A city of fashionistas, yellow taxis and luxury apartments: 5 myths about New York come from the movies

The Big Apple has made many films. Thanks to this, viewers have enduring myths about this metropolis. Study America founder Maria Gurieva helps site InStyle.ru to figure out which facts about New York are true and which are the fiction of the directors.

1. Coffee and Fresh Breakfast Buns

This stereotype came from the movie, namely from the movie “Breakfast at Tiffany's”. The main character loved croissants and takeaway coffee. She also did not like to cook, and used the refrigerator as a cupboard, where she kept shoes.

New Yorkers rarely really cook, perhaps because they don’t have such a need - there are a lot of establishments around for every taste and budget. It happened because there are many migrants living in the Big Apple who open restaurants with authentic dishes. Even within the same street you can find an institution for every taste.

“If New Yorkers regularly go out for lunch, they prefer different places: today is a French restaurant, tomorrow is Filipino, the day after tomorrow is Thai, and so on,” Gurieva said. “Residents of the city love variety, which is not, for example, in San Diego and Los Angeles - the trend for Mexican cuisine prevails there, and everyone is obsessed with it.”

Only a few in New York prepare breakfast at home. Most likely, a resident of this city will buy pastries and coffee-to-go in a coffee shop, there are a lot of them here, or he will prefer yogurt with granola. “For brunch (brunch) New Yorkers like to take egg dishes in the cafe (Benedict eggs are especially popular) with avocados and muffins for dessert,” she said.

2. Spacious apartment

Films often show heroes living in spacious apartments. For example, the characters of the sitcom “Friends” rent apartments with large living rooms. The heroes of the series “How I Met Your Mother” also have a huge living room, a couple of bedrooms, a kitchen and access to a gorgeous roof.

But reality is not much like what we see in the movies. Maria Guryeva says that the average housing in New York is not impressive in size: the apartments are very small, and real estate in general is a sore subject for citizens and visitors because of the high cost. The housing problem is so acute that on the Internet in recent years there have been many memes on this topic.

In New York, the normal situation is when several people share one apartment. They occupy different bedrooms and meet in the living room for dinner. “The Americans do not perceive the living room as a separate room - for them, this is another non-residential premises along with the kitchen and hallway. When realtors talk about a one-room apartment (1 Bedroom Apartment), it is understood that the apartment has both a bedroom and a living room, ”the report said.

In Russia, such apartments are usually called one-bedroom apartments. And for Americans, this is a typical layout, which is found not only in New York, but also in other cities in the United States.

However, usually no one lives in the living room, since this is a common passage room - it serves as an entrance hall, kitchen, and dining room. “However, it happens that enterprising Russians rent the living room as a separate room to our compatriots,” Gurieva said.

3. Yellow Taxi City

Many people think that New Yorkers travel around the city by taxi, mostly yellow ones. This stereotype was also formed thanks to the movie. The characters in the series “How I Met Your Mother” used this mode of transport so often that a driver from Bangladesh named Ranjit almost became one of the members of their company.

In fact, typical New York is the subway. “Almost no one has personal cars in the city, with the exception of those who live outside the city or far from Manhattan. The reason is that cars in New York are very difficult to park - the city is designed in such a way that it is almost unrealistic, ”the author explains.

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There are a lot of taxis in the Big Apple, in particular yellow ones, but they take it when for various reasons they don’t want to go down to the subway. For example, after a party or when you need to get somewhere in a presentable way, because the subway in New York is very dirty.

By the way, in recent times, rarely anyone catches a taxi on the streets as shown in the movies. Most people use Uber - it’s both more convenient and cheaper.

4. City of Eternal Parties

Nightclubs, parties and meetings in clubs, bars and restaurants are a common thing for the heroines of the series “Sex and the City”. The nightlife in New York is really very active, the city never sleeps. If throughout America, establishments close at one in the morning, then here they work around the clock.

Parties at the Big Apple take place on any day of the week, but the most active days are Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. “This is due to the fact that Friday is a day off at American universities, students study only four days a week. Therefore, young people begin to relax on Thursday, plus a huge number of tourists and wealthy businessmen come to the city on weekends, many just to have fun at parties and litter money, ”said Maria Guryeva.

At parties and parties in New York it is easy to make new acquaintances with people of different professions and affluence. But, she notes, such a situation is far from in all cities in America. In Los Angeles, for example, people are more closed and snobbery. “When they meet, they first of all evaluate a person, analyzing how much he can be useful to them. Perhaps the reason is that in New York it is easy to be at the right time in the right place - people are often in society, walk a lot. In other cities of America, this is practically impossible - everyone moves by car and the probability of accidental dating is very low, ”the author suggested.

At the same time, it is worth noting that ordinary New Yorkers can hardly afford everyday parties. They work hard; in New York, it’s even customary to boast that you work 60 hours a week, although in any other city in the USA people don’t understand such zeal.

5. New York - the capital of fashion

Another myth that came from the movie. In the film “The Devil Wears Prada,” the hero Nigel Kipling considered clothing to be an important part of life, the heroines of many films about New York share this view. Carrie Bradshaw from “Sex and the City” wardrobe occupied a separate room, Rebecca Bloomwood from “Shopaholic” wallowed in loans, buying new handbags or scarves.

Residents of the Big Apple really dress very stylishly. However, they do not wear chic dresses, heels, diamonds. New Yorkers dress much easier, but form their own style. “The city has its own idea of ​​fashion, many are fond of the fashion industry, they blog about street style - this is a common situation that does not surprise anyone,” explained Maria Guryeva.

She added that New Yorkers are not alike, and this forms the image of the city. “On the streets you can see both punks with green Iroquois and elegant girls dressed in the latest collections. Freedom of expression is synonymous with New York, ”Gurieva said in the end.