I loved the eight days I had in Manhattan during 2006, and I've been getting the urge to try my performance-hand there -- especially since several people I've worked with in the past have done so too. There's a good chance I'll be swinging there again by the end of the year and I'm ready for a new atmosphere (still love ya Knoxville!), so I want to look further into the possibility.
What are some good things to know/consider? I already accept that many dreams of performing are often crushed and Manhattan's supposed to be the "tourist-borough." This would also be the first move I'd make to somewhere out of state, so distances/moving/weather would be concerns. I've heard conflicting reports on money there; either it's a hard city to survive in or its difficulty is over-rated as long as you're willing to work. What else?
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its difficulty is definitely overrated. at the least, get a reliable person to live with as the worst case scenario. know that if you have a car right now, sell it. it's not a luxary over here, it's baggage.
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The future must protect the clone's past. "Maybe it's a tentacle, molesting the planet itself. - Aschen Brodel.
I remember loving never needing to drive and only needing a taxi to and from the airport. It'll suck when the weather's no good, but I like to think I can deal with that.
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I'm currently in my third year living in an efficiency, so that shouldn't be a big issue. Adding room-mates may be a bigger challenge to consider with the cramped space-issue though...at least I've done well with previous room-mates.
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hmm... know any other languages? it'll be easier to tell what parts will be good. if you're wanting to live in mid town rent can be a problem, but if you're going to places where rent isn't that big a deal and still in manhattan, you... probably should know spanish.
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The future must protect the clone's past. "Maybe it's a tentacle, molesting the planet itself. - Aschen Brodel.
Manhattan is a lot more expensive to live in than the outer boroughs. I also always found that except for bars, stuff to do/places to go in Manhattan close a lot earlier than you would expect, I guess because not as many people actually live there. If you do live in Manhattan you'll definitely need roommates and you won't have much space. One thing that I always hated about living in New York was that it took a long time to get anywhere. Except for very short distances you pretty much need to give yourself an hour minimum to get from one place to another.
I don't mean to sound too down on NYC. I love the city, it's the greatest in the world and it will always be my home, but it just speaking for myself I didn't like it anymore.
Despite my many classes of Spanish, I don't really know that language well. I use basic phrases pretty casually in conversation ("No me gusta," "Mas o menos," etc.) and have some Latin friends that would be more than glad to help prepare me for such a location...but yeah, not nearly enough right now. I understand it helps to live around the language you're learning, so that would be a nice thing for me to study AGAIN if I go into that area.
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...man, where you lived sucks. ....and not sure if you're serious at saying 'not many people live there' when talking about manhattan considering how dense it is. you're asking for something a third the size of brooklyn with some 3/4 of its population.
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The future must protect the clone's past. "Maybe it's a tentacle, molesting the planet itself. - Aschen Brodel.
Manhattan is a great place to visit, I went there all the time when i was living up by swifty.
That said I cant imagine living there unless you get like a great job. Everything is so damn expensive, even in the stuff off the beaten path. I mean if you're already living in like Jersey where the prices are that high but its not manhattan go for it but I wouldn't want to live there on the kind of income I have, and considering you live in an effiiciency you probably aren't much better off.
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I never noticed the earlier-closings, though that was likely because most of my nights there were spent in their bars! Still, that's good to know.
Is there anything that beats the subway-system for fast/cheap traveling (likely not, but worth asking)? I know it's got a lot of characters ranging from break-dancers to bootleggers to large masses of homeless people, so that won't be such a culture-shock again.
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nope, nothing tops the subway system. and i also can't really think of things closing 'too early' either. we've got a couple 24 hour stores (mainly pretty much every CVS or Wallgreens in Times Square), a couple supermarkets that close at 1 AM, and most of the rest is closed between 8 and 11, but that's more of a standard thing. dollar pizza places also might be 24h or just close at like 3 AM. honestly not sure because i've done the midnight trips occasionally for it and just about every one's been open that late. delis vary - some are done around 10 to 11, others are still open at like 2 AM.
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The future must protect the clone's past. "Maybe it's a tentacle, molesting the planet itself. - Aschen Brodel.
What people are saying about Manhattan and a car is true. In Manhattan anywhere you can get by car you can get to faster by train. Outside of Manhattan though cars are much more reliable. A hour and a half trip by mass transit can be cut down to half an hour easy if you're in Brooklyn or Queens for example.
Weather isn't terribly complicated. Dress light in the summer and wear thermal in the winter and a sweater anywhere in between. Only thing new you might learn about weather in NY is that snow sucks.
Honestly I think you should just live close but not quite in Manhattan like in Brooklyn or the Bronx if you're just starting out. Price difference is night and day but you might still need a roommate. You'll just have more space for. Then again I've always lived in Brooklyn (except for half a year) so I might be a bit biased.
I handle my money tightly more than it is a financially tough time, though both (plus location) play a part in the efficiency-decision. I also have inheritance and family that would be willing to help in times of emergency, though it'd be time to move out of NYC if I ever had to use either of those factors just to pay the bills. My hope's to find a day-job that will allow me to continue pursuing theatre at night...or a job with flexible hours, whichever.
I've been recommended Brooklyn. Any borough is fine for consideration as long as the odds of me being shanked are slim!
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You'll have a lot less space than in Tennessee. For the same actual quality of living, you can expect to pay far far more, and in many cases, it may not be possible at all (you simply can't get decent single family homes around NYC without a long long commute).
From cost of living calculators, Manhattan is about 25% more expensive than the other most expensive places to live in America (Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, etc.), though the outer boroughs aren't as bad.
so not the bronx. and nobody recommends staten island. ever.
finding jobs is a pain in the ass right now though, but not impossible. it's easier to find lower paying one sobviously, but bloomberg wants to make another hiring freeze in city government right now.
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The future must protect the clone's past. "Maybe it's a tentacle, molesting the planet itself. - Aschen Brodel.
Staten Island actually feels suburban/exurban. It's probably the closest place to NYC with that feel. But geographically it should be part of New Jersey, and it's not easy to get anywhere from there.
New York is a pretty nice town, if claustrophobic. I like big, noisy cities though. There's pretty much a place to eat any kind of food you're in the mood for, too.
I've never actually lived there, but I know the thing about not wanting to own a car is true.
-- [NO BARKLEY NO PEACE] Ace Detective in Sir Charles's Police http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkOj5DAJu2A
yeah, honestly we don't even consider staten island part of new york. >_>; i mean i guess they help the census numbers a bit. but newark helps more and we don't even get that place, despite jersey not counting it as jersey for anything except population.
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The future must protect the clone's past. "Maybe it's a tentacle, molesting the planet itself. - Aschen Brodel.
Good to know about the job-situation. I tried to see if my current day-job had any locations in NYC so I could just transfer, but the closest they have are Mahwah and Buffalo.
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Anyways, I'd say to really think about whether you want a super urban environment before moving to NYC. I hated it, and with NYC, there's much less escape from it than with other cities. The metropolitan area is so large that it's quite difficult to get outside of it if you need to escape. In other cities like Boston, Seattle, or LA, you can go from the city center to relatively thinly populated suburbs in literally 10 minutes on the highway. You cannot do that in New York. Especially if you don't have a car, and you probably won't want one since it'd be excess baggage.
Since the cost of living's been brought up, I also understand the work-wages are higher. Do they come close to evening themselves out to something more "standard?"
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New York is great. Terrifically expensive, even in the surrounding areas, but if you can find cheap housing it's very doable.
I lived on the UES for ~7 years while I was in grad school. My stipend was only $25K/year, but I had subsidized housing for ~$550 a month and pretty much was able to live OK without taking out any loans. Granted I didn't really make any big purchases and ate a lot of ramen, but I was still able to enjoy myself.
Good luck. It's an amazing city to live in. Still miss it. =)
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HaRRicH posted... Since the cost of living's been brought up, I also understand the work-wages are higher. Do they come close to evening themselves out to something more "standard?"
No.
NYC is the most expensive place in America to live, even relative to income.
There's no use sugar-coating it-- it's brutal here if you don't make a decent living.
-- SephirothG, channeling awesomeness from Mershiness. The Resurrection
I grew up in a small rural retirement-town and wasn't big on it (beautiful though, to be sure). Since high school, I've been in the most densely-populated area of Knoxville and enjoy it. That still doesn't compare since NYC's so much bigger and I'm still close to the more free environments (not to mention family and loved ones), but at least I've seen NYC and the prospect continues to excite me.
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you can probably get by on 35K if you don't mind things being tight and have some money saved up just in case. 40K is definitely doable, and anything higher allows much, much more freedom.
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The future must protect the clone's past. "Maybe it's a tentacle, molesting the planet itself. - Aschen Brodel.
Wanglicious posted... you can probably get by on 35K if you don't mind things being tight and have some money saved up just in case. 40K is definitely doable, and anything higher allows much, much more freedom.
I cant imagine making 35K and living in Manhattan. I don't see how that is feasible.
-- SephirothG, channeling awesomeness from Mershiness. The Resurrection
For city jobs and anything more then entry level, sure. At entry level unskilled labor you'll be getting between 8-10 dollars an hour in my experience. It's enough to comfortably live in a hole in the wall in some of the more "undesirable" neighborhoods but if you actually want to feel "safe" where you liver then you might be in trouble and could use a roommate.
Dristin posted... For city jobs and anything more then entry level, sure. At entry level unskilled labor you'll be getting between 8-10 dollars an hour in my experience. It's enough to comfortably live in a hole in the wall in some of the more "undesirable" neighborhoods but if you actually want to feel "safe" where you liver then you might be in trouble and could use a roommate.
there are no bad areas in manhattan anymore
-- SephirothG, channeling awesomeness from Mershiness. The Resurrection
also, try to do the math for places quickly if you can. varying on neighborhoods you can go, for a cheap place, at a range of roughly 800 to 1600 in manhattan.
meaning 9600 - 19200 a year. not including con ed, which you can assume ranges from 150 to 300 depending on your usage. so 1800 - 3600 on top of that.
that will be your basic living expense to just have a roof over your head. the range of 11400 to 22800.
personally i'd shoot for something in between on both figures as you can get to decent areas. food, i assume you're cooking and/or getting dollar pizza when you go out. depending on where you go and what you get - and DO explore because it is absolutely vital that you know where to go for cheap groceries - it's gonna set you back from around $150 to $500. keep in mind that low number is gonna involve a lot of eating of rice and pasta and very little meat.
however, the workaround to this is to buy in bulk from places that sell in that, such as BJ's. it helps a lot. you'll be able to pull off a $300 grocery list in one go that will last you a couple months if you ration it out well. except for the meat, that's pretty much Western Beef's turf.
the rest of your expenditures are your own at that point.
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The future must protect the clone's past. "Maybe it's a tentacle, molesting the planet itself. - Aschen Brodel.
it's feasible even living alone. it's just very, very tight and keeps you mindful of your budget. or you found a spot over in spanish harlem which'll help a lot if price is such a concern, but it's not nearly as fun up there as it is down here in midtown.
and keep in mind, other stuff that's important will be internet, which can be $30-50 a month for something good, and phone bill (or rather, cell phone bill) which will be another $30-$50 a month as well. 60-100. may not be including tax either depending on who you go and what you get. or $720 - 1200/year.
make the yearly calculations and make sure that you're in excess of it by at least 20% to be safer than not.
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The future must protect the clone's past. "Maybe it's a tentacle, molesting the planet itself. - Aschen Brodel.
oh yeah, before i forget, even though i say to make the yearly calculations to reach an understanding of what you're spending, do remember that the main issue will be monthly costs. so even though sure, you can have $10,000 more after it's all said and done, but that's a bit over $800/month extra. as in, if you wanted to buy something for $300, you would be out nearly half your monthly paycheck. as in, if you pick a month to spend groceries in bulk and make sure you've got steak in there, you will be out half your paycheck. if you can score $20K more then you should be able to make things work out without pinching too hard. so just think of it that way.
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The future must protect the clone's past. "Maybe it's a tentacle, molesting the planet itself. - Aschen Brodel.
if i can get there by car, i can get there by train. and likely spend less even on a monthly basis considering the price of gas, parking, and insurance alone. added bonus of no frontloaded cost of a vehicle and no worrying about it either.
hell, most places i can walk to.
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The future must protect the clone's past. "Maybe it's a tentacle, molesting the planet itself. - Aschen Brodel.
Well, I'm currently under the goal income for that right now (which is fine for my location, at least). Is there such a thing as a good "first opportunity"-job or anything like that for getting my foot into the city, or am I being too optimistic?
I'm definitely going to save everything being said here so I can discuss it with some fellow friends also considering the move. I may or may not try being roommates with them (they're engaged, I'm single...not a prime situation, best friends or not), but we should get something productive out of this. I really like the idea of Roosevelt Island from the link or two I've checked up on it. Money will continue to be a challenge, but it almost always will be if I go that way.
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35k should be enough to live in Manhattan assuming your not really pick about an apartment being great quality.. If your apartment was 1700 a month or so that would be 21,000 or so in rent a year, which leaves over 1,000 a month to spend on everything else, which should be more than enough
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From: Mershaaay | #041 If you live in Manhattan, no. It's pointless and annoying.
Oh I'd say it's a bit worse than that. Driving crosstown is a nightmare because of how slow it is, while driving uptown/downtown is even worse because of how wide those streets are and how difficult it can be to change lanes. And then once you GET there you have to worry about finding parking.
And if you LIVE in Manhattan god help you if you have a car and your building doesn't have a garage.
LOLContests posted... 35k should be enough to live in Manhattan assuming your not really pick about an apartment being great quality.. If your apartment was 1700 a month or so that would be 21,000 or so in rent a year, which leaves over 1,000 a month to spend on everything else, which should be more than enough
Not at all considering a good quarter of that 35K will go to taxes
That's another thing-- you live in the boroughs, you gotta pay an additional city income tax on top of state and federal =/
-- SephirothG, channeling awesomeness from Mershiness. The Resurrection
I lived in the Belmont section of the Bronx for 4 years. There are definitely parts of the Bronx to avoid, though Throggs Neck and Riverdale are pretty nice.
But yeah, Manhattan is nice, it's just pretty expensive. Roommates are definitely a necessity unless you're bringing in some good money. And cars are definitely a huge hassle. They're pretty useless for inter-NYC travel, but if you're going to be leaving the city a lot, you'll need one. And parking is so expensive.
I don't know much about the other boroughs, to be honest, though I know there are some nice sections of Brooklyn and Queens. Some parts of Queens are almost suburban in nature. I know they both have some pretty bad neighborhoods too, and I honestly can't give you to much advice on which neighborhoods are better. I know Williamsburg in Brooklyn is famous for its hipsters though. You can infer what you'd like about that though haha.
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