New to New York

You just moved to New York. You’re likely still adapting to your small apartment, the incessant noise, and the trash bags on the streets. Oh, and in case it wasn’t clear, you’re absolutely loving it.

That was me in November 2018, eager to be a New Yorker. The good news is, as Tom Wolfe put it, “one belongs to New York instantly, one belongs as much in five minutes as in five years.” In my experience, that felt absolutely true.

In this post, I’ve outlined a few actions I took that positively shaped my experience. I share them in hopes that they might be useful for others starting their journey in — as the Schuyler Sisters put it — the greatest city in the world.

View from the Brooklyn Heights Promenade overlooking Brooklyn Bridge Park. NYC Parks Department is a force in the city overseeing gems like Brooklyn Bridge Park. If interested in some of the history behind this legendary agency, check out Robert Caro’s Pulitzer Prize winning bio of Robert Moses.

Get your NYPL library card and start enjoying the top museums and performing arts venues — for free!

New York’s public library system is not just impressive for its vast collection (as the second largest public library system [1]), striking buildings (there’s something special about reading in the Rose Reading Room after a stroll through the Schwartzman Building), or community programming (I loved the monthly Current Events Cafés hosted by my local library, another beauty of a building, Jefferson Market, also SJP’s [2] favorite).

In my opinion, my favorite feature of the NYPL Culture Pass, which promotes accessibility to cultural institutions of all types across the city. This brings me to step two: once you have your library card, sign up for Culture Pass!

With Culture Pass, it’s not just the bankers and Googlers that can show off their business cards to get free admission to the top museums. Now you can get in too. To be fair, you’ll need to schedule in advance (sometimes months out), but the options are expansive — from the MoMA, to the cherry blossoms at NYBG, to performances at The Shed.

And in case I wasn’t clear — these were all free!

The Noguchi Museum: worth checking out (for free thanks to Culture Pass!) once you’re finally ready to explore the Astoria neighborhood. If into beer, LICBP — my favorite NYC brewery — has its brewery out there too.

To be up to date with the latest in NYC, sign up for NY Today

One thing I found to be amazing about New Yorkers is how they are all overcome with insurmountable pride for their city. I was not immune.

Immediately, I was championing the latest legislation, cultural events, or newest restaurants to anyone that would listen. As if I needed any more fodder, I found the place to get it.

NY Today is the New York Times’ daily newsletter on what’s going on in NYC. Typically, you’ll get a few article headlines and three or so off-the-beaten-path events happening that day across the city [Note: the daily event suggestions stopped in 2020]. During the summer, there’s also a terrific Summer Series, with suggestions for how to spend a summer day, weekend, or afternoon.

Even just scanning this newsletter for 5 minutes in the morning made me more plugged in to all things NYC, and likely made me all the more unbearable to my friends when in the city.

Quintessential West Village: Perry x West 4th. On a morning, sip coffee next to street artists showcasing water colors of NYC and the West Village. On an evening, you are nestled between Sevilla, Mary’s Fish Camp, and Tartine.

Go ahead, be a tourist

Being new to the city, I often asked friends who had been here years (or in some cases, their whole lives) to show us their favorite spots. But these same friends also enjoyed joining some of the more touristy activities I would suggest — things that after establishing their own rhythm in the city, they had stopped going to.

Some great resources for figuring out what to do were this Thrillist bucket list, Googling Time Out’s “The Best Things to Do in NYC This Weekend,” or newsletters dedicated to free / cheap events like the skint. I found myself in Dyker Heights for the Christmas Lights, and Wave Hill in the Fall. I also found it to be fun to pick a neighborhood (such as Flushing, Long Island City, Bushwick, Astoria, or Harlem) and spend a day exploring it, often starting with a walking tour (mostly always free ones), and then accompanying with a local spot for food, etc.

Speaking of walking tours, within our first week of living in the West Village, we did a walking tour of our own area. When you live in a place with as much history as NYC, learning about the hidden parks or history of certain places (like the bars where George Washington used to drink, or the restaurant Bob Dylan wrote songs) engenders a sense of awe and a deep appreciation of place.

I thought it would be tough to top my running route along the Marina Green in SF. That was until I moved two blocks from the Hudson River Parkway, which stretches along the west side of city.

As E.B. White says in “Here is New York” (a short essay recommended to me by Juan, the awesome tour guide on the Central Park Conservancy walking tour), “Commuters give the city its tidal restlessness; natives give it solidity and continuity; but the settlers give it passion.” So, as the settler, go out there and give this wonderful city the passion she deserves.

[1] NYPL is only bested by the Library of Congress for the largest collection

[2] Sarah Jessica Parker. It’s a West Village thing.