An open letter to tourists visiting NYC

Living and working in NYC year-round, you start to notice certain tourism spurts at certain times of the year … summer being one of them.


Before I get into these tips, I want to make it clear that I am not knocking tourists. Aside from the obvious economic benefits for our city, I think NYC is one of the greatest cities in the world, and I would never begrudge anyone wanting to visit it. I think everyone should see NYC at least once in their life … more if possible!

That being said, I don’t want people visiting NYC to have a bad experience with the locals, and leave thinking, “wow, those New Yorkers were such rude a**holes.” 


So, I want to lend some advice to make your trip as enjoyable as possible:

• Please understand that, while you’re on vacation and walking leisurely on the sidewalk to your first activity of the day in the morning, there are New Yorkers rushing to get to work. If they rush past you, bump into you, or weave crazily through your group and blow past, it’s because they’re running late and haven’t even gotten their coffee yet. I’m guilty of this one, too. Ditto for the evening, too … they’re just trying to make their train and get home. Look up – are you near Port Authority, Grand Central or Penn during rush hours? They don’t call it the ‘Rat Race’ for nothing. 

• While we’re on the subject of sidewalks — please note that if the locals are brushing past you and looking frustrated, it *might* be because your group is walking in one wide horizontal line across the sidewalk. Trust me, this is not the way to go. If you can, please try not to take up the entire width of the sidewalk. We’re really not trying to be jerks about it (most of us aren’t anyway), it’s just that it’s an unspoken law that the sidewalks in NYC are set up kind of like a road — with lanes. Keep to your right and it’ll be better for everyone! The same law applies to escalators and stairs. The left lane is the fast lane!

• Ask anyone who lives in NYC, and they’ll probably tell you that Times Square is their least favorite place. It’s awful. Seriously … feel free to go look at it once for kicks, but really, there are so many other amazing spots in NYC. That’s not what we want to be known for, trust me. 

• I’m sorry but Sbarro, Famiglia, Ray Bari, etc. ARE NOT what real New Yorkers consider to be real traditional New York pizza. Please … do yourselves a favor. For your first (or second or third) taste of real New York pizza, go to a legit pizzeria. Totonno’s (my personal favorite), Lombardi’s, Grimaldi’s, Di Fara’s, Patsy’s, and L&B Spumoni Gardens are all legit and special in their own way. I suggest trying them all and deciding for yourself. But please don’t go to a generic pizza chain!

• While we’re on the subject of food — please try and avoid eating at chains while you’re in the city. There are more than 3,500 restaurants in the city, so you’re not hurting for choices. Why would you want to go all the way to NYC only to eat at an Applebee’s? I just don’t understand it. I know it’s familiar and safe, but it’s also painfully boring. Be adventurous!

• When you’re lost and not quite sure where to go, ask someone. I always help tourists when I notice that they’re looking around at the street signs or subway signs and they’re clearly stumped. Because if I was in a strange city, I’d want someone to help me. This spring, I helped a family of four from Wyoming find their way from the 34th Street-Herald Square subway station to their hotel in Long Island City, Queens. We may seem rude but we’re surprisingly nice and helpful.

• And speaking of finding your way around — I cannot tell you how many times I’ve seen tourists at Grand Central who were upstairs at the MetroNorth Commuter Railroad ticket machines trying to buy MetroCards for the subway … wasting their precious sight-seeing time and holding up the folks who were trying to buy a commuter railroad ticket — and catch a specific train — to head out of town. You want the NYC Transit MetroCard ticket machines downstairs in the actual subway station.

• I know everyone loves to go up to the top of the Empire State Building (ESB) when they come here, but when you’re up on top of it, you can’t actually see how pretty the ESB actually is. The Top of the Rock (while more expensive and a little too fancy for my taste) actually lets you gaze at the ESB and the rest of the city.