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I am moving to Brooklyn from Washington, DC, in a month. My boyfriend moved here 8 months ago. My family is from New York City but I have never lived here. On the other hand, my boyfriend lived here for 4 years when he was in college a while ago. It already drives him crazy that I don't know my way around when I visit. I'm afraid I'm going to put a major strain on our relationship when I actually move in. I grew up in cities around the world and love learning how to get around a city, but NYC, I admit, is a little intimidating. What do you think is the best way to get to know the city and become less dependent on other people's help when I move here?
Yes, New York is a big city and that can be intimidating, but we think you'll find that many areas are quite neighborhood-y and have a real community feel. We suggest you start by getting to know your own local neighborhood in Brooklyn where you'll be living. Take walks around the neighborhood, go to some free activities in your local community, hang out in the bar on the corner. We've met lots of people in our Brooklyn 'hood just by, well, hanging out there. Don't be afraid to break the ice and talk to your neighbors.
We also suggest that you try and join some groups, sign up for some mailing lists, or look at events calendars that relate to your interests. A few good general-interest places to start:
Go Brooklyn
Free NYC
Flavorpill
Meetup.com
We're sure you'll meet plenty of new people who will be willing to show you around and help you get to know your new home.
Need advice? Ask Gothamist! E-mail ask(at)gothamist.com.
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I'm a big fan of maps, so whenever I travel to new places I like to get a couple of maps and study the relative locations of highly visible landmarks, so it's easier for me to orient myself w/o asking for directions.
If you're already sort of familiar w/ New York, I'd recommend checking out getting a metrocard and checking out the panorama at the Queens Museum. It'll give you a great idea of the city's layout. http://www.queensmuseum.org/panorama/
One day, Gothamist will allow people to edit their posts for grammar. And that day will be glorious.
first of all, that boyfriend should chill out. how should she know how to get around if she's never lived here?
i found this book/map helpful in breaking the city down into it's neighborhoods.
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?isbn=0974013153
Walk a lot. When I first moved here from Miami, I would take sunday mornings or afternoons, target a neighborhood and walk up and down block after block for a couple of hours. Maybe I'd have particular shopping in mind. One week, Soho; the next week Lower East Side; the next week, Upper West Side. Bring a book or a New Yorker to sit in a cafe or two along the way. Grab lunch in some place that looks out-of-the-way. Pay attention to where the subway stops are. After a while, I was more expert than many of my friends.
The interactive map published online by nyc.gov is a fun thing to peruse and familiarize yourself with all the different neighborhoods in the five boroughs. When you can mentally imagine the locational difference between Morningside Heights and Murray Hill when people are talking about the city, it becomes much less overwhelming. New York: A City of Neighborhoods.
Also, groups like Shorewalkers are a great way to explore neighborhoods and areas around the city that you might normally be unfamiliar with.
I learned my way around New York (in every sense) years ago by driving a yellow cab. Even if this is not an option, you may consider doing volunteer work, anything to get you in touch with a wide variety of New York people.
You don't say what part of Brooklyn, but if it's anywhere in the Heights-to-Park Slope Brownstone Brooklyn area, you might want to check out smalltownbrooklyn.com for information on what's available in those neighborhoods. Also, hopstop.com will give you subway and bus directions. And welcome!
I highly recommend getting the Not For Tourists (NFT) series of books for Manhattan and Brooklyn. If you own a PDA, Vindigo (www.vindigo.com) is also a great resource and so is MetroCommute (shareware, you can Google the name to get the correct URL.)
Oh and when you travel around on the subway either hide your Ipod or just leave it at home.
I concur, re: the Not For Tourist books. The New York book is absolutely essential, and the Brooklyn book is a very handy sidekick.
https://www.notfortourists.com/newyork.aspx
Not convinced? Go to their website and sign up for a free account. You can read the entire New York book on their website!
I moved from Washington, DC to Brooklyn (East Williamsburg/Bushwick) back in November of 2004, so I'm kinda old hat at this. DC is very much a different city than New York, but in a good way. Start reading up on your new home, get books from the library and such. Get one of those New York maps and just start orienting yourself with the land since you're going to have to be able to tell cab drivers how to get back to Brooklyn when you've been out drinking till 2am.
When I first moved here I got on the subway and just started exploring and walking all over Manhattan. It really did help.
And YES, get the Not For Tourist map.
https://www.notfortourists.com/newyork.aspx
I think one of the things that contributes to visitors disorientation in this dirty old town is traveling by subway. When a visitor emerges blinking from underground and they can't even tell which way is uptown and which way is downtown they're not likely to develop a clear mental map. It's like closing your eyes and being spun around. The best way to defeat this confusion is to spend sometime riding around on a bike. Then you'll have a better sense of how the neighborhoods are connected (they aren't really that far apart). Tribeca is next to Soho, which is next to Nolita, which connects to the good old lower east side.
Studying the subway map while waiting on platforms for trains helped me. It's not to scale, etc., but it offers a decent shorthand of neighborhoods in each borough, and knowing which trains go where makes New York feel familiar. I also suspect the boyfriend should chill, but if the writer wants to avoid being dependent, maybe she could organize dates or whatever with boy in which she picks the destination and gets them there without his help.
Worried about what? So you'll get lost sometimes, relax. Get a map. Look at it AFTER you've asked for directions. More fun that way.
I thought real new yorkers made their mental map of nyc by where the train takes them... That's how my mind sees NY.