# A little hazy on New York geography **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 10, 2010, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-hazy-on-new-york-geography/524378 "2010-01-10T07:41:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-hazy-on-new-york-geography/524378/1 "2010-01-10T07:41:30Z")
It’s very early in the year but our workplace may have gotten our dumbest phone call of 2010 already. This one will be hard to top. A woman called up and told us she was in Manhattan. She asked how she could get to us. Via subway. “You want to take the subway from Manhattan to Rochester?” “Yeah, what stop do I get off at?” “Well, Van Cortlandt on the Number One Train’s probably your best bet but you’re going to do some walking.”\* (I realize many of you are probably also unfamiliar with the geography of New York. But presumedly you don’t live in New York. Or at least you grasp that the subway is rarely an available option to a destination 250 miles away.) _No, we didn’t actually tell her this. We were very nice and explained that she’d be better off taking a bus._\* \*\*After we had to explain why flying here was a bad idea also. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-hazy-on-new-york-geography/524378/2 "2010-01-10T07:48:11Z")
Did she actually live in Manhattan, or was she just visiting? It’s amazing how many native New Yorkers have never been outside the City. ---
**Author:** ![sugar\_and\_spice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e8c25b/32.png) [@sugar\_and\_spice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sugar_and_spice)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-hazy-on-new-york-geography/524378/3 "2010-01-10T08:03:11Z")
Why is flying a bad idea? It’s at least a 6 hour bus ride, that’s the point where many people would rather fly. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-hazy-on-new-york-geography/524378/4 "2010-01-10T08:38:32Z")
> [@](#): > > Why is flying a bad idea? It’s at least a 6 hour bus ride, that’s the point where many people would rather fly. We’re about thirty five miles from the airport so we’re either back to a really long walk or we’re talking about a very expensive cab ride. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-hazy-on-new-york-geography/524378/5 "2010-01-10T08:48:14Z")
When I was going to school at RIT I always enjoyed the six-hour Amtrak trip back to civilization. It’s a very scenic route, especially once you get past Albany. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-hazy-on-new-york-geography/524378/6 "2010-01-10T16:24:17Z")
Obviously her image of New York is like this famous [New Yorker cover](http://www.artsjournal.com/aboutlastnight/NewYorker1976-03-29cover.png). 😃 To give her the benefit of the doubt, there are a number of neighborhoods named “chester” within New York City, including Eastchester, Baychester, Parkchester, and Westchester Square (my neighborhood). She may have assumed Rochester was another of these. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-hazy-on-new-york-geography/524378/7 "2010-01-10T17:12:07Z")
A little off topic, but last night we were watching As Good as It Gets, and I remembered that the first time I watched it, I thought it was unrealistic that the Helen Hunt character would ride a bus all the way from Brooklyn just to work as a waitress in Manhattan. Then I went to NY and it seems that Brooklyn really isn’t that far. Plus, I talked to a guy who worked in a gift shop in Canal Street and he told me he lived in Staten Island, which seems even further away. I probably have a skewed view (I was only there six days, after all) from riding the subway everywhere, and things seemed so close. On the other hand, if it was just a 10-minute subway ride, maybe for all intents and purposes it IS close and people commute all over the place in NY. It’s a different world from where I live. People often commute to other cities for jobs here, but me, I like being within a 10-minute drive from home, work, school, church, and shopping. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-hazy-on-new-york-geography/524378/8 "2010-01-10T17:40:52Z")
Isn’t there a subway-accessible area near Manhattan called Far Rockaway? Maybe she got confused. Edit: she’d be better off to fly to Toronto and take the Toronto subway. It’d be closer. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-hazy-on-new-york-geography/524378/9 "2010-01-10T17:44:46Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > Isn’t there a subway-accessible area near Manhattan called Far Rockaway? Maybe she got confused. Yes, Far Rockaway (in Queens) is accessible by subway. It’s not near Manhattan, though, but about as far away as you can get and still be in the city (not counting Staten Island). ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-hazy-on-new-york-geography/524378/10 "2010-01-10T17:48:35Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Obviously her image of New York is like this famous [New Yorker cover](http://www.artsjournal.com/aboutlastnight/NewYorker1976-03-29cover.png). 😃 They can see Russia from there.! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![sugar\_and\_spice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e8c25b/32.png) [@sugar\_and\_spice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sugar_and_spice)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-hazy-on-new-york-geography/524378/11 "2010-01-10T18:42:32Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > We’re about thirty five miles from the airport so we’re either back to a really long walk or we’re talking about a very expensive cab ride. Downtown Rochester isn’t 35 miles from the airport, so without knowing where your site is (which she obviously didn’t) it’s not an unreasonable idea. I mean, I would take the train but I don’t see why it’s so obviously wrong to think you might fly there. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-hazy-on-new-york-geography/524378/12 "2010-01-10T21:16:25Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > …there are a number of neighborhoods named “chester” within New York City, including Eastchester, Baychester, Parkchester, and Westchester Square (my neighborhood). She may have assumed Rochester was another of these. That was my thought also. There are also a number of other “chesters” outside the city proper but still within commuter rail line: Port Chester, or simply “Westchester” (county) as an umbrella term. To many NYC’ers, Western NY State is sort of a fantasy land. Even I, a pretty well educated type person born and raised in NY and who has lived here most of my life, it takes a fair amount of concentration not to assume that everything “upstate” (past Westchester County) is not some kind of spur off of the NY Thruway going north to Montreal. It’s very easy for me to imagine even Buffalo and Niagara Falls as being only two hours or so off the Thruway, until I remember it’s not (having done the drive to Niagara and realized, damn, there’s this huge space going WEST in NY State that nobody ever talks about). ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-hazy-on-new-york-geography/524378/13 "2010-01-10T23:09:39Z")
> [@robardin](#): > > (having done the drive to Niagara and realized, damn, there’s this huge space going WEST in NY State that nobody ever talks about). Well, the only thing out there is farms and Buffalo/Rochester. What are they going to talk about? ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-hazy-on-new-york-geography/524378/14 "2010-01-10T23:23:02Z")
> [@robardin](#): > > To many NYC’ers, Western NY State is sort of a fantasy land. Even I, a pretty well educated type person born and raised in NY and who has lived here most of my life, it takes a fair amount of concentration not to assume that everything “upstate” (past Westchester County) is not some kind of spur off of the NY Thruway going north to Montreal. It’s very easy for me to imagine even Buffalo and Niagara Falls as being only two hours or so off the Thruway, until I remember it’s not (having done the drive to Niagara and realized, damn, there’s this huge space going WEST in NY State that nobody ever talks about). Buffalo is probably less than 2 hours off the thruway- people from NYC tend to forget (or not know) that the Thruway makes a left turn at Albany and is I-90 while I-87 becomes the Northway. When people at my job are sent to training, if it involves taking either the Thruway or 1-87 past the Albany exits, they invariably choose the wrong one. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-hazy-on-new-york-geography/524378/15 "2010-01-10T23:25:15Z")
deleted ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-hazy-on-new-york-geography/524378/16 "2010-01-11T02:08:59Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > Buffalo is probably less than 2 hours off the thruway- people from NYC tend to forget (or not know) that the Thruway makes a left turn at Albany and is I-90 while I-87 becomes the Northway. When people at my job are sent to training, if it involves taking either the Thruway or 1-87 past the Albany exits, they invariably choose the wrong one. The Thruway pretty much goes through Buffalo (just south, but close enough). It is certainly less than 2 hours away. ---
**Author:** ![jasonh300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/46a35a/32.png) [@jasonh300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasonh300)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-hazy-on-new-york-geography/524378/17 "2010-01-11T02:35:01Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > A little off topic, but last night we were watching As Good as It Gets, and I remembered that the first time I watched it, I thought it was unrealistic that the Helen Hunt character would ride a bus all the way from Brooklyn just to work as a waitress in Manhattan. I know a girl who lives in Brooklyn and works as a bartender in Manhattan and walked home in the middle of that bad snowstorm back in December. It was 4 am and the subway never came and all the cabs were “off duty” so she eventually started walking. I mapped it and it’s only 3 or 4 miles, but it involves walking over a bridge across the East River, and in the absolute worst conditions. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-hazy-on-new-york-geography/524378/18 "2010-01-11T03:05:37Z")
Part of my job for the state was in supporting a group that provided technical assistance to small towns in an extremely rural part of the state. I can remember one conversation, between my immediate boss at the time and a state auditor from NYC, who couldn’t understand why a snowstorm would keep the Town Clerk from depositing the town’s receipts (money paid in) in a timely matter. The fact that she was 17 miles from the bank along roads the State Police had closed to non-emergency driving during that blizzard never occurred to him – he apparently thought she could just walk a block or so to a bank branch. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-hazy-on-new-york-geography/524378/19 "2010-01-11T03:15:43Z")
I once had an online author friend from Colorado invite me to a book signing she was having in New York City. I had to explain to her that Schenectady is a three-hour drive from Manhattan (if you’re lucky). ---
**Author:** ![TurboNuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f19dbf/32.png) [@TurboNuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TurboNuke)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-hazy-on-new-york-geography/524378/20 "2010-01-11T05:39:35Z")
I’m not originally from NY and I’m pretty disdainful of NYCers. I’ve lived in Dutchess county about 12 years. The stereotype is that NYers are tough and street smart. From my experience, tough=unable to survive anywhere that doesn’t have public transportation and seeing two trees next to each other means an attack from wild animals is imminent. And street smart means they lie a lot. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-little-hazy-on-new-york-geography/524378.md?page=2)