I ask this because New York is a big city, and it’s bound to have some less-than-peachy areas. What are they? Any reason why I should stay out?
Alphabet City? Just as a precaution…
Well, because it’s a big city, there are not-so-hot places you’d likely never get near anyway, if you plan to do the usual touristy things. So what are you planning to do?
To be honest, there’s no neighborhoods that you’d be likely to go to as a tourist where I’d feel uncomfortable by myself during the day, or with somebody else at night. Most of Manhattan (even Alphabet City nowadays) is quite safe, much more so than most big cities.
Avenue A and B are actually very popular streets for going out (although it tends to be a younger NYU crowd). C and D are a bit shady, however, but there’s not much reason to go there anyway.
Agreed.
You really have to go out of your way to find seedier spots. I’d avoid the East Side in the 100s (but I haven’t been that way in a long time, so it may have changed). The area around the former World Trade Center rolls up the streets around 9:00pm. The main thoroughfares are fine, but there are quite a number of unlit back streets you might not want to traverse.
As always, I’ll add that you should stay out of my way during the morning commute time.
I was going to say, the alphabet city precaution struck me as odd. I go out there all the time! And I agree completely - Aves A and B are great, and nobody ever goes to C or D anyway.
Will you be staying in Manhattan exclusively? Because there’s not a lot to worry about in the areas that, as a tourist, you’re likely to wind up in.
If you venture out into any of the other borroughs, that’s a different story.
No Harlem.
I don’t care what color you are–no Harlem.
If you’re going as a tourist, you won’t end up in any unsafe areas. The only exception might be if you go up to Yankee Stadium. Concourse Village is getting revitalized, but it’s still only a couple blocks from Mott Haven, the worst neighborhood in the Bronx. Generally, everything in the Bronx that is west of the Bronx River and south of Fordham road is a place to watch your back during the day, and a place to stay out of at night. BTW - I know some people freak out about going to the Bronx Zoo, but that’s on the safe side of the Borough. The 2 train goes right there, and there’s nothing to worry about on that ride during the day.
Almost all of Manhattan is safe at any hour now. I still can’t believe that Alphabet City used to be such a bad place…in 2008 it seems perfectly fine to me. Harlem is a GREAT neighborhood to visit during the day, don’t listen to Bosda - I go there pretty often and have never had any problems, and I’m as white as they come. Most of Queens is pretty safe too, and the areas that aren’t are totally inaccessible from tourists anyway.
Brooklyn DOES have some shady areas. Again, none of them are touristy areas so you aren’t accidentally going to end up in any of them. However, the A train does take you through some of Brooklyn’s worst neighborhoods on the way to and from JFK airport, so definitely watch your back on that ride. Once you’re actually on the train, it’s usually crowded enough that nobody starts trouble though. Just be sure that you know the difference between Broadway (safe, touristy) and Broadway JUNCTION (in the heart of East New York, even I won’t go there).
Have you ever been there, or are you just going by old stereotypes and decades-old jokes? Harlem started undergoing massive regentrification in the '90s, especially when Bill Clinton moved to the neighborhood, and it is really nice and pretty now. I have an acquaintance who moved to Spanish Harlem, and the pictures she’s taken of her neighborhood look like exteriors from Woody Allen movies set in the Upper West Side.
The first time I went to New York City, I happened to be at 42nd and 5th, at about 6:00am (after being out all night), and a cop asked me where i was from and we had a nice chat.
Then he points down 42nd Street, and said I should stay away because it was quite dangerous. That’s all I needed to hear. I thanked him, and went on my way. Then I went back later in the day and the next day at night. This was in the early 80s (before they cleaned it up) and I was in my 20s. I just had to see how *bad *it was. And it was nasty/bad (sort of like the Tenderloin and the toughest parts Oakland combined), but it was really fun.
I’ve only been back a few times since, and didn’t include 42nd Street on my tour, but it sure was a cool slice of life the first time.
I wouldn’t recommend people walk through the worst parts of any town, but if you’re young and on vacation, you’ll probably survive and have some vivid memories if you end up in a bad part of town.
When I was in NYC in '99 a local categorised Alphabet City thusly “People used to go down there to buy crack, now they go there to buy bree.”
New York City is one of the safest places in the United States. Look around you at your home town, think of the most dangerous spots, places you would tell a visiting New Yorker “oh you *really * don’t want to go there”, then figure we have a lower concentration of such places than you do.
At this point, 42nd St is thoroughly corporatized, Disney-fied, and touristy. It’s impossible to walk through there with any speed, because of all of the tourists gawping at the giant neon billboards and ambling past such fascinating landmarks as the M&M store.
Is the CBE still an absolute road from hell? Thankfully, it’s been years since I’ve driven it and I’m curious if it has improved at all.
10th and 11th Ave throughout midtown have some areas that are not very residential, and I always feel uneasily alone when I’m walking around there. Nothing’s ever happened, but I’d much rather be in Harlem or Alphabet City, since there are always people around.
Ah, the Cross Bronx Expressway, where there are traffic jams for no apparent reason at 1 am. The paving isn’t as bad as it used to be, but traffic hasn’t exactly improved. However, IME, there are parts of the BQE that are worse.
I lived there for a year, and I’m a blond. My building had plenty of single women who lived normal lives. (Well, normal for New Yorkers.) There’s street crime, but the main streets are no more dangerous than the main streets in any other neighborhood.
I walk through Harlem every single day without any problem and I am a short white girl. I actually think Harlem is really cool for the most part and have never felt unsafe there. Of course, I don’t go wandering the back streets of Harlem either so I can’t speak for the whole neighborhood, but still, if you just wanted to check out 125th St to see the Apollo or something you will be just fine.
This is the truth. I used to rent a parking spot on East 100, and while it’s not a place I’d want to live in, or walk through alone late at night, I always felt perfectly safe during the day. I spent some weekends wandering around Brooklyn, and some of the neighborhoods aren’t so peachy, but I never felt unsafe during the day. Neither of those places have any tourist draw at all, yet they’re still perfectly safe during the day. The tourist areas like Times Square are practically theme parks.
At night, stick with touristy areas, and popular night life regions. Don’t use the super quiet residential street to go crosstown at night, use the major cross streets and Avenues that have lots of traffic and businesses open.