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Hi TLers,
This is (sort of) a follow-up to my previous entry. Long story short, what happened between then and now is this:
- I completed my internship from June to September
- This week I was informed by a recruiter of the company that I have received a full-time offer in New York City
A little bit about myself: I'm from the Northwest (WA) and I'm finishing up my last quarter in university. I plan to start my job next March. I have only been to NYC once before, when I was 7 in 1997.
I'm not really sure what to make of this. I'm pretty sure the lifestyle and the people and everything are so much different in the east coast that this move will take me a while to get used to. Not only that, I will be leaving my family and my friends, although I do know a couple of friends who currently live there (for university) or has lived there before (internship).
I would really appreciate it if New Yorkers in TL could tell me more about NY. I've done some research about it online but it's much better to listen to some first-hand experiences.
What are the tips you would give to someone who have just moved / is moving to NYC? What are some things that are fun to do in NYC? Which neighborhoods / areas should I avoid going to? Any other things I should look out for?
Another question is about housing. I will be looking for a 1 bedroom apartment (no studio). I've done some research (Even looked up some previous threads in TL about NY) about how you need to make at least 40x the monthly rent to rent the place. My budget is in the 1000-2000 range although I would prefer ~1800 at the most. It seems like this is close to impossible in the decent areas (Upper East/West side?) Manhattan, so what I have in mind currently is Queens. (duh) I just would like to hear some opinion from NYers about this: I'm currently considering 3 neighborhoods: Astoria, Long Island City, and Flushing. Seems like LIC is the most expensive and Flushing is least expensive and also has a large Asian population so I'll blend in;) What are the pros and cons of each area and which would you recommend? Would commuting by subway be a problem from any of those places? (30-45 min commute is okay with me)
And also I hear about the deal with no-fee. Are they necessarily better because you don't have the pay the broker fee? Obviously I'm trying to save money here especially during the beginning but if a non no-fee can get me a much better apartment for the same monthly rent that I would consider it too.
And lastly, although looking for food will not be a problem for me for the most part but I'd to know what are some of your favorite restaurants in NYC (whether in Manhattan or Queens)
Thank you so much!! I'd love to meet up with TLers once I move in next year 
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Commuting by subway from Astoria and Flushing should be pretty easy, Astoria has a bunch of lines running through it and the 7 train takes you from Flushing to Times Square and also has a lot of convenient transfers and stops along the way in Queens.
Joe's Shanghai restaurant in Flushing is pretty good, try the soup dumplings.
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Come to the awesome TL meetups! By the time you get here we'll be having EVEN MORE epic tournaments.
Flushing's also a good idea if you're asian / like gaming / want to come to flushing lans ezpz.
I'll make a longer post later; I've lived in Manhattan / Times Square area my whole life, so I should have something to say. Gotta go play a tournament match now though :D
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Been here since birth but Im only a student... so I dont really have much knowledge about real estate. You probably have a decent idea of NYC, the stereotypes and rush hour travel.
Dont bother driving if you're gonna work in the city or have fun looking for a parking spot. I am not familiar with Astoria or LIC but Flushing is great, it has its own Chinatown with a miniature Korean place.
Both Astoria and Flushing has direct access to the subway. The N/Q at Astoria and 7 train at Flushing. I assume you will commute to work everyday, your best bet is to get an unlimited 30-day Metrocard ... will cost you $89 but after Dec 30. its gonna be $104.
Oh and I reside in Brooklyn and commute to Manhattan everyday for class.
edit: Whoops, my textbook was on the space bar. :/
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It gets pretty pricey to live in Manhatten. I'm not sure how much you make but living in Queens or Brooklyn will definitely be cheaper... It'll also depend on where you will work. You should try punching your work address and your potential apartment address into google map and then choose direction by public transportation/subway to see how long it'll get to work. Sometimes the subway paths can get really screwy. IE if you live in Flushing and you have to get to Brooklyn for work, it can take up really long time via train because almost all trains have to cross into Manhatten. I live in Bensonhaurst Brooklyn (pretty much the southern tip of brooklyn) and it takes me a hour and a half to get to Flushing or some areas in Queens. 3 hour commutes every day are absolute killers (I did it for a month or two while working 10-11 hours a day... it was like hell because traveling takes so much time... 10 hour work days + 3 hour commutes + 8 hour sleep = 3 hour left of free time). Oh and check how many trains you have to transfer. it gets annoying when you have to transfer too much (one delayed train will fuck you over).
If you're looking to live near an asian population, 8th avenue is like the chinatown for brooklyn but I can't say I like the area too much. I'm not trying to be racist or anything (I'm Chinese myself) but i generally hate heavily asian populated area because the street/area tend to get dirty as fuck (IE Chinatown). I guess its convenient to buy things or whatever but the street sometimes smells like complete shit because the fish markets/restaurant don't clean up well after themselves.
Another area with a decent asian population is where I live, Bensonhaurst Brooklyn. The asian population has really skyrocketed over the years and it hasn't gotten to the point where the streets smell like dead fish all the time (although it's getting there) and its still pretty convenient to get asian goods. I'm not sure how much rent is as currently in my neighborhood I'm living with my parents but they recently rented out the first floor (2 bedrooms) to a family and they charge them roughly 1200 or 1300. It's about 45 minutes from manhatten which makes it a bit inconvenient if you go to the Manhatten a lot. I don't think its that bad for work, but if you go to bars/eat/hangout a lot with friends, it can be an annoyance. (It doesn't bother me but sibling complains about about how she wish we live closer to the city).
Best of luck in your search!
My hangout place of choice is probably the East Village. It's a favorite spot to hang out for college students (it's close to NYU) and there's a lot of restaurants out there with a lot of [authentic?] Japanese food places (Ramen, Sushi, Japanese convenient stores). There isn't a specific one that I recommend.
If you're into korean food, you probably want to check out korea-town near 34th street. There's a pretty neat place in Queens where they have All-you-can-eat korean BBQ. The quality of the BBQ wasn't the greatest but its still very good (I've only had korean bbq once before though) for a very reasonable price ($25-35ish). Oh wear "shitty" clothes when you go there. The place isn't very well ventilated and your hair/body/clothes WILL smell like korean BBQ when you get out of there. http://www.yelp.com/biz/picnic-garden-flushing
My favorite place is probably Pommes Frites (also in east village, great for desert), which is this little Belgium fries shop which is amazing. It's a little pricey for fries but they make it right when you order and they have something like 20-30 type of sauces you can choose from and you can go in and ask for samples to try the sauces before picking (you can sample a bunch but i always feel bad after a couple  ). Definitely try the sweet mango chutney its my absolutely favorite. http://www.yelp.com/biz/pommes-frites-new-york#query:belgium fries
Karoke in 8th ave (and probably flushing... but i never go there) is pretty sweet and cheap. You rent a room for X amount of hour for like $50 an hour (I don't know the exact price, most likely cheaper). you can bring a bunch of friends to offset the cost, and plus when you order food and drinks, you can order up to the cost you paid for the room for free. IE if you stayed there for 3 hours, you can order up to $150 worth of food and drinks, which is a pretty good deal even though they jack up the price of the drinks and food. I'm asian so liking karoke is in my blood... but a lot of asians like to hang out there. I'd imagine they probably have similar places with similar prices/policies in Flushing. http://www.yelp.com/biz/100-fun-brooklyn#query:100 fun
I'm not sure if you ever tried Halal food but its the absolutely best fucking food in the world. Get a mix of chicken and lamb over yellow rice with lots of white sauce and its heaven in a box. I can eat that stuff all day (*drool*) and best of all its typically only $5-7 or so. You'll see a lot of Halal food carts scattered across the city but some of them are complete crap. The best one out there is probably this one and they only open from 7pm to like 4am (they cater to the people who goes to bars). Really good, I have friends who drive out from westchester in the middle of the night in order to get Halal food from this cart and there's usually a pretty big line at all hours. http://www.yelp.com/biz/53rd-and-6th-halal-cart-new-york
/edit added eateries even though I don't go out much
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Go to John's Pizzeria on Bleecker street the day you get there.
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United States4126 Posts
I can tell you just about as much as Disregard since I'm another student from Brooklyn Like everyone else has said, Flushing is known for its asian population and is one of the most busiest asian neighborhoods along with Chinatown.
Also, I had a friend who found a good deal for an apartment west village for $900 a month from craigslist so I wouldn't say Manhattan is completely out of your budget, I guess you have to be lucky with finding the right deals.
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I live in a 2 bedroom a few blocks from times square for like 2K. theater/arts housing deals ftw.
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NYC is the shit man although i can't give you any advice on moving since i've lived here my whole life. Don't avoid places (unless its a dark scary night) go everywhere. explore! i haven't been everywhere in nyc by a long shot but its always interesting when you go to a new neighborhood or area.
What else.. oh yeah actually do avoid time square it isn't interesting at all beyond going once in a while. As far as where to live it really depends on where you work.. flushing is cool i guess if you're like legit from asia asian (like speaking reading signs etc in chinese or korean or whatever all the time) but its really far from manhattan. But if you work in queens this is not a problem and if you work right around the 42nd street area i guess the subway commute isn't soo bad. idk.
Also nyc has best food in the world  Go to Shake Shack (very local chain) there's like 5 of them in new york and they have amazing burgers that are really good quality, well sourced meat all that good stuff. Chipotle is awesome, same deal as shake shack, good quality but its mexican food instead. Great pizza too, Lombardies in soho, Johns Pizza in the west village, Motorino in the east village, Lucali in carroll gardens brooklyn, and pretty much any slice place on any corner is better than 99% of pizza in America. Ippudo in the west villiage has fucking awesome ramen, Momofoku in the lower east side has excellent asian food. Both are kinda famous and hard to get in to but unlike a lot of places in nyc that have those qualities they aren't so crazy expensive. Zabars on the upper west side (81st and broadway) for bread lox cheese cured meats and other stuff like that. plus they have a cafe which is awesome. Hale and Hearty soup is good idk if they have those in the rest of the country or what though. H&H bagels (there's a couple) and Absolute Bagel on 107th and broadway for bagels. Chelsea market on 14th and 9th ave has a lot of great places inside it. Kosar's bialys on the lower east side for bialys (a jewish thing similar to a bagel but a little smaller, great when used in the same ways bagels are). The donut plant on the lower east side for donuts. Think Coffee on the lower east side and the Mud Truck in astor place (they have a store in the east village too) for top notch coffee. Jimmy's no. 43 in the east village is a great barish kinda place but the owner is really in to good food and makes great dishes. I can only assume their beer is just as good.
I don't really know what you like so i tried to cover everything great that isn't a really fancy/expensive restaurant lol. I'm know i'll think of more.
i can't remember the name of a good sushi place and a korean place right now but ill edit them in when i remember.
yeah i can talk about food all day because it all sounds so delicious right now >:O
gl hf :D
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United States24493 Posts
I think the culture shock is something you will probably get over very quickly. Give it a few weeks tops imo.
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Finding a place to live in NY is really luck of the draw. I recommend hiring someone to find something in your price range/ commute threshold. I've lived in Queens for a good chunk of my life, but I was working 60+ hrs a week at one point and would've gladly bled for a shorter commute. If you're really into ethnic food Queens is the place to be; every other aspect is pretty lackluster. Don't worry about blending in, there are plenty of Asians everywhere (I'm one of them). It's hard to give good advice on such a broad topic without knowing what kind of social life you like to lead, where you work, etc. Again, I think it's in your best interest to have someone do a good search for you, but that's just my take.
Frying Pan (bar, lower west), Pommes Frites (fries, lower east), Beer Garden (bar, Astoria).
@funnybananaman, you named a bunch of things that are all over the country...
Edit: wow someone already mentioned pommes frites, awesome
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Is there any reason you do not want a studio? You can definitely find a studio in a good location that is well within your budget in manhattan. If you find a roommate, you can easily find a 2br that is under 2500/month. Also, a broker is sometimes required for good apts... the studio i am in now basically required a broker to get. it sucks to pay the 15% fee, but it was worth it for me.
Is there a reason you want to live near an asian community? asians "blend in" pretty well throughout the city, and good asian food is very accessible in manh (k-town and chinatown are pretty legit). Queens sounds close, but if you are working in Manhattan, public transportation can be a huge pain late at night and on weekends. Plus, if you don't bring a car, getting around Queens can be a pain as well.
my best advice would be to visit new york for a few days and check out the neighborhoods you are considering, and see how long it would take you to commute. everyone has a different set of requirements
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United States24493 Posts
On October 16 2010 13:51 Michaelj wrote:
Is there any reason you do not want a studio? You can definitely find a studio in a good location that is well within your budget in manhattan. If you find a roommate, you can easily find a 2br that is under 2500/month. Also, a broker is sometimes required for good apts... the studio i am in now basically required a broker to get. it sucks to pay the 15% fee, but it was worth it for me.
What was your 15% fee? My broker took exactly 1 months' rent...
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Thanks for the replies!! I will copy down the names of the food places and be sure to visit them when I get there, and thanks for the information on NYC also And great to know that I will get used to the culture quickly!!
Okay... maybe I do not require a one bedroom apartment necessarily. It's just that the studios in Manhattan I've seen are so small... not sure if I can get used to it. On the other hand, 1 bedroom in Manhattan in a decent neighborhood (see below) will not likely fit in my budget.
More information about my expectation for housing:
- I will be working in the Chelsea district in Manhattan, and I will definitely commute by subway (or any other means that I have not realized yet but I'm definitely NOT driving, it seems crazy on the road)
- I definitely want to live in decent neighborhood (i.e. where I won't get robbed or has gangsters around, etc.) not like Greenwich Village but definitely not Harlem, Bronx, etc., so low crime rate is important. It is also one of the reasons why I lean towards Queens for apartments; it seems like Manhattan is such a complicated place but if there are places that are pretty decent I'd love to know about them.
- I will not share a place with somebody else. I will be living by myself.
So basically, I want to know if there is any apartments in Manhattan that is: in a safe/decent neighborhood, fit within 2000/month, and won't need to share with someone else.
Advices would be much appreciated. Thanks!!
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On October 16 2010 10:17 Rotodyne wrote:
Go to John's Pizzeria on Bleecker street the day you get there.
Best advice yet. If there's one way to start off your new life right, it's that.
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On October 16 2010 13:55 micronesia wrote:
What was your 15% fee? My broker took exactly 1 months' rent...
yeah, 15% of a year, so 2 month's rent basically =\. I was in a rush so I felt I didn't really have room to negotiate,
Anyway, for 2k you can easily find huge studios in manhattan in decent neighborhoods. Even 1 brs are possible. If you are in Chelsea, there are a bunch of nice, affordable neighborhoods nearby.
You can look in hells kitchen/midtown west (40s/50s from 8th ave to 10th ave... further east the better). There are a lot of walkups around here that are affordable, and there are a TON of restaurant options nearby.
You can also look at Murray Hill (30s around Lexington/Madison ave), it's pretty quiet, clean, and affordable.
I would probably avoid the Upper east side since your commute would kind of suck, and the UWS isn't the most fun or closest place.
But seriously, at 2k you can find a ton of places, and although apts look small when they are empty, a few pieces of furniture can actually make the places look huge. The places i listed above are probably the best "value" neighborhoods that are close-ish to chelsea. You can find bargain apts downtown, but they are likely to be small (and you sound like you want a bigger apt)
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you can afford rent at 40x what you take home. Aka if you're salary is 40k after taxes its 30k and you can't live comfortably with rent higher than say about 800. Then again its NYC so i don't know if you're going to have a car or not and what your other expenses are going to be.
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despite its stereotypes harlem is really not bad at all anymore, and so are some places in the bronx. New york overall has a fairly low crime rate compared to other cities. if you're working in chelsea commuting from flushing is going to take a long ass time but astoria or long island city wouldn't be too bad. Brooklyn is also an option but id suggest just taking a good look at the subway map. New york is an expensive place unfortunately though so in good neighborhoods can be hard to find a decent apartment that isn't crazy expensive but if you're by yourself i guess it doesn't have to be very big.
@inside the box
Which ones are all over the country? there's one other shake shack in the rest of the usa and its in miami, chipotle is really mostly north east and also colorado cuz thats where it was invented (pretty sure not in washington where he's from). All the pizza places are definitely new york only and so are ippudo and momofoku. H&H, zabars, kosars, chelsea market, donut plant, jimmy's no. 43 and the 2 coffee places are definitely nyc only. And i admitted idk where else they have hale and hearty i've never seen one outside of nyc.
edit- just looked it up hale and hearty is also only in nyc.
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On October 17 2010 01:26 THE_DOMINATOR wrote:
you can afford rent at 40x what you take home. Aka if you're salary is 40k after taxes its 30k and you can't live comfortably with rent higher than say about 800. Then again its NYC so i don't know if you're going to have a car or not and what your other expenses are going to be.
Really? If that is the case, then it sounds really brutal to get an apartment anywhere in NYC. I thought it was based on your gross annual income (i.e. before taxes) in which case I can afford up to 2100/month without guarantor / co-signing.
Can anyone confirm this?
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EPT
