How to Make It in New York

Williamsburg

"You know how it is, being our age in New York? I mean, you have to hustle if you wanna make it here."
"Kimber Min" (Ashley Park), Only Murders in the Building

A Slum

Williamsburg

"Unless you're rich, New York is like a slum. It's like India."
Jennifer Miller and ‎Jason Feifer, Mr. Nice Guy

Serene and Somber

"Serene was a word you could put to Brooklyn, New York, especially in the summer of 1912. Somber, as a word, was better."
Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Human Flesh

Kent Avenue

"A few American cities, Manhattan chief among them, have some mad magnetic energy which sucks all others into 'provincialism'; and Brooklyn of all great cities is nearest the magnet, and is indeed 'provincial': it is provincial as a land of rich earth and of this earth is an enormous farm, whose crop is far less 'industrial' or 'financial' or 'notable' or in any way 'distinguished' or 'definable' than it is of human flesh and being."
James Agee, Brooklyn Is

Only Friend

Greenpoint

"Sometimes I feel like my only friend
Is the city I live in, is beautiful Brooklyn
Long as I live here believe I'm on fire hey
Cause it's the B-the-R-the-O-the-O-K
L-Y-N is the place where I stay
The B-the-R-the-O-the-O-K
Best in the world and all USA."
Mos Def, Brooklyn

Subterfuge

Brooklyn Bridge

"Brooklyn is a subterfuge. It is a piece of jism that hangs off the pecker of Manhattan."
Thomas Glynn, The Building

The Shaggy Sister

Brooklyn Skyline

"Brooklyn is the shaggy kid sister with sideburns to Manhattan, that gray-encrusted city on the other side of the Hudson."
Jason Murk, Tokharian Tales

Super 8

Jane's Carousel and Manhattan Bridge

"Brooklyn is the past recorded in faded Super  8. It is innocence, childhood, family, community, a safe place. Brooklyn is Rosebud, Camelot, Atlantis. It is the state of grace that exists solely in memory or fantasy. Brooklyn is the precious thing we've lost."
Donald Margulies, Brooklyn Boy

The Genius of Brooklyn

Brooklyn Heights

"The genius of Brooklyn has always been its homey atmosphere; it does not set out to awe or intimidate, like skyscraper Manhattan."
Phillip Lopate, Brooklyn Was Mine

Dream and Reality

Manhattan Bridge

"Manhattan is the dream, Brooklyn is the reality."
Marc Eliot, Song of Brooklyn

Mythic Borough

Brooklyn

"Of all the boroughs, Brooklyn is the most individualistic, the most mythic, and the most complex."
Christiane Bird, Moon New York State

Metaphoric Home

Brooklyn Bridge Park

"Brooklyn is the metaphoric home to anyone who has ever seen himself as an outsider, who has ever been torn between the powerful, atavistic tug toward the traditional and familiar and the magnetic allure of the unknown."
Donald Margulies, Brooklyn Boy

Babylon Next to the Holy City

Jane's Carousel

"New York is Babylon; Brooklyn is the true Holy City. New York is the city of envy, office work, and hustle; Brooklyn is the region of homes and happiness."
Christopher Morley,  Parnassus on Wheels

The Outer Boroughs

Staten Island Ferry Whitehall Terminal

"It was generally agreed that a coffin-size studio on Avenue D was preferable to living in one of the boroughs. Moving from one Brooklyn or Staten Island neighborhood to another was fine, but unless you had children to think about, even the homeless saw it as a step down to leave Manhattan."
David Sedaris, Me Talk Pretty One Day

Chip on the Shoulder

Brooklyn Heights

"The famous chip on the shoulder remains an essential part of Brooklyn's character."
Thomas Oliphant,  Praying for Gil Hodges

Disappointing

West 70th

"New York was disappointing. The buildings were higher and the crowds thicker; otherwise it was little different from Brooklyn."
Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Manhattan Snob

Brooklyn Heights

"She is aware that there are people who adore Brooklyn, who embrace it wholeheartedly as a vital, vibrant part of New York City. She knows these people are many, that their legions are myriad and vast. She's just not one of them."
Alison Pace, Through Thick and Thin