OT: NY City Suggestions...

jrazz wrote on 3/4/2006, 3:16 PM

My wife and I are taking an anniversary trip to NY City- we are thinking of investing in a salsa company up there :) Really though, for anybody who lives there, are there some pointers that you could give? If there are things that people who live there like to do, or like to go eat at, etc. etc. that is what I am interested in as well as any deals so we can skip out on the "tourist tax". Any shows (and good places to watch) any museums we should see? I know that we are not too far from B&H so we will definitely go there. Just curious if anyone has any suggestions or pointers.
We will be staying in a hotel overlooking some portion of Central Park. Our transportation will be cabs and we will be there for a week during the first portion of June.

Thanks for the help,

j razz

PS. Grazie, we will be coming your way in the next couple of years, so if you want to start writing your list up now, feel free :)

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Comments

birdcat wrote on 6/11/2006, 6:10 PM

> Hell's Kitchen is where smart New Yorkers go for pre theater dinner. It's all restaurants now. I think the real estate brokers reanamed the neighborhood Clinton.

It's amazing what a little money and the Donald can do for a neighborhood - I worked there about 22 years ago - Was lots of fun getting propositioned by the hookers and acosted by the bums on the way to work every day!

busterkeaton wrote on 6/11/2006, 6:46 PM

It was safe. The NYPD has a precinct dedicated just to Central Park, it has the lowest crime rates of any precinct in the city. Here's the actual stats. There's a difference between after dark and the middle of the night. Normal end of the day hours say up to 11:30 the park is still in use and still somewhat crowded.

The park actually "closes" at 1AM and reopens again at 6AM.

birdcat wrote on 6/11/2006, 6:58 PM

I dunno - Stats show that the first half of 2006 there was 12.5% greater robbery, 120% more grand larceny and an increase in burglary with a decrease in rape and felonious assult - Not a bad trend but not what I'd call safe.

fwtep wrote on 6/11/2006, 7:15 PM

Great pictures! I'm glad you made it down to the Flatiron Building (actually the Fuller Building). New York sure is heaven for a long-exposure fan. And boy, the Brooklyn Bridge really was made to be photographed in black & white, wasn't it?

Thanks for sharing the photos. It's pretty hard to take a bad picture there, but still those were great.

busterkeaton wrote on 6/11/2006, 8:04 PM

The increases look big because the numbers are so small. That's why the decreases in certain categories are 100%

The 12 percent increase means it went from 8 to 9.
The other increase 120 went from 10-22.

Central Park has 25 million visitors a year. Last year it had 93 felonies tracked by Compstat.

That's what I would call safe. It's said to be among the safest urban parks in the world.

birdcat wrote on 6/11/2006, 8:19 PM

Maybe I'm just jaded by years past - Way too many folks on the evening news still stand out in my mind - Plus there's personal stories from folks I know - I've pretty much stayed clear of CP for most of my life (only been there five times in 52 years - once in a hansome cab, the other four were for the Revlon Walk/Run - Will be going again next weekend for the Sarcoma walk/run).

So if it is safe at night - good for everybody - Just won't find me there after dark.

busterkeaton wrote on 6/11/2006, 11:24 PM

Birdcat, there's two reasons for your perception.

1 is that it definitely was unsafe, but that's going on over 20 years ago. Apparently, the "broken windows" theory of policing was first tried in Central Park in the mid 80's.

2 is Central Park is one of the places you can find rich people. Rich people who have access to politcal and media power, so any crime there would get magnified more than a crime in the park in my neighborhood. Similiarily, any crime on the 59th street side of park has more tabloid juiciness than any crime on the 110th side, all things being equal.

baysidebas wrote on 6/12/2006, 1:31 PM

<quote>> Hell's Kitchen is where smart New Yorkers go for pre theater dinner. It's all restaurants now. I think the real estate brokers reanamed the neighborhood Clinton.

It's amazing what a little money and the Donald can do for a neighborhood - I worked there about 22 years ago - Was lots of fun getting propositioned by the hookers and acosted by the bums on the way to work every day!

</quote>
"Was lots of fun getting propositioned by the hookers" maybe that's why it was renamed Clinton.

busterkeaton wrote on 6/12/2006, 1:59 PM

If you're a fan of the movie Taxi Driver and know NYC, it's interesting to watch it now, because the scuzzy block where Jodie Foster and Harvey Keitel work, is 2nd and 12th. It's a quite fashionable block of the East Village these days.