degree. So I'm going back to school for a Masters. I was lucky enough to have been accepted to Columbia Uni in Manhattan, so that means that I'm gonna be moving there for at least 2 years.

Probably will be looking for a place in Morningside/Harlem in early-mid September. Let me know what you all think about that area, what are some cool spots there? bars/live music/art galleries/cheap eateries? What are some good grocery stores? Middle eastern food? Anything else worth noting?

Thanks a lot fellas. I know this is a West Coast forum, but I also know we have some New Yorkers here. Hit me up!


Peace

[Your favorite posters favorite poster]

AWESOME....another outside moving into NYC further killing the culture and character or what was once the greatest city in the world.  I wish I was able to take solace in the fact I'm old enough to remember NYC when it was actually NYC.  The neighborhood is becoming filled up with more out town douche nozzles.

[OG Hack Wilson]

AWESOME....another outside moving into NYC further killing the culture and character or what was once the greatest city in the world.  I wish I was able to take solace in the fact I'm old enough to remember NYC when it was actually NYC.  The neighborhood is becoming filled up with more out town douche nozzles.

but Tom, Elior says that Socal is the best place on Earth to live

[jeromechickenbone]

Good luck. I hear you on the job market, bit is going $100k in debt for a masters going to help?

[Chamillitary Click]

The thing about Manhattan is you don't need to know about places in that area. Everything you could ever ask for is a $2.25 subway ride away.

[Suffice]

LOL @ the first response! Wonderful and thoughtful contribution!

You sound like a cranky old douche by the way, get over your undeserved sense of entitlement just due to the fact you've been living in NY for a while. NY attracts some of the most talented people from all over the world. Maybe you would rather have the decay and destruction of the 60's back?

Maybe it's time for you to move to the suburbs?

[Suffice]

Good luck. I hear you on the job market, bit is going $100k in debt for a masters going to help?

Well, I'm definitely taking a risk here. I mean, I can't see my career advancing without a Master's degree, and going to an inferior school, while getting accepted @ Columbia, would always haunt me, I think. Sometimes I feel it's better to have manageable financial burdens than lifelong regrets.

Besides, I have to be honest. LA's getting played out... I hate the traffic, having to worry about cops pulling you over, the distances between everything... I also fucking hate the fact that there's no bustling cultural neighborhoods, where you can actually walk around and explore interesting shit, neighborhoods with a sense of history and depth. While Downtown has been making some strides in that direction, I don't wanna wait for another 30 years. Of course I have lots of stuff here in LA that's dear to me. But the city isn't one of those things. I think when I miss my family and friends I can always fly home, or move back, even.

The thing about Manhattan is you don't need to know about places in that area. Everything you could ever ask for is a $2.25 subway ride away.

Yeah... I know it's true. There's a huge bourgeois neighborhood separating Harlem from the rest of the City though... Doesn't it take like 40 minutes to get down to East Village or to Brooklyn? I just wanna know the neighborhood that I live in as much as possible.

[Chamillitary Click]

^I mean, I don't know the Subway routes off the top of my head. If you Google it, you can see which trains make which stops. Try to look for one that has the least. I figure every six train stops is about 8-12 minutes. Plus you have to factor in You're coming from the top of Manhattan going all the way down past the bottom. So look for a train that takes 3-4 stops in the city & goes straight to Brooklyn & maybe it'll only take 25-30 minutes.

[Sikotic™]

Sounds like you're in for a hell of an experience. Good luck, man, I hope everything turns out well.

[Your favorite posters favorite poster]

I apologize I just feel very strongly about the route my city is going.  It will be an amazing experience for you but I have watched the culture and character of my city erode away.  42nd street now looks like disney world, it's plastic and fake.  Like I said for an out towner it's an amazing experience.  For someone born and raised, it's incredibly sad watching the city become plastic just like anywhere else in America.  Far too many out of towners come into the city for that authentic NYC only to do everything they can to turn it into whatever boring city they come from.

[Javier]

If Wall St. never touched New York City, it would have been just another shitty ass American city full of crime.   

[Suffice]

Well, I guess that's something you have to live with when you live in the greatest metropolis in the Western Hemisphere. People come and go. As far as people wanting to turn NYC into "whatever boring city they come from," I think you don't really have a case there. New York is full of people from every part of the world, may it be Latin America, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Carribean. That doesn't sound boring to me... if anything, it is the greatest cosmopolitan experiment of all time.

By the way, I personally don't think you have enough Armenians in New York. I looked it up, and theres only 1 Armenian deli mart in Midtown, and only 2 restaurants - one in Queens, the other in Brooklyn. Maybe one day you'll be eating delicious Armenian barbeque and you'll remember me.

Also, I wanted to add that it is not my intention to defile and sterilize your city. I have been to New York 3 times, and have always felt like I would blend in perfectly. I hope other New Yorkers will be more welcoming 

[LooN3y]

I apologize I just feel very strongly about the route my city is going.  It will be an amazing experience for you but I have watched the culture and character of my city erode away.  42nd street now looks like disney world, it's plastic and fake.  Like I said for an out towner it's an amazing experience.  For someone born and raised, it's incredibly sad watching the city become plastic just like anywhere else in America.  Far too many out of towners come into the city for that authentic NYC only to do everything they can to turn it into whatever boring city they come from.

damn last time i went to 42nd and Broadway was when iw as 11 or 12, im 22 now is it any different?

[Your favorite posters favorite poster]

I apologize I just feel very strongly about the route my city is going.  It will be an amazing experience for you but I have watched the culture and character of my city erode away.  42nd street now looks like disney world, it's plastic and fake.  Like I said for an out towner it's an amazing experience.  For someone born and raised, it's incredibly sad watching the city become plastic just like anywhere else in America.  Far too many out of towners come into the city for that authentic NYC only to do everything they can to turn it into whatever boring city they come from.

damn last time i went to 42nd and Broadway was when iw as 11 or 12, im 22 now is it any different?

It was already plastic by then.  I remember when I was a kid maybe 8 or 9 my dad had a job a few blocks from 43nd street.  He took me down there and it was peep shows and strip clubs.  It was bright, dirty, dangerous, and most important it was interesting.  It had character and in way am I advocating crime but it had a soul.  Now its just the epicenter for corporate greed and excess.  While we still have ethnic neighborhoods within the 5 boro's they are slowly dying.  More and more great eateries closed because of high rents so they more high rises can be made for yuppies.  Greeks being pushed out of Astoria for the yuppies with no character.  Blacks being pushed out of Bed Stuy.  Pollacks pushed out of Greenpoint, all so they can bring the yuppies in.  Mom and pop shops that mmake a neighborhood what it is forced to close down because increasing rents and yuppies wanting to shop at chain stores.  Yuppies and out of towners coming into the city and complaining about the sites and sounds, complaining about mr.softee trucks or the smells of different foods coming out ethnic restaurants.  More and more chain stores popping up sucking the soul out of neighborhoods.  And you can tell its having and impact as well, when was the last time NY was at the forefront of a musical revolution ?  We were there for doowop, punk, hiphop, and house music.  I love the city and always will but we get by mostly on rep now.

[Sikotic™]

That seems like a country wide problem to be honest. Corporations are taking over and taking mom and pop spots out of business. I see what you're saying though.

LOL I know one of those yuppie broads who moved out to New York earlier this year. You're welcome