For a time NYC was* the* destination for Irish people for Christmas shopping. RIP The Celtic Tiger! With the Euro strong against the Dollar and most consumer goods being cheaper $ wise than here anyway it sorta made sense.
I’ve been to large and small cities all over the world. New York is home to the most friendly, helpful people I’ve ever met.
Naw …
Times Square has changed hugely in the 15 -16 years I’ve lived here, and the 20-odd I’ve been visiting.
Hugely.
It used to be primarily a pace to buy drugs and prostitution, and porn, I guess, back in the old VHS days, and all those (or many of those) places have gone out of business.
There are still a bunch of old-school places unrelated to the above worth going to if you’re interested.
The Music Building is a rental space that allows musicians (many Broadway musicians) a place to practice, as a cooperative arrangement on a weekly or monthly basis. The Strokes (I believe) got their start there. So did all of my failed bands.
The diamond district is cool - you still see Orthodox Jews doing deals with a handshake and a promise, and for a place to get a diamond appraised by a certified appraiser, Iit cannot be beat. Very honest dudes. If anyone is actually interested, I have personal recommendations. On the same block are metal smithing stores and jewelry making places - Metalliferous is one. Tons of gold and silver traded at slim margins above spot - worth checking out if you’re smart, and you’re into that sort of thing.
Lot’s of “real” Kosher delis - not the Carnegie Deli deal where you cant eat the thing. Really good food.
Colony Music - a classic - Google it if you’re a musician.
Radio City at 50 & 6th has the best sound of any place I’ve ever been. Just stay out of the top right corner, and if you get a Mezzanine seat, be sure you’re in the front three rows.
The pizza joint neext to Pasta Lovers on … 50? 49? between 6 & 7 serves up some of the best slices in the city. Get em plain.
Top of the Rock is cool, but crowded - see if you can go when no one is there – no idea when that is.
Korean Back Rub places give the best back and foot massages and manicures and oedicures (according to my gf) in the Universe. Very cheap.
THESE ARE NOT WHOREHOUSES.
Good riddance to the system that populated TS with little disheveled despondent girls and boys and hustlers robbing you over a mixtape or a photo or a joke. I’m glad there are cops on every block down there.
I was just this past weekend walking with a pair of women when an African American man groped one of them as we passed a bar. I said, “easy, now, Bro.”
He said “YOU take it easy, CRACKA, or you gonna get yourself beat up.”
He thought I was a tourist, and easy prey. He was wrong, but I wasn’t going to start anything with him and his bouncer friend.
That said, anyone, black, white, green, orange, whatever, when they’re drunk and/or messed up in the middle of Manhattan at midnight, is prone to do some dumb stuff. Just be vigilant, carry a cell phone, and don’t negotiate with dummies trying to “sell” you crap you don’t need, or get in dumb arguments about what “Cracker” means, exactly, aside from the fact that the person saying it is essentially employing his version of the “N” word, which I find offensive (but not fighting words, in my case, because we would have both ended up in the Tombs downtown.)
Lastly - when exiting tour buses, NEVER exit traffic-side. You’ll get nailed by a moped, electric bike, or a cyclist.
New York Rocks