"We draw our neighborhoods around us like a comforting blanket"

Oddly enough after my two posts about NYC vs. LA, I just read a great article in LA Mag (I can't find my love, NY Mag, here anywhere!) about growing up in LA and loving everything about it. One of the things that struck me as true (which applies to New York also) was how the author really saw the sprawling city as many little neighborhoods, and she just embraced her neighborhood as a comfort zone.

Although NYC (and by NYC I typically mean Manhattan, not the 5 boroughs. is that PC?) is much more compact than Los Angeles, it's true that you have to find your neighborhood and niche within any city, no matter how overwhelming the overall city may be.

When people tell me they could "never live in New York," most of the time I really think it's because when they picture New York, they picture Times Square, Broadway, bright lights, etc. And let's be honest... who wants to live in Times Square? I basically did for a summer, it's not fun, and I spent as much time as possible far away from my apartment exploring other parts of the city.

The real way to live in New York is to find your niche and get comfortable in that area. You find your bagel shop, your laundromat, your CVS, etc. and it feels like home. No matter where I move in the city, Gramercy will always feel like home since it's the first place I really settled down - any lease over a year in Manhattan is settling down right?

Side note: Gramercy may literally be home for awhile because I refuse to move out of the neighborhood until I can get into this park. Can anyone with a key help a girl out??