10 reasons ex-Atlantans hate living in New York
August 6, 2008 at 10:32 am by Scott Freeman in NewsLast month, the New York Sun picked up a Bloomberg story that detailed how 40,000 former New Yorkers have settled in Atlanta over the past five years. Good enough.
But they then proceeded to diss Atlanta left and right. We have no culture. Our bagels suck. Our pizza doesn’t hold a candle to New York pizza. Whine, whine, whine.
For this week’s CL story — I Love New York — we turn the tables and ask ex-Atlantans who now live in New York to critique their new city. Almost all of them, by the way, intend to move back to Atlanta at some point.
Yesterday, we posted 10 reasons ex-New Yorkers should love Atlanta.
Today, we have our 10 reasons ex-Atlantans hate living in New York. We’re looking for your ideas also. What’s aggravating about New York … or New Yorkers?
For our list, click on the jump.
1) The weather sucks
2) You have to go to a park to see a tree
3) New Yorkers don’t have manners
4) They’ve never heard of sweet tea
5) Astronomical rent for an apartment the size of a broom closet
6) Tired of being teased about their Southern accent
7) No one can make a decent biscuit
8) Car horns are the preferred form of communication
9) If you want a boyfriend, you have to bring one with you
10) Really, the pizza is way overrated
August 6th, 2008 at 11:42 am
Wow, those opinions in the Bloomberg article seem extreme…
“If my kids have a Southern accent, I will kill myself” WTF!!
Personally, getting called “sugar” by a stranger makes my heart sing.
August 6th, 2008 at 11:50 am
Yea, well at least now that they are in NY they don’t have to admit that in the last election the voted for Bush and Saxby Chambliss. Plus they don’t have to worry about their state voting for someone like Saxby Chambliss again or not voting for Obama!
Plus they don’t have to feel guilty about the excessive use of gas or feel the pain at the pump since in NY they Transit is not a 4 letter word and walking is not something you just do to get from the fridge to the couch.
August 6th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
Yes, they can point with pride to the carpetbagger who scammed them into a Senatorial launching pad to chase the Presidency and later voting an empty suit for President. So sophisticated…..
August 6th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
That’s right Newt and Bob Barr were long time GA residents.
Then again Barr isn’t that bad, at least he understands that the constitution is more than toliet paper.
August 6th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
Let’s not forget Rudy Gulliani and Bernard Kerik. Our politicians are Sunday School teachers by comparison. Well, except for Newt.
August 6th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
I moved to nyc 11 months ago from atlanta. don’t take it personally, atlanta, new yorkers look down on EVERYTHING and EVERYPLACE that’s not on this island! It got on my nerves at first, but I got used to it…along with getting used to being knocked into on the streets and subways and not having anyone look you in the eye and apologize!
August 6th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
New York has neither Bicycle Shorts Man nor Dagmar Midcap.
August 6th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
BB, I remember that cartoon map that was a New Yorker’s view of the U.S. It was essentially NYC and the two oceans. Hilarious, and true.
August 6th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
You mean that Map was supposed to be funny? I thought it was merely a representation of reality.
that’s why we refer to it as “The City”
Seriously though Stand in the middle of Grand Central Station at Rush Hour and you’ll wonder how we can’t move a fraction of that The City does. Then again that’s probably more a tribute to city planners of past generations (no insult intended GA Tech).
Even more serious. I think people have a memory that tends to remember the good things over the bad. So former Metro New Yorkers (after all The City people include people from CT and NJ work there) in Atlanta remember the good stuff (like that great mom and pop shop around the corner or how long a tank of gas lasted) and not the maddening stuff (the smell of urine)
Oh and I’d take Rudy “911″ Guliani over Saxby “corporate welfare via the farmbill aka arrest the towel heads” Chambliss any day.
August 6th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
E, you can have Rudy even as we suffer through Saxby. But we still trump with Dagmar Midcap.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:38 am
Wow, these are pathetic.
And southerners can’t make real biscuits either. Real biscuits are what the English have that Americans would insist on calling a “cookie”.
And I’ve heard of sweet tea, just think it tastes like shit.
I once tried driving into Atlanta to visit a friend at Emory. Coming in on the highway my first reaction was “that’s it!?”. It’s like Charlotte with more traffic.
August 7th, 2008 at 10:01 am
TH, you’ve obviously never had a biscuit cooked by a Southerner.
August 7th, 2008 at 11:16 am
Hey thanks for the Dagmar Midcap link in the story about the Make a Wish child.
I thought Dagmar Midcap was some sort of street character aka flamboyant panhandler that hangs out downtown or something.
Since I get my news from the Daily Show and Colbert report I don’t get the chance to watch local news, though now that I see the pic I remember seeing the name.
And yes now I give up. Dagmar does give ATL the edge over “The City”.
August 7th, 2008 at 11:18 am
Dagmar is our secret weapon, E.
August 7th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
As an Atlanta transplant living in New York City for the past two years, I can vouch that this list is dead on.
Not only is the rent through the roof, the quality of construction is shit even in the nicest buildings. The city is overrun with rats and roaches and whenever I go to a “southern” restaurant they have battered old trash hung up as we decorate our walls with old sewing machines and Coke bottles.
Last week I moved to Hoboken, New Jersey and I’ve never been happier. To use the language of the locals, New York City can go fuck itself.
August 8th, 2008 at 8:23 am
Atlanta reminds me of a baby New York. Both cities have its attributes and it would be silly to expect any other city to compare to the uniqueness of both NY and ATL.
August 8th, 2008 at 10:06 am
New York has some advantages that few other cities can duplicate. For one, the geographical reality lead to its verticality, which makes it just damned striking visually. You don’t get the kind of cancerous sprawl that characterizes LA (and Atlanta, though ours is somehow less offensive than LA), which leads to a skyline that can’t be beat. That may be more of a benefit to tourists than residents, but when I lived up there, there would still be frequent moments in which some skyline element would catch my eye and just blow me away. The City also has its age going for it, and it *knows* it. Sure, Atlanta can counter with “We got burned down!” but Atlanta still has an itchy relationship with its past (with good reason, in many cases). Putting aside the history of violent racism, we’ve still become too convinced by the “capital of the new South” mantra and have too frequently torn down old structures in favor of new buildings with very little architectural character. To Atlanta’s credit, this seems to be changing (slowly). And, of course, there’s the transit. Oy vey, the transit. As a friend of mine once posited, MARTA should consider changing their slogan to “Might as well walk.” In the end, though, I left The City a decade ago and have lived here ever since, so something must be worth sticking around for. Does it count that I wouldn’t mind moving back someday?
August 8th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
Hoboken to The City could be analogous to Marietta to Atlanta – except Hoboken supports serious transit connections.
Hoboken is nice though. And obviously a city in and of itself. Its kind of amazing how many people live in the 5 boroughs of NYC and the cities (Fort Lee, Newark and Hoboken) just just across the Hudson.
I miss the ferry ride from the jersey side to Manhattan as a commute. Was even better than the Metro North Hudson Line trip up the edge of the Hudson River.
The City Suburbs are definately better than ATL Suburbs – (excluding the costs of course)
August 11th, 2008 at 8:54 am
A friend of mine is getting ready to move to Atlanta from Detroit. I’ll have to send her some of these articles on the whole Atlanta vs. New York. Very interesting stuff!
October 20th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
however, living in New Jersey, Manhattan, or its suburbs doesn’t require you to have a car and pay high insurance rates. Living in Manhattan means no cars, no insurance, busses, trains and tubes which means, paying your rent is easier. And there are cheaper apts IF YOU LOOK…DONT JUST READ THE PAPER. Do more, you don’t need to live in Soho to be cool, you can live in an outter area just like in Paris France and be just as cool.
In fact, in my future, if lucky, I’ll live in Paris or Manhattan, until then, I’ll just have to live in the beautiful Ventura beach calif.
October 20th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
ok, read the papers but dont be spoiled in needing to live BY THE BEST corners of Manhatten, we cant all live there! a short bus ride away or taxi is better than nothing.
October 20th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Oh yes, Hoboken is great, think Sinatra! The Godfather, its vintage and close to the fairy that takes you to Manhattan
December 14th, 2008 at 11:58 pm
A friend from ATL just got around to sending this article to me, so I still feel compelled to respond, even if no one will read it. I’m from Ohio originally but moved to NYC in 2000, then to the ATL in 2003 for a job, and back to NYC in July ‘07, so I do have a good perspective on all this.
1. The weather really doesn’t suck. We have 4 distinct seasons here. It still gets very cold in ATL during winter, and there were only 2 days of snowfall in NYC in the ‘07-’08 winter season. ATL summers can be brutal, and I hated the constant pop-up showers, and the blanket of green pollen in springtime.
2. Totally not true at all, and while I enjoyed many visits to Piedmont Park, it still pales in comparison to Central Park, or even the parks in Brooklyn.
3. There are both rude and polite people in NYC; there’s too many of us here to stereotype in that way. Also, look at how we banded together after both 9/11 and the ‘03 blackout, and ask me again about freaking manners.
4. I lived in ATL for 3.5 years and never heard of sweet tea, either.
5. Rents aren’t reasonable in Midtown Atlanta, either. One just needs to know where to look in NYC for the good apartments.
6. A “southern belle” accent can be sweet, but I really can’t stand any regional accents, such as NY, Boston, Chicago or the south. The typical southern accent just makes people sound unintelligent and unrefined. And the whole “Blue Collar Comedy” thing is nothing to be proud of.
7. Well, that is probably true. But the article mentions that while NYC has bagels, ATL has Krispy Kreme. Um…we have Krispy Kreme stores here, too.
8. My wife has been living here for 10.5 years, in the middle of Soho, and heard more sirens than car horns. Plenty of noise in ATL,too.
9. Well, it’s true that there are more single women here than men. But there are men here who are decent, kind, polite, and are husband material. I certainly didn’t find any women worth marrying while I lived in ATL. Especially since a hefty portion of them are Jesus freaks with too much weight and bad haircuts. (The “Kennesaw Claw” and the “Smyrna-Do” are particularly horrible. Note to ATL women: your haircuts make you look older than you actually are).
10. The pizza is absolutely not overrated here. Not every pizza place is good, but when it’s good, and most of them are, it’s very good. There’s only one edible pizza in the ATL, and it’s at Mellow Mushroom. The only other city with equally good pizza is Chicago.
I don’t totally hate Atlanta. I’m looking forward to coming back soon to visit my friends with my wife. There really are some amazing restaurants, and I’m dying for a burger and fried zucchini from The Vortex. I had a good time hanging out at some of the local clubs and music venues. But it really drove me crazy when people would say “Atlanta is the New York of the south!” There are too many closed-minded, conservative, religious people, driving is a nightmare (talk about rude people!), and the crime is terrible. I feel 1,000 times safer walking the streets of NYC than I ever did in the ATL. My car was broken into twice…in a gated garage. Sorry, but the ATL just does not compare to NYC!
February 21st, 2009 at 10:17 am
I’m a little late to the party but I’d like to drop in my $.02. I moved to NYC a few months ago after growing up outside Atlanta and living in the city for 5 years.
1) This has been a brutal winter for sure but I just checked the weather at my parents’ house and it’s a scorching 1 degree warmer than it is up here currently. The major difference is the snow, the fact that it doesn’t warm up during the day, and the winter is longer and days are shorter.
2) True but New York has plenty of parks. I do miss places like Inman Park and Virginia Highlands.
3) New Yorkers for the most part aren’t rude. They ARE to the point and no-nonsense but the vast majority have been extremely nice and helpful. Keep moving and you won’t have a problem. I’ve gotten way more attitude from pushy panhandlers which are a HUGE problem for Atlanta.
4) If you want sweet tea, make it your damn self. However, I am almost positive that there is at least one southern restuarant that serves it up here.
5) Atlanta is quite a bit cheaper than NYC as far as housing. I am paying about the same to share a 2 BR in Astoria as I did for my own 1 BR near Piedmont Park. However I save money by not having a car and going to a lot of free nights at museums and whatnot. Atlanta was beginning to become way overpriced, at least until the economy kicked the bucket. I like being able to walk to everything I need instead of having to hop in my car to go buy a gallon of milk. Not many places allow you to do that in Atlanta.
6) I get a lot of compliments on my accent. An english coworker and I constantly kid each other about our accents and that’s the closest thing I get to being teased about my accent. I also like being recognized and recognizing other southerners by accent. I am still looking for a nice girl with a Brooklyn accent who has a thing for a guy with a southern drawl however.
7) We have Popeyes and KFC and probably some of those southern restuarants I mentioned earlier.
8) Yep, those can be annoying but in Atlanta you hear a horn and it means someone is probably road raging. Here it’s just what they do and I haven’t seen anything near the level of craziness that I did in Atlanta.
9) I’m not looking for a boyfriend but I think the chances of meeting people are much better up here than down there simply due to the fact that less people commute to work by car. I see hundreds of beautiful, professional women every day and exchange somewhat interested glances with a handful of them. It can be hard to catch them when the pace is as hectic as it can be, but it’s much easier to say hello a couple of seats away in a subway car than it is across three lanes of traffic. Also, with all the art galleries, museums, and parks there are so many more venues to meet people than the standard bars or churches that often times seem to be the options in Atlanta.
10) You’re kidding, right?