New York, New York: Great shops, lousy TV
By Ian Skellern, published on 5 November 2010
As avid, nay, voracious readers of everything published on the infallible and indefatigable Prodigal Guide, you will no doubt be aware that I recently travelled to New York for the first time in otherwise fairly well-travelled life; aware because you will have naturally read, nay devoured, my last missive, I’m in a New York state of conscious being. And I’ve also no doubt that the parlours and streets will soon be filled with the joyous sounds of champagne corks popping in celebration of my safe (if not triumphant) return to Europe.
My flight from Geneva left 10 minutes late, which meant 30 minutes circling Heathrow waiting for another landing slot, which meant missing my connection, which meant arriving early evening in Newark rather than mid-afternoon in JFK. But the reward for a day of aviation screw-ups was driving towards Manhattan on one of the clearest evenings of the year. Gazing star-struck out of the car at the lights and skyscrapers was like watching the scene unfold on BluRay with a 13 mile wide TV screen. Now that’s resolution!
With all of my previous knowledge of New York gleaned from films and TV series, it was a shock to see people walking at night – some of them ALONE! Were they crazy? Didn’t they know that there were muggers on every corner and down every side street? Apparently not because at 8pm on a Tuesday night, the sidewalks footpaths of Soho and Greenwich Village were overflowing with people eating, drinking and generally enjoying life. Perhaps I wouldn’t need all of the weapons after all (but better safe than sorry).
Impressions:
Clean: Very little graffiti and litter. New York shames London in this respect;
Food/restaurants: Generally very good to excellent and, thanks to a favourable exchange rate, reasonably priced
Transport: Very easy to walk around; lots of road works (though rarely blocking traffic); the subway was simple, cheap, clean, but badly showing its age -exits and entrances look to be dimensioned for a fraction of the present population; yellow taxis everywhere, it looked like every second car was a taxi (though still often hard to find a free one). But what I really loved was the street naming system as it made it so easy to find your way around. Which also begs the question, “How do the polyglot – any language bar English-taxi drivers manage to get lost so often?”
But how on earth did Manhattan’s generally numbered streets (running across the island) and occasionally numbered avenues (running lengthwise) come to be named as they are? Downtown in the area around Chinatown and the Financial District, where it appears development first began, the streets are named without rhyme or reason as in any European city, but then all of a sudden – north of Houston Street – names are forsaken for numbers. Why? Was it the brainchild of an enlightened town planner thinking that this would make navigation simpler, or did somebody just think, “Stuff it!” because they found it too hard to keep coming up with new names?
And what is it with the avenues? At least with the streets once the decision was made to go numeric there was no going back, but the avenues appear to be named at random: Ist, 2nd, 3rd, 4th (?), Lexington, Park, Madison, 5th, 6th etc. How did Lexington Avenue and Park Avenue get in there and why didn’t they replace 5th and 6th rather than supplement them? Did Park replace 4th? I’m sure that the answer is on Wikipedia but as curious as I am, I can’t be stuffed to look it up (OK, OK – here it is).
Shopping: Oh how cheap it was with a low dollar and how my credit card squealed like a pot-bellied pig at a Texan barbecue with all of the “savings”. Brook Brothers had great discounts and Abercrombie & Fitch was the best night club I’ve even been in with queues to get in snaking around the block . . . and it was just a bloody clothes shop!
Religion: I don’t know if Steve Jobs is Catholic, Animist or Druid, but over a long weekend the Apple Store was open 24 hours a day. On the other hand, while I can forgive killing Jesus, finding the photographic world’s Mecca, aka B&H, closed for three days for some Jewish holiday was beyond the pale. Religion has a lot to answer for, especially as I thought that the separation of religion and commerce was enshrined in the US constitution.
Coffee: Or should I say, Starbucks? I don’t know how often I’ve heard it said that in New York there’s a Starbucks on every corner and I’ve always taken that to mean that there are a lot of Starbucks in New York. But it doesn’t mean that at all, there is literally a Starbucks on virtually every corner. The Waldorf Astoria has a Starbucks inside the entrance for God’s sake – I wouldn’t have been less surprised to see a McDonalds on each floor. And before 10 am everybody, and by that I mean everyone except the tourists, is walking quickly and purposefully carrying their milkshake-size paper cup of unbelievably scalding hot coffee like the life-or-death ritual it was. The coffee comes so bloody hot I think that they must buy it in the morning to drink after lunch.
Shoe shine: Why didn’t anybody tell me that getting your shoes shined in New York is probably one of the best value-for-money experiences in the world. My shoes have never had so much tender loving care and attention in their whole life and have never looked in such better condition. Its worth buying a good pair of leather shoes just to have them shined. And you can read the newspaper at the same time! What else can you get for 5 bucks that even comes close (and don’t say, “Starbucks”)
Broadcast TV: Unwatchable. Completely and utterly unwatchable. In recent years America has produced some – perhaps most- of the best TV series in the world, but that’s all on cable. The quality of everything on broadcast TV, including the news, is absolutely appalling and it’s difficult to decide if having five minutes adverts every 15 seconds was a blessing or a curse.
Homeland Security: I used/transited four US airports in my two week trip and all went smoothly with friendly – well apparently friendly anyway – professional staff. And I had the same on a trip to the USA last year.
I even managed to leave New York despite the best attempts of a taxi driver too busy studying his Tom Tom to look at the unmistakable traffic signs and not being able to find the airport departures terminal. New York, I’ll be back!
Postscript. A friend recently reminded me that New York used to be called “New Amsterdam”. Add that to the fact that Australia was once called “New Holland” by the globetrotting clog-hoppers and my visit to New York was – in a surreal kind of way for a misplaced/displaced Aussie – a Dutchman returning home. Hold that thought.
New York, New York: Great shops, lousy TV
As avid, nay, voracious readers of everything published on the infallible and indefatigable Prodigal Guide, you will no doubt be aware that I recently travelled to New York for the first time in otherwise fairly well-travelled life; aware because you will have naturally read, nay devoured, my last missive, I’m in a New York state [...]
This section is supported by the patronage of:
5 Responses to “New York, New York: Great shops, lousy TV”
-
-
Thanks for the excellent write-up! It’s been many years since I’ve visited, but New York deserves its reputation as a world-class city.
By the way, here is a handy link for finding snob-grade coffee in just about every North American city. Starbucks doesn’t count as coffee to me.
-
-
underthedial
5 November 2010
Thanks for all of that Dublo, especially the advice on tipping.
-
My pleasure!
It sounds to me as though, despite the various holiday closures and airport fiascos, you had a wonderful time.
New York almost never tarnishes, or at least to me it hasn’t. I still get that thrill when the skyline hoves into view. I still can’t stop from craning my neck up to stare, slack-jawed, at the incredible feats of engineering and architecture that are the city’s sky-scrapers.
Paris might have the style, the beauty, the serenity, the history and the culture, but New York is its distressed, uber-cool, rocknroller cousin.
Of all the cities, Paris, New York, London, Rome and Sydney, it is New York that has the vibrancy, the beating heart. I live in London, but a part of me will always be in New York.
-
-
Ivan Y
8 November 2010
It’s pretty funny reading the post as some of those things apply to the US in general.
You might’ve went a little overboard on TV. Not only because there are a lot better things to do when traveling but generally most hotels have some cable channels or video on demand. The best (and only way for me) to consume TV is using a DVR (e.g. TiVo). Just record stuff you want and watch it later. It’s kind of hard otherwise, because in America shows air in primetime and without repeats (unless it’s a cable show), so you’ll often end up with multiple shows you want to watch at the same time.
Amount of ads generally depends on programming, but an hour-long primetime network show is 40-45 minutes long without ads and thirty-minute show is 21-24 minutes long. Ads air in blocks of 3 or so minutes at a time. They are probably the most atrocious on 24-hour news channels (which aren’t really a news source so much as info-tainment) where you have equal parts news and ads.
Like Dublo mentioned, NYC apartments are notoriously small (at least, relative to huge living spaces elsewhere in the US). But even in other cities in the US, people eat out at a very high rate. I reside in Houston currently and, I believe, we have a record for most times people eat out (or something similar). But, definitely, NYC has some of the best food places (along with San Francisco, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles).
Regarding tipping, I want to reiterate that it’s pretty much required in any restaurant. You don’t leave a tip only if service has been terrible, not based on food. Despite having federal- and state-mandated minimum hourly wage in the US, waiters can get paid below minimum wage (at least, at casual dining – i.e. not very expensive – places) and have to make money on tips (like pizza/food delivery people). Rule-of-thumb tip is 15% at restaurants, 18% would be very good, anything more – great.
Insofar as shopping is concerned — enjoy better exchange rates
I don’t know if they tell this to tourists, but there are so-called “outlet stores or even “outlet malls” (bunch of outlet stores) where you can usually pick up merchandise that’s discounted beyond usual prices.Finally, if you are on shopping trip, investigate whether it’s possible to avoid/get refund on sales taxes which could be very high (8.25% in Houston, 9-something in NYC, I think). It used to be, at least, in Houston, that you could avoid the tax by showing a foreign passport, but now it’s a more convoluted process. This may not be offered in all the cities though, but worth investigating.
Speaking of taxes, travelers to the US need to remember that sticker price is before tax (99% of the time). Sales tax is a combination of state + local taxes (e.g. 8.25% in Houston = 6.25% Texas state tax + 2% City of Houston tax). There are only a few states without a sales tax (just Google it). It’s charged on most things (list may depend on state/city), so be prepared. Of course, most outrageous taxes are charged to visitors (hotel taxes are 15-20% depending on the city), so keep that in mind too.
P.S. Coffee snobs don’t like Starbucks anymore. Places like NYC or San Francisco have plenty of other places to get coffee which are more well-liked. Surprisingly, McDonald’s serves pretty good coffee these days.
P.P.S. With Google/Bing/Yahoo Maps, it’s almost impossible to get lost anymore. If you don’t get a data plan on your phone while over here, if you have a dedicated GPS unit, load US maps and you should be good to go (of course, GPS isn’t nearly as infallible as The Prodigal Guide!).
dublo
5 November 2010
Ah, this so reminds me of my first trip to Manhattan! You’ve captured distinctly what it is like to be an Englishman (or at least a European) in New York.
New York is certainly very clean, or at least most of Manhattan is. Go further out into the boroughs then it does deteriorate somewhat. There is, of course, graffiti on the island, but somehow it just adds to the ambiance.
Eating and drinking in New York and particularly downtown Manhattan is a delight, as you say. There are so many great bars and restaurants to choose from that you could feasibly eat out every night of the year at a different place and not be disappointed. In fact, this is what many New Yorkers seem to do. Whilst hotels obviously don’t have kitchens in their rooms, most Manhattan apartments don’t seem to either. I have stayed in three so far and the kitchens are almost non existent (one having a microwave, a single hotplate and a sink the size more suited to an airplane washroom.) This really means that many New Yorkers simply don’t cook, and why should they with such wonderful restaurants and bars to choose from?
Transport is basically good, I’d agree. The subway is certainly antiquated but seems to work well. Make sure you have alternate routes because they were doing work on my chosen track when I was traveling to Brooklyn and I got into a bit of a pickle. I would mention two things: One, if you have purchased a weekly metrocard, you better make sure you don’t need to come back out the same turnstile again. Once through, you need to make a journey. I mention this because it ties in with my second point, which is: Two, be very aware of your direction of travel. Get on the wrong platform as I did in Brooklyn and you could find yourself in trouble, or at least having to go an extra stop before turning around again. If it’s the last train though, you’re going to find yourself stuck somewhere you might not want to be.
Just a quick word on the Streets/Avenues. This system, as your article points out is possibly the best navigational tool of any city I have ever visited. It is possible to be a naive tourist without ever pulling out a map. The Aves do change quite a bit though. Some being called different things (6th Ave is Avenue of the Americas) and some changing names entirely as they go on (Lenox Ave turns into Malcom X Boulevard in Harlem.)
Shopping is, as you rightly say, incredible in this city. The department stores you mention are great, but boutique shopping downtown in Greenwich and the East Village is just as much fun. One thing the Americans understand is good customer service (something criminally lacking in most London stores.) Expect to be treated well and without too much “push”.
One of the things I dislike about Manhattan has to be the coffee. The endless refills of tepid, over brewed coffee are a diuretic and you will end up spending far too much time staring at a urinal wall. The Starbucks is ubiquitous, but of a good standard. Remember, you don’t have to buy a paper cup the size of a popcorn bucket. I go for something shorter and more concentrated. Good shopping and walking fuel. “Proper” coffee is to be had at some establishments, but expect to pay a little more.
TV is utterly atrocious. Do not even bother. It will make your head spin. They can drag a 30min episode out over two hours with ads between the credits. Ads last as long as it takes for a human being to be turned into a frustrated ball of anguish and near violence. The only respite from this is the fact that nearly all the ads are for drugs of one form or another. These provide light comic relief in the form of a dialectic between the calm, soothing voice of the average American Joe telling you how their lives have been improved by such a wonder medicine, and the super-speed, law-required voice of a man explaining the side effects that will probably ruin that new-found serene existence.
Is race an issue in such a melting pot of cultures and peoples? I didn’t get that impression. I went to a few comedy clubs where I was pretty much the only white face where the race humour was certainly prevalent. I was singled out, however, there seemed to be no malicious intent. There is still a socio-economic divide in Manhattan and this can’t be over-looked. On such a small island you have the obscenely wealthy and the utterly destitute all within a few miles of each other. This shouldn’t stop you from enjoying your trip, however. There will be ample opportunity to admire the homes of the super-rich as well as giving money to the homeless.
I should just mention – it seems so obvious – but, go to Central Park. It’s just delightful.
My last point will be on a subject not covered in the article above, but absolutely indispensable to a foreign visiter to Manhattan. Tipping. We all know you have to tip, but you might not know by how much or when. Tipping is not optional, it is a vital part of a transaction. If you don’t tip, you might as well have spat in your server’s face. So, you tip in cafes and restaurants and, if they’ve been average, tip 12%, or there abouts. 15 to 20% is for good service. I’ll leave that up to you to decide what constitutes good. As I’ve said, most of the time the service is excellent. You also tip in bars. So, here’s something good to know: If you order at the bar, you pay the bartender. The tip rule here is a dollar a drink. Order a round for you and your five friends, put $6 in the jar, or in their hands. You don’t need to tip in most retail environments, much as it is in Europe, unless they’ve gone beyond the call of duty. Cab drivers you tip. They can be great or lousy, so I will leave that up to your discretion. If you get a town car (a pre booked car), there is no need to tip. I always separate out my tip money. Have a good roll of ones and fives in one pocket. (If you do get mugged, this is what you can give them.)
I have to say that I loved this article, and I urge any readers to get themselves over to New York. It is simply one of the world’s greatest cities. If you’ve never been, it is a love affair waiting to happen. A lover you have to share with millions of others, but one that you will allow a multitude of sins, for she is “the one” you know you’ve always wanted.
Dublo.