social geography in New York

[tamtrible]

I'm probably being a bit obsessive here (I'm writing up backstory for a roleplaying character), so... just off the top of your head

Comments

[cheshire23]

I can answer the Rochester part of your query:

The northwest part of the city, specifically the area around Lyell Avenue. "Work on Lyell Ave" was a generalized euphemism for prostitution when I was either going to school nearby or actually living in Rochester (1993-2006), and there were some very cheap and VERY awful apartments in that area.

For the second part, it really depends on where the driver is driving from. Since from the sounds of this scenario, she's coming in from upstate NY, I'd say that it would be reasonable for this to take place somewhere in the Bronx, but I don't know the Bronx well enough to say exactly where.

[meredith44]

My sister, who is currently a firefighter in Rochester, says that Lyell is still a really good area to find hookers, so I'd definitely go with that.

[tamtrible]

Thank you.

[kenazfiction]

1) They'd probably coming in via 95, so the giant clusterfuck of traffic going into the Lincoln Tunnel. It's actually sort of eerie and pretty at night, if you're not chewing through your steering wheel in frustration.

2) if the kid is by himself, he could conceivably be hassled by teenagers in the vicinity of any high school in the city, and if he's unaccompanied and is too scared to scream or run away, no one would likely notice-- they'd just think it was teens doing stupid teen stuff.

3) Pickpockets are mainly in tourist areas, where people are moving slowly and aren't paying attention to their surroundings. Times Square is likely. Or in the Times Square subway station. There are often buskers performing (break dancers, bucket drummers, the weird guy who dances with the life-size doll) and people stand around in clumps gawking, which would make them easy targets for pickpockets.

4) There are always a lot of men sleeping on the benches in Battery Park. It depends on if they're in Manhattan or elsewhere.

[tamtrible]

Thank you. I may well be able to work with this. (and, she, not he [g])

[wakemexsoftly]

This doesn't satisfy the 1st condition, but it satisfies the rest: any major subway station. Union Square, Times Square, Chambers Street. People get pickpocketed and mugged there, and I frequently see homeless people fall asleep on benches.

[tamtrible]

For logistical reasons, I'd like to avoid the subway for part 3, which logistically implies avoiding it for 2, as well. But thank you.

[wordsofastory]

For New York City: 2. Someplace that a child could be mugged (likely by a teenager) in the middle of the afternoon without arousing undue general outcry

Uh, nowhere. There is a not a neighborhood in NYC that people would not react to a mugging. Muggings are going to take place where no one else is around to start an outcry, generally, and that's going to be the opposite of someplace a pickpocket would want to go, since they want density and crowds. However, in general, your best bet might be on the subway. Definitely homeless people sleep on subway cars and in less-busy subway stations, muggings can take place in isolated stations or on empty subway cars (this is likely only to happen very late at night, like 3am), and pickpockets may well hang out in the very busy stations (Time Square, Grand Central) or on busy lines during rush hour.

[tamtrible]

People would react to a mugging if they *noticed* it. There are, presumably, underpopulated or unpopulated areas within walking distance of densely populated areas.

But, thank you.

[dramaturgy]

I am usually in Penn Station (32nd Street + 7th Ave) late at night and I tend to see a lot of homeless people hunkering down in the station... I don't know how long they get to stick around before MTA people make them clear out, but they're there nonetheless.

[tamtrible]

Noted, thank you.