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[qrypt]

I'm about to take my first trip on the F train.  What should I wear if I want to get off at W. 4th St. and not have the locals stare at me contemptuously? 

[bacardiandlime]

Big hair, stonewash jeans...

[svenc]

I'm about to take my first trip on the F train.  What should I wear if I want to get off at W. 4th St. and not have the locals stare at me contemptuously? 

My father was born in Brooklyn.  I am offended by this question.

[prytania3]

The Village is now full of people working at hedge funds and private equity gigs--oh, except the movie stars and models. So cast off your artsy Brooklyn apparel and don casual designer wear. Anything from Barney's should suffice.

But oh, do I hate the F train. I used to commute on it from 7th Ave (Park Slope) to midtown. It was horrible. I was very lucky if I got a seat by Jay Street, but a lot of times I didn't.

[magistra]

Hah.  They'll all be too self-absorbed to stare at you.  If you block their way, however, they'll cheerfully walk over you.

Actually, Brooklyn's gotten cool.  It'll never be Manhattan, of course, but plenty of people wear Brooklyn with pride.

http://www.brooklynindustries.com/brooklyn/index.jsp?c=1009#top

http://www.everythingnyc.com/ftraintshirt.html

[dr_dre]

Just wear a big shirt that says "Bridge and Tunnel Loser."

Brooklyn sucks anyway, so who cares? Queens rules! Brooklyn drools.

[prytania3]

Hah.  They'll all be too self-absorbed to stare at you.  If you block their way, however, they'll cheerfully walk over you.

Actually, Brooklyn's gotten cool.  It'll never be Manhattan, of course, but plenty of people wear Brooklyn with pride.

http://www.brooklynindustries.com/brooklyn/index.jsp?c=1009#top

http://www.everythingnyc.com/ftraintshirt.html

Brooklyn is actually way cooler than Manhattan now. Except for Washington Heights, which rules all.

But most of Manhattan is full of rich white people and Eurotrash.

[magistra]

I used to live up up near Washington Heights, and I worked there.  God, I miss it.  It was one of my favorite parts of the city, and this was back before it was cool (or even on the map).  Walking to work was so much fun -- always something new.   And the best coffee in the world at all the little Spanish places.  And Wilson's had the best cinnamon rolls to go with it.

[prytania3]

I used to live up up near Washington Heights, and I worked there.  God, I miss it.  It was one of my favorite parts of the city, and this was back before it was cool (or even on the map).  Walking to work was so much fun -- always something new.   And the best coffee in the world at all the little Spanish places.  And Wilson's had the best cinnamon rolls to go with it.

I used to say I lived in Washington Heights, and I'd just get a blank look from people. Is that upstate? In the Bronx? Even WH isn't as cool as it used to be. Everyone from the upper West Side has moved there.

[thenewyorker]

c.com/ftraintshirt.html[/url]

But most of Manhattan is full of rich white people and Eurotrash.
[/quote]

This is completely not true.

And the F train is pretty great now. I get on at E. Broadway (all Chinese and Dominican except for a few poor white people like me) and I almost always get a seat. And lots of cute boys get on in Brooklyn, which makes my stop a pleasure to get on at.... :)

For 4th St you will need skinny (skinny) jeans that flatten out your ass. And a bicycle. There ain't no big hair or stonewash jeans to be seen.

This post is hilarious.

[thenewyorker]

Sorry. I mucked up the quote function somehow...

[prytania3]

c.com/ftraintshirt.html[/url]

But most of Manhattan is full of rich white people and Eurotrash.

This is completely not true.

And the F train is pretty great now. I get on at E. Broadway (all Chinese and Dominican except for a few poor white people like me) and I almost always get a seat. And lots of cute boys get on in Brooklyn, which makes my stop a pleasure to get on at.... :)

For 4th St you will need skinny (skinny) jeans that flatten out your ass. And a bicycle. There ain't no big hair or stonewash jeans to be seen.

This post is hilarious.
[/quote]

I said most, and it mostly is. And nobody can be that poor and live in Manhattan unless you've had an apartment for about a million years, are eligible for Section 8, or have housing.

Just because you live like you're poor doesn't make you so. It's called not getting much bang for your buck.

[infopri]

Manhattan is chock full of people who are neither white nor European, and most of them do not look rich to me, although it absolutely depends on the neighborhood.  I used to spend more time on the west side, near the theater district and the meat packing district, and folks definitely do not look rich there.  Now I spend more time on the east side, which does look whiter and more affluent.

West Fourth Street just looks like normal people, as far as "normal" goes anywhere in the city.  It's a big mix.

Qrypt, just dress in what makes you feel comfortable.  No one will stare at you.  Not because of your clothes, anyway.  :)

[thenewyorker]

c.com/ftraintshirt.html[/url]

But most of Manhattan is full of rich white people and Eurotrash.

This is completely not true.

And the F train is pretty great now. I get on at E. Broadway (all Chinese and Dominican except for a few poor white people like me) and I almost always get a seat. And lots of cute boys get on in Brooklyn, which makes my stop a pleasure to get on at.... :)

For 4th St you will need skinny (skinny) jeans that flatten out your ass. And a bicycle. There ain't no big hair or stonewash jeans to be seen.

This post is hilarious.

I said most, and it mostly is. And nobody can be that poor and live in Manhattan unless you've had an apartment for about a million years, are eligible for Section 8, or have housing.

Just because you live like you're poor doesn't make you so. It's called not getting much bang for your buck.
[/quote]

I still completely and utterly disagree. There are a lot (a lot!) of rich people. But there are also a lot of poor as well as working class people, too. It is a great mix of the affluent and not so affluent. You can be "that poor" and live in Manhattan. There is lots and lots of government supported housing that is not Section 8 (one of my friends lives in a Trump bldg through this program and pays $1000 for a two-bedroom, which is an impossible to find price theses days when one bedroom are near $2000) and there are still lots of rent controlled apartments (although they are disappearing fast). Lots of my students are on government assistance and they and their families live in Manhattan.
Above E. 95th is a lot of Mexican immigrants crammed into one bedroom apartments. They are not white or rich. Washington Heights is predominantly Dominican. Also not white and not too many are rich. Chinatown, ditto. Alphabet City (Avenues B, C and D anyways) is almost all Government Housing. They are hugely populated. Again, neither rich nor white. South of Madison Street is also all Projects.
And sometimes you live like you are poor, because you are poor. Yes, I can "choose" to be poor because I decided to go to grad school in a very expensive city. And I had to work lots of jobs, adjuncting while waiting tables, to do so. And I still live paycheck to paycheck. I can afford my place because whenever I leave (even for one night) I post my apartment on craigslist and rent it out like a B and B. A few days of this a month and it covers my rent. My neighbors do not have this option, of course. I am very aware that there is a huge difference between my "poor" and the "poor" of my neighbors.
I think that living in the city you see a very different mix of people than when you visit (no matter how often those visits may be.)

[dr_dre]

Poverty is obviously relative. Epodunk says the median household salary for NYC (Manhattan) is 38K. The Bronx is under 28K. All still below the national average of 42K.

All five boroughs are very segregated by class, to the extent that we're really talking about many different cities. Kew Gardens Hills and Hollis, for instance, share little in terms of demographics.