I'm considering taking a year off before I start grad school, and move to NYC. I'd like to be able to find a position there with a progressive design-oriented architecture office that will keep me stimulated. I will be graduating in May with a 4 year professional degree in architecture from Univ. of FL. I'm currently studying in Vicenza, Italy, and have not had the chance to visit any schools that I would like to apply to for grad school. I figure that 1 year will give me a chance to make a more educated decision as to where I should study. Also it will give me the opportunity to live, work, and play in a great urban environment; which to me is very exciting.
A little about my experience:
I have worked at an office for the past 4 summers in Orlando, FL on everything from schematic and conceptual drawings, physical and computer models to dd's, and cd's. I also have a pretty decent portfolio of personal studio work from school.
I have heard alot of discouriging things from people who tried to find a job before moving there. I would love to hear from anyone who has done the same move, or is in the same position as I am.
I'm considering just moving there after I graduate, and then look for a job.
I hate to be the one to rain on your parade, but...
- You have a 4-year professional degree in architecture? There is no such thing.
- I moved to NYC last year from Philadelphia, and found it almost impossible to get my foot in the door for interviews until I had a NYC address. (I actually did get a couple interviews before I moved, but living in nearby Philadelphia made it possible for me to take the train to NYC at a moment's notice to meet with somebody if needed.)
- In my experience, it seemed as if the vast majority of small architecture firms in NYC specialize in one or two markets, such as corporate interiors, banks, or retail design. Almost all the work was interior fit-out, with very little in the way of ground-up construction except for the larger firms, which seem to have no shortage of eager trust fundies lined up at their doors willing to work for free.
- The cost of living in NYC is obscene given the quality of life there. Unless you're one of the aforementioned trust fundies with mommy and daddy lending you their checkbook, be prepared to share a filthy, tiny apartment with people you hate in a rotten neighborhood, with an hour-long commute on the subway into Manhattan, and with car alarms and loud stereos outside your bedroom window every night. It will be quite the culture shock from Orlando.
After 9 months in NYC, my head was about to explode and I ended up moving to Oregon. Now I'm back home in Chicago, which IMO, has a much better quality of life and a much better design community than NYC.
All that said, there's something unique about NYC and I'm glad I had the experience of living there. There's even a few things about the city I miss a great deal. Just be aware that many young naive people go there with rose-colored glasses wanting the big city experience thinking it will be like a gient "Friends" episode, but get quickly burned out with grave consequences to their mental health. Others go there and find it to be the one place where they can really thrive. Your mileage will vary.
I found the contrary... I bought my plan ticket for my "move to ny" date - november 1st of last year the same time I bought my "find a job in ny" ticket October 14th. Sent out 12 portfolio samplers, got 6 interviews and 3 job offers. I brought my "move to NY" ticket and told them I already had a place to live.
Employers take that as a sign of personal ambition. Which is beneficial to any office.
They tend to take you more seriously if you are moving to NY. My boss said the main reason why he hired me is because he knew i'd be serious. He said most employers think that people outside of NY will work harder because they think you'll have some preconceptions about the office work ethic in NY.
Chicago? phhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhht.
NY is the best city in America as far as i'm concerned.
i'd never thought i'd say this but....if i were a young architect, i'd try LA or go west. NYC is a dumbly expensive city. unless you need an intense environment that will force you to focus and kick you in the arse with competition, it's not really worth sitting out the cost of living, the workaholic culture, the superficiality, etc. However, I must say the quality music/ art goings one here are definitely more interesting than in LA.
I love how intensely intellectual NYC can be compared to other cities in the states. I love how most of tha artists I meet here are so much more polished and serious than in LA. but at the same time, I can't help feeling that its hey day has passed. Delirious no more.
Actually, on second thought- if possible, I would just go to europe!!!!
am84:
I would say give it a try. Many of my friends did the same (years ago). Applied from home, came for interviews and then moved to the city. One of my friends was doing his undergrad at LSU, came for interviews before graduation got a job at Polshek and they even paid for his moving costs.
If you look around you could find somewhere to move in the East Village in a tiny place with one or two roomies.
Anyways, one thing to keep in mind is that if you want to start this next summer, I would recommend starting to look for a job before spring break since most of the NYC graduate students look for jobs during this period.
Don't be discouraged, is a great idea and a life experience especially for you.
Anyways, two friends of mine went to UF and they are doing great these days. They attended Columbia with me, but also came to the city a year earlier and it worked out for them.
So, good luck and start planning your moves now.
am84 means a Bachelor on Design from the School of Architecture.
am 84 you may know me, I graduated 2 years ago from UF. Anyway lots of my friends got good jobs in NYC and Boston. Many ended up working for Meier. Now they are in he big boy schools.
Good luck,
q
i think nyc is what you make of it...
i live in brooklyn..pay 900 a month in rent..it just went up this
year..i'd been paying 750 or so before that..i have a large
bedroom in a three bedroom place..ceilings are about ten feet
tall..hdwd floors...and i live right on prospect park...i know
plenty of people with fairly large places in brooklyn..and they're
not dirty and nasty as has been suggested...it's not manhattan,
but then again i can get into the city in four subway stops...usually
about a half hour/forty five minutes door to door...
i'm just about to start looking for my first 'real' job in nyc..i've
been consulting..so i don't know how that's going to go..but i
look forward to it. if i were to suggest a location to live i'd say
carrol gardens...it seems to have a good scene..and lots of art
with young people.
i'm a native bostonian..but there's not too many other cities in
the world ..and i don't know of any u.s. cities..that i'd rather
live in at the moment. later on i could see myself moving to
philly or l.a. but right now this is definitely where i want to be.
and as far as amenities and quality of life...nyc seems pretty
cheap to me...at least alcohol-wise for sure..but boston doesn't
have happy hours or buy-backs...here in new york your 3rd/4th
drink is almost always free...and i sat and watched football
yesterday drinking $2 pints of bass all afternoon.
Oh right, I also forgot to mention how arrogant and stuck-up the typical New Yorker is.
Actually, it's not even the natives that are particularly arrogant. It's the trendier-than-thou suburban kids who grew up on a country club in Connecticut and who suddenly think their shit doesn't stink because they're now paying $1500+ a month for an "artsy" (i.e., run-down and rat-infested) illegal loft conversion in Bed-Sty.
I would say take two years off instead of one. I am forever thankful that I have done so. It puts things in perspective and gives you more motivation, work ethic, and inrterests when you hit grad school. Also it is nice to have a bit of money saved away once grad school starts.
Definitely do New York for a bit. I'll second Crooklyn as well. Loved it there.
Actually, i'm a North Carolina Native who grew up in the straight edge hardcore scene and spent the summers surfing - not playing tennis and drinking gin like the trusties from CT you might have known.
My loft conversion is legal, we have a laundry room on our hall, a coffee shop, a bar, a organic food mart... there are no rats [xpt indie rats] and it's not Bed-sty, it's Bushwick.
Yeah and I pay $633.
Dont be pissed because you couldnt make it here dude. People who move here and cant make it get all pissed off at new york and new yorkers... get over it man.
I plan on moving to NYC from St. Louis with my girlfriend in August. Everyone talks about how expensive it is. My questions is, which some of you have touched on, why do I have to live in Manhattan if I move to New York? Do architects not live in Brooklyn or the Bronx? Is it not cool enough? If we took our rent, added car insurance, and price of car payments right now, it adds up to over $1200. Sell our car, you're telling me we can't find a decent place in NYC for around that amount? I'm sorry, but I think we can. That and I'll probably make 150% of what I make here. She will be attending Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville so we were thinking Harlem or something in the Bronx as a compromise for our commutes. I don't think NYC = downtown/midtown manhattan. I've never been to those areas other than for a Yankees game so maybe I'm naive. But I doubt it.
Brooklyn has its nice parts, but a commute from Brooklyn to/from the Bronx would be a killer. You'd basically be going from one end of the city to the other.
Some parts of the Bronx (i.e. Riverdale) are very nice, and you should also consider Inwood and Washington Heights. In general, the areas of those neighborhoods west of Broadway are much nicer than areas east of B'way.
Your best bet is to look at the subway map (www.mta.info) and live on a subway line that offers you a direct shot to work/school with a minimum number of transfers. Bonus points if it happens to be an express train.
In my experience, it tends to be people who moved to a city recently, that always tell you how their city is the best, and the other cities arent as good.
and that goes for NY, LA, Chicago, all of them.. anytime i meet someone who is so boastful of a city he lives in, i usually find out he also recently (1-3 yrs) moved there... so. of course theyre going to be still overwhelmed and in love with it, and people who live ther longer tend to realizxe their city is great, but not necessarily the best or special.. it reminds me of how when you first start dating someone you think they rule, but then you get tired of them after a while...
hotsies speaks the truth... Nobody has more zeal than a recent convert.
I've lived in Chicago, Philly, Boston, and NYC at various times. Each place has its own positives and negatives for me, and some were a better fit for me than others. My honeymooon period for Chicago lasted about 8 years, while my honeymoon period for NYC lasted about a month.
i never heard the expression "sand in their vaginas" before. is that a newyorkism?
i find this thread pretty interesting b/c i think it's a fairly common thing for architects to want to expand their horizons and move to "the big city" for a while. no practical advice since i never lived there but go fo it!
i did it in chicago and it was great. but it didn't take me 1-3 years to start complaining about the cold to anyone who would (or wouldn't) listen.
of course, i didn't move back to orlando (or, in my case, back to my hometown of fort worth) afterwards. i moved (back) to austin. and if you pay $2 for a PBR in austin you must be at one of those hipster kinda places that caters to people who come from new york. just try finding PBR at a real austin bar.
I think the point is, however, that if you want to go to NYC, it is not impossible as so many people make it sound, and it is worth the experience. Even if you hate it overall, there are so many things that you'll likely find little redeeming factors everywhere. And, I've never met anybody who has lived here, even those who have left, who regret it.
I second everything John says about Brooklyn. I lived there very briefly, and now I live in Long Island City/Astoria. I have to say that even though I get a bigger apartment in a safer neighborhood (sorry, but from what I've heard Bushwick isn't quite there yet), there are many things I miss about Brooklyn (like Gimme Coffee on Lorimer and Moto on Broadway). If I were in my 20s and/or single (I'm revealing too much about myself), I'd go for Brooklyn.
Don't overlook LIC/Astoria, though, especially if you work in Midtown, or if you can't have 3 roommates, but don't want to live in a shoebox.
i agree with John, defiantly go with Brooklyn. Sometimes you can find real gems my friend is paying $1,000 a month for a beautiful apartment in Park Slope right on 7th ave(very good area). There’s a lot of good night life over there as well.
for me and the honeymoon period..
a city is only as good as the friends i make there..
art, architecture and all that only go so far. my
honeymoon with boston ran out about the same time
as many of my friends moved away.
...personally
i've found nyc to be a far more friendly place than
boston...i've only lived here two years..but i've had
quite a few conversations with strangers..and it seems
to be easy to make friends...the dating scene is a bit
messed up though. too many options for everyone.
and if you're
asking questions about the subway..foggetaboutit...
new yorkers love to show off their knowledge of the mta.
Ahahaha...I'll take the bait. What JohnProlly didn't tell you is his rent is 1/8 of the total. He has a 3x3x6 coffin, where he spends his nights, awash in his own butt sweat and dreaming of a Connecticut socialites tweeters.
Just got back from the delirious corpse and found it to be even more stuck with yuppies and boring corpy cafes. If you do go there- do yourself a favor and skip the "big island". Brooklyn and South Bronx are way better and you'll still have dollars to live. NY was cool last century, but now its LA. We have the largest port in the US (2nd or 3rd in the world), the largest boobs, and comparatively cheap rents.
Also, if you are a young architect hungry to build, there is actually a ton of ground up work to be had. Downtown is booming with new high-rise projects and the central metro area is in the process of reinventing itself as a more walkable place.
I will give props to the NYC crew and note that if it's fine arts and book reading you are seeking then NY still is hands down the best. The archi-lectual scene does exist here in LA but you have to dig a bit to find it. The museums in NYC can't be beat though- I always say its a nice place to retire.
I also seem to remember a NY Times article that said Philly was the new "in" hood, so what the hell, stay where you are and make your own scene.
Read much? I have a large bedroom in a large loft. I have 3 bedrooms in a 1200 sqft loft with large storefront glazing, antique hardwoods and an antique tin ceiling. We each pay $600 - 633 a month, water included. We have a 20,000 sqft rooftop [where we throw parties], a cofee shop downstairs, a few bars on the block, a park, and a organic food mart. Not to mention all the late night crazyness. More than enough room for bikes, surfboards, desks and sofas...
You're a true-to-life dink to even compare LA to NY - they are two completly different systems.
If you love waiting in traffic, move to LA...
LA's culture is too "polished, fake and new" - everything is new and it's constantly flailing its arms before it drowns. "Lets get a gehry, a mayne, a maneo..." - "look what I can do with this program"
NY is more grounded in reality in many ways. And call me naive, but I like to think as architects we can have a critical eye of any environment and base our opinions after a shorter amount of time than the general public.
LA has a really shitty public transportation system and it's growing out, not up or in...
Philly has a TERRIBLE public transportation system. But tight shows and great hoagies.
Brooklyn is booming right now. I'm 15 minutes to union square, 10 to the E village, 20 to the front door of my office and 25 from the LES. I ride the subway to surf and ride my single gear to the city at night. To party on the LES.
am 84, if you think you want to go to NY, just go.
That way, you can find out for yourself, and you won't be sitting around in your adult diapers some day wondering how your life might have been if you had. If you don't like it, move to LA, or Philly, or London, or wherever. Then you can come on this forum and be a bitter old bastard and "rain on the parade" of all young people think they might want to spend some time here.
the one thing that you get in NY that maybe you don't get anywhere else in the US is a critical mass of accessible culture, high and low, expensive and cheap. and the frictions and tensions that come from 8 million people sharing the same city generate an edge and energy that you don't necessarily get when the sun shines 300 days a year and there's always room to park.
dude, johnprolly, since when was paying $633 and living in bushwick is "making it" in new york? i mean, if bushwick is success, what is failure? new york's great but, admit it, your treading water.
dude, johnprolly, since when was paying $633 and living in bushwick is "making it" in new york? i mean, if bushwick is success, what is failure? new york's great but, admit it, your treading water.
Carlito, um have you been to E Williamsburg? Or Bushwick? It's what soho was 20 years ago - what Chelsea was 10 years ago and the creative energy in my hood is amazing. I moved there for the space and the environment. I'm not treading water. I made a choice to live there, anyone that comes out to visit LOVES my hood so get off your number 6 UES train and suck it up.
what the hell does "making it" mean anyway? Sure I dont shop at Barney's or eat at Nobu everynight - last I checked, i'm an architect, not a lawyer. Clown.
Keep em coming people - the more you hate, the harder I laugh. Have fun driving home today fellas... I think i'll park my ass at our bar and drink Brooklyn Weisse and have a few laughs tonight.
but i think everywhere in the country PBR is priced at 2$.. its a cheap beer.
but bushwick is a shitty neighborhood... so the 1900$/mo for your 3 bedroom needs to be explained that way..nyc has pricey and cheap places to live. you can find a great space up by 254th street in the bronx and pay about 500$ for a 1000sf 1br.. but its not realyl a fun place to live.
anyhow. john, dont get offended because people come down on you. everyone loves to hate. me included.
but as someone who spent the first 16 years of my life in nyc, im glad to be out and dont think the "culture" there is any better than it is here in SF.
although there are more gallery owners there..
however.. since sex and the city and the rebirth fo peoples facisnation witn nyc... i think teh city sucks.. too much suburbs have moved back into it..
when you see union square these days and whats hapening to 8th street and houston.. it makes me sick
Dammson - try Craigslist, the AIA NYC page has job postings and www.core77.com - September is the ideal time to job hunt.
for living, depends on what you want. In the city, the Craigslist route can be frustrating, So you might want to get a broker. In BK and Queens, it's less competitive.
If you want a loft - most warehouse lofts have the numbers for the real estate offices right on the building.
When we found our place we just walked around the "art projects" area - found a bunch of numbers, called the landlords and looked at the places. We signed a lease that day. Moved in the next - it was really simple.
Again, avoid brokers unless you have NO OTHER choice.
Hotsies, maybe when you lived in NY Bushwick was dodgy - but in the past year, it's changed - a lot.
1200 sqft, with a laundry facility on our hall, new windows, new flooring, new appliances free water and free wireless t1 for 1800 isnt bad at all... Harlem is tooooooooo far from work and where I play. I never go above 25th st. I stay on the LES, Village or BK - something about baby strollers and yuppies make me sick - unless i'm at work. That's another story.
i live at 315 berry street, williamsburg. i'm a "clown" with a condo because i was sick of treading water.
when your neighborhood is like soho you'll be pushed out to the bronx. but, just to digress, i was in soho 15 years ago, and it was nothing like bushwick.
First off, my uncles have been here their whole lives. They've lived in Chelsea, LES, SoHo, ect - I said 20 years. My area of Bushwick [maybe we'll call it NoBro] - north of Broadway - is FILLED with art lofts, warehouses, ect - which is characteristic of SoHo 20 years ago. My uncles used to frequent the Dodgiest areas of the city during the drug and sex era and they love my area.
You're paying too much for that condo on Bedford i'm sure. And unless it's new, you're really paying too much for that shitty housing stock there. You cant beat large open spaces. A loft is a loft.
i was in NY and had to get off the subway at houston st.
(all y'all new yorkers have heard this one...)
but since y'all pronounce it something like "HOW-ston" i had no idea when the conductor announced it over the PA and i ended up at the staten island ferry terminal.
so, my only piece of advice that i can give is that houston the city and houston the street are not pronounced the same.
oh and there's nothing more tantalizingly asinine than some cocky "streetwise" white boy braggin' about how he slangs it in the hood. in chicago they used to call those people "statistics."
i was riding the el one day in chicago. it was after a cubs game and i was on the red line going south. there was this drunk white frat boy from louisiana who was all reprazentin and down wid it and he was letting the whole train know. there were -- oh, i dunno -- about 100 african-americans in our car who were pretty unimpressed. finally we get to north & clybourn, the stop by the then-infamous cabrini-green projects. white boy says something like "i can hang anywhere, y'alls".
the doors open and two black guys just casually push the guy out the door so hard you could hear what sounded like his chin hit the floor. they have a crate & barrel at n&c now but back then it was still pretty rough.
i often hear people talking about how downtown LA is like SoHo used to be..
but who said that anyhow? about bushwick and soho?
williamsburg used tob e a pilke of garbage, but now people seem to pay a lot to live there. so i can see how bushwick might have changed as well..things keep getting pushed out as more and more of NYC turns into yuppie land. which is fine.
i think in the end its silly to argue between cities. theyre all the same just some structural differences but the simliarities between places like SF, LA, NYC, CHI, etc far outnumber their differences....
at least you arent arguing that demoines, ia is the place to be!
I always dreamed of downtown Blythe, Az. as my goal for the easy life.
If you're looking for lots of space- now thats the place to be.
Hosties has the best point overall- most urban centers (be it NYC, LA, or Berlin) are pretty similar. They also each have their differences which make them appealing to a wide range of people. I think at the end of the day I'd be happy if I were in any large city, though the mid-west and South kind of freek me out.
I'd personally prefer 50 acres in Montana, but since the internet don't go there, and Cheney might be my neighbor, I'll stay here in L.A.
i know there was discussion of the term "ephemeral city" and its attendant article...a lot of "cool" cities in the US are little more than urban disneylands for the liberal offspring of effluent (oh, sorry, affluent) suburbs attached to soul-crushingly, heart-wrenchingly poor ghettoes that provide a steady stream of low-cost, low-profile labor to make up for the rampant governmental interventionism and overall macroeconomic moribundity. i'd personally take downtown blythe, arizona except that it's not in texas.
Moving to NYC?
I'm considering taking a year off before I start grad school, and move to NYC. I'd like to be able to find a position there with a progressive design-oriented architecture office that will keep me stimulated. I will be graduating in May with a 4 year professional degree in architecture from Univ. of FL. I'm currently studying in Vicenza, Italy, and have not had the chance to visit any schools that I would like to apply to for grad school. I figure that 1 year will give me a chance to make a more educated decision as to where I should study. Also it will give me the opportunity to live, work, and play in a great urban environment; which to me is very exciting.
A little about my experience:
I have worked at an office for the past 4 summers in Orlando, FL on everything from schematic and conceptual drawings, physical and computer models to dd's, and cd's. I also have a pretty decent portfolio of personal studio work from school.
I have heard alot of discouriging things from people who tried to find a job before moving there. I would love to hear from anyone who has done the same move, or is in the same position as I am.
I'm considering just moving there after I graduate, and then look for a job.
Any thoughts or reccomendations?
I hate to be the one to rain on your parade, but...
- You have a 4-year professional degree in architecture? There is no such thing.
- I moved to NYC last year from Philadelphia, and found it almost impossible to get my foot in the door for interviews until I had a NYC address. (I actually did get a couple interviews before I moved, but living in nearby Philadelphia made it possible for me to take the train to NYC at a moment's notice to meet with somebody if needed.)
- In my experience, it seemed as if the vast majority of small architecture firms in NYC specialize in one or two markets, such as corporate interiors, banks, or retail design. Almost all the work was interior fit-out, with very little in the way of ground-up construction except for the larger firms, which seem to have no shortage of eager trust fundies lined up at their doors willing to work for free.
- The cost of living in NYC is obscene given the quality of life there. Unless you're one of the aforementioned trust fundies with mommy and daddy lending you their checkbook, be prepared to share a filthy, tiny apartment with people you hate in a rotten neighborhood, with an hour-long commute on the subway into Manhattan, and with car alarms and loud stereos outside your bedroom window every night. It will be quite the culture shock from Orlando.
After 9 months in NYC, my head was about to explode and I ended up moving to Oregon. Now I'm back home in Chicago, which IMO, has a much better quality of life and a much better design community than NYC.
All that said, there's something unique about NYC and I'm glad I had the experience of living there. There's even a few things about the city I miss a great deal. Just be aware that many young naive people go there with rose-colored glasses wanting the big city experience thinking it will be like a gient "Friends" episode, but get quickly burned out with grave consequences to their mental health. Others go there and find it to be the one place where they can really thrive. Your mileage will vary.
I found the contrary... I bought my plan ticket for my "move to ny" date - november 1st of last year the same time I bought my "find a job in ny" ticket October 14th. Sent out 12 portfolio samplers, got 6 interviews and 3 job offers. I brought my "move to NY" ticket and told them I already had a place to live.
Employers take that as a sign of personal ambition. Which is beneficial to any office.
They tend to take you more seriously if you are moving to NY. My boss said the main reason why he hired me is because he knew i'd be serious. He said most employers think that people outside of NY will work harder because they think you'll have some preconceptions about the office work ethic in NY.
Chicago? phhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhht.
NY is the best city in America as far as i'm concerned.
i'd never thought i'd say this but....if i were a young architect, i'd try LA or go west. NYC is a dumbly expensive city. unless you need an intense environment that will force you to focus and kick you in the arse with competition, it's not really worth sitting out the cost of living, the workaholic culture, the superficiality, etc. However, I must say the quality music/ art goings one here are definitely more interesting than in LA.
I love how intensely intellectual NYC can be compared to other cities in the states. I love how most of tha artists I meet here are so much more polished and serious than in LA. but at the same time, I can't help feeling that its hey day has passed. Delirious no more.
Actually, on second thought- if possible, I would just go to europe!!!!
am84:
I would say give it a try. Many of my friends did the same (years ago). Applied from home, came for interviews and then moved to the city. One of my friends was doing his undergrad at LSU, came for interviews before graduation got a job at Polshek and they even paid for his moving costs.
If you look around you could find somewhere to move in the East Village in a tiny place with one or two roomies.
Anyways, one thing to keep in mind is that if you want to start this next summer, I would recommend starting to look for a job before spring break since most of the NYC graduate students look for jobs during this period.
Don't be discouraged, is a great idea and a life experience especially for you.
Anyways, two friends of mine went to UF and they are doing great these days. They attended Columbia with me, but also came to the city a year earlier and it worked out for them.
So, good luck and start planning your moves now.
am84 means a Bachelor on Design from the School of Architecture.
am 84 you may know me, I graduated 2 years ago from UF. Anyway lots of my friends got good jobs in NYC and Boston. Many ended up working for Meier. Now they are in he big boy schools.
Good luck,
q
i think nyc is what you make of it...
i live in brooklyn..pay 900 a month in rent..it just went up this
year..i'd been paying 750 or so before that..i have a large
bedroom in a three bedroom place..ceilings are about ten feet
tall..hdwd floors...and i live right on prospect park...i know
plenty of people with fairly large places in brooklyn..and they're
not dirty and nasty as has been suggested...it's not manhattan,
but then again i can get into the city in four subway stops...usually
about a half hour/forty five minutes door to door...
i'm just about to start looking for my first 'real' job in nyc..i've
been consulting..so i don't know how that's going to go..but i
look forward to it. if i were to suggest a location to live i'd say
carrol gardens...it seems to have a good scene..and lots of art
with young people.
i'm a native bostonian..but there's not too many other cities in
the world ..and i don't know of any u.s. cities..that i'd rather
live in at the moment. later on i could see myself moving to
philly or l.a. but right now this is definitely where i want to be.
and as far as amenities and quality of life...nyc seems pretty
cheap to me...at least alcohol-wise for sure..but boston doesn't
have happy hours or buy-backs...here in new york your 3rd/4th
drink is almost always free...and i sat and watched football
yesterday drinking $2 pints of bass all afternoon.
I mean, these LA kids who say NY is expensive or really competitive obviously have never lived here.
my rent is $633 for a large room in a huge loft in Bushwick [the staight gutter - LA wishes their warehouse communities were this "artsy"]
My office is laid back, full benefits, very "modern" - progressive.
I go out in BK where I can get a pint of Six Point for 4 bucks, a New Castle for 3, PBR for $2 or a 32oz Bud for $5 - which KILLS la's prices.
Everywhere I go, there is cross-genred culture [unlike LA where it is largely one demographic]
I dont NEED A CAR - cut down 500-600 a month there...
There are WAY more concerts, shows, ect to go to ... Apparat didnt go to LA.
Sorry, but NYC is the place to spend your 20's and 30's
Plus who the FUCK cares about west coast Rap?
718 718 718
Oh right, I also forgot to mention how arrogant and stuck-up the typical New Yorker is.
Actually, it's not even the natives that are particularly arrogant. It's the trendier-than-thou suburban kids who grew up on a country club in Connecticut and who suddenly think their shit doesn't stink because they're now paying $1500+ a month for an "artsy" (i.e., run-down and rat-infested) illegal loft conversion in Bed-Sty.
I would say take two years off instead of one. I am forever thankful that I have done so. It puts things in perspective and gives you more motivation, work ethic, and inrterests when you hit grad school. Also it is nice to have a bit of money saved away once grad school starts.
Definitely do New York for a bit. I'll second Crooklyn as well. Loved it there.
Wow dude you've just hit the nail on the head...
Actually, i'm a North Carolina Native who grew up in the straight edge hardcore scene and spent the summers surfing - not playing tennis and drinking gin like the trusties from CT you might have known.
My loft conversion is legal, we have a laundry room on our hall, a coffee shop, a bar, a organic food mart... there are no rats [xpt indie rats] and it's not Bed-sty, it's Bushwick.
Yeah and I pay $633.
Dont be pissed because you couldnt make it here dude. People who move here and cant make it get all pissed off at new york and new yorkers... get over it man.
I hope everyone appreciates sarcams... seems like some people get sand in their vaginas wayyyy too often.
I plan on moving to NYC from St. Louis with my girlfriend in August. Everyone talks about how expensive it is. My questions is, which some of you have touched on, why do I have to live in Manhattan if I move to New York? Do architects not live in Brooklyn or the Bronx? Is it not cool enough? If we took our rent, added car insurance, and price of car payments right now, it adds up to over $1200. Sell our car, you're telling me we can't find a decent place in NYC for around that amount? I'm sorry, but I think we can. That and I'll probably make 150% of what I make here. She will be attending Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville so we were thinking Harlem or something in the Bronx as a compromise for our commutes. I don't think NYC = downtown/midtown manhattan. I've never been to those areas other than for a Yankees game so maybe I'm naive. But I doubt it.
BROOOOKLYNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
if you've ever been to NY, you'll know that BK is just as cool / hip / artsy as, if not more than the city
Brooklyn has its nice parts, but a commute from Brooklyn to/from the Bronx would be a killer. You'd basically be going from one end of the city to the other.
Some parts of the Bronx (i.e. Riverdale) are very nice, and you should also consider Inwood and Washington Heights. In general, the areas of those neighborhoods west of Broadway are much nicer than areas east of B'way.
Your best bet is to look at the subway map (www.mta.info) and live on a subway line that offers you a direct shot to work/school with a minimum number of transfers. Bonus points if it happens to be an express train.
In my experience, it tends to be people who moved to a city recently, that always tell you how their city is the best, and the other cities arent as good.
and that goes for NY, LA, Chicago, all of them.. anytime i meet someone who is so boastful of a city he lives in, i usually find out he also recently (1-3 yrs) moved there... so. of course theyre going to be still overwhelmed and in love with it, and people who live ther longer tend to realizxe their city is great, but not necessarily the best or special.. it reminds me of how when you first start dating someone you think they rule, but then you get tired of them after a while...
hotsies speaks the truth... Nobody has more zeal than a recent convert.
I've lived in Chicago, Philly, Boston, and NYC at various times. Each place has its own positives and negatives for me, and some were a better fit for me than others. My honeymooon period for Chicago lasted about 8 years, while my honeymoon period for NYC lasted about a month.
Like I said before, your mileage will vary.
i never heard the expression "sand in their vaginas" before. is that a newyorkism?
i find this thread pretty interesting b/c i think it's a fairly common thing for architects to want to expand their horizons and move to "the big city" for a while. no practical advice since i never lived there but go fo it!
i did it in chicago and it was great. but it didn't take me 1-3 years to start complaining about the cold to anyone who would (or wouldn't) listen.
of course, i didn't move back to orlando (or, in my case, back to my hometown of fort worth) afterwards. i moved (back) to austin. and if you pay $2 for a PBR in austin you must be at one of those hipster kinda places that caters to people who come from new york. just try finding PBR at a real austin bar.
I think the point is, however, that if you want to go to NYC, it is not impossible as so many people make it sound, and it is worth the experience. Even if you hate it overall, there are so many things that you'll likely find little redeeming factors everywhere. And, I've never met anybody who has lived here, even those who have left, who regret it.
I second everything John says about Brooklyn. I lived there very briefly, and now I live in Long Island City/Astoria. I have to say that even though I get a bigger apartment in a safer neighborhood (sorry, but from what I've heard Bushwick isn't quite there yet), there are many things I miss about Brooklyn (like Gimme Coffee on Lorimer and Moto on Broadway). If I were in my 20s and/or single (I'm revealing too much about myself), I'd go for Brooklyn.
Don't overlook LIC/Astoria, though, especially if you work in Midtown, or if you can't have 3 roommates, but don't want to live in a shoebox.
"Sand in your vaginas" is something that we coined back home in NC - beachism
Bushwick is safe if you're a 6'2" dude. If you're a lil sceenie teenie girl, your ipod might get ganked.... renters insurance is a must.
i agree with John, defiantly go with Brooklyn. Sometimes you can find real gems my friend is paying $1,000 a month for a beautiful apartment in Park Slope right on 7th ave(very good area). There’s a lot of good night life over there as well.
for me and the honeymoon period..
a city is only as good as the friends i make there..
art, architecture and all that only go so far. my
honeymoon with boston ran out about the same time
as many of my friends moved away.
...personally
i've found nyc to be a far more friendly place than
boston...i've only lived here two years..but i've had
quite a few conversations with strangers..and it seems
to be easy to make friends...the dating scene is a bit
messed up though. too many options for everyone.
and if you're
asking questions about the subway..foggetaboutit...
new yorkers love to show off their knowledge of the mta.
Ahahaha...I'll take the bait. What JohnProlly didn't tell you is his rent is 1/8 of the total. He has a 3x3x6 coffin, where he spends his nights, awash in his own butt sweat and dreaming of a Connecticut socialites tweeters.
Just got back from the delirious corpse and found it to be even more stuck with yuppies and boring corpy cafes. If you do go there- do yourself a favor and skip the "big island". Brooklyn and South Bronx are way better and you'll still have dollars to live. NY was cool last century, but now its LA. We have the largest port in the US (2nd or 3rd in the world), the largest boobs, and comparatively cheap rents.
Also, if you are a young architect hungry to build, there is actually a ton of ground up work to be had. Downtown is booming with new high-rise projects and the central metro area is in the process of reinventing itself as a more walkable place.
I will give props to the NYC crew and note that if it's fine arts and book reading you are seeking then NY still is hands down the best. The archi-lectual scene does exist here in LA but you have to dig a bit to find it. The museums in NYC can't be beat though- I always say its a nice place to retire.
I also seem to remember a NY Times article that said Philly was the new "in" hood, so what the hell, stay where you are and make your own scene.
Read much? I have a large bedroom in a large loft. I have 3 bedrooms in a 1200 sqft loft with large storefront glazing, antique hardwoods and an antique tin ceiling. We each pay $600 - 633 a month, water included. We have a 20,000 sqft rooftop [where we throw parties], a cofee shop downstairs, a few bars on the block, a park, and a organic food mart. Not to mention all the late night crazyness. More than enough room for bikes, surfboards, desks and sofas...
You're a true-to-life dink to even compare LA to NY - they are two completly different systems.
If you love waiting in traffic, move to LA...
LA's culture is too "polished, fake and new" - everything is new and it's constantly flailing its arms before it drowns. "Lets get a gehry, a mayne, a maneo..." - "look what I can do with this program"
NY is more grounded in reality in many ways. And call me naive, but I like to think as architects we can have a critical eye of any environment and base our opinions after a shorter amount of time than the general public.
LA has a really shitty public transportation system and it's growing out, not up or in...
Philly has a TERRIBLE public transportation system. But tight shows and great hoagies.
Brooklyn is booming right now. I'm 15 minutes to union square, 10 to the E village, 20 to the front door of my office and 25 from the LES. I ride the subway to surf and ride my single gear to the city at night. To party on the LES.
I mean, people all have different opinions, but the dude DID ask about NY - where did all this other shit come from?
am 84, if you think you want to go to NY, just go.
That way, you can find out for yourself, and you won't be sitting around in your adult diapers some day wondering how your life might have been if you had. If you don't like it, move to LA, or Philly, or London, or wherever. Then you can come on this forum and be a bitter old bastard and "rain on the parade" of all young people think they might want to spend some time here.
what are some good resources for finding an inexpensive place and jobs?
This is why I always love it when this thread comes up...
You New Yukies generate enough steam to power all of the Lower East Side.
am84- go give it a try. Maybe all these diehards will help you out and make it an easy transition. Just be happy where ever you end up.
Craigslist.
Sorry. Craigslist.
second that -- every place has its partisans.
the one thing that you get in NY that maybe you don't get anywhere else in the US is a critical mass of accessible culture, high and low, expensive and cheap. and the frictions and tensions that come from 8 million people sharing the same city generate an edge and energy that you don't necessarily get when the sun shines 300 days a year and there's always room to park.
makes me kinda wish i'd spent a year there...
dude, johnprolly, since when was paying $633 and living in bushwick is "making it" in new york? i mean, if bushwick is success, what is failure? new york's great but, admit it, your treading water.
dude, johnprolly, since when was paying $633 and living in bushwick is "making it" in new york? i mean, if bushwick is success, what is failure? new york's great but, admit it, your treading water.
Carlito, um have you been to E Williamsburg? Or Bushwick? It's what soho was 20 years ago - what Chelsea was 10 years ago and the creative energy in my hood is amazing. I moved there for the space and the environment. I'm not treading water. I made a choice to live there, anyone that comes out to visit LOVES my hood so get off your number 6 UES train and suck it up.
Treading water... ha!
what the hell does "making it" mean anyway? Sure I dont shop at Barney's or eat at Nobu everynight - last I checked, i'm an architect, not a lawyer. Clown.
Keep em coming people - the more you hate, the harder I laugh. Have fun driving home today fellas... I think i'll park my ass at our bar and drink Brooklyn Weisse and have a few laughs tonight.
you shoudl shop at barney's more.
but i think everywhere in the country PBR is priced at 2$.. its a cheap beer.
but bushwick is a shitty neighborhood... so the 1900$/mo for your 3 bedroom needs to be explained that way..nyc has pricey and cheap places to live. you can find a great space up by 254th street in the bronx and pay about 500$ for a 1000sf 1br.. but its not realyl a fun place to live.
anyhow. john, dont get offended because people come down on you. everyone loves to hate. me included.
but as someone who spent the first 16 years of my life in nyc, im glad to be out and dont think the "culture" there is any better than it is here in SF.
although there are more gallery owners there..
however.. since sex and the city and the rebirth fo peoples facisnation witn nyc... i think teh city sucks.. too much suburbs have moved back into it..
when you see union square these days and whats hapening to 8th street and houston.. it makes me sick
Dammson - try Craigslist, the AIA NYC page has job postings and www.core77.com - September is the ideal time to job hunt.
for living, depends on what you want. In the city, the Craigslist route can be frustrating, So you might want to get a broker. In BK and Queens, it's less competitive.
If you want a loft - most warehouse lofts have the numbers for the real estate offices right on the building.
When we found our place we just walked around the "art projects" area - found a bunch of numbers, called the landlords and looked at the places. We signed a lease that day. Moved in the next - it was really simple.
Again, avoid brokers unless you have NO OTHER choice.
BK to the fullest, caps and bullets.....
Hotsies, maybe when you lived in NY Bushwick was dodgy - but in the past year, it's changed - a lot.
1200 sqft, with a laundry facility on our hall, new windows, new flooring, new appliances free water and free wireless t1 for 1800 isnt bad at all... Harlem is tooooooooo far from work and where I play. I never go above 25th st. I stay on the LES, Village or BK - something about baby strollers and yuppies make me sick - unless i'm at work. That's another story.
As far as the hate - most people don't know what they are talking about - that's ignorance.
i live at 315 berry street, williamsburg. i'm a "clown" with a condo because i was sick of treading water.
when your neighborhood is like soho you'll be pushed out to the bronx. but, just to digress, i was in soho 15 years ago, and it was nothing like bushwick.
First off, my uncles have been here their whole lives. They've lived in Chelsea, LES, SoHo, ect - I said 20 years. My area of Bushwick [maybe we'll call it NoBro] - north of Broadway - is FILLED with art lofts, warehouses, ect - which is characteristic of SoHo 20 years ago. My uncles used to frequent the Dodgiest areas of the city during the drug and sex era and they love my area.
You're paying too much for that condo on Bedford i'm sure. And unless it's new, you're really paying too much for that shitty housing stock there. You cant beat large open spaces. A loft is a loft.
i was in NY and had to get off the subway at houston st.
(all y'all new yorkers have heard this one...)
but since y'all pronounce it something like "HOW-ston" i had no idea when the conductor announced it over the PA and i ended up at the staten island ferry terminal.
so, my only piece of advice that i can give is that houston the city and houston the street are not pronounced the same.
oh and there's nothing more tantalizingly asinine than some cocky "streetwise" white boy braggin' about how he slangs it in the hood. in chicago they used to call those people "statistics."
i was riding the el one day in chicago. it was after a cubs game and i was on the red line going south. there was this drunk white frat boy from louisiana who was all reprazentin and down wid it and he was letting the whole train know. there were -- oh, i dunno -- about 100 african-americans in our car who were pretty unimpressed. finally we get to north & clybourn, the stop by the then-infamous cabrini-green projects. white boy says something like "i can hang anywhere, y'alls".
the doors open and two black guys just casually push the guy out the door so hard you could hear what sounded like his chin hit the floor. they have a crate & barrel at n&c now but back then it was still pretty rough.
people like to say lots of things are like soho.
i often hear people talking about how downtown LA is like SoHo used to be..
but who said that anyhow? about bushwick and soho?
williamsburg used tob e a pilke of garbage, but now people seem to pay a lot to live there. so i can see how bushwick might have changed as well..things keep getting pushed out as more and more of NYC turns into yuppie land. which is fine.
i think in the end its silly to argue between cities. theyre all the same just some structural differences but the simliarities between places like SF, LA, NYC, CHI, etc far outnumber their differences....
at least you arent arguing that demoines, ia is the place to be!
but it sure is fun.
"You can't beat large open space. A loft is a loft."
-JohnProlly
you heard it here, kids. put that one in the architectural textbooks under "bushwick architect with no repect for his own profession."
i said berry, not bedford.
I always dreamed of downtown Blythe, Az. as my goal for the easy life.
If you're looking for lots of space- now thats the place to be.
Hosties has the best point overall- most urban centers (be it NYC, LA, or Berlin) are pretty similar. They also each have their differences which make them appealing to a wide range of people. I think at the end of the day I'd be happy if I were in any large city, though the mid-west and South kind of freek me out.
I'd personally prefer 50 acres in Montana, but since the internet don't go there, and Cheney might be my neighbor, I'll stay here in L.A.
i know there was discussion of the term "ephemeral city" and its attendant article...a lot of "cool" cities in the US are little more than urban disneylands for the liberal offspring of effluent (oh, sorry, affluent) suburbs attached to soul-crushingly, heart-wrenchingly poor ghettoes that provide a steady stream of low-cost, low-profile labor to make up for the rampant governmental interventionism and overall macroeconomic moribundity. i'd personally take downtown blythe, arizona except that it's not in texas.
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