New York City
From Rickyrabpedia
New York City is where Rickyrab came from originally. See, his parents were born in the Bronx and (he thinks) Brooklyn, and then grew up near those places, and then moved over to Michigan, a state which Rickyrab found boring upon a visit to it; however, Michiganders are welcome to try to change Rickyrab's mind. Anyhow, Rickyrab's dad moved back to New York and his dad and mom got involved with New York University and Madison Square Garden, taking up jobs and (in Mom's case) a Master's education in teaching at NYU. So Rickyrab was born in Manhattan in 1979. After the birth of his brother in 1983 and an apartment becoming too small, Rickyrab's family found greener pastures in New Jersey, in a place called Monroe Township. (Rickyrab's dad also found a new job at Rutgers University, in an effort to seek new challenges in the underserved community of Camden, New Jersey. He subsequently found his new job to be rather rewarding.)
Haagen-Dazs ice cream started in New York City.
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Manhattan
Where Rickyrab was born; his favorite borough (because it has all sorts of services and museums and is a showcase for the benefits of mixed-use places with a high floor-area ratio). Associated with: tourism, skyscrapers, subways, ocean liners and cruise ships, the Lower East Side, Chinatown, Little Italy, the Village, Wall Street, downtown, uptown, Harlem, rich people, crowds, traffic, buses, taxis, ferries, bohemians, blacks, multiculturalism, stockbrokers, the Dutch, history, more history, 9/11, a lot of arguing over 9/11, gays and lesbians, Jews, swingers, Christians, and trains.
The Bronx
Rickyrab associates this borough with the following: his dad, hip-hop, the Yankees, egg cream (ok, so it supposedly hails from Brooklyn, big deal), two-cents plain, Puerto Ricans, Jews, blacks, high-rise housing projects, Co-op City (where Rickyrab's dad once lived with his parents), City Island and its bonny seafood (I'm trayf, see?), redevelopment, and Robert Moses' highway projects (which bulldozed through some neighborhoods in the Bronx, leaving a sour taste in residents' mouths).
Brooklyn
Associated with: Rickyrab's mom, the Brooklyn (later Los Angeles) Dodgers, egg cream, Hasidic Jews, blacks, West Indians, two-story buildings, the bridge, Coney Island, amusement parks, the good old New Yawk try, elevated lines
Queens
Associated with: Rickyrab's mom, two-story and three-story buildings, automobiles, airports, airport-related elevated lines, World's Fairs, Shea Stadium and the Mets, empty beaches, Rockaways.
Staten Island
Associated with: the Verrazano Narrows Bridge and other bridges used to get to Long Island, the Staten Island Expressway, the Staten Island ferry, suburbs, cars, the Staten Island Railway, empty beaches, hills, winding roads, Euclidian land uses. Traditionally, for Rickyrab's family, a means of going from point A to point B without actually stopping on the island.
Empire State Building
Tallest building in town. One of the most famous. Has a drugstore and a Kinko's, so I'm happy.
Ground Zero
Former site of tallest building in town. Probably a future site of another tallest in town. Known for having a lot of very tall buildings demolished in the vicinity, some with numerous people tragically murdered in the process. The latest such demolition killed at least two firemen because some people made the dumb mistake of smoking near flammable material and the demolisher made the stupid blunder of shutting off the water connection, causing scaffolding to catch alight and stay alight. Also known for continuous changes in the landscape in and around it.
Staten Island Ferry
A cool ride. Good fare, too, being pretty much nothing.
Normandie
Ocean liner that sank at Pier 88 after someone turned the sprinkler system off and someone else caused it to catch fire. See any similarity to what happened at Ground Zero?
Intrepid
Aircraft carrier with considerably better preservation record than the Normandie, usually docked at the pier next to where the Normandie sank (pier 86), but which is on vacation in Staten Island while the pier gets a do-over. A nice ship and a wonderful maze of metal.
Carnival Victory
Ship that I made a round trip to and from Pier 92 aboard. (The stops were made in St John, Canada, and Halifax, Canada, respectively.)
Regent Sun
Earlier ship that I once arrived aboard at the same set of piers; she later sank en route to what would have been a scrapping at Alang.
New Jersey Transit
A wonderful railroad system with frequent service, as well as a decent bus system.
Long Island Rail Road
Another good railroad. Known for its 24-hour rail service, and proof that it pays to spend on public transit. (New York City is a big transit town in the USA, with a larger modal share for transit than just about any other large city in the USA.)
