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Speaking as a New Yorker contemplating a move to California, I'd say the article is somewhat accurate about the prestige of working in finance, but staggeringly
by gcv 16y ago
Speaking as a New Yorker contemplating a move to California, I'd say the article is somewhat accurate about the prestige of working in finance, but staggeringly wrong on a few other points.
First of all, cafes are plentiful. All he could come up with is the Tea Lounge in Park Slope? There are dozens of small, non-corporate coffee shops in the Village, dozens more in Williamsburg. And that's just the two neighborhoods where I usually spend time.
Second, New Yorkers don't cook? I think the author spent too much time with the wrong crowd. Plenty of people shop at green markets, including the huge one at Union Square precisely because they like local produce and like to use it.
- antongm 16y agoHm. I should note, my information was as of 2008. If there are more cafes now, than I'm pleased. Have you seen a California cafe'? I can't really recall seeing anything comparable in Manhattan. Sure, there are cafes....but one where a guy is writing a Rails app on his laptop right there by the barista? Have trouble believing it...be glad to be proven wrong though. I'm actually not so down on NYC. Just the tech part of it. Part of me is scheming about how to get back there...
- aplusbi 16y agoI've seen several programmers working in cafes in Brooklyn. I don't really hang out in cafes in Manhattan that much (occasionally Subtletea back when I worked in the area) so I can't comment on the state of Manhattan cafes.
- nir 16y agoNYC cafes where I've personally witnessed coders at work include: Housing Works & McNally's at SoHo, Amrita in Harlem, Gorilla Cafe in Park Slope, Esperanto on McDougal.. I definitely agree the NYC startup scene is overhyped - this is the city of hype and startups are now cool by New York Magazine standards. But man, your view of NYC in general seems much shaped by a very specific social circle and long hours at GS ;)
- antongm 16y agoHm. New York has a population of 8,000,000 people, and you cite five cafes. (Btw, Esperanto is cited in the footnotes of the post. It's since closed, at least according to Yelp.) Berkeley (pop. 169,000) has you beat for sheer number of cafes (Berkeley Espresso, Brewed Awakenings, Yali's, Au Coquelet, Caffe Roma, etc.). A complete list for SF would go on for quite a while.... I stand by my point (excusing a bit of blog-y hyperbole, of course).
- isamuel 16y agoThis is like complaining that LA is a bad city to film a movie because I've never seen a camera crew in Rancho Cucamonga. Manhattan != New York City.
- elblanco 16y agoIt's worse than that. The four square blocks the author spent his time in != New York City.
- brown9-2 16y agoReally, you think cafes have come to the city only since 2008? I lived there from 2000-2004 and this point wrung completely hollow for me. If you don't think NYC has "cafes" then you are not in NYC.