Australian Travelling to New York - Where should I go? What should I see?....90s grunge kid at heart...

Williamsburg=hipster/yuppie. Is extremely gentrified but still has lots of young people, music venues, kind of gritty streetscape, etc. It recently got a massive record emporium called Rough Trade.

Bushwick/"East Williamsburg"=more grungy and arty than Williamsburg.

Lower East Side=Mix of Chinese businesses, boutique-y places, lots of dive bars and increasing number of galleries. Kind of a big area with diverse offerings. Lots of bars and places to hang out, but some streets like orchard, essex and ludlow can get a bit rowdy on weekends, similar to the east village.

East Village=traditional heart of NYC punk/grunge. Gentrified but still retains an alternative spirit. The western part can get very chaotic and bro-y at night on weekends but in the day it's really pleasant. Alphabet city toward Avenue C and D are sketchier but still fine. St Marks place is probably the most famous street.

Greenwich Village/NYU=kind of like east village. Good comedy clubs, bars, etc. Macdougal street in particular. This is not the same as the west village, which is very nice and worth a visit, but not grungy at all. Washington Square park is touristy but still attracts lots of locals and characters.

Ridgewood, Queens=starting to gentrify. Has lots of young people and artists. Not as developed as Williamsburg or Bushwick but it's getting nice. There's a new place called Nowadays which is basically a public bbq/hangout and really fun. You should go.

Gowanus/Red Hook look really gritty and they have some art-y things like Pioneer Works, but you have to know where to go for these places. Greenpoint is similar but more developed.

Chelsea has tons and tons of art galleries. They're very big and very sleek. It's worth it just for the art and the beautiful architecture. Around meatpacking can get a bit insufferable/boutique-y but in the west 20s it's nice.

Things you might like: Tenement Museum, Audobon Terrace for the most underappreciated art museums in NYC, cooper design museum, Studio Museum Harlem, Sunset Park/Industry City (not a museum, but it's like a bigger chelsea market with actual industry as well as food vendors and such; it's kinda neat).

For clubs, I recommend Output in Williamsburg. It's really fun and has a good crowd. Cielo is good, too. Pacha is bad unless there's a good dj playing. Brooklyn Bowl has music and bowling and can be a great place to meet people but it's kinda bro-y.

Since you're there for over 2 weeks, you can also visit these places which fit your interests: Montauk, Rockaway Beach @ 96th street, DIA BEACON MUSEUM (do it! seriously one of the coolest museums i've ever been to) in the hudson valley, Storm King Art Center also in the hudson valley.

High Line is cool but do it at night when it's less crowded. Staten Island Ferry is fun and you can see the statue of liberty from there. Don't go to the top of the empire state building, but instead go to 30 Rock's rooftop around sunset.

Timeout NY is a good resource, as is the art/events listings on the NYTime's website as well as the New Yorker. Gothamist is insufferable hipster bullshit so don't listen to anyone who recommends that. I also find that eater NY's maps/listing are helpful for places to eat and drink.

Anyway, NY has changed a lot, but so has basically the entire US and rest of the world. Grunge isn't relevant but you can still find grungy things all over the city, if that makes sense. As the city has gotten safer and opened up, it's not all just in the east village anymore, but instead now in all these other neighborhoods too. So one one hand it's annoying not to have everything centralized, thus requiring some inside knowledge/research to find the good stuff, but it's definitely there! Sorry this is really rambling. Good luck!

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