NEW YORKERS

There are over 8.85 million New Yorkers in New York City and that translates into almost nine million smiling faces (or maybe not).  New Yorkers have a reputation for being tough and rude, but most of us are friendly and helpful. Do not be afraid to approach and ask questions or directions.  New Yorkers are often in a hurry and rushing to appointments, but they will usually stop and point you in the right direction (if they know it).  Hopefully, you'll encounter friendly New Yorkers and quickly discover how fascinating and fun the Big Apple can be.

Much has been written and said about New Yorkers.  Novelist O'Henry described the city's inhabitants as "mysterious strangers."  Historian David McCullough in his biography of John Adams, quotes America's first Vice President as saying:  "They [New Yorkers] talk very loud, very fast, and altogether. If they ask you a question, before you can utter three words of your answer, they will break out upon you again -- and talk away."

New Yorkers are "locomotive people" and the city is a pedestrian first metropolis full of walkers with admirable navigational skills and their own self-determined rules about how to walk.  They walk very fast and quickly move along the busy streets (at least before the invention of cellphones).  Walking on the hectic sidewalks of New York is truly an art form.  Don't walk in bunches and try to allow enough room for other pedestrians to easily and quickly past.  Times Square and other popular tourist spots are full of people.  Pedestrian traffic-jams there are part of the norm.

The isle of Manhattan is only 13 miles long and 2.3 miles wide at its widest point.   The layout of Manhattan's street grid, instituted in 1811, is easy to grasp once it's understood that there are both East and West Sides of Manhattan and, therefore, both a West 42nd Street and an East 42nd Street, a West 14th and East 14th Street, etc.   Getting around the streets of the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island is more difficult.

Remember even native New Yorkers get lost especially on the old, tiny streets of downtown Manhattan and Greenwich Village.   Sometimes it's just difficult to recall which subway or bus goes where.  Bus rides are an easy way to get around and see the City.  Take a ride down Fifth Avenue to Washington Square Park where Fifth Avenue ends or walk uptown to Central Park or Harlem.