The Anti-Tourist
 

In keeping with a companion topic what would a NY'er do, that a tourist may not necessarily do?

Wait patiently behind someone who was fumbling with his MertroCard or ATM card
Wait for the light to change
Take the Hop On bus
Eat at Carmine's, Ellen's, or Tavern on the Green

Sorry for not editing the introductory sentence correctly.

Good thread, Aduchamp1.
My contributions:
*Gawk at the Naked Cowboy
*Play 3-card monte
*Get up at 4 a.m. to get a good spot for the Today show

Go anywhere near Union Sq.

Worry about what they are wearing makes them look like a tourist.

Stand on sidewalk and meekly raise finger to hail a cab.

Complain loudly about prices.

Take a carriage ride through Central Park.

Stroll through Tiffany's with H/M shopping bags and ask salesman, "How much does that diamond ring go for, Bud?"

Go to FAO Shwartz and ask where the giant piano keyboard from "Big" is.

Eat at Lindy's or Rosie O'Grady's because their cousin ate there on a trip to NYC in 1972 and said they were great places.

Stand on E. 59th St and ask everyone who walks by if they know where Hard Rock Cafe is.

Fat Lady

Keep em coming, these are hillarious.

Stand still in the center of the sidewalk looking up

Try to walk 3 or 4 abreast

Go anywhere near Madame Tussaud's (unless under the age of 12)

Eat at a chain restaurant (not fast food - but the mall chains)

Make a dinner reservation for 5 in the afternoon, or eat dinner at 5 in the afternoon

Stand IN a line

Identify a subway line by color

Call 6th Ave the Avenue of the Americas

Ask what restaurants serve dinner late when you want to eat at 9pm

Wear shoes that you can't walk a mile in (unless with evening wear)

Go to How-stin Street

Think a Sara Lee Bagel is better than anything they have eaten here

Say on the subway, "We're like sardines in here." or at Grand Central Station, "This place is like Grand Central Station."

Try to visit the Bastille. (Sorry, wrong city.)

<i>Go to How-stin Street</i>

OK, I'm pretty NY savvy, having grown up there and visited since many many times. But I don't get this one. Isn't "How-stin" the correct pronunciation?

My idiocy. That is the NY pronounciation.

You-ston is the wrong one.

I was just evicted from my apartment for that one.

OK, I feel better now.

Refer to Rockefeller Center as Rock Center

Anyone wearing the original blue Levi's jeans with sneakers.

<i>Refer to Rockefeller Center as Rock Center</i>

Sorry, I don't agree with this one. Even the owner (Tishman Speyer) refers to it as Rock Center.

Then, I guess the owner of Tishman Speyer is a tourist!
Real New Yorkers never say Rock Center, any more than they say UES, UWS, LES, LWS, TS. etc., etc., etc.

Howard, I would certainly understand if you refused to call Rockefeller Center "RC" :-)

I can't think of anything more delightful than being a tourist in NYC and doing touristy things. I saw the architects of the renovated Alice Tully Hall on Charlie Rose. I hope I can get a chance to see it. Would or could I walk by on the way from Central Park W. to the Palace Theatre?

ita - why not? Walk over to B'way and 65th. Continue down B'way to the Palace.

(off topic - Aduchamp1 - ate at the Orchard - very good)

sf7307, guess I'm just an old fashioned guy! To me, saying "Rock Center" reeks of what I call "trendy phoniness".....or is it "phony trendiness"? (I never know which way sounds "right"!)
At least, it sounds like you agree with me about the use of initials instead of the "full" versions.

Go to Diamond District and comment, "Look at all the Amish people living in New York!"

Fat Lady

off topic - Aduchamp1 - ate at the Orchard - very good)

Thanks for the suggestion. Have you been to Perbacco or inoteca? You may like them.

BTW
That is pretty funny Thin. Do you remember an an awful film with Melanie Griffith when she goes undercover as a Hasid to capture a murderer? It was commonly called Vitness.

Shush!

I am not Thin today. I am hiding out from the Microsoft Worm by using my Moxilla Firefox Browser. It still logs me in under PP. :)

Fat Lady

PS
Adu, I think Witness was the movie with Harrison Ford. He goes to Lancaster to protect Amish boy Lucas Haas to protect him from bad guys. You are think of "A Stranger Among Us."

<i>At least, it sounds like you agree with me about the use of initials instead of the "full" versions.</i>

Howard, I do - funny story, my college roommate used her initials instead of her full two-word first name. I couldn't bring myself to call her that and I ALWAYS called her by her full name!

An Amish group from Lancaster recently visited a Hasidic community in Brooklyn. Here is a link to the news story: http://tinyurl.com/dbyazc

>> Have you been to Perbacco or inoteca? <<

No, but I will one day - sounds good.

What about people who ride around in those pedacarts rickshaw things or whatever they are called?

I love the Amish on 47th Street comment!

But I do not understand the third comment down from the top:

"Go anywhere near Union Square."

Does that mean that only tourists go to Union Square?

I don't understand the Union Square comment either since most people who would go out and buy flowers, baked goods, veggies, etc. from the Green Market would live in the area.

I can't see tourists taking corn on the cob back to their hotel rooms and boiling it for dinner. :)

I also don't see tourists going to ABC Carpet/Home to buy furniture.

My friend's parents live in an apartment on Union Square. Obviously, they aren't tourists.

Fat Bitch

I haven't been a New Yorker for a long time, but when I was, nobody referred to the city as the Big Apple, and we called the Museum of Modern Art by its full name rather than MOMA. Those things still sound off to me.

Nikki - I'm a native; everyone I know says MOMA.

Nikki, MOMA is one exception to my above "rule" about the use of abbreviations. New Yorkers often/frequently refer to the museum by that acronym.....at least, when talking to other New Yorkers! (Note, however, that we do not assume that everyone knows what MOMA stands for. So, when recommending the museum to visitors/tourists, we do give the full name.)
However, you are right about Big Apple.

Sometimes people call MOMA, momma. You going to momma's?

The Union Square greenmarket is packed on Saturday, especially on a nice day, and used by many NYC restaurant chefs. In Union Square or near it, there are NY institutions like The Strand, Forbidden Planet, Irving Plaza...

Don't just walk outside Alice Tully - take in a concert. It's like looking at the chocolate bar and not eating it.

I use the colors of subway lines when explaining to out of towners.

I get it. Union Square, SF is a touristy, shopping mall place.

Whoa! Wait a minute. You mean to tell me it's not Hyuustun St.? No wonder I could never find it. And those guys on 47th St. are not Penna. Deutsch? Which brings to mind a great movie. "The Frisco Kid" a Gene Wilder movie.
Incidentally, the "Vitness" joke was LOL.

Wave at every cab that goes by, regardless of whether the correct light is lit on top, and wonder why they none of them will stop. (I have actually tried to help people with this and have been ignored.)

Go through a revolving door with a friend in the same section.

Walk through Times Square for fun. (I only walk through Times Square if there is absolutely no other way I can get where I'm going.)

I will admit to looking up from time to time because really, we have such great architecture here, it would be a shame not to appreciate it!

Ok, this is a little bit mean, but on the matter of dress, there are a few ways that tourists from some other parts of the US distinguish themselves:

Teased hairdos--usually some shade of blonde

Pastel clothing--pants and top the same color

LOTS of heavy foundation make up on women

So that is my snarky comment for this morning!

Most of these same things apply to tourists (perhaps not visitors, but that is another thread) in most large cities.

I see it in Boston (four abreast, pastel clothes), and I see it in Paris. Gawking is understandable as is looking at guidebooks or looking around in a confused way trying to get your bearings. Many of my London friends consult their "A to Z's" frequently, once out of their own neighborhoods, and I have seen Parisians looking at Plans de Paris or bus guides.

What I have never understood is the propensity of tourists to wear clothing with local logos, team names, cartoons or funny sayings on a visit someplace else. It just makes them look like hicks.

I love to go in the UK/European equivalents of mall shops when I am there (Jaeger, for example) and our overseas visitors always like to do the same thing here, but I can't for the life of me understand why someone would come to Boston from Dubuque and go to the Gap or Victoria's Secret.

End of this particular rant.

"Go to Diamond District and comment, "Look at all the Amish people living in New York!"


giggle me silly fat chica

Hehe

Now I know what NOT to do and say when I come over....

stefarr, you're a quick study! Good thing this thread was started just in time for your trip.