Explain why a mid-20s guy would prefer NYC over smaller cities (Pitt, Philly, Portland, cinci, etc)

You and teenager have never lived in NY

If you grew up in or near New York it's hard to consider most other cities actual cities. I'm from the New York burbs and have lived in a city with a population a little over a half million for the past five years and I hate it. You get all of the inconveniences of living in a city without any of the good things. I could handle everything about New York that people bitch about for the fact that I wouldn't have to drive in rush hour traffic anymore alone. And that the food is good and things stay open past 10 and New York City just has this energy that the city I currently live in does not. I can't wait to leave.

bro science wrote:

And what does any of this do for you specifically? Or do you just like paying a 200% premium on apartment space so you can name drop them and be forever poor?

well it went something like this-

I met the new gal in 5G & showed her how to use the extractor. While our laundry was in the dryer we went to the ice cream shop around the corner for buy-one get one cones. First time a SI cover gal bought me a cone.

She's a SI Cover gal?

yeah three years ago

next day I look at the list on the fridge-

Things The King does and Things The Queen does around the house-

"does laundry" is now on her list not mine.

No these are not benefits per se but an idea that NYC is indeed a melting pot was the point.

There is something a bit on the NYC is cool side when you think some letsrun basement dweller is pining away over a picture of a woman you folded sheets with in the basement.

NYers learn quickly that celebrity does not always absolve you from clogged toilets and hot laundry rooms in July.

I grew up on the Upper East Side of Manhattan of working class parents but having friends who's family owned a seat on The Exchange and others who's families worked in the corner drycleaners or the men's clothing store. I delivered groceries to well to do folks on Park Ave and old ladies on the top floor of 5 story tenements who were still working at 75 plus because they could not afford to stop working- The cool lemonade they offered me tasted exactly the same. NYers understand quickly that we live in little villages strung very very close together not some big mysterious place full of special people, special things and the special handshakes are born of the village not the megalopolis.

My little village has the Museum of Natural History and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. People come here from places like Stratford Connecticut that have The Garbage Museum with it's one ton Trash-o-saurus or from as far away as India where they have the Sulabh International Museum of Toilets. BTW if either of those museums were here in my town they would be a hell of a lot busier, much more well known and you'd need to know the special handshake to get in on the busy days.

Not sure where the animosity is coming from but OK. Was in a southern fraternity and dated girls native to the south and always felt accepted...

To other posters you can find relatively affordable housing (less than $2K a month) which most people can afford. You usually have to make some concessions (most likely a roommate). You can live here and save it is just most people here aren't so level headed and need the $3,500 place to impress girls and waste tons of money at clubs or the hamptons.

new york is a fantastic place that you will be very happy to have lived in, though unless you are extremely successful, you most likely will not have the patience for it when you're 40. i lived in the city in my 20s and loved it. now in my late 30s i would love to be in a smaller city. but i have kids. if you're single, make it work for a few years.

OP, you're right that Philly is smaller than NYC, but it's still the 5th largest city in America by population.

Ricky Smart wrote:

OP, you're right that Philly is smaller than NYC, but it's still the 5th largest city in America by population.

Yes, we know. What was your point though?

Baku bunm wrote:

Ricky Smart wrote:

OP, you're right that Philly is smaller than NYC, but it's still the 5th largest city in America by population.

Yes, we know. What was your point though?

I guess just that there's a huge difference between Philly and the other cities he mentioned. Portland, Pittsburgh, and Cincinnati are the 29th, 62nd, and 65th largest cities in the nation, respectively. I don't know if in his original post the OP meant that Philly is a "smaller city" in general or if he just listed it as a city that happens to be smaller than NYC (along with every other city in the nation). I don't think Philly gives off a small city feel.

I think the OP was just going for slight variety in the 'smaller cities' category. Pitt and Philly feel similar to me. Yes I know that on paper the #s show philly is MUCH larger. I get that. But both are tiny compared to NYC, also.

Ricky Smart wrote:

Baku bunm wrote:

Yes, we know. What was your point though?

I guess just that there's a huge difference between Philly and the other cities he mentioned. Portland, Pittsburgh, and Cincinnati are the 29th, 62nd, and 65th largest cities in the nation, respectively. I don't know if in his original post the OP meant that Philly is a "smaller city" in general or if he just listed it as a city that happens to be smaller than NYC (along with every other city in the nation). I don't think Philly gives off a small city feel.

It is a pretty big city, lots to do. An issue is cost of living there.