Distinctive Quality of New York

Split-Rocker, by Jeff Koons, at Rockefeller Center

"When I think about what's really the definitive aspect of New York, is that it's a place that really rallies a generation to come together. The youth sits down and discusses their ideas, and after a lot of talking they realize what they would like to do in the world and they take action and start to define their vision. And at that moment there's a new generation coming in right underneath them going through the same process of becoming and defining their ideas and what's important to them. This is the distinctive quality of New York for me."
Jeff Koons, Vice 

Sign of a New Yorker

Morningside Heights

"I'd say I'm a New Yorker now—I know that because I've never used my stove."
Jahleel Weaver, Vice 

All About the People

Madison Square Park

"It sounds cliché but it's true that New York is all about the people. Even still. I just can't think of another place with a community as diverse, creative, ambitious, and exciting to be around. Everyone says we're cynics, but I think the truth is that we're secretly way more optimistic than anyone realizes—there's still a sense of possibility here."
Scott Rothkopf, Vice 

Change, Chaos and Disfunction

Morningside Heights

"There is a magical/diabolical allure of the constant change, disfunction, and chaos of this city. It has transformed right before my eyes leaving a transitory, impermanent feeling that radiates in my soul. NYC is my DNA—it's what makes me who I am today. The strength and vitality that beats within me is because of this astronomically powerful city." 
Richie Shazam, Vice 

No Floor

Financial District

"New York didn't feel like it had a ceiling and still doesn't. But it also can feel like it doesn't have a floor."
Marc Hundley, Vice 

Case Study of Authenticity

Madison Square Park

"The colorful characters that strut down the city's streets, they inspire and challenge every notion of what identity is. NYC is a live case study of authenticity and what it means to truly be free to express yourself and by being free, I mean in every sense of the word."
Richie Shazam, Vice 

Leaving New York

George Washington Bridge and Jeffrey's Hook Light 

"The more I travel, the calmer I feel when I return to New York. This city has a way of getting under your skin sometimes. Things can get hyperbolic and it seems as if everyone is floating on supercompressed hot air, which can be stifling. And when you feel like this place is too much, and you are ready to leave, you go on a trip somewhere—anywhere—and soon you cannot wait to get back. What's the phrase? 'Nothing makes you love New York more than when you leave it'?"
Toyin Ojih Odutola, Vice 

Different Versions

The New York Times Building

"I think I knew I was a New Yorker when I could envision different versions of myself that I didn't really know yet. I also starting catching myself talking to no one in particular, out loud, on the street."
Stewart Uoo, Vice

Work Ethic

Chelsea

"What's cool about New York is that people really prioritize work here and there's a lot of strength in that. It can be distracting and it's obviously hard because it's a lot of comparison, but I think—and I'm trying to dance around saying 'hustle' because that's really corny—the work ethic and the drive to be here is what has kept it NY."
Paloma Elsesser, Vice

Intimate Form of Anonymity

Apple Fifth Avenue

"What makes New York, New York to me? I think it's just the ever-changing flow of people and the number of people you interact with on a day-to-day basis. I feel like you don't get that anywhere else. You notice it especially on the subway. It's a funny paradox; the city is so anonymous, you're surrounded by strangers on the street or packed in a subway car, but you're also centimeters away from them. Sometimes literally touching three people at the same time. It's the most intimate form of anonymity I could imagine."
Michelle Salem, Vice

Something Else

West Village

"The most New York thing about New York is that it's constantly changing. I've been here forever and I still don't recognize it. It's always changing, which is nothing to be nostalgic about. There are a lot of places that are no longer there but something else is there."
Laurie Anderson, Vice

The Whole Point

Upper West Side

"I thought the whole point of New York City was not that if you made it here you could make it anywhere, but the tautology of making it, just existing in New York, meant you got to stay."
Zachary Lipez, Vice

Tunnel Vision

Riverside Park

"I like now that weird tunnel vision you get when you're in New York. The constant running into people you know, no matter where you are and no matter what time it is; it's a performance of Our Town that never ends, complete with ever-present death and an omniscient narrator who will eventually turn out to be James Franco."
Zachary Lipez, Vice

Fuck This Place

NBA store

"New York is the greatest city on the planet, I think. But you're not a New Yorker if you don't wake up some days and be like 'man, fuck this place.'"
Carmelo Anthony, Vice

Pointy Soul

East 42nd

"New York is a destination spot if your soul is too pointy and unwieldy to fit in your hometown, a place where you can let your freak flag, your ambition, your vestigial tail, and your terrible inability to ever shut up, really and truly fly."
Zachary Lipez, Vice