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New York City is the center of the world.

It’s a place that is larger than life, yet so compact. A place that swallows you up and spits you out. A place that makes you feel like a tiny nobody, but at the same time by virtue of being here, you’re somebody at the top of the world. A place that is dirty and grimy and claustrophobic and yet somehow simultaneously glamorous and lofty and soaring.

Nothing about New York City is convenient. And yet so many millions of people are determined to put up with it. Because New York City draws you in like no other. It’s a place that everyone tells you is great. A place that lives up to that greatness despite all its faults. It’s a place you don’t have to fight for, and yet people fight for it so fiercely. There’s no place quite like it.

It’s the opposite of LA in all the best ways, and all the worst. At its worst, New York is glorified chaos. At its best, New York promises to never be boring. It’s a city filled with endless energy, a stark contrast to LA’s laid back and effortless breezy atmosphere. A city that never sleeps, and looks down upon LA’s healthy routines. It’s dirtier than LA, that’s for sure. But also more beautiful. New York spends more time hating LA, than LA spends acknowledging New York’s existence in this strangely unbalanced bicoastal rivalry. But that’s what we all aspire to, right? To be truly bicoastal and claim a New York bagel and LA salad as our own? The dream.

New York City is a city of people who all hate Times Square, and a city that attracts tourists around the world just to see Times Square. It’s a city of sights and sounds and smells, overstimulation of all of your senses in every single way. It’s a city that stubbornly hangs on to its ways, no matter how antiquated they seem (ahem, looking at you, subways), and yet also offers some of the most cutting edge modernity (feats of architecture that may sometimes come in well-hated structures that ruin the city skyline at heights that are a better fit for Dubai). New York City is New Yorkers. A city of people with too many opinions. Who take pride in their fearless and unfazed grit, determined to put up with all of the bad parts of this city they call home, because they would never go anywhere else. And that comes through in every interaction, however mundane, however ephemeral.

New York City is a more than a sum of its parts. It’s more than the five boroughs. It’s thecity. An anchor so heavy, it has a gravity of its own, as its surroundings orbit around it, blessed to be in its vicinity. New York City is more than Manhattan. It’s more than the skyscrapers and the bodegas and the halal carts. It’s more than Central Park and the Rockefeller Center and even the Met. It’s more than the rats and the sidewalk trash and the subways and the bagels. New York is all of its stereotypes, and more. New York is its people. How everyone hates each other and mind their own business but when push comes to shove, come together in a way that few cities do. It’s full of pride, like Chicago, but with a little more arrogance. After all, New York City is the center of the world.

by nbhd

a few of my favorite places

NYC Guide | Dashi Okume + Cibone
February 15, 2024
JP Guide | Harbs
February 5, 2024
NYC Guide | Rhythm Zero
January 22, 2024
NYC Guide | Shop
December 21, 2023
NYC Guide | Campbell & Co
December 11, 2023
NYC Guide | The Coppola Cafe
December 7, 2023
NYC Guide | Fish’s Eddy
November 27, 2023
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NYC | Lella Alimentari
November 9, 2023
NYC Guide | For All Things Good
October 12, 2023
NYC Guide | Eleva Coffee
October 7, 2023
NYC Guide | Terms of Endearment
September 14, 2023
NYC Guide | Nick + Sons Bakery
September 4, 2023
NYC Guide | Petee’s Pie
August 17, 2023
NYC Guide | The Four Horsemen
August 7, 2023
NYC Guide | Devocion
July 29, 2023
NYC | Gertie
July 6, 2023
NYC Guide | Essex Market
June 22, 2023
NYC Guide | Noguchi Museum
June 17, 2023
NYC Guide | Banh
May 25, 2023
NYC Guide | Potluck Club
May 20, 2023
Afuri Ramen + Dumplings
May 15, 2023
NYC Guide | Wenwen
May 11, 2023
NYC Guide | Russ and Daughters
April 17, 2023
NYC Guide | Fortunato Bros
April 3, 2023
NYC Guide | as you like & my coffee and cream
March 20, 2023
NYC Guide | Supermoon Bake House
March 6, 2023
NYC Guide | Zou Zou’s
February 16, 2023
NYC Guide | SEY Coffee
December 19, 2022
NYC Guide | shu jiao fu zhou
December 12, 2022
NYC Guide | Win Son Bakery
December 5, 2022
NYC Guide | Yun Hai Shop
December 1, 2022
NYC Guide | Interlude Coffee & Tea
November 28, 2022
NYC Guide | Lysée
November 21, 2022
NYC Guide | High Low Beverage Co
November 17, 2022
NYC Guide | Librae
November 14, 2022
NYC Guide | Bright Side Cafe
November 3, 2022
NYC Guide | Via Carota
October 20, 2022
Coffee Guide | Stumptown
October 10, 2022
NYC Guide | nonono
October 3, 2022
LA Guide | Breakfast by Salt’s Cure
September 22, 2022
NYC Guide | Via Quadronno
September 19, 2022
Coffee | Caffe Vita
September 8, 2022
NYC Guide | Court Street Grocers
August 29, 2022
NYC Guide | Fan Fan Doughnuts
August 22, 2022
NYC Guide | The Morgan Library & Museum
August 15, 2022
NYC Guide | La Bicyclette
August 11, 2022
NYC Guide | niconeco zakkaya
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NYC Guide | Colonia Verde
August 1, 2022
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July 28, 2022
NYC Guide | Patisserie Fouet
July 18, 2022
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July 11, 2022
NYC Guide | Le Crocodile
July 4, 2022
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June 27, 2022
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June 20, 2022
NYC Guide | Acre
June 13, 2022
NYC Guide | Land to Sea
June 9, 2022
NYC Guide | odo
June 6, 2022
NYC Guide | di an di
May 30, 2022
NYC Guide | Little Owl
May 26, 2022
NYC Guide | Homecoming
May 23, 2022
NYC Guide | Lion’s Milk
May 2, 2022
NYC Guide | Rule of Thirds
April 25, 2022
NYC Guide | Smør
April 4, 2022
NYC Guide | Kettl Tea
March 21, 2022
NYC Guide | Leif Shop
March 14, 2022
NYC Guide | Leo
March 7, 2022
Coffee Guide | % Arabica
February 7, 2022
NYC Guide | Dia Art Foundation: Beacon
January 29, 2022
NYC Guide | Danji
January 13, 2022
NYC Guide | Buvette
January 3, 2022
NYC Guide | Birds of a Feather
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LA Guide | dayglow coffee
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SF Guide | Boba Guys
October 4, 2021
NYC Guide | Milu
August 12, 2021
NYC Guide | 886
August 9, 2021
NYC Guide | Katz Delicatessen
July 12, 2021
Eat | Meet Fresh 鮮芋仙
June 24, 2021
TW Guide | Machi Machi 麥吉
June 17, 2021
Eat | Amorino
June 10, 2021
NYC | Davelle
June 7, 2021
NYC Guide | The Whitney
February 20, 2021
Eat + Shop | Eataly
December 24, 2020
shop | topdrawer
December 14, 2020
Coffee | Blue Bottle
December 10, 2020
NYC Guide | Butler
November 19, 2020
NYC Guide | The Elk
October 26, 2020
Drink | Pressed Juicery
September 14, 2020
Stay | Freehand Hotel
September 5, 2020
NYC Guide | Té Company
July 6, 2020
Paris Guide | Angelina
May 23, 2020
Coffee | Intelligentsia
April 20, 2020
Coffee | Café Kitsuné
February 20, 2020
Coffee | La Colombe
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