A sneak peek at New Yorkers' lives

Ticket office for Broadway musicals at Times Square

By Yoon Jie-min

Article and photos by Yoon Jie-min Yoon Jie-min is a former civil servant at the Seoul Metropolitan Government, where she worked in entertainment and cultural tourism. She currently travels around the world as a professional tourist visiting popular destinations and interviewing tourism professionals to figure how tourism works in the real world. She can be contacted at jieminism@gmail.com.

New York is one of the most popular cities among tourists, attracting the largest number of visitors annually in the United States.

I had been to New York several times, but I had always been an ordinary tourist spending only a few days in the city without the chance to experience the life of a local.

This time, I decided to stay for a month, which I thought would be enough time to get a sneak peek at the lives of real New Yorkers. I wanted to experience how attractive the city was to tourists to make them want to live in the world’s most popular destination.

Summer is the most popular season for tourists to visit New York since the weather is usually sunny and bright.

If you walk around the city center, you see more tourists than real New Yorkers. During my stay, I was able to mingle with locals because I had friends living in the city. I was able to get around the city like a New Yorker, while doing the most common activities as a tourist.

The most iconic landmark of New York is the Statue of Liberty. The Statue was originally built as a welcoming signal at the harbor to immigrants arriving from abroad.

A ferry departs from Battery Park, the very south of Manhattan, taking people to Liberty Island where the statue is located. However, during the peak season, it is hard for tourists to purchase tickets and you to have to wait in a long queue. I did not want to go through the hassle, so I found another way to view Lady Liberty.

Brooklyn Bridge at night

IKEA, the Swedish furniture store, runs a ferry from Wall Street’s Pier 11 to Red Hook, Brooklyn. During the 15-minute ferry ride, I could get a clear view of the Statue of Liberty from the top deck. What is great about this ferry, other than that it is free on weekends, is that I could make my way around to the Brooklyn Bridge to see the night view of the Manhattan skyline. IKEA also runs a free shuttle bus to a location where you can cross the bridge on foot. I felt like a local, being surrounded by New Yorkers running or riding bicycles over the bridge.

A must-do activity for tourists is to watch at least one musical on Broadway. However, the ticket box at Times Square always has a long queue of tourists wanting to buy discounted tickets. So I decided to participate in a lottery instead.

Times Square at night

The lottery is a fun experience. The lottery usually opens in front of each theater two and half hours before the shows start. When the lottery opens, a person from the theater with a megaphone stands in front of the door giving out lottery tickets to people.

People come and write their names and the draw starts after 30 minutes. The ticket drawing event is full of cheering and screaming. Lottery tickets are usually for box seats with a partial view, but they are definitely worth getting as they are more than 50 percent cheaper than regular tickets. I won the lottery and even received a lucky badge as a souvenir.

For tourists who have limited time, it is hard to bet their Broadway experiences on lottery tickets. But participating in the lottery is a good way to enjoy being in the city like a local.

Tickets won as prizes at the lottery

The building marking the skyline of Manhattan is the Empire State Building. Tourists would usually go up to the building’s observatory to get a view over the skyline, just because it is the most well-known option. But there are better and cheaper places to enjoy a glamorous night view.

An alternative way to view the skyline is to visit the observatory of Rockefeller Center, called the “Top of the Rock.” It is similar to the Empire State Building in that visitors can go to the top of a popular skyscraper. However, the merit of going to Rockefeller Center is that you can enjoy a wonderful view of Manhattan, including the Empire State Building.

Cheaper ways for New Yorkers to enjoy the night view of Manhattan are to visit rooftop bars. There are numerous great rooftop establishments with music and drinks providing a better ambiance than skyscraper observatories. It is also a way to find real New Yorkers and listen to their busy life stories.

New Yorkers relaxing at Washington Square Park

As a tourist pretending to be a local, I could enjoy the tourist courses in a New Yorker’s way. I was amazed at how the city of New York dazzled visitors with its strong brand image.

The city has a lot to offer other than the popular landmarks like the Statue of Liberty and Times Square. Like what tourists usually do, I also wanted to take photos of renowned landmarks to let people know that I was in New York City. But in doing these touristy activities, I just tweaked my experiences a little with the help of local friends and it certainly made my stay more fashionable, like a real New Yorker.