Hi Everyone,

I am new to Fodor, but have been reading some of the forums and everyone seems very knowledgeable and helpful so I thought this would be a great place to post. I will be moving from Atlanta to New York soon (in the next couple of months, as soon as I finalize the plans), and am taking a trip to explore the city September 29 – October 3. This will be my first visit to NYC, so I have a lot to learn (and quickly)!

The move is sort of a career change for me, and I will be taking a temporary pay cut so my exploration trip has to be somewhat frugal. I would really love to hear from locals and experienced visitors to the city with any suggestions you have for the best ways to explore the different neighborhoods and get the feel for being a local. I will be staying on the Upper East Side (very east, 1st Ave). So far, the only real plan I have set is a show at Joe’s Pub on September 29, my first night there. The neighborhoods I am most interested in exploring as places I think would be a good fit for me are the Lower East Side, Upper West Side (maybe Morningside), and the area where I am staying on the far east Upper East Side. If anyone has any suggestions on great restaurants in those areas, anything in particular I should see there, etc…, I would be very grateful.

Also, I don’t want to spend a lot of time on tourist type things, but if you could suggest just one or two things that wouldn’t take an entire day but would be worth seeing/doing, what would those be?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Some very typical NYC things you can do tat don;t take a ton of time are

Top of the Rock for an overview
Explore a little of Central Park
Spend an hour or two in your favorite departments of the Met
Take the free Staten Island ferry

Not sure what you mean by taking a temporary pay cut, but the areas you're looking at are not inexpensive. Don;t know if you've looked at the real estate market at all - and what the requirements are to rent (assume you will rent) - unless you will be an add-on to someone else's lease. (Typically you have to prove steady job history, demonstrate income sufficient to pay rent and have a good credit history.)

If you're an add-on, make sure it's legal or you have no recourse if a problem arises. A young woman in my office moved into the empty half of a shared apartment and each month gave her rent to the woman on the lease. Turns out the woman wasn't paying the rent - just pocketing the money. So several months into the lease the woman in my office came home one day to find herself locked out of her apartment - an eviction notice on the door - her belongings in the hall - and the "roommate" nowhere to be found.

Luckily she had grown up in the area and was able to get her belongings in a storage unit and stay with her family until she found another place.

I'm up in Hamilton Heights which is the fastest gentrifying area of the city and the largest growth of people moving IN to the area. There are lots of shops and restaurants and 2 train lines that can get to to midtown in 20 minutes, sometimes faster.

There are some nice buildings and apartments in the area, and there are a couple of apartments in my building empty if you are interested.

The area is pretty safe, lots of people on the street all the time, and I have t so say my neighbors actually look out for me, lol.

Let me know if you would like a tour of the area and I'd be glad to help.

Do you realize that it may be very difficult to rent an apartment before you have a job? Many landlords require your pay be a certain multiple of your rent. I would say before worrying about which neighborhood you'd like to live in, you should get a job. If you already have a job, where it is and subway connections should play a big role in what areas would work best for you.

menupages.com is one way to do some restaurant research on your own by area and cuisine. Nymag.com/realestate has descriptions of areas and highlights in each. While some of the info may be dated, it's a place to start. There's no better way to learn an area than by pounding the pavement.

There will be time to learn NY. I would spend time visiting various neighborhoods where rents are in your price range.

I would concentrate on Brooklyn and Queens.

Thanks to everyone for the info and advice. I think my original post may have been a little misleading. While I do not want to spend a fortune on this particular trip, I am not exactly broke, nor am I unemployed. I am an attorney in Atlanta and I have a job that will transfer to New York (the career change is to incorporate my artistic/creative interests as well, which is also the reason for the move). The temporary pay cut is while I sit for the NY bar exam, but it definitely won't leave me destitute. After that, I will be making more than I am here, so that is not a concern. I mostly want to make sure that the areas I am interested in exploring are a good fit for me.

I will definitely check out menupages.com for info on some restaurants to try on this trip. I will be staying with friends this time, but they are working and I will be on my own for a good bit of the time. I am really looking forward to just getting out and walking the neighborhoods. That is the point of this trip, really.

Travelbuff, Hamilton Heights is an area I haven't really investigated much (mostly because I have been going off of the advice of friends who have not visited the area lately). I will add it to my list of places to walk around and explore. Thanks!

Well, being an attorney will be a help - but when you apply for an apartment they will still want to see an income that is many multiples of the rent. And a one bedroom in a moderate building (not brownstone walk-up) in the areas you're looking at will start in the area of $3000 per month (because the economy is somewhat depressed).

and the location you're working in will matter significantly. A subway commute within Manhattan can be 10 minutes or can be 45 - and if you're VERY far east - you can easily be a 10 minute walk just to get to the subway.

You should know where you'll work and plan the commute before deciding on an area to live in.

I'd suggest walking around the neighborhoods you are interested in at different times of the day/night-within reason. That will give you a good sense of whether the neighborhood suits you. Neighborhoods can take on different feels during the day/night and weekends.

Distance from the subway is a big consideration especially in the winter months. A 10 minute walk can feel like a long walk when it is 20 degrees outside. The upper east side is served by only one subway line the IRT (4,5,6). LES mainly the F train, Upper West: 1, 2, 3 and B,C trains.

The neighborhoods listed are very different from each other depends on whether you like the Uptown vibe or the Downtown vibe, quiet vs bustling, traditional vs trendy, etc. So perhaps spend a full day in each of them, walking around, checking out the shops, restuarants and nightlife.

For Upper East side: Museum Mile from 82-105 st (the Met, Guggenheim, Whitney Museum (on Madison Ave),El Bario) Bloomingdales, Walk along Madison Ave where most of the high end stores are located on the upper east around the 70s. For Food, pick any of the hundreds of restaurants and cafes that look interesting.
A good neighborhood guide can be found here: http://nymag.com/realestate/articles.../uppereast.htm

LES still has some of its old NYC charm like Katz;s deli, Russ and Daughters, and it is also has a thriving nightlife. You will also be close to other downtown neighborhoods, like Soho, East Village, and Nolita with trendy boutiques, art galleries
LES Guide: http://nymag.com/realestate/articles...ereastside.htm

Upper West Side: Guide is here: http://nymag.com/realestate/articles.../upperwest.htm

Are you going to try and get a job as paralegal until you pass the bar?

Are you changing legal specialities also?

Are taking a NY Bar course?

You should be aware that the article onthe upper wet side is from 2003, so although the prices are lower now that they were at the height of late 2007, those quotes probably aren;t realistic now. Also - the area near Columbia they're listing as still a bargain hasn't been for years - you need to go much further north into Harlem or Washington heights for better prices.

I hope you have a good set up with your future employer such that your pay increase comes after you pass the bar exam, not after you become a member of the bar. The New York Bar results (assuming you take it in February) won't be out until May, and (unless this has changed, and given the costs to the State, I don't know why it would) the only notice you get is that you have been certified to the local department of the Supreme Court Appellate Division that you have passed.

AFTER that, you have the background check process and only upon passing the background check will you become a member of the Bar. When I took a July bar, I learned results in late November and had the background stuff completed and my swear-in in mid-March the next year. I'm guessing that in Georgia you passed your background check before you even sat for the exam. When I took the NY exam, NY had more people FAIL than Texas had folks who sat for its test, so NY saved the background check expenses on the 2000+ stiffs who bonked the test.

And the New York bar is a beast. If you're not taking a bar course, you're daft.