Did you leave New York City?

[astorian]

I think my long term relationship with New York City may be coming to an end. It has been a fun ride (10+ years), but I think it is time to move on. To any Slutz who once resided in the Manhattan, or one of the surrounding boroughs and decided to leave for greener pastures ...

Where did you move to?
How has business been? Did you buy a house? Did your rent go down?
Are you happy about your decision?
Any suggestions?

I was hoping to get a list of places to check out, and maybe take a roadtrip (this time without a trailer and five alcoholics). I'll probably always love New York, but I'm too much of a sucker for the outdoors and a little peace and quiet.

Thanks in advance

John

[Pasta4lnch]

a good buddy of mine just moved his studio from the city out to cali. he loves it there, had a few contacts to get him started. more of an issue of getting work I imagine

me, I hate the heat and slow motion. I need season's, hustle and bustle, Gray's Papaya there's NO other place I wanna be but NYC

good luck!

[redddog]

I left and there isn't a day that goes by that my wife and I don't miss it and think about moving back. Even the kids miss it. That most likely won't help you. But there's no place like NYC. That could be good or bad for people. For me, it's a bummer. Love that town.

[nobtwiddler]

Closed my joint on 31st and 6th in 1985, Beethoven Studios at the time.

And never looked back!

Funny enough, my new place is approx. 3 times the size of the one I had in the city,
Plus I have a house for the bands, a few acres of FREE parking, and now over 20 years later, I'm only paying one third of what it cost me back then for everything I now have.

Plus, peace and quiet when I want it.

Paul
www.millbrooksoundstudios.com

[Empty Planet]

Yes, sometimes it works out great -- just remember that NYC really really spoils you when it comes to social contacts and cultural variety and, well, all those service sorts of things like entertainment and restaurants and clubs and that kind of stuff. It definitely has lame Nature, particularly compared to what's out West, but if you can arrange it, just try hanging out in your target city for a couple or three months.

I've moved away from NYC a couple of times, adored living in the mountains and the desert, but in the end I just had to move back. In spite of all that's wretched about it, it's a beautiful place, and there's really nothing else like it. Really and truly.

But best of luck to you, wherever you wind up.


Cheers.

[Mark Cattano]

John

What can anyone say, really? I spent eighteen years in Manhattan, and moved out three and a half years ago. First to Greenwich, Ct. (a billionaire's ghetto) and now I'm in Huntington, Long Island. There truly is no place on earth like NYC, but it's all about priorities. When my wife got pregnant four years ago, I knew it was time to leave. I just couldn't negotiate the noise/lack of space/lack of nature, etc. And I knew I didn't want my kid rolling down East 13th St. on his Hotwheels! As for business/music, it really is a different ball game once you get outside NYC. I find myself going into Manhattan about once a week, whether I need to or not. Most of my friends are still there, and I miss the energy. I'm sure this probably doesn't help, just my own personal experience.

Good Luck,

Mark Cattano
Magneto Studios
www.heedmusic.com
www.myspace.com/markcattano

[thethrillfactor]

In the late 90's(97-99) I moved down to Miami(South Beach when it was cool) to live from Dec-April and back up to NYC from May-Nov and working in both cities. I had the best time in my life during those years. To me its the ideal NYC is best in Spring and Fall and Miami is nicest(or it was) in the Winter and early Spring.

The Summer in both places can be hell at times.

To be in one place the whole year round can wear you out. If i were you i would see if i could swing it. Have a house in one city and an apartment/room in another. That way you can still be in touch in NYC and not lose contact.

Can definitely be done.thumbsup

[jumpnyc]

I have a studio in the city and a house outside of the city. For the past year (cause things were so booked for me) I rented an apt during the week as well. Love the 2 locations - house outside the city and studio in the city. Best of both worlds. Yeah it's expensive as all get out. But you only live once.

[astorian]

Thanks for all of the input folks ... and to a stranger nonetheless. I figured that there were lots of people who lived in the vicinity of the city and enjoyed both worlds, so it was great to hear from those of you who have pulled that off. When living in Manhattan, you tend to forget that a one way hour commute isn't the end of the world provided you don't need to do it every day. I do love this city ... trash, attitude, and gridlock. Now I'll just work on affording two houses ... Cheers. John.

I'm considering doing the exact opposite. I think I'm headed to NY.

I've always loved the town since I was a kid.

[Sqye]

..

got one foot out the door - apt. & studio in the city,

and house & studio on a quiet dead end road in the woods upstate..


35 pretty much full time years in the city was enough...

plus the city is not the same anymore,

and neither am i.....

and neither is the business....


not giving up the apt. & studio, yet, however.

family, friends, occasional work still there....

and maybe a small piece of my heart.....

so i'm still there roughly every 2 or 3 weeks...

....

[jhg]

I'm thinking/looking at upstate weekend pod to escape the city, but at the same time I have to realize that then I couldn't get the great tuna I so love quite as easily...

[soundeq]

sigh... I'm a country boy stuck in the city, but it's ok for now.. i'm not 100% completely jaded yet 6+ years... If I could live in big sky MT in the summer, and the bahamas in the winter my life would be shweet!

[octatonic]

Originally Posted by astorian

I think my long term relationship with New York City may be coming to an end. It has been a fun ride (10+ years), but I think it is time to move on. To any Slutz who once resided in the Manhattan, or one of the surrounding boroughs and decided to leave for greener pastures ...

Where did you move to?
How has business been? Did you buy a house? Did your rent go down?
Are you happy about your decision?
Any suggestions?

I was hoping to get a list of places to check out, and maybe take a roadtrip (this time without a trailer and five alcoholics). I'll probably always love New York, but I'm too much of a sucker for the outdoors and a little peace and quiet.

Thanks in advance

John

I love New York.
I lived in Chelsea, Manhattan in 2004- and had a blast but I only had a tiny flat with no space for anything.

Now I live in Green Village, NJ.
Here is a pic of my house and the backyard.

It costs me $400 a month less to have this place compared to having a 2 bedroom apartment on manhattan.
When it snows I get out a snowboard and carve in the backyard.
When it snows a lot I can board out the back into the woods.
Really happy to be living off manhattan- I am sure I make less money but we have a pretty good life here. The housing market should bottom out a bit later in the year, which should be a good time to buy.

The studio is spread over two levels- separate living room, dining room, 3 bedrooms, home cinema, double car garage.

We are 40 minutes to Lincoln tunnel (on a good day) and 1.5 hours to Philly.

[Flymax]

....

[TheReal7]

Move to Canada :D

[themaidsroom]

i am going on 21 years here in manhattan,
2 years before that in paris, france
and i have been spending more
and more time in london and los angeles
nyc is not the town it was
very corporate
very safe
very dull
the observed are all gone
and the observers are walking around, awkward,
under the impression that they are special....
not the wild,
island off the coast
of america that it was
20 years ago
london is a novelty, 25 years after
my first trip to that city....
to me, l.a. has an
infinitely larger sense
of bohemia
l.a. is also the culinary capital
of the world in my opinion -
one eats better in l.a. than nyc, london and paris
put together - in every price bracket


i am curious about buenos aires and other south american cities:
high real estate values and culture are mutually exclusive things
south america is what will define culture in the next twenty years,
i believe
culture needs bohemia and freaks.....

be well


- jack

[mjc68]

"nyc is not the town it was
very corporate
very safe
very dull
the observed are all gone
and the observers are walking around, awkward,
under the impression that they are special...."

...This is so true

[gsilbers]

Originally Posted by astorian

I think my long term relationship with New York City may be coming to an end. It has been a fun ride (10+ years), but I think it is time to move on. To any Slutz who once resided in the Manhattan, or one of the surrounding boroughs and decided to leave for greener pastures ...

Where did you move to?
How has business been? Did you buy a house? Did your rent go down?
Are you happy about your decision?
Any suggestions?

I was hoping to get a list of places to check out, and maybe take a roadtrip (this time without a trailer and five alcoholics). I'll probably always love New York, but I'm too much of a sucker for the outdoors and a little peace and quiet.

Thanks in advance

John

i lived in NY and i hated it. its cool in the sense theres lots of poeple and things to do, well,.. a lot of the same things to do. but culturally a lot of stuff going on.
but NY was geared toward business. its just not convinient to have a recording studio there unless u have enough clientel to pay rent. i mean, the studio i worked in union square paid around 18 grand a month in rent.!!

but it hit me when it was winter and riding the subway: everything was gray... yes, the city is grey, sky was gray most of the time and the poeple had like a grey aura of boredom and exitensialism. i dunno i felt i didnt fit, so i came to LA and im sooo happy. i mean, me and my wife go to new places every weekend. six flags and other theme parks , bunch of museums and parks, camping, concerts, the beach, TV show audience and "extra" work for fun, skiing in les than 3 hours away, desert, hiking etc.


for what we paid in NY for rent we have almost twce as big apt, i have met lots of cool people in the music indstry and worked for one of the top producers in the industry and maybe ill get a grammy for "adicional recording"!! maybe itll be a piece of paper stating that i aditionally recorded for a group that won a gramy... but good enoiugh.

now i work for fox mixing TV shows, i have health insurance, dental and all that crap that i never thought i could get working in a studio.
what striked me is that when i talked to one of my friends that was working in NNY while i was interning and he is still doing the same, recording VOs and tryingt o produce the next bug hiphop album. so i feel that i made a good choice.

the bad things about LA is the fuuukin traffic!!! damn i hate it and miss NY public transportation. the other thing is that there is a big bubble of "wanna bes" and "posers" with an attitude and big talk with no skills or maybe skills but cocky or selling themsaelves too much.. well u know, the stereotype.. name dropping etc.
passed that and u have tons of cool people and things to do as well as oportunities.

[Curve Dominant]

People I know in the Philly real estate biz have been telling me this for a few years now: Lots of peeps are moving from NYC, to Philly, and liking it a lot. I can understand why too. It's got most of the attributes of NYC, but just a lot smaller, a lot cheaper, and definitely a lot closer to nature. Fairmount Park is actually the largest inner-city park in the world, and unlike Central Park, it was not carved out of the city - Philly is actually built around the park. And the food is as good here as anywhere in the world, mainly due to our proximity to many high-quality agricultural regions.

PM me if you need more info.

-Eric @ Studio Curve Dominant

[FatGuyUML]

Originally Posted by astorian

Thanks for all of the input folks ... and to a stranger nonetheless. I figured that there were lots of people who lived in the vicinity of the city and enjoyed both worlds, so it was great to hear from those of you who have pulled that off. When living in Manhattan, you tend to forget that a one way hour commute isn't the end of the world provided you don't need to do it every day. I do love this city ... trash, attitude, and gridlock. Now I'll just work on affording two houses ... Cheers. John.

Regarding commutes:

I've lived in Jersey and commuted 1:15 each way to work in NY, and now I live in NY, and have about 1:15 commute out to Jersey for work at Eventide. In both of these situations the commute isn't bad, but public transportation is your friend. Bus, train, whatever, you never get back the time you spend sitting behind the wheel of you car, but on a long train ride you can get a ton of reading done.

The other thing I noticed when I lived in Jersey and didn't have to go to NY, is that NY was often too close to make the trip. I realized at one point that I'd spend more time in Boston and Philly even though I was only 30 minutes away from NY. I'd just always convince myself that I could go to NY anytime, whereas the other city's were a special trip.

There really is no place like NY, and there can't be, it's significance is based on it's history and geography. Banking and business seems to have a particularly strong hold on the city at the moment, but it's easy to get Jaded and not appreciate NY for what it's got to offer, especially when it comes to music and the arts. American culture in general has become more commercial and safe, it's not a New York thing.

Dan

[StrykeBack]

the bad things about LA is the fuuukin traffic!!! damn i hate it and miss NY public transportation. the other thing is that there is a big bubble of "wanna bes" and "posers" with an attitude and big talk with no skills or maybe skills but cocky or selling themsaelves too much.. well u know, the stereotype.. name dropping etc.
passed that and u have tons of cool people and things to do as well as oportunities.

This is the number one reason I almost drove myself insane. the friggin traffic. Lived in LA for 8 months, going to recording school, working full time at Costco, and doing an internship all the while spending 2 to 3 hours of driving in traffic everyday. And its ridiculous how horrible some drivers are! Though theres still some great cities to live in outside of LA. Was about to move to Valencia (6 flags theme park area) before I decided to move back north right above Santa Barbara. I can breath fresh air, be 15 minutes from the beach, and spend less then ten minutes driving to work...though I'm not getting much work in the recording area so I'm thinkin of moving to Seattle or portland soon.

But if you love loads of traffic and the name dropping attitudes that everyone there has and everyone thinks they are the next big thing since sliced bread...well then LA is for you my friend

I have a lot of family in NYC, they all seem to hate people from california

[dreamsongs]

This is a highly personal choice but it won't keep me from giving you some advice...

I lived in NYC from '82 to '87 and never came back. Of course I've gone back many times on business and that's just about perfect that way.

I've also lived 4 1/2 years in LA and 3 years in Philly. I finally decided to settle down here in FL. I couldn't be happier. Once I got married and had kids it changed everything.

I'm not even close to Miami (which has gotten out of control) which is even better. I'm about 1 hour and 15 min. from South Beach and downtown so I can always go if I feel like it.

There could be poosible many things that could influence a decision like this. For me, after I made the connections I needed to survive in music, it was just a matter of where I wanted to live.

Plus, I hate snow, shoveling snow and anything relating to cold nasty weather. I do music every day in my studio by the poolside and go fishing on my boat on the weekends. What more can I ask for...

[Stitch333]

I lived all over NYC: east village, williamsburg, greenpoint, bed-sty. Dont get me wrong, it was fun but unproductive..after 6 years of getting kicked in the teeth by the music industry and the crackhead club kids, my (ex)girlfriend and I headed to Philly (this was 2001).
Within a month I landed my first gig cutting accetate at (the now defunkt) scrunch recordings. I pretty much worked at least 6 days a week, full time, professionally all over philly doing hiphop with everyone short of Will Smith and Beanie. Ive been working full time as an engineer and producer ever since. I still talk to kids I used to know in NYC; they are still doin the same thing they were 7 years ago. I am so happy I left tho now I go back to work, but they gotta pay upfront to get me to go thar...

[Stitch333]

Originally Posted by dreamsongs

Once I got married and had kids it changed everything. ...

Just had my first, thats the truth

[dreamsongs]

I liked Philly, I lived in the suburbs and it wasn't too bad. My son was born there and then we moved to Florida...

[CZ101]

Originally Posted by themaidsroom

i am going on 21 years here in manhattan,

very corporate
very safe
very dull
the observed are all gone
and the observers are walking around, awkward,
under the impression that they are special....
not the wild,
island off the coast
of america that it was
20 years ago
- jack

I agree with your comment about South America but I'm sorry - I have to take issue with you here. Do you live in Manhattan or elsewhere? If I lived and worked in Manhattan I would probably agree with you but the other boroughs are a different matter now-a-days and I'm not talking about Bedford/Williamsburg. Now, to enjoy this city, as you probably know, you have to have a love for the bizare, the - what's outside of my own world - , and for me there's plenty of that in Bushwick.

Also, I don't care about who wants to be observed and who wants to observe - we all do both. Things change, perspective develops - NYC is still crazy. The first time I lived here was in '93 and although it's not quite the same, I've changed also - like the Smiths song:

"has the world changed or have I changed?"

Paul

it's just another place

[Jonathan Starr]

I left NYC the last time in '94. I had been building and running Artkraft-Strauss for 6 years, the 100 year old Company that built most of the Times Square signs and Broadway neon and theatre marquees and New Years Eve Ball etc. I had a home I built on a mountain above Woodstock, NY as well as an apartment above Columbus Circle.

It was a rather high pressure job, though pretty successful and high profile. The intensity became tiresome, and the happiest day of my life was the one on which I signed the papers to sell my interests and got on a plane to Maui to build my solar powered home & ranch in remote Kaupo. I now split my time between the ranch in East Maui and a place in downtown Wailuku, Maui's capitol and business center, where I have an office/studio/living loft in commercial space.

Maui is my favorite place to live, though it is not for everyone. It is certainly difficult for working musicians who like to do anything more creative than entertain drunk touristas. It's also not an easy environment for commercial studio work, though there are lots of great players and innovators around who are fun but tend to be innocent of budget.

I came to Maui as a teenage hippy in the late 1960's from Manhattan via the Bay Area, and I've been fortunate to live in Northern India, East Africa, Marin County, Upstate New York, Colorado and Maui for large portions of my life. All were great places in their way.

I found New York City to be the easiest for me to find financial success, India was great spiritually, Africa adventurous if you like close encounters with large dangerous mammals, and Maui has been a perfect place to spend time in the water and become deeply involved in Community and creative Music, and a good place to invest in property. I Chaired the Maui County Planning Commission for the first time this week, and I've been involved in running many high profile Political/Governmental/Charitable/Youth/Environmental/and Artistic Organizations. In a small community like this, it is easy to get to know most of the Community and get sucked into all kinds of endeavors.

I've always enjoyed the transition of moving to a new place. It has allowed me to re-create myself and get out of ruts and find new ways to be creative and successful.

Never fear that big Leap !

Good Luck, & Aloha,

Jonathan

[jumpnyc]

what an awesome post - what a great adventure you are on. !!!

[redddog]

You are one lucky beeeatch.