New York City – What It’s Really Like Now

(bright music)
Good morning guys here in New York City.
A place that makes a lot of
noise on the world stage.
A place that is always changing.
But what is New York City like now?
Today we’re gonna start here
on the most southern tip of Manhattan.
And the goal is to get all
the way up to the Bronx
to show you the sites,
but more importantly, talk to the locals.
Get their take on what their
city is currently like.
Let’s do this.
So it all sort of happened
in this area right here.
The Dutch settlers called
this New Netherlands, 1624.
Alright guys, I’m trying
to find it for you.
It’s been closed off.
It’s the monument for the Netherlands.
Where is it?
There it is.
We can see the top of the flag pole.
So New Netherland expanded
from Delaware all the
way to upstate New York.
And the reason was the fur trade.
So right here there was a massive
fort, obviously no longer.
And there’s the monument.
It’s not really that great
of a monument to be honest.
Let’s do, and I want to show
you some of these streets here.
The streets are super interesting
because unlike the rest of New York City,
they don’t take on a grid pattern.
So they were designed, we
can see a little bit here,
but we’ll get in there, in a curved way.
New Amsterdam, New York
City used to be called.
You can see that looks a
little bit like Amsterdam.
And the financial district here
is amazing architecture.
And I wanna bring you over to Wall Street,
the capital of capital in the world.
Here’s where people from around the world,
come to make their fortunes.
New York Stock Exchange.
A roughly $25 trillion market cap,
largest in the world.
Then we have the Nasdaq,
20 trillion market cap.
Second largest globally.
Very, a lot of jobs down here.
Salary here is, I
researched that last night,
I came up with an average
of $565,000 a year.
And so you’re taking the
ones that are making billions
and the ones that are
probably making 50 grand.
But still there is a
lot of money to be made,
if you’re in the right place down here.
The tower of money is higher
than the Tower of God in New York.
It’s interesting, some
older cities in Europe,
I don’t know if it’s
still the story anymore,
but the church had to be the top.
That was the pinnacle
of power, but no longer.
And it is capital
and what’s been created out of this city,
the brains, the hustle
and just the system that
allowed it to flourish
is like nothing else.
It’s quite remarkable.
And I gotta say it looks
very clean down here.
I am pretty impressed so far.
The streets are nice.
Don’t even see much of that.
I don’t know if that holds
for the rest of the city,
but down here it looks nice.
(upbeat music)
(upbeat music continues)
(upbeat music continues)
(upbeat music continues)
(driver speaking in foreign language)
(Peter speaking in foreign language)
Right here we are in the East Village
and what’s interesting right
now in New York City is
all the taxi drivers
or almost all of ’em that I’ve
had in the last couple days,
couple from India, but
mostly Central Asia,
Tajikistan, Uzbekistan,
Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan.
That’s interesting
how they find their way
into certain industries.
We got a, looks like a movie or show.
So East Village here,
originally part of the Lower East Side,
settled by German immigrants
and get this, it was
called Kleindeutschland,
I don’t know what Klein means,
but deutschland, Germany.
So ’50s and ’60s, more of a
counter-cultural type place,
artists, poets, cheap rents at the time,
the beats, that sort of vibe.
’70s, ’80s, more punk rock.
And then today, from my understanding,
it’s more gentrified, like
so many parts of this city,
but still has some of its rawness to it,
I would say, some authenticity here.
And that equipment’s worth a
little more than my GoPro here.
Are you part of this, sir?
You part of this project?
– Yeah, I bought the car.
– You brought the car?
– That’s ’74 Karmann Ghia.
– Oh that is cool.
– So,
he’s gonna make a phone call from the car
and she’s gonna be up in window.
– [Peter] Do you know what show this is?
– No, I’m not sure
’cause they do it so
much that I don’t even…
(both chuckling)
– Let’s see if we can
run off this power.
– There’s so many moving parts
to a production.
– Yeah. Probably.
– Oh it’s crazy.
– It’s wild, huh?
Just so you gotta actually get the permits
from the city, right?
They shut down the street here.
– Oh yeah.
– They take the lanes.
– Hundreds of people
that all do different things.
– Hundreds.
– Yeah.
– [Peter] There she is.
– [Production Staff] A
camera can’t go inside here.
– You’ve been doing
this since high school?
– Yeah.
– [Peter] Okay. So you run
this GIB operation here.
– Exactly. Yeah.
It’s fun. Every day’s a
little different, you know.
We’re in like different
parts of the city, you know.
Cool. See cool stuff, you know.
Places people usually don’t get to go.
– Right.
– Penthouses
like, you know, we get like,
kind of exclusive access to places
where typically like you have
to pay big money to get into.
– [Peter] And this is
just for one scene here?
– Oh, yeah.
– One shot.
– One shot, yeah.
And then we’ll move to another
location in a few hours
and do the same thing somewhere else.
– So the final product of this shot
will be what? 30 seconds?
– Yeah, something like short. Short.
– It has to be thought up
and then you gotta figure out location,
then you gotta get the apartment up there.
– Yeah, exactly.
Big production meetings,
going into logistics,
everything, like a circus,
you know, like-
– It is cool.
– Yeah. Yeah.
– [Peter] Do you guys all know
each other pretty well or?
– Yeah, kind of a small town, you know,
like as far as business,
like it’s a big business
but it’s still relatively small
as far as like, you know, yeah.
– How is the industry right
now, overall, would you say?
– It was like, it’s been getting,
it was slow for a little while.
We had a strike like recently, you know.
Like it got like a year or two ago
and we’re coming out of that
and things turn to pick up again.
– Okay.
– But yeah.
– What’s your take on the city right now?
It’s like,
– (indistinct) in the city.
– you know, when I was younger
I feel like it was a little cleaner,
a little like, you know,
it’s kind of gotten a
little rough as of recently,
you know, for various reasons.
But you know, I think we’ll
get through it, you know?
That’s one of my, yeah,
one of my coworkers.
– [Peter] Cool.
Well,
– Keep it going.
– I appreciate it.
Oh, thank you.
I look forward to watching this.
We can’t say what it is.
– Oh, yeah.
– Okay, okay. Take care.
– Big fan.
– Thank you guys. Thank you.
Alright, so that’s the other
end of the spectrum you guys.
So from me with a GoPro,
a wandering curiosity
and the ability to talk to people
and to something like that,
which is so well organized
and thought through
and orchestrated by true professionals.
It’s such a cool vibe going on out there.
It’s so interesting that all of this
goes for like a 1/32 shot.
Alright, let’s check out
more of this part of town.
(engine roaring)
This village is a cool neighborhood.
I like it because it’s not totally posh,
but there are a lot of nice places
and a lot of detail.
(car horn blaring)
Graffiti here,
not in financial.
I’ve been to this city a million times.
My parents are from Hoboken, New Jersey.
So growing up in Vermont,
we came here a lot.
The crime topic has always been
a popular one in New York City.
Crime is, actually new
numbers just came out,
is down quite a bit in the city.
Technically, shootings
and homicides are down.
I just wanna read those off for you.
This year 412 shooting
incidents with 489 victims.
First seven months of 2025.
Now in 1993 when it was really bad,
when I was a kid walking
these streets with my father
and I remember that 42nd
street was not a pretty thing.
There were 3,114 shootings,
3,451 victims of gun mile violence.
So right now,
murders are down 49% over last year,
robbery down 7.5%.
Felonies dropped 8.2%.
Burglaries down 14.2.
I don’t have carjackings,
I don’t know what that’s called,
but I think that actually is up.
Subway crime has decreased,
second lowest in 27 years.
I almost find that hard to believe.
But what do I know?
These are the most recent numbers.
It’s not all great.
*ape is up 33%, and this is not a good one,
juvenile shooting incidents up
roughly 15%.
From 2018 to 2024,
the increase in juvenile
shooters spiked by nearly 200%.
So that’s a stat that’s looking
really bad here in the city.
But overall, if you’re to
believe the government’s numbers,
which I mean homicides,
that’s pretty objective.
It’s pretty clear,
then, that is good news.
Now I do remember being
in San Francisco in 2020
and they were turning a lot
of felonies into misdemeanors
and so they’re like felonies are down.
But, well because you turned a lot of them
into misdemeanors.
So that changed the numbers.
So you always gotta dig
deeper on these numbers.
But from what I just read you,
that is a optimistic sign here.
So here we are, Union Square,
(siren blaring)
we’re making our way up Manhattan here,
up towards Midtown.
And I wanna say, you see
not more homeless than the pandemic.
No, but maybe than six
years ago, I would say.
And that’s just my experience
and more mental health issues
that can be said for all over the country
in different cities.
I was following a guy yesterday
who was karate chopping
signs on the street.
There were like some foldable signs
and he’d come karate chopping in
and fall in the process
and then yell at the sign.
So he wasn’t all there.
You see a bit of that unfortunately.
But if you’re gonna
compare to say Los Angeles
and people camping out on the streets.
Well I haven’t seen
nearly as much like there.
I don’t think there’s a
skid row of New York City.
Well correct me if I’m
wrong, anyone out there.
♪ I don’t have ♪
♪ In me ♪
Thank you.
– Thanks man.
♪ Oh, glad you made it ♪
(siren blaring)
– That was yesterday.
– Yeah.
– [Peter] This guy was getting mad
at the ice truck.
– The ice. Yeah, yeah.
Picked them come up
and stuff like that. Yeah.
And they left,
after that they beat up
the car and stuff.
– Oh okay.
So someone just ran out with a sandwich?
– [Security Guard] Basically
when they get caught,
sometimes they give it
up, sometimes they don’t.
Some are kind of embarrassed
or they try to like mentality.
So they like to vandalize stuff.
And then after that-
– Is there a lot of that these days?
– [Security Guard] Well
I’ve seen it in this store,
not in the other stores, though.
I would say at this
location, pretty common.
– Alright, thank you.
– [Security Guard] Of
course, you have a great one.
– Fist bumps.
– You too.
– I kept you off camera.
– I appreciate that.
– Security guard wanted to speak on camera
but he couldn’t in uniform.
So he’s saying, you know,
once someone grabs some,
once they get out the door
here, then they can go.
But there’s quite a presence in that.
Let’s give him a subway.
(upbeat music)
(upbeat music continues)
(alarm beeping)
(upbeat music continues)
(air whooshing)
– [Announcer] Next stop is, Bryant Park.
(upbeat music continues)
– We have some chess games going on here.
Bryant Park
and such a cool place
to just spend some time.
Nice Breeze has kicked in.
It’s extremely hot today.
But it feels amazing.
Bryant Park Reading Room.
– We’re very happy
to have him here with us today.
Please join me in welcoming Peter Moskos.
(audience applauding)
– Peter’s here.
– Hi.
Thank you all for coming.
It’s a pleasure to be here.
Hopefully I’ll be on-
– I don’t know Peter,
but want to check out his book now.
This to me is one of the
coolest parts of the city.
Oh, look at that, little zone for kids.
You know, the city takes on
all of these different energies
and a place like this really slows it down
even though we’re right
in the middle of it.
Bryant Park I’d say lowers
the heart rate, blood pressure
and it’s a lot of that,
almost European style.
Giovanni and Rome having
a long lunch break vibe,
going on here?
I bet they’re not two hours.
(gentle jazzy music)
(gentle jazzy music continues)
(siren blaring)
(gentle jazzy music continues)
– Hey, how’s it going?
– How’s it going?
I think I’ve seen you on YouTube before.
– [Peter] What are you
doing here? What’s CBS?
– This is Collins Billing Service.
Just handyman work.
– [Peter] Okay. How’s it
going right now in the city?
– Good. Busy.
– Busy.
– Yeah.
– You guys are busy.
– It picked up. It picked up. Yeah.
– Oh that’s cool.
– It picked up.
They’re doubling offices now,
everything, so it’s all busy now.
– [Peter] Offices are
filling back up a bit?
– Yeah.
They want to see at least 80% there now.
– Is that what they’re saying?
– Mm-hmm.
– [Peter] Okay, cool.
So how’s your feel the
city overall, right now?
– It’s pretty much back to normal.
– You got a big family?
– Yeah, I got three kids.
– Three kids.
– Three kids.
– How is it raising kids in the city?
– Well it’s like
it changed from when we were younger
because the whole group…
All the kids are crazy now.
You see kids running the
streets with guns and sh*t on them.
So I don’t really let my kids
out too much like roaming out.
But they get to do certain things.
We do things, but I
don’t let them hang out
with all the knuckleheads
around the neighborhood.
There was a little 13-year-old over there
one time by, he was wheelie’ng.
I told him, oh wheelie your bike, wheelie.
He said, you want to get popped?
Little kid had a gun
on him, a 13-year-old.
I was like holy sh*t.
Where’s his parents?
His parents are walking
down the block, he said.
I, like, wow.
– His parents were there?
– Walking down the block
and he was with his parents
and he had a gun on him.
Crazy.
– What do you do?
– I was with my friend.
Me and my friend were like,
that’s f***** crazy, right?
Look at this little kid.
I felt bad for him.
– Yeah, yeah, yeah. Bad parenting.
What part of the city was that in?
– That’s right in Harlem.
– Harlem.
– Harlem.
There’s a lot more like
boys and girls clubs
when you’re growing up.
You get that little like,
you know friend zone.
You get to play sports
and it’s like less of that I feel like.
– Okay. Okay.
– Probably less of that.
– What’s your name?
– Rob.
– Peter.
– Peter, nice to meet.
– Rob. Nice to meet you.
Take care. Thank you brother.
– Yeah man.
– See you.
– Nice to meet you.
– Whoa!
– Yeah. Stuff like this.
It’s just, if you’re busy in your life
walking around every day,
what are you gonna do about that?
You’re gonna walk by most likely
because you’re gonna see
it in another corner.
All right. I don’t want to
get heavy in this video.
I’m feeling such a high vibe on New York.
(car horn blaring)
But again, I wanna show you what I see.
A lot more suits back in
town and nicer shirts.
You can see the office jobs are back.
Okay, when I was a kid,
I remember coming down here with my dad,
we’re on 42nd and it
was just pimps and hoes,
pretty much just whole way.
It was very seedy.
I remember he had my hands
and he was like running
me through the street
’cause it was sketchy in those times.
So like everywhere, they’re
always going through cycles
and New York’s gone through its cycles.
So from what I recall,
’80s, early ’90s, maybe,
pretty seedy, got a lot better.
Pandemic was not good
for the city, overall.
And as far as life down here,
I mean it’s really come back.
Legendary Times Square, iconic sight.
People know it from around the world.
– Elmo. You think I’m gonna run tonight?
Elmo.
Elmo.
– Very good. Yeah.
– This is a part of the city.
Most locals still go to.
This is I guess 90% tourist.
Time’s changed a little bit
since George Cohan was here.
(people indistinctly speaking)
– I’ll let you know.
– [Peter] You guys are doing a great job.
– Thank you.
– [Peter] City’s looking better.
You feel it? Yeah.
– [Tourist] One block at a time.
– [Peter] One block at a time.
Alright, if we’re gonna
take the temperature
of amount of tourists here.
Well I’m seeing a lot of people,
I’m surprised with this heat.
The thought people would
not be out, you know,
doesn’t have to work obviously.
But tourists?
It’s a hot one over 90 degrees.
High humidity.
I will say I didn’t hear
many European languages
being spoken,
some more Middle Easterners, more Asians.
So make what you will of that.
I’m not sure if the hotel I’m staying at,
there are a lot of Europeans.
So some people have said
European travels down.
I’m sure there’s a statistic for that,
but it’s busy.
Things are happening there.
(tourist indistinctly speaking)
(Peter speaking in foreign language)
– Yes.
(Peter speaking in foreign language)
(Peter speaking in foreign language)
(speaks foreign language) Wow.
My most adventurous travel
or up there in the top
three was Tajikistan.
Right after we went to
Afghanistan in 2001,
the heroine trade just flooded out
of Afghanistan like crazy.
So the Russians were
making a fortune from it.
The Taji government. And it was wild.
That was on the number one heroin route
out going out of Afghanistan.
But a lot of guys like that
that were just awesome.
Big smiles.
Some of the most hospitable people.
Really a wild place. Huge mountains.
I don’t know if they changed the name,
but at the time it was Mount
Communism, I think 25,000 feet.
Alright, so I want to
take you guys in here.
Grand Central Station.
It’s just so cool I can’t pass it up.
(bright music)
(bright music continues)
(bright music continues)
(bright music continues)
(bright music continues)
(bright music continues)
All right, Grand Central Station.
And most in the world,
67 tracks on two levels,
three quarters to a million people
walking through here a day.
– If you’re planning to
hijack it, let me know.
We go together. (chuckles)
– 10 to $20 million is the
value of it. That is cool.
And then a lot of people walk right by it
and they have no idea.
Four opal faces valued at 10, $20 million
and the ceiling has 2,500 stars.
So this is the place.
You want to get out of the city,
it’s got all the connections
to Upstate, White Plains,
I believe that’s Long Island, Melrose,
Mount Vernon West, Poughkeepsie,
right in the center of the city.
Designed so well, so well thought out,
to bring everyone in in volume
and to remove everyone in volume.
5th Avenue,
one of the most famous
shopping streets in the world.
And to our left, Rockefeller Center,
which I want to show you.
Anyone visiting this city,
this is just one of those
zones you gotta go to,
especially if you love
American Art Deco, like I do.
It’s so classic and timeless.
During the Great Depression,
the government was putting
a lot of people to work
through building projects.
Our projects around the country.
This I’m sure was mostly private
though, being Rockefeller.
But projects like this
had a lot of people from
this going totally broke
and not working at all.
There’s NBC News,
bunch of produce here.
It’s now the Comcast building.
This beautiful hardware on the walls.
See all the old elevators
going high up above the city.
Back in the day it was
elevator men at each elevator.
Now there seems to be an
attendant at each row.
When’s the last time you
saw something like this?
All of these elevators
right next to one another.
You have the US mail letter box.
All the mail would come
down from the offices above.
And I just love refreshing
into this place.
Every time I come back to the city,
just features like this,
flow in everything, all the design.
– [Tourists] Hello.
– Say hi from Costa Rica.
– [Tourists] Ola, Costa Rica.
– Let’s keep going.
We’re gonna go Upper East Side,
which is old-money, old-money New York.
It’s beautiful.
– Peter.
– How you doing?
– Pretty good.
– [Peter] How are things
going with Uber these days?
– Slow. Normally I’m not working
till three, four o’clock.
– [Peter] Okay.
– I start usually around
five o’clock in the morning.
I’m done by 12, one o’clock, two o’clock.
It’s getting way too
expensive to live here though.
I’ve thought about getting
out of New York City.
– [Peter] Really? The
costs are crazy right now.
– Absolutely. Nuts.
– [Peter] Rent still going up.
– Yep.
– [Peter] The people you talk to,
they’re all feeling the same.
– Yep.
– [Peter] Sort of situation?
– Yep. I have quite a few
of my friends who left city.
– Really?
– Yeah.
– [Peter] Where are they going?
– Mostly Jersey.
(radio speaking in foreign language)
– One of two of them actually
went to Pennsylvania.
They drive all the way from
Pennsylvania to New York.
– [Peter] No way they live over there.
How far does that commute?
– About a hour and a half, two hours.
Just from there to city.
– [Peter] Wow. And then
they drive for a job.
So they’re driving all day.
So even in the boroughs right now,
say Queens, the Bronx,
rent’s still going up.
– Yeah.
– [Peter] What can you get a
place for like three bedroom,
modest place?
– I think it’s like about
3500, 3500 right now.
– Oh wow.
– Plus the utilities.
– Yeah. I was talking to
a guy in an Uber yesterday
and he’s like, all I do is
work and I don’t get ahead
and I don’t save any money.
And I’m like, why don’t you
go to like a mid-level city
where the costs are half the amount
And I think there’s plenty of work still.
– The only advantage of New York
is the laws are still in your favor.
Like you will be covered.
Like say I have a friend of mine,
he bought a house in Jersey, right?
– Right.
– He moved to Jersey
but then he lost his insurance,
his health insurance.
– [Peter] Oh, health insurance. Okay.
– New York kind of keeps it
affordable, New York state.
He’s in Jersey.
And Jersey does not help you in any,
what New York State does
is like you make certain amount of money
and after that they subsidize.
You gotta be a copay, right?
– Right.
– You go to Jersey,
you gotta pay everything.
It’s all out of pocket expense.
So that’s basically the biggest reason
why a lot of people don’t leave New York.
– [Peter] And you can get
rent control here too, right?
– Yeah. I mean but that’s
very difficult to get.
– Oh it is. Okay.
– But people get that. Yes.
– [Peter] How about raising
kids here? How’s that?
– My kids are very young.
Where I live, school
district is very nice.
So I haven’t had any problems yet.
But a lot of people who are
living in Queens and Brooklyn,
they’re all complaining
because school districts
are not as safe anymore.
Not as clean anymore.
There’s a lot of, even for middle schools,
there’s a lot of drugs available nowadays,
not used to be like that.
– [Peter] What borough do you live in?
– I live on Staten Island.
– [Pete] Oh okay. I’m
going there tomorrow.
– Staten Island.
– Oh that’s nice, right?
– Staten Island.
I think Staten Island is the best borough,
out of the five ones
because not everything
is crammed on top of you.
– [Peter] There’s some space out there.
– [Driver] There there is space out there.
Thank you.
– [Peter] Yeah, thank you. Take care.
– Take care.
– Best of luck.
Here we go. Upper East Side.
That is Andrew Carnegie’s former mansion,
one of the big barons of this country.
And this is the old-money
here in New York City.
And this was originally
farmland in the 19th century.
And then the railway came up
here, the elevated railways.
1870s and ’80s.
– Plus. I know.
– And it turned it in
to what it is today.
But during the Gilded Age,
this is where the big names
were planting their flag,
the Astors, Carnegies, Rockefellers,
grand mansions out here.
Millionaires row, they called it nearby.
And then it turned into
more luxury apartments
for those that have the money
and want a quieter New
York City experience.
This is it, ’cause you got
Central Park right here
and it’s probably one of
the safer areas in the city
and bit quieter and way more expensive.
Famous Guggenheim Museum.
Worth checking out.
We’re not gonna do it, but
worth checking out some time.
Okay, let’s get a drink.
The juice lady didn’t
want to be on camera,
but she said business is
down, big time this summer.
The last two years actually she says,
one of those little carts
she pays to the city,
$5,000 every five months, I believe.
And then another $500 to the person
that I guess owns that
or leases that space.
So those two fees.
This,
$13.
So strawberry banana
ice and peanut butter.
Skippy peanut butter.
So the prices are high
and she says all the people out front,
they’re not buying this here.
So they’re always the numbers, right?
The crime numbers or the economic numbers.
And then there are people’s
experiences on the ground.
So I try to look at all the data
and usually there’s some
sort of consensus, right?
If you talk to 15 juice people
during the course of a day and
they all say numbers are down
and I’m sure they’re
right and they’re spot on.
Some people might be
exaggerating things, others not.
It’s really hard to know
the exact truth of anything.
But at least we get an understanding
with experiences like this.
Okay, so here we have a part of the city
where doormen are still a thing
and you have these old apartments,
you know, some of these
places don’t look that amazing
to be honest from the outside.
But the wealth here,
look on Zillow, Upper
East Side, Manhattan,
I would say just to buy in, you know,
a humble place.
We’re talking a couple million
at least for something tiny
at like the floor to get in.
And then it goes into the
tens of millions here.
When someone lives here,
the doorman service comes with them.
And so you just open the
doors, take care of things,
– Take care of them, take
care of them also, you know,
make sure they’re, you know,
they take care of us as well.
– They do.
– Yeah.
– [Peter] Do you like working out here?
– Yes.
– That’s cool.
– I like people over here.
(metal door thudding)
They got a lot of good tenants in here.
– [Peter] That’s awesome.
– You don’t mind helping them out.
– Hello.
– Alright, how’s it going?
– Take care.
– Alright, nice meeting you.
– [Peter] Have a good one.
– All right.
– I have (faintly speaking).
– Delivery food situations
off the chain here these days.
So you see these guys on bikes
draped over the handlebars
with food and on the back
and on some of the big
thoroughfares, you see those bikes.
It’s like a chain of them.
So there you have it.
That’s one of the doormen.
It’s really hard to go into
one of these buildings,
but you can get a little
understanding of this world here.
You know, quite established.
You have your doorman,
he’s gonna help you with
whatever you might need.
I’m sure he gets tipped very well.
He said he gets taken care of.
Well, so it’s interesting.
It’s a world that most
of us will never know
and it’s sort of a time
gone by, I would say,
for most wealthy people.
Is new wealth getting
into this type of living?
I don’t think so.
Correct me where I’m wrong out there.
New wealth, if you’re
looking for these apartments,
I think they’re looking
for maybe something
more modern and bigger.
But I could be wrong on that.
And those old school services, right?
Like the guy opening your door
maybe might not be so popular these days
for younger people,
but you never know.
Anyways, there’s plenty of it here.
And here, we have an old school guy
that’s probably been doing it for decades.
Uniform.
(engine roaring)
Ah, this is amazing.
My first time on an e-bike
and what a good decision.
Little wind around the face.
Let’s cruise into Central Park.
Get a look. See.
one of the huge perks to living over here
is I’m right across the street
and all of a sudden we’re in Central Park.
It’s 2.5 miles long,
25 miles wide.
Bigger than Monaco.
All the way over there.
All the way down there.
– Gimme a smile, young lady.
– Quite detailed in here.
You can go off on all
of these little paths.
They’re ponds, they’re rock areas,
baseball fields, big swimming pool,
such awesome forethought
when designing the city
to make this park.
It goes on and on, forever.
(engine roaring)
Starts getting nicer up here actually.
We’re at 85th, still Upper East Side.
We wrapped around Central Park, came back,
we’re going to the Bronx next.
But it looks actually
a bit cooler up here
than what we first saw when
we got out of the Uber.
Yeah, is tons of exploring
up here, that’s for sure.
Let’s turn up the volume
a bit. 149th and third.
No Bronx.
(lively music)
So we have different
security on the subway.
You guys are army.
I heard crime is down a lot in the subway.
– Actually, with this,
(indistinct) of the army.
I don’t know if you see
almost in every train,
Manhattan, Queens, go everywhere.
After like this,
they’ve seen that they
know this more people of,
They have NYPD, as well, so.
Yes, you’re right.
(upbeat music)
(upbeat music continues)
(upbeat music continues)
(upbeat music continues)
– All right, here we are.
Third Ave, 149th Street known as the hub.
– 875.
– So the weather’s come in,
little rain might not too bad.
Cool things down a tiny bit.
And this is the hub, so known
as the big transport area.
A lot of subway lines come in here.
We’re deep in the Bronx now.
This is the real deal out here.
And I just wanted to show you
guys a different New York City
because there are many faces to this city.
And most of the time
when people think of New
York from the outside,
they’re thinking Manhattan.
But the city goes on for an eternity.
We’re just touching a bit of it today.
But I wanted to show you a different side.
Last time I was here,
it was five years ago,
things were pretty bad.
That was in the fig of COVID
(car horn blaring)
and down here there were just
so many guys using drugs
openly on the street
and we’ll see if it’s changed.
So vibrant neighborhood,
you can see a lot of people cleared off
while there’s trash bags out there.
All that trash by the street
vendors here, normally,
but because of the rain,
I think they just packed
it up for the day.
Yeah, unfortunately
guys, it’s that same old
drug scene on the streets
that hasn’t changed.
I’d say if I’m comparing,
it looks pretty similar.
Alright, so I almost got to the area
where it was just a disaster last time.
And there’s this group
of guys and I came up
and I said, I’m making a
video about New York City
and you guys all from here,
I’d love to get your take on things.
Represent the Bronx a little.
It was a dance, played it well,
could have gone really wrong.
So, I’ve turned around
and I’m gonna just move through here.
Most people, great people here I’m sure.
And then some people it’s like,
alright, who’s the dude with a camera,
actually, who’s the
white dude with a camera?
What’s he doing?
So you have to build that trust
and it’s just a game of feeling it out
and trying to talk to people.
So giving my best, guys,
sometimes it’s easier than others.
I don’t know why.
It just could be the weather
could be a whole host of factors,
but it’s just sometimes it is easier
to get people on camera than others.
Thanks man, you guys.
It’s all right. Keeping it clean.
– Yeah.
– Thank you.
– [Street Cleaner] Yeah, no problem.
– Okay, these street
cleaner guys back here
had a lot of knowledge.
Fortunately again, they can’t
be on camera, city uniforms.
If they stop for just a
couple days, they said four,
this would be complete trash.
And there is just a constant process.
It’s a problem here.
Now they’ve done a good
job cleaning up this,
but there’s one guy said
this morning he was getting yelled at
for using the leaf blower
and he wasn’t pointing it at anyone,
but it’s just a constant process.
Thanks, you guys, looks good.
Take care man.
All right, this guy just told me,
just cleaned this in 30 minutes.
It’s going back to trash.
Alright people that I live here,
I’m just showing you what I see.
First impressions.
There are a lot of great families here,
a lot of good people here.
There’s stuff that I can’t see,
but I’m sharing with you what I come into.
– Is that be yourself.
– Do you wanna be in it?
Yes.
– Yes.
– Okay. You’re from here?
– Yeah. Well I’m not here.
– [Peter] Okay, tell us
about this neighborhood.
– It’s disgusting.
– It’s ghetto.
– It’s treacherous.
Don’t come over here if you’re a tourist.
– Okay.
– Are you a tourist?
– I’m making a video.
– Okay, so don’t be over here
– This is ghetto.
– when it’s dark.
– And it’s very, very dangerous.
– So what are you ladies
doing over here though?
– We’re going to my cousin house.
’cause you know we’re
real street New Yorkers.
So we’re built for this life, you know.
– Is is it a he or she?
– It’s a she.
Is she ghetto and dangerous?
– No, no, no.
Very classy. Very demure.
– Alright, can I come?
– Yeah.
– No, no, no,
– No, no, no, no.
Making a video. So you okay with that?
– Yeah, we’re fine.
– But it’s great. Okay,
so you’re some bright faces.
So you know, you don’t hang
out in these parts necessarily.
(upbeat music)
Black friday, every day.
We got five stories of Envy Nails here,
but it looks like Lola is
taking over at the bottom.
A bunch of small local businesses
with some of the chains
obviously like Cricket.
But there we go with empanadas.
And it’s a mix.
You’re gonna find a lot of the people
that are working in Manhattan,
live out in these areas.
Not everyone obviously,
but they’re gonna go
where the rent’s cheaper
than go into Manhattan
where the hay is better.
Guys, so there’s one more
location I want to bring you too.
It’s gonna be a surprise for me
and I know a surprise for you.
Or at least 99% of you out there that
wouldn’t think this exists in the Bronx.
I’m excited for this one
and now we’re stepping into
a completely different world from here.
Gotta get an Uber and get it
before that daylight goes away.
(hinges squeaking)
– Ah, hey. Peter.
– Hey, how you doing?
– Good, how are you?
– [Peter] Doing well. What’s your name?
– Azula.
– Azula.
– Yes.
– Where’s that name from?
That’s from Uzbekistan.
– Tashkent.
– Oh yeah. You know Tashkent?
– [Peter] I know Tashkent.
– That’s cool. That’s good.
– [Peter] I love Samarkand.
I actually gave a speech
at a wedding in Samarkand.
– Oh nice. Which wedding did you?
– [Peter] Some people I met in Samarkand
and they wanted me to
be part of their wedding
and make a speech.
And my Russian is,
especially at that time,
pretty primitive.
So I got up in front of a crowd of people.
And talked about the good
people of Uzbekistan.
I sound like a politician.
– Wow.
– [Peter] But it was a great experience.
– Nice.
– I loved Uzbekistan.
– Thank you. Yeah, thank you
that you love my country.
– How long have you been here?
– Almost three years. Yeah.
– How is it?
– I love it.
Yeah, it’s beautiful.
– Alright. Azula says come sit up front.
I appreciate it man.
Here we go. Yeah.
So you have fresh eyes
on the United States
because you just came
here three years ago.
– Yes.
– So,
what are your thoughts overall?
Like what do you think about the country?
And you won’t offend me.
You can say whatever you want.
– Okay. Oh yeah. All right.
So the United States is like, you know,
it was my dream city,
dreams like country before.
Coming here, like during my childhood,
I used to watch a lot of American movies,
all the Spider-Man things.
– Okay.
– Fantastic. Marvel movies.
And then it was like boosting
my mind, coming here,
travel, you know.
And then I talked to my friend, Hey,
can you just punch me or do something?
Like I was still thinking
like I’m in my dream.
– [Peter] What do you think
about the American culture
or the people so far?
What are your thoughts on that?
– I can tell you about my first impression
about American people.
You know, coming to States, I
have like different, you know,
different like opinions about the States.
I watch some horror movies, like you know,
gangsters and everything.
Maybe it is standards going
there, maybe it’s not.
First I started living in Virginia.
I did my internship there
and I met with supervisor
and her name was if, if
she’s gonna see on YouTube.
So I’m gonna say hi to her.
– Cool. Shout out to her.
– Her name is-
– What’s her name?
– Her name
is Darlene Romanski.
– Shout out to Darlene.
– Yes.
And she’s the person that
she start also teaching me
how to communicate, how to
start living in the States.
Like in the world there are, like,
two type of people like givers and takers
that what always she say,
try to be givers, try
to give all the time.
Whatever you can do,
whatever you can help,
try to give it but stay away from takers.
That’s what she says to me.
– [Peter] That’s great.
Good advice From Darlene.
– Yeah, and after start
living and working with her,
I start knowing that American
people are the most kindest
and you know, they’re so welcoming.
Each State has different life,
different lifestyles, different people.
And this is what I really love it.
The Bronx is a good place,
but you gotta be careful here.
If the longer trips comes, I accept it.
If the short trips comes, I don’t,
just stop and go back to city,
go back to Manhattan.
This is what I prefer to.
– [Peter] Thanks for picking me up.
– Yeah, it was like 30 minutes
and you have a very good rating.
493. I always pay attention to the right.
– What’s my rating?
– 493, which is nice.
– Okay.
– 440, 430 something.
They always have problems.
Once I faced with one guy, he had the 430,
you know, plus ratings and
he gave me a heart attack.
– Okay. (chuckles)
– That was in Bronx.
After that I told myself
I’m not gonna work here.
Even if I come, I’m gonna
stop and go back to city.
– [Peter] And we’re going
to a part of the Bronx.
I had no idea existed,
as in, it’s separated from the Bronx.
– [Uber Driver] It is
City Island and it’s nice
– City Island,
– Yeah.
– Oh this is cool. It’s
like a charming little town.
– Yeah.
– Okay man,
you can just drop me off here.
– Thank you so much sir.
– Thank you. Take care.
– Yeah.
– All the best.
– [Uber Driver] Thank you. Bye.
(car door thudding)
– Alright guys, we made it
and wow, what a different feel over here.
I can’t believe this is New York City
and there’s a lot of salt in the air,
salt water surrounding the island.
We’re on a small island.
Check it out on Google Maps.
Or maybe I’ll put the map up here.
Still part of New York City.
Still part of the Bronx.
That’s what’s so cool.
So when someone says New York City
and labels it easily,
it’s impossible
because here and where we started today
and many of the neighborhoods
we went through,
they’re all different.
And then when you even try to label,
the Bronx is such and such,
and well you could be out here,
you could be where we just were.
There’s some really pristine
neighborhoods in the Bronx also
with nice old mansions.
So you can’t even label that easily.
So that’s pretty much how the
world works with most places.
So let’s canvas a few neighborhoods
before the light completely goes away.
I’m gonna try to keep
the rain off the lens,
but I’m not gonna be totally successful.
Bear with me here.
I read online last night,
it’s got a small town,
new England feel and style
and first impressions,
I can agree with that for sure.
Okay, 19th century, it was
used as a ship building hub,
then the oyster industry
came in the late 1800s
and then the 20th century
and maritime culture
during both world wars.
This is just like small town America here.
Look at that white picket
fence, flag on the porch.
This guy’s got the candles,
the fake candles in the window.
Get this cute place.
You have the chairs out on the porch.
Oh, there’s a film shoot. There we go.
Looks like a movie’s coming.
Maybe the guys we saw today.
Birds chirping.
Hope this comes through the camera.
God, I want another
five hours of daylight.
(water sloshing)
It is coming down hard,
drenched, all the way through.
So let’s finish with a good meal here
and leave this island
up to our imagination
because it looks very interesting,
but unfortunately for another time.
Let’s get in here.
How’s the food in here guys?
Pretty good?
– Yeah, it’s good, good, good.
– Okay, thank you.
All right. We have some
lobster specials here.
Lobster and scallop,
eight stuffed shrimp,
six shrimp, four ounce tail,
cluster snow,
some cocktails.
Quite an extensive menu here.
I’m feeling like scallops.
Maybe some lobster. How are you sir?
Old school, they just come in
and drop in 14 inches of garlic bread
before you get going.
This place says stories and history.
Look at how they kept
the roof inside, Joe V’s.
Here we go, the lobster and scallops.
This guy go here.
(staffs indistinctly speaking)
Start with the scallops
Standard. Pretty good, pretty good.
And then they did it.
Hit it with a good amount
of butter and then bake it.
It’s nice. Look, it’s not
the top, top tier lobster
because it’s $30 for all
of this in New York City,
which is quite amazing.
But it’s good.
Yeah, so you just been from
the southern tip of Manhattan.
New Amsterdam to City Island,
skipped over so much along the way
and then didn’t even get to Queens,
Staten Island
or Brooklyn.
That’s how big those place is.
Tomorrow is Staten Island though.
That’s gonna be interesting. Never bet.
Hmm.
All right guys, end of the road here.
What a journey today.
A few takeaways.
What’s New York City like now?
From my outside perspective,
I haven’t been here in two years,
I would say it’s got a
lot of its buzz back.
It has a lot more of its energy.
Sort of like pre pandemic feel.
So that was great.
Secondly, the Uber drivers I talked to,
the food stall, people I talked to,
they all seem to say
that the financial pressure is higher now.
It seems like it’s a
tougher crack to pay rent
and keep up with bills
and make enough money.
Now New York’s always been expensive,
but I heard it more
from those people this
trip than prior trips.
And then lastly,
if we go shoot this video tomorrow,
it’s a totally different video,
totally different cast of characters.
They’ll say different things.
So keep that in mind when
watching content like mine.
Nothing’s on a video like
today is organized or set up.
I don’t know what people are gonna say.
I don’t know who I’m gonna run into.
Most people today didn’t
wanna be on camera.
I think it was because of the heat.
It was so hot today.
It was brutal
and people just wanted to
get from point A to point B,
but always keep that in mind with content.
And to understand this city fully
is almost next to impossible
’cause it’s massive
and there are millions
of stories to be told.
So watch my content, watch
other people’s content.
Stay curious, ask questions.
Have two more videos from New York City.
One about corruption,
one about Staten Island,
which I actually am
going to shoot tomorrow.
So check those out.
(upbeat music)
Thanks for coming along
on this journey, you guys.
Until the next one.
(upbeat music continues)
(upbeat music continues)