Tuesday, August 17, 2010

GO by the numbers


There were 45.6 million visitors to NYC in 2009, so I'm not exactly unique in my choice of vacation spot.

I spent my share of the reported $28.2 billion, too, with new Keens and bags of gifts from the Met. I also love to pretend I still live there, so I build in shoe repair while I'm visiting, and often buy everyday things like underwear and purses.




My newest piece of luggage is from Lord & Taylor, 5th and 39th, first floor toward the back.

I know there are other cities worth touring, but I'm a numbers person, and New York has them.



There are about 40,000 location shoots in NYC annually, so the chances of running into Chris Cooper or Andy Garcia are pretty good. My favorite sighting: Marian Seldes, the day after I saw her in Three Tall Women. And a couple of years ago my friends and I were almost in a scene from I Am Legend when we wandered onto 6th during a shoot.

New York City has 13, 237 licensed taxis and 37 orchestras; there are 117 institutions of higher learning, 106 museums and 401 art galleries in Manhattan alone.

Do I have more reasons for choosing NYC every time? How about 18,696 eating establishments and 128 bookstores.

More than 12 million theater tickets sold in the 2008-9 season. A couple of those were mine, including one for Angela Lansbury's Tony performance in Blythe Spirit.

Fun fact: Broadway is one of the longest streets in the world, starting in Lower Manhattan and ending in Albany, 150 miles later.



The numbers are not all rosy: 26,400,000 pounds of garbage are produced daily. (But notice how neatly it's tied up.)

And if you want "green" look at Central Park with its lawns, lakes, and 2 iceskating rinks.

All this and Safety, too!

The FBI named New York the safest big city of 2009.



OFF!

I can hardly wait till my next date with Times Square.

11 comments:

Dru said...

I love the statistics and count me as one of those who love the many thousands of restaurant to choose for dining.

Anonymous said...

Great article, as long as Boston is your second choice! xoxo

Linda O. Johnston said...

I agree that NYC is an awesome place to visit! The Romance Writers of America is holding its annual conference there next year, an excellent excuse for a trip.

Monica Ferris said...

New York is an exciting place to visit, but I don't think I'd like to live there. It's too big, you can't learn your way around, so you tend to operate mostly in a restricted area -- and you can do that in any big city. It is fun to see the background of a movie set in New York and think, "I know where that is!"

Monica Ferris said...

New York is an exciting place to visit, but I don't think I'd like to live there. It's too big, you can't learn your way around, so you tend to operate mostly in a restricted area -- and you can do that in any big city. It is fun to see the background of a movie set in New York and think, "I know where that is!"

Camille Minichino said...

Boston definitely number 1 for FAMILY and friends, but I don't think of it as a vacation spot!

Camille Minichino said...

I'm definitely targeting RWA next year thanks to your previous alert, Linda!

Camille Minichino said...

Monica, I find NY very easy to navigate. Most of Manhattan is a grid with numbers, so if you go the wrong way, you know within a block!

And lower Manhattan has so many landmarks you always know where you are.

I have trouble in cities where the street names are flowers or local celebs and where there are no tall or distinctive buildings to use as reference.

But we each find our way where we want to huh?

Betty Hechtman said...

I love New York, too! All the statistics were interesting.

One of my favorite images came from I went along on a last minute business trip with my husband. He did his business stuff and I went out walking. It was snowing and I walked into Central Park on the last day of The Gates installation Christophe did. The contrast of the white swirling snow and the bright orange fabric hangings was beautiful.

Camille Minichino said...

It sounds magnificent and magical, Betty! I didn't get to see the Gates, but I have the official book, video, etc. NOT the same!

I had a modified version of that experience one evening at dusk walking alone up Madison with snow falling. I love being in NY with friends, but I also love the feeling of being alone with so much going on around me, sometimes noisily, sometimes quietly.

Betty Hechtman said...

Wslking at dusk must have been beautiful. I can just picture it.

What was particularly cool about my Gates experience is that a few days I was in the Metropiltan museum store in LA and saw the book on the Gates and thought I wasn't going to get to see it and then the trip came up at the last minute. It made it even more magical.