.

[paramount]

Scaredy that so called research was done in the UK thank you very much. Doesn’t apply in the US.

Definitely doesn’t apply to me, I’m a people person.

[bearishgurl]

[quote=6packscaredy]http://theweek.com/article/index/248281/its-not-your-imagination-bmw-drivers-are-the-biggest-jerks

not that this proves anything…but it is research…

the hypothesis was people who drive BMWs are actually jerks…[/quote]

What is the prevailing hypothesis from the “research” done on “blue-haired ladies” getting (18 mph over) speeding tickets in their aging Lexus sedan in the middle of nowhere?

http://piggington.com/one_for_bearishgirl#comment-231797

Actually, I’ve never met a box of hair dye … up close and personal, that is … at least not YET lol …

Just kidding, scaredy, you don’t have to answer that :=D

[FlyerInHi]

[quote=spdrun]
Downtown SD is the equivalent of parts of Midtown Manhattan or areas near Wall St. Great for business but deadski after hours.[/quote]

You have to look at context. People who’ve never experienced the city don’t understand it.

In NYC, people don’t want to live among huge buildings that take up full or even half city blocks. They want something to scale so they can walk past places varied and interesting instead of walk the length of a big building. But in San Diego, even downtown is based on the car. Like the Manchester Hyatt or the Marriott with huge driveways set back away from the sidewalk. Or the Grande condos. It takes like at least 20 minutes to walk to anywhere from those places. That defeats the purpose of living downtown.

[scaredyclassic]

i lived in midtown manhattan in the 80’s. it was hellish. trek down to the laundromat. drank beer on our stoop. cockroaches. slept in the living room for 400 a month.

wait, actually, it was fun. I forgot. it was totally fun.

[FlyerInHi]

NYC is a city that’s sucks for the middle class (by middle I mean people in the middle, not the professional class). Most people live in substandard housing that has not been modernized for 50 years.

The weather is rough on people. The subway is not airconditioned, has no restroom facilities. In winter eveything is damp and wet. In the summer, the humidity permeates into everything. The lack of laundry facilities in small apartments cause people to stink. Apartments have funny smells because people can’t easily replace old furniture.

It’s fun for young people and the fashionistas look good. But the city is rough on the body and that in turns saps the spirit. But if you have money, you can insulate yourself and enjoy the city.

[spdrun]

(1) Weather: depends on the summer. Apart from a week of heat-wave and a few days around Memorial Day, this summer has been amazingly pleasant. I haven’t actually used my A/C in a few weeks, and I woke up at night two days ago freezing my b@lls off. Temperature had gone down to about 55, which was interesting with floor-to-ceiling windows open and a ceiling fan blowing.

Winter can be amazingly beautiful if/when it’s snowing.

(2) Apartments: small washer/dryers are becoming more and more common. Laundries in the basement are also pretty common. Sometimes at cost, sometimes free especially in smaller buildings. I don’t think that people smell worse than in other cities, though on a hot day where people actually walk, you may have a point.

(The rental condo in SD also has a common laundry, BTW, no unit in the apartment)

Not sure what your point is about replacing furniture and stinky apartments. It’s not really any harder to replace furniture in NYC than in other places. If anything, cheaper since you have less of it, though you may need to pay someone to lug it up the stairs of a walk-up.

(3) Much of the “sub-standard” housing is actually pretty well-constructed and less problematic than stuff built more recently. Depends on the landlord, the management co, and/or the general type of building I guess.

[FlyerInHi]

In NYC people don’t have easy access to discount stores. It’s expensive to buy stuff in the city.

Funny smells come from old bedding, upholstery, drapes, clothing sitting around,, etc.. Humidity makes it worse. And in the winter you can’t open the windows to air out. You need central air, not only for cooling but for humidity control. Not a problem in SD, but it’s a must in humid areas. When people come home from a hot humid day and sit their sweaty asses on the sofa, it will stink, especially if the sofa is 10 years old.

NYC subway stinks. After the super storm, all the improvements of 30 years have been setback.

I’m a big fan of NYC and a frequent visitor. But it does have a funny smell like the big cities of Europe. It’s worse in the winter in Europe where they dry clothes indoors, not in dryers, but on clothe racks so the clothing absorbs all the household odors.

Let’s just be objective and admit the truth however unpleasant it might be.

Good solid construction can lack personal comfort and conveniences. The Americans who married European aristocrats would write home to complain about the discomfort of centuries old “well constructed” castles.

[spdrun]

Yep, the subway smells, I’ll give you that.

I’m not convinced that New Yorkers smell worse (or better) than the average American. Yes, central A/C in uncommon in residential buildings, but that’s pretty normal for the Northeastern US. It’s not really needed in winter, since if you take 35 degree air at 100% rh and heat it to 70F, you end up with about 25% humidity (aka too dry). You’ll get some water added from showering, cooking, perspiration, exhalation, but it will still be very dry inside — if anything, you’ll be more likely to need to stick a pot of water on a radiator to add humidity, not subtract.

Discount stores. Hmmm, IKEA in Brooklyn, H&M in several locations in Manhattan, there’s a Kohls in Queens, Target on 115th(?) St in Manhattan, Costco uptown as well, bunch of local, inexpensive hardware/houseware stores. Walmart is MIA, but that exists too in the NJ suburbs.

[paramount]

[quote=FlyerInHi]

I’m a big fan of NYC and a frequent visitor.[/quote]

New York City: Nice place to visit, wouldn’t want to live there.

Does that pretty much sum it up?

I wouldn’t mind living in Brooklyn though.

[paramount]

[quote=SDHopes]Update #2:

Thanks for all the advice!

We are now in escrow!

So happy to get out of here and back to San Diego where we belong![/quote]

We’re all happy too!!

BTW, you never really lived in Temecula – Harveston is “No Mans Land”.

Not quite in Temecula, not quite in Murrieta.

[FlyerInHi]

As a frequent visitor to NY, I know what i’m talking about. I get away and come back and I can tell. Even the hotels smell different. Not talking about the top hotels, but “affordable” hotels such as hotel Pennsylvania and Milford have that old smell.

My friends in NYC will never move away but they bitch constantly about their apartments. Housing is so expensive there that it’s an obsession.

I’ve been to old town houses worth millions. But there are weird stuff such as jury rigged bathrooms additions where you have to step up 6 inches because someone poured in concrete to cover the added pipes.

Yeah, old is beautiful when it’s done right. But the weird stuff added over time just don’t work. Oh condensating dryers that don’t have air exhaust don’t work worth a crap. Small washers don’t wash blankets and comforters. So guess what? They stink.

It’s not that it’s unbearable. But it just doesn’t feel clean.

Hawaii and Florida have different smelsl too. As soon you as you land you can smell the humidity. HNL more noticeable because the airport is old.

Dry climates like San Diego, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Vegas are smell neutral.

The main point is that it’s not easy for a middle class family to make it in NYC. running around to support a family in NY is exhausting.

NYT has picture of Bloomberg covering his nose in subway.

[spdrun]

Haha, this is turning into a debate about NYC, when I was just using parts of Manhattan as examples of similarly boring areas to downtown San Diego.

(And yes, most people wash their blankets and pillows — going to the Chinese laundry down the street or to the big washer in your building’s basement once every month or so isn’t a huge deal. Also, none of my friends’ apartments in San Diego actually have washers and dryers in the apt itself. They’re generally in a common laundry room — or nonexistent in the case of my friend’s old rental cottage in PB — she had to go to the laundrymat once a week.)

[The-Shoveler]

I have only been through the Airport in NY but I think I would like to visit the City someday.
I have been to Sydney and Brisbane and Melbourne, Beijing & Shanghai and a lot of other cities in China, even spent a few months in Shanghai) and numerous cities in Europe, USA (too many to figure out).
(even HNL several times).
But never NYC,
Only two things I can say
1)Visit them when you are fairly young (younger the better), (when your old it’s to late to reach the top of the Buddha).
2)I don’t want to live in a real city, they are fun to visit but they are not for me (to each their own here).

[FlyerInHi]

Haha..
You have to understand the desirability of new places such as Temecula. 6pack is right that Temecula sucks less. But I’d add that it doesn’t wow more either. Kinda blah.

Temecula doesn’t suck for the average person.

Spd, your friends in SD are the exception rather than the rule. Point being that if you don’t have conveniences Inside your home, it takes more effort to achieve the same goal. Either you put in more effort or you do it less or not at all.

If you got 2 kids, you don’t have time to go to the laundromat. And the costs add up quick.

[spdrun]

FlyerinHI, um, you either drop off laundry on the way to work and get it back dried and folded when you get back (Chinese laundry, not laundrymat) or you take it to the basement of your building, same as doing wash in your own house. Either way isn’t terribly time intensive.

Yeah, there’s the 0.001% risk that someone will steal your clothes, but that’s pretty rare so there’s no real need to sit there and watch your clothes spin.

[Author]

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