NYC Uncanned: prologue
NYC neighborhoods, to the non-New Yorker, can be mysterious and confusing things. For instance: as a kid I thought that the island with the red arrow pointing at it was Manhattan.
It’s not. It’s Long Island.
Also: This business of Boroughs vs. Neighborhoods vs. Other Cities Entirely was really confusing for the first year I lived here. Case in point: Long Island City. Neither a city nor on Long Island. Just a couple N-W stops in Queens.
And like fractals, the confusion about NY geography repeats on every scale. Convo with my recent NY transplant roommate -
Me: I’m doing some business with a company in the Hamptons.
R: Where are the Hamptons?
Me: Out on the tip of Long Island.
R: Where is Long Island?
Me: You know that big fish-shaped island on maps? That’s Long Island.
R: I thought that was Manhattan!
Me: I know, right? We sure are stupid. Anyways, it’s on the end of that thing.
Note that part of our ignorance can be attributed to the fact that we’re from Texas, where:
1. The idea that a place’s cultural importance would be inversely related to its size is unthinkable and wrong
2. The public school system combats knowledge at all costs.
So after a handful of years in THE CITY, I’ve come up with my own sort of off-the-record Fodor’s guide to New York. Stay tuned, little piglets.
