Going to New York City! What to do?? (1 Viewer)

[Michael Reuben]

(Gilford Godfrey - may have botched the spelling and the name, I wasn’t familiar with him – think he was before my time)

Sounds like Gilbert Gottfried. A regular bit player on The Tonight Show, and he has one of the few truly funny scenes in Beverly Hills Cop II. And of course to all true fans of The Adventures of Ford Fairlane, he will now and forever be known as "Johnny Crunch".
M.

 

[matt bee]

the hottest club in town is in a hotel and features drunk cowboys shootin’ pool.

Ryan,

Aren't you from the Tri-Cities? Sounds an awful lot like the Grizzly Bar to me. Haven't been there in quite a while, and that's not a bad thing.

I'm jealous, man. I would love to visit NYC some day.

 

[JoshF]

I?m assuming salaries around here are much higher, though? Where I?m at, $100k a year is filthy rich, and two people making minimum wage (about $7 an hour now) can afford a nice home and newer vehicles. I can take my wife to the finest restaurant in town for $50.

Yes. Consider this: most apartment building managers here in Manhattan require that you make at least 3 times your annual rent. So let's say you find a $2000 apartment in the city. That's $24,000 in rent per year alone. In order to even be considered for the place, you'd have to make at least $72,000 and have the documentation to prove it.

And that's the minimum.

 

[Ryan Wright]

In order to even be considered for the place, you'd have to make at least $72,000 and have the documentation to prove it.

So what's an average middle class salary around here run? $72k is a lot for my area. Besides lawyers & doctors, there are only a handful of companies that pay that well (thankfully, I work for one of them. So while I'd just barely scrape by in NYC, I live very well back home).
Went down to Chinatown today and had an excellent meal at some restaurant whose name I can't recall, and couldn't pronounce even if I could. Best Chinese food I've ever had (other than my wife's - she's a white American girl but has perfected the art of cooking my favorite Chinese dishes). Wish we had food like this back home. If I lived here, I'd be poor from eating out every night.

Too many great restaurants.
I'm heading back home tomorrow. I thank you all for your "e-hospitality". Your city is extremely neat, and I can't wait to come back again some day with the family - during the summer, though. This cold is insane. I tried to wander the streets after dinner and didn't get very far before my limbs started falling off.

 

[Michael Reuben]

during the summer, though

You mean during one of our 90+ hot spells?
M.

 

[Ryan Wright]

90+? Sounds great. Typical summer weather in the desert I call home is over 100. 90 is tame.

 

[Michael Reuben]

I hate to invoke a cliche, but . . .

It's not the heat; it's the humidity. Seriously.

M.

 

[Ryan Wright]

Ah ha, so you get humid heat here? You've got me on that one: Our heat is very dry. So even on those freak days where it gets near 110 (doesn't happen often; doesn't even happen every year) it's still hot as hell, but tolerable.

The snow flurries that were falling a few minutes ago were cool. I wandered into Times Square with my videocamera and took some footage. Snow in the city... First time I've seen snow this year. Too bad it quit so soon.

 

[Michael Reuben]

You got the best form of snow for what you're doing: pretty but won't interfere with travel. It doesn't take many inches of snow to snarl up Manhattan big-time. A snow-covered cityscape is beautiful, and lots of fun for those of us who don't have to get somewhere, but hell for anyone trying to navigate on a schedule.

For your return trip, think spring or fall. The biggest risk you face is a rainy spell, but otherwise the odds are in your favor for temperatures that are perfect for just walking around.

M.

 

[Sam Posten]

INFIDEL! Did you not witness the glory that is VIRGILS!!!!!!



Sam

 

[matt bee]

Ryan,

I am from the area. Live in Kennewick, work in Richland. I've been dragged into the Grizzly Bar a few times. No desire to go back there, really. Then again, I'm content to stay at home with a couple beers and a good movie, so I'm not too concerned with the local nightlife.

 

[Ryan Wright]

INFIDEL! Did you not witness the glory that is VIRGILS!!!!!!

Would have liked to, but I was at the mercy of my companions. I actually didn't get to do a lot of what I wanted... didn't see the WTC site. Didn't see the Statue of Liberty. Didn't see the Empire State Building. Didn't even go to the top of the hotel to eat at the moving restaurant. :frowning: Next trip, though!
Matt: Cool! Never thought I'd run into a fellow Tri-Citian here. We're a little "out of the way" ... Re: couple beers and a good movie - I hear ya. Furthermore, my wife would object if I went out to pick up women (what else is there to do around here at night?!).

 

[Michael Reuben]

Didn't even go to the top of the hotel to eat at the moving restaurant.

Consider yourself lucky. That restaurant (known simply as "View") is exceptionally pricey, and the food is so poorly prepared that they should be ashamed to call themselves a New York restaurant. (I submitted my review to Zagat's; they told me they couldn't take it because it was too critical -- and I've stopped believing Zagat's ever since.)

The most one should do there is buy an overpriced drink at the bar and stay long enough for the restaurant to complete one full revolution.

M.