Who are our NYC PCers? :)

[Ebondale]

I thought of an idea for a really great book last night. The setting is going to be New York City, which I have been to in the past on numerous occasions, I just don't know the city as well as I do some others.

Basically in the first scene of the book a man is sleeping in his apartment and is awoken as a subway train thunders past his apartment window.

I'm on the MTA's subway website so I can look at which lines go where only I'm not sure exactly which line goes through some particularly bad neighborhoods.

I want to write it so that it reads something like:


Soandso awakes with a start as the number two train thunders past his apartment window.

I just don't know what neighborhood and what train would be best. :)

[Numbers]

125th street station. On Broadway. The 1 and 9 line.

Not a great neighborhood, but not necessarily a horrible neighborhood. It's right in the middle of Harlem, specifically Spanish Harlem, but Columbia University is right around there, so that kind of brings up the status quo.

Good picture of it at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:BwyWalk0505_Station125thBroadway2.jpg

[Ebondale]

Thanks a lot! :)

[Sean]

If your subway is above ground (aka thundering sound) your best bet is to be pretty much way uptown or out by like coney island.

[Ebondale]

Way uptown... does the Bronx count as being uptown?

[Numbers]

Depends. Some people consider uptown to be the northern part of Manhattan. Others consider Bronx as being uptown. Varies from person to person.

I was born and raised in NYC, and I consider uptown to be anywhere from 90th street and above, but I don't consider the Bronx as being uptown. The Bronx is just the Bronx, a separate entity.

[Ebondale]

Thats what I was under the impression of, that the Bronx was just the Bronx and that upper Manhattan was uptown. Are there bad neighborhoods in upper Manhattan or is it mostly nice studio apartments and the like?

[Kefka]

A train goes to Far Rockaway. If you're there at night, you don't want to be. B and D lines go to Coney Island. Been a long while since I've been out there. Friend of mine got jumped once. Everybody wants to be like The Warriors... Well... the 3 train stops at East New York. Use to be a bad neighborhood. Probably still is. Too many cops around nowadays. I've been to 125th. Harlem's changed alot from the times I grew up there. Since Clinton got his office down there, they've been building these huge stores around the area. Feels like candyland there. Not sure 138th and Lenox has changed. Think Die Hard with a Vengeance. 4 train goes there.

[Numbers]

Are there bad neighborhoods in upper Manhattan or is it mostly nice studio apartments and the like?

I haven't lived in the city for about four years, but uptown Manhattan is Harlem, and Harlem = bad. They're essentially the ghettos of the city. Projects and whatnot. There are some nice areas there, sure enough, but many of them were very dangerous. Me and a couple of friends were going to a buds place once, two of us were white, the other was black. About three blocks in, we hear a shout from above us, "Crackers in da hood!" and then a lot of whooping and laughing. The rest of our walk was done very quickly.

Although, Kefka may be right. I haven't been to Harlem in years, it may have improved since then.

[Ebondale]

I stayed in a hotel in Harlem one time. Bad experience. :lol: