New York City is for sellouts

I really hate discussing locale with you, though. No offense or anything but like I said you just seem to come in to these threads to play devil's advocate against whatever is being agreed to about the goodness of an area.

However, I do think NYC has something unique (as a matter of reality, not fantasy) that is particularly alluring to people who wish to live in a large city and that perhaps can't be found or is not imagined to be found anywhere else (except maybe London, Hong Kong, etc.). It might not be alluring to people who don't wish to live in a large city, or to people who wish to live in a large metropolitan area without a dense, residential, monumental core and active sidewalk culture.

DID YOU KNOW that the horse-drawn hansom cabs have rate signs like in taxicabs: " $34.00 for the first 1/2 hour or part thereof, $11.00 for each additional 1/4 hour"? I wonder how these rates stack up against those from Henry James' or Wharton's day.

If suburban mall culture = teen pop, do tourists gravitate towards Times Square because it's the least guitarbandlike place in NYC?

NA this totally depends on what you mean by 'large'. I've felt a similar level of excitement and potential in LA and SF as I did in NY (when visiting; I've never lived in any of these). Both of these cities also have their own strong moving-to mythologies. The only other US cities that can compare to NY in size are Chicago and maybe sorta Boston. If by large you mean Pittsburgh, Seattle or Denver, then yes, NY has a much greater selection of the unique and special. If you're a person who's interested in urbanity, and all the diversity and cultural stuff that comes with it, you don't really want to move to Seattle or Portland, despite the fact that they're officially cities (trust me).

New York has no gondolas

but it does!

http://www.rioc.com/tram.gif

xp: chester - what do you mean by large? surely not geography. the LA metro area has more people than does the NY, I think, and also greater density which is bizarre. maybe they count the bodies of water in NY? however, I'm NYC-born and bred and adore Seattle, though admittedly not for its 'urbanity'.

I can tell you. I just received a book in the mail from my gradmaother, who was cleaning out a bunch of books and found "The Real New York," a personal guide on shops and ting, written by a lady reporter in 1933. By 1933 there were only 6 hansom cabs left in the city and they congregated exactly where they congregate now, across from the Plaza Hotel at the corner of 59th and 5th Ave. The price was $3 (length of ride unspecified), which this reporter says had been the going rate for at least 30 years, despite the fact the stable fees had increased five-fold. This book is so great, she says you can go to any basement-floor apartment on 47th St west of sixth ave, ring the buzzer, and when the tiny window bangs open and a pair of beady eyes present themselves you say casually that you were "there last night with Johnny Walker." She says this code works everywhere, even downtown. I'm gonna have to try that sometime.

Philadelphia is much, much bigger than Boston. So is Phoenix.

See how mythologies work?

That book sounds great, Tracer!

If you can't deal/think it's overrated/like your city so much better, just don't come. We won't miss you and frankly rents are too high already. 'nuff said.

again

(xpost)

Also, in terms of multiculturalism, Toronto's got everyone beat. 56 different ethnic groups speaking 80 different languages--the most diverse city in the world. (I used to work for Ontario tourism)

(NOTE: The preceeding might be a lie.)

Taking Sides: West Nile v. SARS

I reserve the right to spend a lot of time worrying about NA's friends

BURN!!!