nonetheless

Wherever you go, do not assume the cabdriver knows how to get there. Do not assume that whatever you buy is going to work. Do not assume that the repairman can repair whatever you buy

Take a fifteen minute nap or lie down before you go out for dinner

Enjoy Manhattan’s luxury, culture, elegance, and fine dining…But so many in our midst lead lives of conspicuous desperation! New York must try to do better

You need peripheral vision and a sense of humor

You must believe in it all: …Believe that the women are the prettiest, the water the purest, and the taxi drivers the friendliest

Walk to movies, restaurants; see a play or two; go to concerts; stroll in Central Park—indulge in the matchless pleasures of a found weekend in New York. And for heaven’s sake, don’t tell anyone where you can be found between Friday and Monday morning

Relax and let the city creep in; leave yourself wide-open

Stay home on Sundays

Don’t think of New York as a huge metropolis but rather as a group of small towns. Try to react to people the same way you would in a small town

Cultivate your own environment by turning the restaurants, barbers, groceries, and bookstores in your neighborhood into your won little village

You must try to avoid distances and transportation problems and also avoid the strangeness of not being greeted by people you know. All these things give  a sense of belonging to a neighborhood. So the best tip is to make New York little.

Try to live three blocks from work. Live in a neighborhood where the rent is not sky-high and there’s a shoe repair and Laundromat nearby. Live in a two-bedroom apartment with large kitchen; otherwise life will be miserable

The best times in New York are when I go away with it, which is why it’s so attractive to visitors

Leave New York as often as you can. No matter how exotic your destination, when returning to New York you’re bound to be reminded that, although it is not the world’s most leisurely, comfortable or Elysian style, it is still the most exciting place to live

Life in New York has become a sort of life under siege. One gets used to taking all sorts of precautions that get very exhausting and expensive, which leads to conclude that the day will inevitably come when the best tip of all will be to leave New York

Don’t listen to the advice of anyone who has moved out of New York, because hey all feel guilty and terrible and know they made the wrong decision

To fend off anxieties, I sometimes like to deal with the city as if I were a tourist. i get up early on a Sunday morning.. to go to the Metropolitan Museum before the crowds come; go to a play the last minute; take the kids at the zoo; eat a pastrami sandwich at the Carnegie; remember why I’m here

New York is a tough and gritty place and you have to rejuvenate by escaping. We have to balance life here to make it work

edited tips from seasoned New Yorkers on New York Magazine’s (May 1, 1989) Guide to Living in New York