Post: #1

After much contemplation, but still more to consider, I'm considering moving to NYC in the Fall.

I recently had lunch with Slubu and his tales of sexy models streaming down the street in heels during lunch hour, has left my mouth open with drool. Here in LA we have chicks in Uggs and sweatpants barreling down the sidewalk.

I'm weighing my options with staying in LA, but the east coast is calling. I also had some immediate family recently move back to the East Coast, so that's also in play.

For you cats who live there, I'd like some advice if you'd be so gracious to offer it.

I know that the biggest expense in NYC is rent/mortgage, so most of my questions will be pertaining to this.

Loft/Logistics

Requirements:

-Safe neighborhood (I have no desire to be in an 'up and coming neighborhood'.)

-Logistically excellent for nightlife. I would like to be extremely close to a top club or two.

-More than likely I would put my cars in storage, and just Uber/taxi/subway it, so parking isn't an issue.

-Doorman

-Elevator in the building. With my pack a day habit I can't be hiking up multiple flights, plus I get lazy when I'm suited up.

Rent:

I am not planning on buying, but my rent budget is $4-4,500 a month. If it's an ideal spot with a doorman, logistically great and has solid amenities, then would possibly pay up to $5k/mo.

I spend a great deal of time at home, so I would rather spend more and be comfortable, then skimp and be miserable.

It's NYC though and even that doesn't go too far.

Based on that, what neighborhoods/specific buildings do you guys recommend?

Lastly, can any of you break down roughly what an average gym membership at a decent gym is?

Thanks gents.

Post: #2

Sending you a pm.

Post: #3

Meatpacking District, East Village, and Midtown West seem to fit this well. I can't tell you anything about gym memberships or specific buildings, though.


The website below has plenty of data for each specific areas of cities and does a good job with New York I think.

http://www.city-data.com/

Post: #4

After listening to your podcasts and reading your shit, I would see you like a pea in a pod in the Meat Packing/West Village area.

That's where the highest concentration of models are, a lot of the high end clubs, and swarming with taxis.

Post: #5

Christian,

Equinox is $160ish for single club membership and $200ish for all club membership.

Based on reading your blog for the past year, my guess is that you belong in the one of the following:

1) Meatpacking district (or close by West Village), somewhere near Dream Downtown / Avenue
https://www.google.com/maps/place/The+St...96ba9da92a

You are also close to the Jane Hotel as well as Standard Hotel, and other places I don't even want to mention on the forum.

2) SoHo, which will put you closer to Nolita, East Village, West Village, and even Lower East Side. You'll be a bit further from the clubs in the MP but will have more access to a variety of bars/clubs. SoHo is primed for lots of day game. As for the Lower East Side, Slubu and I do most of our damage at Hotel Chantelle, which is on Ludlow and Delancey.

$4-5k is gonna get you a dope 1 bedroom or even a decent 2. $5k will get you a nice big loft in certain neighborhoods too but others will have more info on that.

Honestly, NYC is small enough that if you live downtown between Canal and 14th, you are gonna pull and have great logistics at that price range. Almost everything will be safe unless you next to a project. Even those I've never had a problem with.

PM me if you have specific corners / streets you want info on. You could hire a broker too(give 1-1.5 month rent fee to them). They will have access to way more listings than craigslist and have the connects. You could also just take a week here and walk around the neighborhoods and go directly inside luxury buildings that you see, and ask for openings, and possibly bypass the broker.

Here is an example of a $4500 apt off of Jane Street near the Jane Hotel: http://www.nakedapartments.com/apartment...4-6J8UkiUm This might be 100 Jane Street and is a 3 min walk from The Standard Hotel, and less than 10 minutes to Avenue and PhD at Dream Downtown Hotel.

Post: #6

I think Clint covers this exceptionally well. I don't think much more needs to be added, really.

Feel free to shoot me a PM as well if there's a specific block/street you want some info on.

Post: #7

Good breakdown Clint. I also got your PM, thanks.

Post: #8

Yeah man no prob. Hope it helps.

I was in LA this past wknd on the way back from a Hong Kong work trip, which I will provide a report on soon. The weather in LA was awesome, as it usually is.

Hit up the Bungalow in Santa Monica Fri night. We got bottle service for our mixed group but it was more about catching up. I did walk around a few times but no dice. Some lookers but tough crowd with lots of dudes. Lots of cliques too.

Sat night got a hotel at Ace in DTLA and just kicked it there all day and night. The rooftop is pretty dope. It was for my best friend's birthday and I had to hold court with all of our friends that I never see, so I didn't really get to game all that much. That said I brought some girls back to our loft room at the Ace but I couldn't isolate. There was one of me and a group of 7 and I let them drink the $15 bottle of Cava I had in the fridge. Oh well...

LA def has a different vibe. I saw lots of sexy girls but didn't really put in enough time or attention to see if my NYC game translates favorably out in LA. It's been almost a decade since I moved away from SoCa. Maybe one day I'll move back. Not this day though.

I'm having too much fun here in NYC...

(07-03-2014 12:38 AM)Christian McQueen Wrote:  Good breakdown Clint. I also got your PM, thanks.

Post: #9

Equinox is amazing. You can pay to get a bag for your locker and overnight they'll clean any stanky clothes you have in there. No reason to bring gym clothes anymore.

Post: #10

Another definitive endorsement for Equinox. I wrote about my great experience (and bang) with it in one of my NYC trip reports.

Post: #11

Well, there goes my liver.

Post: #12

McQueen, take a look at Williamsburg. On the one hand, it's the mecca for short haired dirty hipster pussy, and then you've got the Satmar hasidim to kick it with post-bang. For those times when you want to have some time away from women, the Satmars got you covered, with buses that segregate the men from the women. Unbeatable combo.

To slubu: And your lungs, your wallet, your sleep...

Seems like most LA forum members I've met more than once has either left LA, is planning to leave LA, or only uses LA as a home base between travels.

Post: #13

I would disagree on picking The meat packing district though. Overpriced, overhyped, artificial and packed with tourists. Staying there is kind of like staying in Times Square. Great for having a bustling area outside your door but ultimately a short-term prospect.

My pick.
These are all, unless specifically accentuated, safe areas.

1. West Village
Pros
*Very safe
*Great restaurants, bars and nightlife,
*Best game logistics in town (this is my deal sealer)

Cons
*Expensive
*Highest percentage of gay residents (if that bothers you)

2. Chelsea
Pros
*Close to all the cities happening nightclubs while still keeping the bustle at distance
*Best day game areas in the country(?) - High Line, FIT, Chelsea Market

Cons
*Lots of construction around with entire blocks being made into modern high-rises
*Touristy

3. Gramercy Park/Flatiron District
Pros
*Best universal logistics in town. You can be anywhere that matters in the city in 15 min.
*Reasonably priced for Manhattan

Cons
*More urban/businesslike than the other options

Disclaimer: No I don't live in NYC but I have visited and lived in the city for a total of over 5 months during my lifetime spread out over a half dozen areas of Manhattan.

Post: #14

I would also throw Tribeca out there. It's a little quieter, but 5 minutes to MPD and WV.

If I could live anywhere in the city on a 4-5/k month rent budget I'd choose WV. There is everything. Gyms, restaurants, local bars, clubs, late food, lots of subways, an appealing address, neighborhood feel. Everything.

Post: #15

CMQ - I suggest coming out for a long weekend or even a week to check out the MP clubs and see if you want to live right next to them. If not, then I agree with the others about West Village, or even Soho for the great shopping traffic and access to EV/LES.

Slubu - your liver will be destroyed this holiday wknd. And then in Estonia, which is gonna rock.

Post: #16

CMq in West Village would be a slaughter. I can already picture rows of spikes with every girl's leave behind item impaled for them to retrieve. You can probably roll out of bed dressed like The Dude and pull girls from the milk aisle.

Post: #17

Curbed Comparisons is nice to get an idea of the areas.

Most of the fun in Manhattan is below 14th street and for nightclubs that means west for the most part.

The only trouble could be to find a doorman, that area is unlike the Upper East Side.

Post: #18

Yeah why do you need a doorman McQ?

If it's for the packages I can understand if your business gravitates around fedex/ups but if it's a security that's really not a concern anywhere lower than 100th st or so.

Post: #19

Like the guys have said, West Village is your best option for a place to stay. As far as gym memberships go, it depends on how much you want to spend, I would say its probably $75-100 a month is what you can expect for a decent gym, and then closer to $150-200 for the nice ones. PM me if you want to go into more specifics.

Post: #20

I'm curious why you guys think w village is so good for logistics.

In the w village it seems like girls get completely lost and are often really late (since there's no grid system). it happens to me too sometimes after too many drinks

The best thing i can think of for the w village is the path train. it is like a river that brings hot easily impressed jersey girls to your apartment. but that works for w village up to 23rd st.

E village is great for girls coming into the city for most parts of brooklyn.

Post: #21

(07-03-2014 09:26 AM)Vicious Wrote:  3. Gramercy Park/Flatiron District
Pros
*Best universal logistics in town. You can be anywhere that matters in the city in 15 min.
*Reasonably priced for Manhattan

You should also include union square in this bucket

Post: #22

"Yeah why do you need a doorman McQ?"

^I used to have one in my old spot and the guy was like McGyver.

Obviously you spend more in the course of the lease + tips, but you also get what you pay for. My old doorman was like Michael Caine's character to Bale in Batman. I took care of him very well and in turn I could do whatever the hell I wanted plus he always had whatever I needed when I would come home at 3am.

I like that convenience and am willing to pay for it. It's not a safety concern.

Post: #23

"Yeah why do you need a doorman McQ?"

^I used to have one in my old spot and the guy was like McGyver.

Obviously you spend more in the course of the lease + tips, but you also get what you pay for.

My old doorman was like Michael Caine's character to Bale in Batman. I took care of him very well and in turn I could do whatever the hell I wanted, plus he always had whatever I needed when I would come home at 3am with a chick or two in tow.

I like that convenience and am willing to pay for it. It's not a safety concern.

EDIT: instead of tipping everyday for minor shit, I had an arrangement with him from the jump that after he got his paycheck from the company he would come to me to get his 2nd 'paycheck' in cash. This way I had ridiculous control and first priority over the other tenants. He was a smooth ole G so it worked out.

Post: #24

"Well, there goes my liver."

Alcohol is good for you.

"CMQ - I suggest coming out for a long weekend or even a week to check out the MP clubs and see if you want to live right next to them."

Yea I agree, I can't move without physically checking places out first. Have to know what I'm getting into.

Post: #25

(07-03-2014 09:26 AM)Vicious Wrote:  I would disagree on picking The meat packing district though. Overpriced, overhyped, artificial and packed with tourists. Staying there is kind of like staying in Times Square. Great for having a bustling area outside your door but ultimately a short-term prospect.

^^^^
Yeah this. Haven't lived in NYC for several years but this was my first thought on the MPD. So much 'bridge and tunnel' and tourists and a lot of places that look ok from a distance but actually suck. It's been 5+ years since I've gone out down there though so maybe it got a little better?

I liked living in the Gramercy/Union Square area a lot bc you could jet downtown in like 5-10 minutes tops in a cab and also shoot uptown to the park pretty quick too on the weekends.

FYI Chelsea has a massive proportion of gays too and they can dominate certain areas like in the West Village.

In all my years in NYC I felt like I almost never went out above midtown and even then it was just usually after work drinks on the way downtown, so any of the other areas on Vicious' list will be cool I'd say. Could add in the western part of the LES too I think.