My husband and I have been dealing with the noise-factor living in this great city for about 3 years.... basically ever since I moved away from the peace and quiet of Wall St, we havent been able to find a quiet(er) place to live. Now I know all you suburbanites will want to chime in here and talk about why we should move out to Your Town, USA, but save your breath people, it aint happening... YET. But that doesnt mean that I still can't bitch about some of the stuff that really grinds my gears while I continue to live here. All my other posts will contain things about how great this city is for all other reasons. Like being able to walk out my apartment door and in 4 minutes be at Craftbar and have a great meal created by none other than Tom Colicchio. Or being able to leave work early yesterday to walk a few blocks to go see Jersey Boys. Or being able to walk through Central Park during the holidays and hit the Boat House for a drink on a random Wednesday. The options are endless. Soooo just give me a few minutes to vent.
When I say we've been "dealing" with the noise, what I really should say is we've been BATTLING and losing the war. We moved to Jersey City when Joey moved back to the right coast, to give somewhere outside the city a try. Proved to be a bad call. We lived directly over the busiest 2 intersections known to man. Bus stop, PATH stop, hospital down the street, honking the second each light turned green, combined with paper thin "windows". Sitting in our living room was literally stressful. Having to pause and mute the tv to wait for the honking to stop, or the sirens to pass. Thank God for DVR. After sticking out a year in JC, attempting to buy a place there (again, than God that fell through), we moved back into the city.
Stuy Town was great because it introduced me to the East Village. After spending a lot of time on Ave B and St Marks with my 2 besties, moving to 1st Ave opened more doors for me in that great area of the city. The short walk to great, cheap, eclectic restaurants might've been the only good thing about living there. This was also the first time living without a doorman. I dont think people outside major cities understand how important having a doorman is... and this isnt just to have him open the door for you. Having to pick up a UPS package that was "attempted" to be delivered 4 times to your apartment that ends up at the UPS warehouse could possibly be the most annoying thing in the world. Cabbing (because there are no subways that go there) all the way out to the west village, practically ON the west side hwy is NOT convenient. Picking up a huge package when you dont have a car and have to flag down another cab is also, not convenient. How bad do I actually want this package?
I digress.... our apartment window in Stuy Town basically faced out to what they call Bedpan Alley. Yes, thats correct- a strip of road on 1st Avenue between 4 hospitals. You can't even imagine the emergencies that go on in this city until you live here. Sirens every hour of every day and night. You'd think the reason they dont make solid windows in NYC is because buildings are old... but no, the newer buildings dont have them either because they put them up too fast and dont care about using strong materials. So again, ambulances essentially going through our living room and bedroom at all hours. I havent had a good night's sleep in 3 years. Unbearable isn't even the word.
The next year, yes thats right, I move every single year... another joy of living in NYC.... we find a great place in Gramercy. We think we've done it, found a quiet place, nice neighbors, good price, great location. YESS!!!!!! Fist pump.
Wrong.
We now deal with all of the above AND a late night garbage truck and an early morning car alarm... every morning. Joey wrote this to our neighbors this morning. We are thinking of putting it under their door. Thoughts?
“Hello. We’re sure that you are keenly aware of the IESI dump truck that comes between 11:30 and 12:30 every night and rams large wooden objects into the metal dump truck for 10-15 minutes. This has been our only gripe about living here since moving in. That is, until you decided to build a bowling alley in your apartment, which is open from 11:30pm – 1:30am (Monday-Friday). Please close the lanes, or at least bowl without high heels on. Its only a few hours of quiet time before the car alarm goes off at 7am and the street sweeper begins round 1 of 5 at around the same time."
Thank you NYC for being my favorite non-peaceful, noisy-as-hell, place to live on the planet. I'm out folks, more upbeat/happy posts to come after this fabulous weekend I'm about to have.
PS. My apologies, this was the quickest entry ever. lots of typos and bs I'm sure, but needed to get this off my chest.
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT.
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT.
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