Hollywood Debunked

After living in NYC for a month [yes, a month already!] you start to realize just how many different perceptions you have about New York from every movie and TV show. Well, here are a  handful of the silver screen's favorite myths, debunked or verified as the case may be.

1. [As seen in 95% of all action, superhero, thriller, and disaster films] - The Manhattan skyline is routine levelled.

Hollywood really has it out for New York; every imaginable evil, from extraterrestrial demigods to ice hurricanes, and even giant gorillas, has been visited on the city since the dawn of hollywood. I think we can all safely say debunked, since last time I looked I was in a canyon of sturdy skyscrapers, and have yet to see a post-apocalyptic desert. I'm keeping my eyes open though.

2. [As seen in FRIENDS, How I Met Your Mother, Friends with Benefits, Seinfeld, and others] - New York apartments have lovely, open kitchens.

Debunked before you can even say the word, and with some bitterness on my part. Our apartment has a large kitchen for Manhattan, which I will never not find shocking, since it's the size of my closet in Lynchburg. Those kitchens are great for filming, but they're nothing more than a fantasy unless you're just that bourgeoisie, and that's really bourgeoisie.

3. [As seen in Step Up 2, Friends with Benefits and a billion YouTube videos] - Flash Mobs happen.

Step Up 2 was actually set in Baltimore, and YouTube isn't based on Rodeo Drive, but this holds up as a bit of modern-day gritty glamour that Hollywood bestowed on the Big Apple. And it's actually true; we saw our first one this weekend! It was one of the coolest things we've seen so far.

4. [As seen in FRIENDS] - People have nothing to do but sit in coffee shops all day.

More true than not, actually. New Yorkers work hard, but they don't work a whole lot.

5. [As seen in How I Met Your Mother, Hitch, and every chick flick ever set in New York] - New Yorkers take taxis everywhere.

Debunked. Taxis are incredibly expensive, and if you have the money to use one regularly, you'll just have a limo or town car, since it's actually not that much more expensive and it's so much better. Depending on traffic, the subway can actually be faster as well. Taxis are typically filled with tourists, out of town business folk, and New Yorkers who just bought TVs or dropped their life savings at Trader Joe's (easier to do than it sounds, trust me!).


After a month, we can safely say we enjoy living here. It's different. There are adjustments, like my teeny kitchen and $7.50 boxes of cereal. But there's incredible things too. Central Park is just a big, public backyard, we run there almost every night and we haven't explored the half of it. The Rockaways, a surfing beach that sits under Long Island, is our favorite weekend haunt. Weird stuff on the Subway doesn't bother us anymore, like the old man who opened the back door of my speeding subway car this morning to dump a bottle of pills. It's not always beautiful and glamorous here, but it's never boring.