# Oddest things I've seen since moving to NYC **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 8, 2012, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-things-ive-seen-since-moving-to-nyc/643395 "2012-12-08T04:30:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2012, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-things-ive-seen-since-moving-to-nyc/643395/21 "2012-12-08T21:06:43Z")
> [@ed\_anger](#): > > You need to turn your strange attractor on. I think I have one of those installed and permanently on. I remember my wife acting like I was some noob for finding it odd that a naked guy with ECG leads and dragging an IV bag was standing on the corner. “just ignore it”. ---
**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:** [December 8, 2012, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-things-ive-seen-since-moving-to-nyc/643395/22 "2012-12-08T23:18:16Z")
Guess you didn’t see the guy on a bench in Bryant park, sleeping with his pants down, urinating up over the hedge, to rain on the people walking down the sidewalk. Or elephants marching into the Plaza Hotel. Or “Rolleriina,” the middle-aged guy wearing a traditional wedding gown and carrying a wand . . . on roller skates. Or the homeless woman in Penn Station, going up to men, thrusting her huge exposed bosom in their faces, and yelling “Get a load of these jugs!” And are there still purple footprints on the sidewalks? ---
**Author:** ![IaMoDiNaRy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@IaMoDiNaRy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IaMoDiNaRy)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2012, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-things-ive-seen-since-moving-to-nyc/643395/23 "2012-12-08T23:36:06Z")
It appears there is a lot of public urination going on in good ole NYC… 😕 as we’ll as many other disturbing things… ---
**Author:** ![taskmgr.exe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@taskmgr.exe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/taskmgr.exe)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2012, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-things-ive-seen-since-moving-to-nyc/643395/24 "2012-12-09T00:29:50Z")
I found NYC a very disturbing place. People, environment, the atmosphere itself… I will never visit there again! ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2012, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-things-ive-seen-since-moving-to-nyc/643395/25 "2012-12-09T01:27:00Z")
I’m a little hurt that "dinner at **Maeglin’s apartment** didn’t make the list, but I’ll get over it. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2012, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-things-ive-seen-since-moving-to-nyc/643395/26 "2012-12-09T01:28:58Z")
> [@taskmgr.exe](#): > > I found NYC a very disturbing place. People, environment, the atmosphere itself… I will never visit there again! I’ve heard they never got over you either. ---
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2012, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-things-ive-seen-since-moving-to-nyc/643395/27 "2012-12-09T02:33:27Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Okay, just so New York doesn’t get all cocky, we’ve got plenty of weird stuff here in Wisconsin. I just came _very_ close to getting whooshed by pointing out that those Mr Bubble t-shirts were sold by that famed purveyor of anarchy Target. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2012, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-things-ive-seen-since-moving-to-nyc/643395/28 "2012-12-09T06:14:47Z")
> [@typoink](#): > > I just came _very_ close to getting whooshed by pointing out that those Mr Bubble t-shirts were sold by that famed purveyor of anarchy Target. Hey, kids buying shirts at Target, with mascots for products they don’t even know about… _that’s_ anarchy, heartland style. (Look, I was just trying to compete with the big burgs…) ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2012, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-things-ive-seen-since-moving-to-nyc/643395/29 "2012-12-09T06:35:41Z")
A day after Hurricane Sandy I was strolling down Ocean Ave around 3:00am, surveying some of the downed trees along Prospect Park. (There was no structural damage or power outage in my neighborhood, just trees.) Anyway, it’s completely deserted, which is why I like to go on walks in the middle of the night, so I can kinda drift off and think about crap. Then this dude materializes out of nowhere and mumbles something about wizards. “What?” “Are you the one they call The Wizard?” he repeats, breathlessly. “Uh, no.” “Oh, okay, my fault.” And with that he walks off. I heard him when he got across the street, though, telling somebody that he’s pretty sure I was The Wizard. ---
**Author:** ![Esox\_Lucius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@Esox\_Lucius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esox_Lucius)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2012, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-things-ive-seen-since-moving-to-nyc/643395/30 "2012-12-09T07:22:32Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I’ll make a rough estimate that I’ve spent 500 hours in NYC, mostly in Manhattan. A topless women in freezing weather, con men, people screaming at nothing, people attempting to sell me drugs, women, and stolen goods, a cab driver who pulled over, jumped out of the cab and ran off without saying a word, a man banging his head against a brick wall, an old woman insisting I was Abraham until I ran away. The list goes on. And except as a small child, I never even rode the subway. And the beat goes on… 🙂 My first official act when I disembarked at the Port Authority in Manhattan was to take a dump while the guy in the next stall kept peeking under the partition at me. I had to wipe myself under his very watchful gaze. When I got out, I waited to confront him, expecting an older perv, but he turned out to be an innocent-looking kid about 16 or 17 with an awfully guilty look when he saw me, and I didn’t have the heart to stop him. That was my introduction to _\_ Ne-ew York, Ne-ew YO-O-ORK! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Esox\_Lucius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@Esox\_Lucius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esox_Lucius)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2012, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-things-ive-seen-since-moving-to-nyc/643395/31 "2012-12-09T07:53:41Z")
> [@taskmgr.exe](#): > > I found NYC a very disturbing place. People, environment, the atmosphere itself… I will never visit there again! In my brief visit, there was also a young couple at the top of the Empire State Building having a major blowout, yelling and swearing like sailors at each other, oblivious to everyone else. And no one paid them much mind except to give them some space. On the sidewalk, a religious nut was carrying a sign and shouting scripture and dire warnings with absolute conviction at pedestrians who just skirted around him as they passed. Maybe that’s fairly common there, but it was new and fascinating to me. What impressed me the most about my experience in NYC was the tolerance that New Yorkers had for eccentric behaviour. In my straight-laced hometown, the religious nut would have been hauled away by the police in short order, and the fighting couple would have been told to leave immediately. In New York, people seemed to be allowed to act out whatever they needed to. I actually have fond memories of the “crazies”. Well, except for the kid in the washroom, but even he was harmless at least. ---
**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:** [December 9, 2012, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-things-ive-seen-since-moving-to-nyc/643395/32 "2012-12-09T11:54:56Z")
> [@taskmgr.exe](#): > > I found NYC a very disturbing place. People, environment, the atmosphere itself… I will never visit there again! So you’re ignoring their invitation to come back? . . . Oh, it must have gotten lost in the mail. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2012, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-things-ive-seen-since-moving-to-nyc/643395/33 "2012-12-09T12:22:33Z")
> [@robardin](#): > > Don’t be blasé, I’ve lived here most of my 42 years alive and I don’t have more than 15-20 ones that good. That I could share anyway. I think they just sort of blend together in an endless stream of weirdos. I know there have been dozens of times where I’ve said “hmm…that looks odd”, but I can’t think of them right now. I didn’t see it first hand, but in my old East Village neighborhood someone held up my local bar with a samaurai sword. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2012, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-things-ive-seen-since-moving-to-nyc/643395/34 "2012-12-09T12:59:45Z")
I’ve never been to New York but in LA most of those are fairly common, and #4 is a daily occurrence. City life is many things but I have never found it dull. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2012, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-things-ive-seen-since-moving-to-nyc/643395/35 "2012-12-09T13:40:19Z")
I lived in NYC (Harlem) for six weeks in 1987. Then was back in 1999 for six months (Park Slope) It didn’t seem like the same place, weirdness wise. Even the section of Harlem I used to live in was getting gentrified. ---
**Author:** ![taskmgr.exe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@taskmgr.exe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/taskmgr.exe)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2012, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-things-ive-seen-since-moving-to-nyc/643395/36 "2012-12-09T14:24:29Z")
> [@Esox\_Lucius](#): > > In my brief visit, there was also a young couple at the top of the Empire State Building having a major blowout, yelling and swearing like sailors at each other, oblivious to everyone else. And no one paid them much mind except to give them some space. On the sidewalk, a religious nut was carrying a sign and shouting scripture and dire warnings with absolute conviction at pedestrians who just skirted around him as they passed. Maybe that’s fairly common there, but it was new and fascinating to me. > > What impressed me the most about my experience in NYC was the tolerance that New Yorkers had for eccentric behaviour. In my straight-laced hometown, the religious nut would have been hauled away by the police in short order, and the fighting couple would have been told to leave immediately. In New York, people seemed to be allowed to act out whatever they needed to. I actually have fond memories of the “crazies”. Well, except for the kid in the washroom, but even he was harmless at least. Exactly. Perhaps, I have little or no tolerance for eccentric and extreme behaviors. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2012, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-things-ive-seen-since-moving-to-nyc/643395/37 "2012-12-09T14:31:26Z")
> [@taskmgr.exe](#): > > Exactly. Perhaps, I have little or no tolerance for eccentric and extreme behaviors. ☹ Easy cure for that: Immersion Therapy! ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2012, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-things-ive-seen-since-moving-to-nyc/643395/38 "2012-12-09T14:34:24Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Okay, just so New York doesn’t get all cocky, we’ve got plenty of weird stuff here in Wisconsin. That’s what you get living in one of those Liberal states. We don’t get those hippy shenanigans here in Indiana. Although, I did once see a girl wearing a PINK Colts jersey… what the heck?!? What’s next… a blue John Deere hat? ---
**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:** [December 9, 2012, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-things-ive-seen-since-moving-to-nyc/643395/39 "2012-12-09T16:29:11Z")
I saw Naked Cowboy once. Less amusingly, I also saw the must pitiful human being I’ve ever seen. This was a guy in a subway platform. He was “dressed” in an old sheet and was picking through garbage cans looking for things to eat. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2012, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-things-ive-seen-since-moving-to-nyc/643395/40 "2012-12-09T19:24:04Z")
the fair streets of philly have their share of oddities. saw a pink gorilla walking down the parkway. alone, no horde of kidfolk. a man totally in gold, clothes, hair, skin, hat, bicycle. just cycling down market street. bagpipers have been know to just appear on street corners. flutists, horn players, sax, drums, guitars, all ordinary. just really weird to walk down the street and hear bag pipes on the edge of your hearing. then getting louder and louder as you approach. the best thing is when they give out samples of stuff on street corners. coke zero, 5 hour energy, granola bars, advil, tums. it is amazing, really. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-things-ive-seen-since-moving-to-nyc/643395.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-things-ive-seen-since-moving-to-nyc/643395.md?page=3)