(grew up in astoria, did school in jersey, currently in seattle)
if youāre serious about being an entertainer / artist i do think you should probably eventually end up in new york or la (at some point, not necessarily forever)
new york is just unforgiving; itās cold and wet, half your paycheck is going to your landlord, and even though thereās an active and vibrant art scene thereās zero handholding if youāre just getting started - āgetting startedā in nyc means youāve been at it for 5+ years and are finally getting your flowers. itās harder to build community bc itās kind of like going to la and introducing yourself by going āi moved here bc i wanna be famous!ā yeah, you and everyone else here - too many people have that in common for it to be something to meaningfully connect on, there has to be something more substantive there
moving to seattle put this in perspective for me (and iām sure Iāll move back to new york bc itās home for me, but) the smaller the scene, the more excited theyāll be for newcomers, the more support youāll get on your first project, booking your first gig, etc. if itās in the cards for you to move to the city, you will, and itāll be incredible - if youāre not at that point yet youāre living in the most expensive city in the world to be proximal to other artists, but there are already artists in your city, and theyāre not necessarily gonna penalize you for being new to it
recently a lot of people move to new york to be consumers or to be adjacent to the āthe sceneā for their socials which is borderline malicious while thereās a housing shortage; itās literally taking someone elseās spot, whether theyāre *from* there, or at least there for a *reason*. new york has always had transplants so itās not becoming to say āno one should move there!ā but you just gotta ask yourself what youāre gonna get out of it, if itās worth the bill youāre gonna foot, whether youāll really be able to give back in a way thatās commensurate with what youāre getting
Mar 22, 2024
Related Recs
š«¶
hereās my misc thoughts lol iām no expert but this is from my POV as someone whoās lived here full time a bit and grew up visiting all the time. firstly, youāre def right that it is expensive ā nearly impossible to relocate to if you donāt have a job secured and arenāt rich. even moreso if you have never visited or have only done one super tourist-y visit--itās not just Times Square and Statue of Liberty (love her tho) rainbows and butterflies vibes lol.
like i seriously do not recommend moving here if you havenāt been to other boroughs, and neighborhoods outside of Midtown, SoHo, FiDi, UES etc. iāve never been to england so canāt speak to it bit you might find it helpful to look online for comparisons to cities youāve spent more time in - london and other cities in europe perhaps. consider if NYC would be that much more exciting or ābetterā for you?
also thereās a huge issue of influencers and people who wanna live here impulsively for fun that has driven up rent and driven out lifetime residents, esp working class folks and people of color. (lots of writing out there on the difference between moving to any city vs gentrifying one, and what one can do to not be complicit in the latter). and, my family is from here and i have always loved the city; i did get a job here after graduation but i really wouldnāt have moved here if i hadnāt.
so definitely come here intentionally, and arrive with a willingness to engage with your community! sometimes new residents who arenāt as acquainted with the ārealā new york and canāt afford apts in the more gentrified or historically wealthy areas (most of manhattan, some parts of brooklyn) have a misconception of the city, so they end up feeling awkward or āunsafeā where they live, and thus donāt give back to their neighborhood. itās veryyy weird that some people move here only to go to work, eat out and party on the weekends. (not saying this is you ofc! but just a general note).
the irony is that NYers get a bad rep for the mind your own business culture and realness--and yeah NYers arenāt āniceā, but people are kind. folks care about and actively help out their neighbors. i saw this in my own fam growing up! and as sinatra himself once said: āif i can make it here, iāll make it anywhere.ā it is a tough place to āmake itā for people without roots. but iād never deny that new york, for many of us, lives up to its reputation as the so-called greatest city in the world ;)
Aug 30, 2024
š
Iām from the midwest, moved to manhattan for college, stayed for a bit after, have recently moved to a few different cities, and have wished to be back living in new york ever since. Itās often talked about like a thrilling dreamā itās obviously not. But what I can say is that I think in many ways living there helped me grow into a person I really understand. I was listening to a podcast recently where this comedian brittany carney said something like living in new york slaps her in the face every day but she likes that about it so she stays. I think that was a pretty accurate way to describe it. It took me a while to feel comfortable living there, but I still remember the moment I realized that it had become my home, and ever since no home Iāve made for myself has felt quite the same.
Feb 4, 2025
š½
š decent living situation ā awful roommates, deadbeat landlords, or psycho neighbors will make you super miserable so try to get this one locked down!
š« homies ā making new friends can take a long time, but if you commit to putting yourself out there over and over youāll connect with some truly inspiring and amazing people
š¤ income (even a little) ā yes you can get by on dumplings, no Ubers, no bars, etc. but being broke here feels particularly like a prison because most things are stupid expensive. Be on your grind and then blissfully spend it all away
If you end up getting all 3 of these youāre probably gonna be hopelessly addicted to being here just like me. Welcome to NYC :)
Feb 21, 2024
Top Recs from @alaiyo
Mar 23, 2024
a treatise on the attention economy - checked it out on libby and got through it over the course of a work day, a lot of really interesting social and cultural explorations about how time itself is the final frontier of hypercapitalism and what decommodification of our attention and time should look like
the book starts with a story about the oldest redwood tree in oakland and how the only reason itās still standing is bc itās unmillable, and how being uncommercializable is essential to our survival. it ends with an exploration of alt social media platforms (mostly p2p ones) and what keeping the good parts of the social internet and rejecting the bad ones should look like
all in all a super valuable read; my only nitpick with the book is that odell isnāt just charting the attention economy but also attempting to āsolveā it and relate it back to broader concepts about labor and social organizing, but her background is in the arts which leads to some really wonderful references to drive the points home while also missing some critical racial + socioeconomic analyses that one would expect (or at least really appreciate) from the book she promises to deliver in the introduction. but this does also make the book easier to read which is good because everyone should definitely engage with what she has to say
will definitely be revisiting
Mar 25, 2024
