# Explain New York to an Angelina **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 10, 2011, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-new-york-to-an-angelina/595799 "2011-09-10T05:29:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2011, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-new-york-to-an-angelina/595799/41 "2011-09-12T00:47:30Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I don’t know how many people come here specifically from Mexico - I assume you’re using that word as a synonym for Latino - but more than a quarter of all NYC residents are Latino and about 12 percent are Asian. This is a bad assumption to make about someone from Los Angeles. We are generally very aware of the differences between the Latin American countries. Calling someone from El Salvador or Guatemala a Mexican is a fairly serious error. It might be different for people who didn’t grow up there or were really insulated in a white enclave, but if you grow up in LA you almost have to try to be that sort of ignorant. The influence of Mexican and Chicano culture on LA is deep rooted in the same way that Italian culture is out here. Oh, and I might as well chime in on the mugging thing. I know a whole heck of a lot (read more than 4) of people who have been mugged in Hollywood and points directly south. It seems weird that it is thought of as a NYC problem and not a big city problem. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2011, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-new-york-to-an-angelina/595799/42 "2011-09-12T00:54:56Z")
> [@NAF1138](#): > > This is a bad assumption to make about someone from Los Angeles. We are generally very aware of the differences between the Latin American countries. Calling someone from El Salvador or Guatemala a Mexican is a fairly serious error. It’d be an error here, too - national pride is a big deal for a lot of Latin American and Caribbean groups, Nuyoricans being maybe the most famous - but the question is phrased in a way that sort of juxtaposes Mexicans with Europeans and Asians. She did mention Puerto Ricans individually. In any case [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_ethnic_enclaves#Mexican) says Mexicans are “New York’s fastest growing ethnic group.” The figure and quote are out of date, but the cite says that there were about 187,000 Mexicans in New York City in 2004. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Righteous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Dr.Righteous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Righteous)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2011, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-new-york-to-an-angelina/595799/43 "2011-09-12T15:30:47Z")
Lifelong resident of the Tri-State area here. > [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](#): > > A lot of people don’t have a driver’s license at all. I know a few people, all born and raised in NYC, who don’t have licenses. I myself didn’t get mine until I was 27 and I moved to NJ (there was never any need before that, and I had no access to a car to practice on). The state issues a non driver ID for when you’d need to show one. I have one friend who doesn’t even have this but always has her passport on her so she can go into bars and such. I think this is because she’s too lazy to go to the DMV and fill out the paperwork. 🙂 > [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](#): > > There are lots of Europeans-from-Europe and Puerto Ricans, but not as many Asians and hardly any Mexicans. Not to say we don’t have people here from Mexico, but I think there are more people here from the Islands (Puerto Rico, Cuba, the DR) because of proximity - NYC is much closer to their homes than say LA is. Same goes for Japanese immigrants - we probably have a smaller percentage of Japanese folks here as opposed to cities in CA because it’s a much shorter trip to visit home from there than here. This of course does not at all explain people here from China… ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2011, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-new-york-to-an-angelina/595799/44 "2011-09-12T16:48:45Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > No. Not anymore. Maybe back in the '70s and '80s, but NYC is currently the safest large city in the US. > [@Hello\_Again](#): > > Totally untrue. NYC is the safest large city in the US by a large margin. > [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > Actually, it really is the safest city in the US. Any cites for this? I’m sure many people do have an unrealistic idea of crime in NY, but still, I’d be surprised to find I was less safe in, say, Minneapolis, Denver, or Milwaukee. Or are these not considered “large” cities? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2011, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-new-york-to-an-angelina/595799/45 "2011-09-12T16:54:26Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > Any cites for this? I’m sure many people do have an unrealistic idea of crime in NY, but still, I’d be surprised to find I was less safe in, say, Minneapolis, Denver, or Milwaukee. Or are these not considered “large” cities? [http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-13/new-york-city-remains-safest-big-u-s-city-as-crime-drops-5-mayor-says.html](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-13/new-york-city-remains-safest-big-u-s-city-as-crime-drops-5-mayor-says.html) > [@](#): > > FBI crime data showed that of the 25 largest U.S. cities New York recorded 2,242 “index crimes” of murder, rape, robbery, assault, burglary, larceny and auto theft for every 100,000 residents, the mayor’s office said today in a news release. San Jose, California, was ranked second with 2,746 such crimes per 100,000, and San Diego third, with 2,903 per 100,000. > > Among 266 U.S. cities with populations larger than 100,000 the city’s crime rate placed it 248th, between Garden Grove, California and Sunnyvale, California. No other city with more than 262,000 people was deemed safer than New York, the mayor’s office said. You can see the 262,000 figure indicates some cherry-picking, but the sentiment is pretty accurate. > **[List of United States cities by crime rate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_cities_by_crime_rate)** > > The following table of United States cities by crime rate is based on Federal Bureau of Investigation Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) statistics from 2024 for the 200 most populous cities in America that have reported data to the FBI UCR system. > The population numbers are based on U.S. Census estimates for the year end. The number of murders includes nonnegligent manslaughter. This list is based on the reporting. In most cases, the city and the reporting agency are identical. However, in Nashville... I think this is a chart of the same data. It does rate New York as a bit safer than Denver. The crime rate in NYC is about half of Minneapolis and Milwaukee. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2011, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-new-york-to-an-angelina/595799/46 "2011-09-12T17:18:10Z")
> [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](#): > > Everyone lives in really tiny really expensive apartments in super tall buildings (over 3 stories). Even in the nice buildings, there are bugs and mice. I grew up in Queens and lived in a nice semi-attached two story house. But in the city this is true. > [@](#): > > Nobody has a lawn, and hardly anyone has a car. A lot of people don’t have a driver’s license at all. We had a lawn, and cars. But unlike LA NY has really good public transportation, and for the most part it is faster and cheaper than driving. When we used to go in for auditions we’d drive from the Princeton area to Jersey City, park there, and take PATH into the city. Much more sane. My father drove to work, but he had a carpool and a place in the UN garage and spent little driving time in Manhattan. When I worked in the city I always took the bus/subway. > [@](#): > > People seem to get mugged all the time. (Mugging is when you’re a pedestrian and another pedestrian robs you, right? I’ve never been certain, exactly.) I never got mugged when I lived there. But it helps to walk fast and aggressively, and, if you see someone suspicious following you, start mumbling to yourself. > [@](#): > > There are lots of Europeans-from-Europe and Puerto Ricans, but not as many Asians and hardly any Mexicans. Asians in my classes even 50 years ago. More now. Flushing wasn’t at all Asian when I got on the 7 line at the Main Street Flushing station. > [@](#): > > Schools have numbers (like P.S. 273) instead of names (like Luther Burbank Elementary). I don’t know about now, but my elementary school had a number only, my junior high had a name and a number, and my high school had a name only. > [@](#): > > People talk a lot faster, move quicker, and get angry more easily. > There is a bigger variety of street food. I move faster than almost anyone on the streets of the other places I’ve lived, but I also worked one summer as a messenger, before they used bikes, and I got good at doing broken field running, so I walk fast even for a New Yorker. I don’t know about the getting angry part, though. > [@](#): > > Plays are considered more important and interesting than movies. Sure, because plays are not either in the preview or roadshow category. Not that different from London, though. There is also a very active TV industry in New York, both for series and for commercials. There are lots of agents and casting directors all over, and two big studios just over the East River in Astoria. They cast for movies there also. I’ve no experience with the theater world in this regard. The basic difference is that New York is dense and concentrated, while LA sprawls. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2011, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-new-york-to-an-angelina/595799/47 "2011-09-12T17:22:52Z")
Is the numbering of schools specifically a NYC phenomenon? I live near Boston and we use the name for the schools exclusively. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2011, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-new-york-to-an-angelina/595799/48 "2011-09-12T18:35:53Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > Is the numbering of schools specifically a NYC phenomenon? I live near Boston and we use the name for the schools exclusively. Actually the numbering this is predominantly a elementary school phenomenon. All elementary schools have a name but the number is used predominantly. Middle Schools/Junior Highs are mixed between using a name and using a number ([see this example of the Middle Schools in one Manhattan District.](http://schools.nyc.gov/NR/rdonlyres/1A709042-72D0-4527-A0B0-BA577C04BF61/0/District2MSD.pdf)) All High Schools are named; I’m not sure if they are numbered as well. If so, the numbers aren’t used. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2011, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-new-york-to-an-angelina/595799/49 "2011-09-12T19:18:00Z")
> [@DooWahDiddy](#): > > I’ve never heard of this, nor have I ever met someone who’s confessed to doing it. Do you really know people who carry around “mugger money”, just in case? Huh. I’ve never done it and none of my peers do it, but it was “common knowledge” when I started working at my first job – anyone who was old enough to have lived through NYC in the 70s absolutely did this. At the time I thought it was … quaint. I wonder if it is on the rise again now that so many people carry less cash in general due the presence of ATMs everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2011, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-new-york-to-an-angelina/595799/50 "2011-09-12T19:27:38Z")
> [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](#): > > Everyone lives in really tiny really expensive apartments in super tall buildings (over 3 stories). Three stories+ is “super tall”? Where, exactly, do you live? Smallest building I’ve ever lived in was 4 stories. > [@](#): > > People seem to get mugged all the time. (Mugging is when you’re a pedestrian and another pedestrian robs you, right? I’ve never been certain, exactly.) Muggings? What decade is this? > [@](#): > > There is a bigger variety of street food. Than LA? Where you can’t spit without hitting a taco truck? Edit: > [@chappachula](#): > > “super tall buildings (over 3 stories).” > hey,…that’s a great example of the NY attitude. Hey, I was born and raised in LA and that makes me laugh. I’m 100% certain that Maggie is from a suburb, especially in light of her saying she doesn’t even know people who live in 4+ story buildings. I’ve _only_ lived in 4+ story buildings, and most of my friends did too. ---
**Author:** ![LurkerInNJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ed655f/32.png) [@LurkerInNJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkerInNJ)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2011, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-new-york-to-an-angelina/595799/51 "2011-09-12T20:28:32Z")
> [@DooWahDiddy](#): > > I’ve never heard of this, nor have I ever met someone who’s confessed to doing it. Do you really know people who carry around “mugger money”, just in case? Huh. Yes, it’s true. I dated a guy who was beaten very badly when he didn’t have any cash to give a mugger. It’s certainly not the problem it once was, but I would rather be out $20 (adjusted for inflation) than be physically harmed. You give them the money, they take the money and run. [http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/24/nyregion/thecity/24mugg.html?pagewanted=print&position=](http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/24/nyregion/thecity/24mugg.html?pagewanted=print&position=) [http://www.nytimes.com/1989/12/21/nyregion/metro-matters-even-the-nuns-have-to-carry-mugger-money.html](http://www.nytimes.com/1989/12/21/nyregion/metro-matters-even-the-nuns-have-to-carry-mugger-money.html) ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2011, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-new-york-to-an-angelina/595799/52 "2011-09-12T20:34:07Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > The basic difference is that New York is dense and concentrated, while LA sprawls. People forget though that the New York Metro area is effectively one giant megopolis spanning New Jersey, Connecticut, Long Island and Westchester county, NY. A significant number of people commute in daily through MetroNorth, LIRR, and NJ Transit (including PATH) effectively makeing these regions a giant sprawling suburb of NYC. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2011, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-new-york-to-an-angelina/595799/53 "2011-09-12T20:42:51Z")
> [@LurkerInNJ](#): > > Yes, it’s true. > > I dated a guy who was beaten very badly when he didn’t have any cash to give a mugger. It’s certainly not the problem it once was, but I would rather be out $20 (adjusted for inflation) than be physically harmed. You give them the money, they take the money and run. > > [http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/24/nyregion/thecity/24mugg.html?pagewanted=print&position=](http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/24/nyregion/thecity/24mugg.html?pagewanted=print&position=) No, it **was** true. The 2004 article states “Though \*\*newcomers to the city or New Yorkers under a certain age will find it nearly impossible to believe \*\*in this era of single-digit crime statistics, mugging was once the central threat to public safety in New York… [much further down the article] muggings would decline in numbers to the point that today the issue exists in the far recesses of the city’s consciousness, somewhere behind graffiti-covered subways and stolen hubcaps” That is actually the opposite of saying that “muggings occur all the time” is true. It actually states that at present, muggings are rare or unknown in NYC. At present being 2004. And per capita violent crime has fallen since then. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2011, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-new-york-to-an-angelina/595799/54 "2011-09-12T20:56:13Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > People forget though that the New York Metro area is effectively one giant megopolis spanning New Jersey, Connecticut, Long Island and Westchester county, NY. A significant number of people commute in daily through MetroNorth, LIRR, and NJ Transit (including PATH) effectively makeing these regions a giant sprawling suburb of NYC. For that matter, I enjoy telling New Yorkers that NYC is essentially DC’s northernmost suburb. 😃 Transit links all through the Boston-Washington corridor are quite good - I can get to any large or largish city in that corridor (DC, Baltimore, Philly, NYC, Providence, Boston) via rail, and get around the city by bus or some form of subway/light rail. It’s a very, very different experience from SoCal cities. I will say, though, that while “NYC is dangerous” is a myth, the city can be pretty foul. Speaking as a long-time DC resident, I’m always a bit dismayed by how filthy you NYCers let your city become sometimes. Honestly, folks, there’s no need for your subway stations to smell like urine. Ours don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2011, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-new-york-to-an-angelina/595799/55 "2011-09-12T21:00:26Z")
> [@Mr.Excellent](#): > > I will say, though, that while “NYC is dangerous” is a myth, the city can be pretty foul. Speaking as a long-time DC resident, I’m always a bit dismayed by how filthy you NYCers let your city become sometimes. Honestly, folks, there’s no need for your subway stations to smell like urine. Ours don’t. When you add an additional 380 stations to your system to make it as large as ours, while keeping the maximum price $2.25 per ride (including free subway to bus transfers) come back and we’ll discuss. ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2011, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-new-york-to-an-angelina/595799/56 "2011-09-12T21:03:00Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > People forget though that the New York Metro area is effectively one giant megopolis spanning New Jersey, Connecticut, Long Island and Westchester county, NY. A significant number of people commute in daily through MetroNorth, LIRR, and NJ Transit (including PATH) effectively makeing these regions a giant sprawling suburb of NYC. You are misundersanding what people mean when they say LA sprawls and NYC is dense. There is no place in Los Angeles that is as dense as Manhattan. Hell there isn’t any place that is as dense as the Bronx. Maybe parts of downtown or east LA. And while I live in the suburbs of Northern Central New Jersey and am clearly in a part of the greater NYC metro area the whole layout is more compact out here than LA. We have a town center then a few miles away there is another town with another town center, and so on. By contrast Sherman Oaks blends into Van Nuys into North Hollywood into studio city until you get to the mountains. Then you get Hollywood blending into west Hollywood blending into westwood and Century City and so on. It..sprawls. The cities and towns have names but they are all more or less the same with small gradual changes as opposed to the shape divisions of towns out here. It’s different. ---
**Author:** ![Punoqllads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@Punoqllads](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Punoqllads)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2011, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-new-york-to-an-angelina/595799/57 "2011-09-12T21:05:04Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > Our street gangs compete with each other through song & dance! “When you’re a Jet, you’re a Jet all the way. From your first cigarette to your last dyin’ day.” ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2011, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-new-york-to-an-angelina/595799/58 "2011-09-12T21:24:52Z")
**Maggie the Ocelot** – if you say “toodaly” of “fersure”…_everyone_ will try to kill you. ---
**Author:** ![LurkerInNJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ed655f/32.png) [@LurkerInNJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkerInNJ)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2011, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-new-york-to-an-angelina/595799/59 "2011-09-12T21:42:38Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > No, it **was** true. The 2004 article states “Though \*\*newcomers to the city or New Yorkers under a certain age will find it nearly impossible to believe \*\*in this era of single-digit crime statistics, mugging was once the central threat to public safety in New York… [much further down the article] muggings would decline in numbers to the point that today the issue exists in the far recesses of the city’s consciousness, somewhere behind graffiti-covered subways and stolen hubcaps” > > That is actually the opposite of saying that “muggings occur all the time” is true. It actually states that at present, muggings are rare or unknown in NYC. At present being 2004. And per capita violent crime has fallen since then. Your knee-jerk reaction must have caused temporary blindness. I said _I dated a guy who was beaten very badly when he didn’t have any cash to give a mugger. **It’s certainly not the problem it once was** , but I would rather be out $20 (adjusted for inflation) than be physically harmed. You give them the money, they take the money and run._ It doesn’t make my statement any less true. Muggings are less common, but muggers still want the cash, not the thrill of beating you up. And it’s commonly known that crimes are reclassifed in NYC for statistics to reduce the seriousness. Just as there are “newcomers to the city or New Yorkers under a certain age (that) will find it nearly impossible to believe” that people routinely carried mugger money, I’m sure you would agree that not everyone in NYC is a “newcomer” or “under a certain age”. ---
**Author:** ![gurujulp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ba9def/32.png) [@gurujulp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gurujulp)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2011, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-new-york-to-an-angelina/595799/60 "2011-09-12T23:03:42Z")
Never been a New Yorker, never been to New York- but felt the need to weigh in here because when I lived in South Florida I knew a few New Yorkers pretty well- The attitude thing- it isn’t getting mad- it isn’t being afraid to stand up for yourself, and if someone asks you a stupid question, you aren’t gonna let it lie- you are gonna make it more stupid back, or you are just gonna play along… It is a fun thing, if you got the guts, to just randomly talk shit to each other- but it isn’t for everyone. Some great friends came out of that experience, and they all asked if I was from New York, cause I wasn’t afraid to lead with my mouth… Of course, this has gotten me in trouble other places… When we moved to Houston (city pop 4 million) from Iowa (State, pop 3 million), my dad gave me $5 to keep in my wallet in case somebody tried to mug me… That’s all I have ever heard about it, was from my dad. No idea why he thought it was a good idea, never needed. Lots of crime- never mugged. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-new-york-to-an-angelina/595799.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-new-york-to-an-angelina/595799.md?page=4)