YT YouTube2Text

YouTube2Text → Transcripts → New York City - What It's Like Now

New York City - What It's Like Now — Transcript

by Peter Santenello · 8,033 words · 1,217 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

Open in transcriber Summarize with AI Download SRT/VTT

Full transcript

0:56(bright music)
1:02Good morning guys here in New York City.
1:04A place that makes a lot of noise on the world stage.
1:06A place that is always changing.
1:09But what is New York City like now?
1:11Today we're gonna start here
1:12on the most southern tip of Manhattan.
1:15And the goal is to get all the way up to the Bronx
1:19to show you the sites,
1:20but more importantly, talk to the locals.
1:22Get their take on what their city is currently like.
1:26Let's do this.
1:30So it all sort of happened in this area right here.
1:33The Dutch settlers called this New Netherlands, 1624.
1:39Alright guys, I'm trying to find it for you.
1:41It's been closed off.
1:42It's the monument for the Netherlands.
1:46Where is it?
1:47There it is.
1:48We can see the top of the flag pole.
1:51So New Netherland expanded
1:53from Delaware all the way to upstate New York.
1:58And the reason was the fur trade.
2:00So right here there was a massive fort, obviously no longer.
2:04And there's the monument.
2:05It's not really that great of a monument to be honest.
2:08Let's do, and I want to show you some of these streets here.
2:11The streets are super interesting
2:13because unlike the rest of New York City,
2:15they don't take on a grid pattern.
2:18So they were designed, we can see a little bit here,
2:21but we'll get in there, in a curved way.
2:24New Amsterdam, New York City used to be called.
2:27You can see that looks a little bit like Amsterdam.
2:31And the financial district here
2:33is amazing architecture.
2:37And I wanna bring you over to Wall Street,
2:40the capital of capital in the world.
2:44Here's where people from around the world,
2:47come to make their fortunes.
2:49New York Stock Exchange.
2:51A roughly $25 trillion market cap,
2:55largest in the world.
2:56Then we have the Nasdaq,
2:5720 trillion market cap.
2:59Second largest globally.
3:00Very, a lot of jobs down here.
3:02Salary here is, I researched that last night,
3:06I came up with an average of $565,000 a year.
3:11And so you're taking the ones that are making billions
3:13and the ones that are probably making 50 grand.
3:17But still there is a lot of money to be made,
3:21if you're in the right place down here.
3:25The tower of money is higher
3:27than the Tower of God in New York.
3:30It's interesting, some older cities in Europe,
3:34I don't know if it's still the story anymore,
3:36but the church had to be the top.
3:38That was the pinnacle of power, but no longer.
3:43And it is capital
3:46and what's been created out of this city,
3:49the brains, the hustle
3:53and just the system that allowed it to flourish
3:56is like nothing else.
3:58It's quite remarkable.
4:00And I gotta say it looks very clean down here.
4:02I am pretty impressed so far.
4:05The streets are nice.
4:07Don't even see much of that.
4:09I don't know if that holds for the rest of the city,
4:11but down here it looks nice.
4:12(upbeat music)
4:19(upbeat music continues)
4:27(upbeat music continues)
4:35(upbeat music continues)
4:43(driver speaking in foreign language)
4:44(Peter speaking in foreign language)
4:48Right here we are in the East Village
4:51and what's interesting right now in New York City is
4:54all the taxi drivers
4:56or almost all of 'em that I've had in the last couple days,
4:59couple from India, but mostly Central Asia,
5:02Tajikistan, Uzbekistan,
5:05Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan.
5:08That's interesting
5:09how they find their way into certain industries.
5:13We got a, looks like a movie or show.
5:17So East Village here,
5:19originally part of the Lower East Side,
5:21settled by German immigrants
5:23and get this, it was called Kleindeutschland,
5:28I don't know what Klein means,
5:29but deutschland, Germany.
5:30So '50s and '60s, more of a counter-cultural type place,
5:34artists, poets, cheap rents at the time,
5:37the beats, that sort of vibe.
5:39'70s, '80s, more punk rock.
5:42And then today, from my understanding,
5:45it's more gentrified, like so many parts of this city,
5:48but still has some of its rawness to it,
5:51I would say, some authenticity here.
5:55And that equipment's worth a little more than my GoPro here.
6:00Are you part of this, sir?
6:01You part of this project?
6:02- Yeah, I bought the car.
6:03- You brought the car? - That's '74 Karmann Ghia.
6:08- Oh that is cool. - So,
6:09he's gonna make a phone call from the car
6:12and she's gonna be up in window.
6:14- [Peter] Do you know what show this is?
6:16- No, I'm not sure
6:17'cause they do it so much that I don't even...
6:19(both chuckling)
6:21- Let's see if we can
6:22run off this power. - There's so many moving parts
6:23to a production. - Yeah. Probably.
6:24- Oh it's crazy. - It's wild, huh?
6:25Just so you gotta actually get the permits
6:27from the city, right?
6:28They shut down the street here.
6:29- Oh yeah. - They take the lanes.
6:30- Hundreds of people
6:31that all do different things.
6:32- Hundreds. - Yeah.
6:34- [Peter] There she is.
6:36- [Production Staff] A camera can't go inside here.
6:39- You've been doing this since high school?
6:40- Yeah.
6:41- [Peter] Okay. So you run this GIB operation here.
6:43- Exactly. Yeah.
6:44It's fun. Every day's a little different, you know.
6:46We're in like different parts of the city, you know.
6:47Cool. See cool stuff, you know.
6:49Places people usually don't get to go.
6:51- Right. - Penthouses
6:52like, you know, we get like,
6:53kind of exclusive access to places
6:55where typically like you have to pay big money to get into.
6:57- [Peter] And this is just for one scene here?
6:59- Oh, yeah. - One shot.
7:00- One shot, yeah.
7:01And then we'll move to another location in a few hours
7:04and do the same thing somewhere else.
7:05- So the final product of this shot
7:08will be what? 30 seconds?
7:09- Yeah, something like short. Short.
7:12- It has to be thought up
7:14and then you gotta figure out location,
7:16then you gotta get the apartment up there.
7:17- Yeah, exactly.
7:18Big production meetings,
7:19going into logistics, everything, like a circus,
7:22you know, like-
7:23- It is cool. - Yeah. Yeah.
7:24- [Peter] Do you guys all know each other pretty well or?
7:26- Yeah, kind of a small town, you know,
7:27like as far as business,
7:28like it's a big business
7:29but it's still relatively small
7:30as far as like, you know, yeah.
7:32- How is the industry right now, overall, would you say?
7:35- It was like, it's been getting,
7:36it was slow for a little while.
7:37We had a strike like recently, you know.
7:40Like it got like a year or two ago
7:41and we're coming out of that
7:42and things turn to pick up again.
7:44- Okay. - But yeah.
7:45- What's your take on the city right now?
7:47It's like, - (indistinct) in the city.
7:48- you know, when I was younger
7:50I feel like it was a little cleaner,
7:51a little like, you know,
7:52it's kind of gotten a little rough as of recently,
7:55you know, for various reasons.
7:56But you know, I think we'll get through it, you know?
8:02That's one of my, yeah, one of my coworkers.
8:04- [Peter] Cool.
8:05Well, - Keep it going.
8:07- I appreciate it.
8:08Oh, thank you.
8:09I look forward to watching this.
8:11We can't say what it is. - Oh, yeah.
8:13- Okay, okay. Take care. - Big fan.
8:15- Thank you guys. Thank you.
8:17Alright, so that's the other end of the spectrum you guys.
8:20So from me with a GoPro,
8:23a wandering curiosity
8:25and the ability to talk to people
8:27and to something like that,
8:28which is so well organized and thought through
8:34and orchestrated by true professionals.
8:37It's such a cool vibe going on out there.
8:39It's so interesting that all of this
8:42goes for like a 1/32 shot.
8:45Alright, let's check out more of this part of town.
8:50(engine roaring)
8:50This village is a cool neighborhood.
8:51I like it because it's not totally posh,
8:55but there are a lot of nice places
8:57and a lot of detail.
8:58(car horn blaring)
8:59Graffiti here,
9:00not in financial.
9:02I've been to this city a million times.
9:04My parents are from Hoboken, New Jersey.
9:07So growing up in Vermont, we came here a lot.
9:09The crime topic has always been
9:11a popular one in New York City.
9:13Crime is, actually new numbers just came out,
9:16is down quite a bit in the city.
9:19Technically, shootings and homicides are down.
9:23I just wanna read those off for you.
9:26This year 412 shooting incidents with 489 victims.
9:32First seven months of 2025.
9:35Now in 1993 when it was really bad,
9:37when I was a kid walking these streets with my father
9:40and I remember that 42nd street was not a pretty thing.
9:43There were 3,114 shootings,
9:473,451 victims of gun mile violence.
9:50So right now,
9:53murders are down 49% over last year,
9:56robbery down 7.5%.
9:59Felonies dropped 8.2%.
10:02Burglaries down 14.2.
10:06I don't have carjackings,
10:07I don't know what that's called,
10:09but I think that actually is up.
10:11Subway crime has decreased, second lowest in 27 years.
10:15I almost find that hard to believe.
10:17But what do I know?
10:18These are the most recent numbers.
10:20It's not all great.
10:21*ape is up 33%, and this is not a good one,
10:25juvenile shooting incidents up
10:27roughly 15%.
10:31From 2018 to 2024,
10:33the increase in juvenile shooters spiked by nearly 200%.
10:38So that's a stat that's looking really bad here in the city.
10:43But overall, if you're to believe the government's numbers,
10:48which I mean homicides, that's pretty objective.
10:51It's pretty clear, then, that is good news.
10:55Now I do remember being in San Francisco in 2020
10:59and they were turning a lot of felonies into misdemeanors
11:03and so they're like felonies are down.
11:04But, well because you turned a lot of them
11:06into misdemeanors.
11:08So that changed the numbers.
11:09So you always gotta dig deeper on these numbers.
11:12But from what I just read you,
11:13that is a optimistic sign here.
11:17So here we are, Union Square, (siren blaring)
11:19we're making our way up Manhattan here,
11:22up towards Midtown.
11:24And I wanna say, you see
11:28not more homeless than the pandemic.
11:30No, but maybe than six years ago, I would say.
11:35And that's just my experience
11:37and more mental health issues
11:39that can be said for all over the country
11:42in different cities.
11:44I was following a guy yesterday
11:46who was karate chopping signs on the street.
11:49There were like some foldable signs
11:51and he'd come karate chopping in
11:54and fall in the process
11:55and then yell at the sign.
11:58So he wasn't all there.
12:00You see a bit of that unfortunately.
12:02But if you're gonna compare to say Los Angeles
12:08and people camping out on the streets.
12:10Well I haven't seen nearly as much like there.
12:12I don't think there's a skid row of New York City.
12:15Well correct me if I'm wrong, anyone out there.
12:18♪ I don't have ♪
12:23♪ In me ♪
12:26Thank you. - Thanks man.
12:28♪ Oh, glad you made it ♪
12:32(siren blaring)
12:41- That was yesterday. - Yeah.
12:43- [Peter] This guy was getting mad
12:44at the ice truck. - The ice. Yeah, yeah.
12:48Picked them come up
12:48and stuff like that. Yeah.
12:49And they left,
12:50after that they beat up the car and stuff.
12:53- Oh okay.
12:55So someone just ran out with a sandwich?
12:58- [Security Guard] Basically when they get caught,
13:01sometimes they give it up, sometimes they don't.
13:04Some are kind of embarrassed
13:05or they try to like mentality.
13:07So they like to vandalize stuff.
13:09And then after that-
13:10- Is there a lot of that these days?
13:12- [Security Guard] Well I've seen it in this store,
13:14not in the other stores, though.
13:16I would say at this location, pretty common.
13:18- Alright, thank you.
13:20- [Security Guard] Of course, you have a great one.
13:21- Fist bumps. - You too.
13:22- I kept you off camera. - I appreciate that.
13:25- Security guard wanted to speak on camera
13:27but he couldn't in uniform.
13:29So he's saying, you know, once someone grabs some,
13:32once they get out the door here, then they can go.
13:36But there's quite a presence in that.
13:38Let's give him a subway.
13:40(upbeat music)
13:48(upbeat music continues) (alarm beeping)
13:56(upbeat music continues) (air whooshing)
13:58- [Announcer] Next stop is, Bryant Park.
14:03(upbeat music continues)
14:09- We have some chess games going on here.
14:11Bryant Park
14:13and such a cool place to just spend some time.
14:17Nice Breeze has kicked in.
14:18It's extremely hot today.
14:20But it feels amazing.
14:23Bryant Park Reading Room. - We're very happy
14:25to have him here with us today.
14:27Please join me in welcoming Peter Moskos.
14:29(audience applauding)
14:32- Peter's here. - Hi.
14:33Thank you all for coming.
14:36It's a pleasure to be here.
14:37Hopefully I'll be on-
14:41- I don't know Peter,
14:42but want to check out his book now.
14:45This to me is one of the coolest parts of the city.
14:48Oh, look at that, little zone for kids.
14:51You know, the city takes on all of these different energies
14:54and a place like this really slows it down
14:56even though we're right in the middle of it.
14:58Bryant Park I'd say lowers the heart rate, blood pressure
15:02and it's a lot of that,
15:04almost European style.
15:06Giovanni and Rome having a long lunch break vibe,
15:10going on here?
15:12I bet they're not two hours.
15:15(gentle jazzy music)
15:23(gentle jazzy music continues) (siren blaring)
15:31(gentle jazzy music continues)
15:34- Hey, how's it going? - How's it going?
15:35I think I've seen you on YouTube before.
15:37- [Peter] What are you doing here? What's CBS?
15:39- This is Collins Billing Service.
15:40Just handyman work.
15:42- [Peter] Okay. How's it going right now in the city?
15:44- Good. Busy. - Busy.
15:46- Yeah. - You guys are busy.
15:47- It picked up. It picked up. Yeah.
15:48- Oh that's cool. - It picked up.
15:50They're doubling offices now,
15:51everything, so it's all busy now.
15:53- [Peter] Offices are filling back up a bit?
15:54- Yeah.
15:55They want to see at least 80% there now.
15:57- Is that what they're saying? - Mm-hmm.
15:58- [Peter] Okay, cool.
15:59So how's your feel the city overall, right now?
16:02- It's pretty much back to normal.
16:04- You got a big family? - Yeah, I got three kids.
16:06- Three kids. - Three kids.
16:07- How is it raising kids in the city?
16:09- Well it's like
16:13it changed from when we were younger
16:15because the whole group... All the kids are crazy now.
16:18You see kids running the streets with guns and sh*t on them.
16:20So I don't really let my kids out too much like roaming out.
16:23But they get to do certain things.
16:25We do things, but I don't let them hang out
16:27with all the knuckleheads around the neighborhood.
16:28There was a little 13-year-old over there
16:30one time by, he was wheelie'ng.
16:30I told him, oh wheelie your bike, wheelie.
16:32He said, you want to get popped?
16:33Little kid had a gun on him, a 13-year-old.
16:36I was like holy sh*t.
16:37Where's his parents?
16:38His parents are walking down the block, he said.
16:39I, like, wow.
16:40- His parents were there?
16:41- Walking down the block
16:42and he was with his parents
16:43and he had a gun on him.
16:46Crazy.
16:46- What do you do? - I was with my friend.
16:47Me and my friend were like, that's f***** crazy, right?
16:49Look at this little kid.
16:50I felt bad for him.
16:52- Yeah, yeah, yeah. Bad parenting.
16:54What part of the city was that in?
16:55- That's right in Harlem. - Harlem.
16:57- Harlem.
16:58There's a lot more like boys and girls clubs
16:59when you're growing up.
17:00You get that little like, you know friend zone.
17:03You get to play sports
17:04and it's like less of that I feel like.
17:05- Okay. Okay.
17:07- Probably less of that.
17:08- What's your name?
17:09- Rob. - Peter.
17:10- Peter, nice to meet. - Rob. Nice to meet you.
17:12Take care. Thank you brother.
17:13- Yeah man.
17:14- See you. - Nice to meet you.
17:17- Whoa!
17:22- Yeah. Stuff like this.
17:24It's just, if you're busy in your life
17:27walking around every day,
17:28what are you gonna do about that?
17:32You're gonna walk by most likely
17:33because you're gonna see it in another corner.
17:36All right. I don't want to get heavy in this video.
17:37I'm feeling such a high vibe on New York.
17:39(car horn blaring)
17:40But again, I wanna show you what I see.
17:43A lot more suits back in town and nicer shirts.
17:46You can see the office jobs are back.
17:49Okay, when I was a kid,
17:50I remember coming down here with my dad,
17:52we're on 42nd and it was just pimps and hoes,
17:56pretty much just whole way.
17:58It was very seedy.
18:00I remember he had my hands
18:03and he was like running me through the street
18:05'cause it was sketchy in those times.
18:07So like everywhere, they're always going through cycles
18:11and New York's gone through its cycles.
18:13So from what I recall, '80s, early '90s, maybe,
18:18pretty seedy, got a lot better.
18:21Pandemic was not good for the city, overall.
18:24And as far as life down here,
18:27I mean it's really come back.
18:32Legendary Times Square, iconic sight.
18:36People know it from around the world.
18:40- Elmo. You think I'm gonna run tonight?
18:43Elmo.
18:45Elmo.
18:46- Very good. Yeah.
18:48- This is a part of the city.
18:49Most locals still go to.
18:52This is I guess 90% tourist.
18:57Time's changed a little bit
18:59since George Cohan was here.
19:04(people indistinctly speaking)
19:10- I'll let you know.
19:11- [Peter] You guys are doing a great job.
19:13- Thank you.
19:14- [Peter] City's looking better.
19:16You feel it? Yeah.
19:17- [Tourist] One block at a time.
19:18- [Peter] One block at a time.
19:21Alright, if we're gonna take the temperature
19:22of amount of tourists here.
19:25Well I'm seeing a lot of people,
19:26I'm surprised with this heat.
19:28The thought people would not be out, you know,
19:30doesn't have to work obviously.
19:31But tourists?
19:33It's a hot one over 90 degrees.
19:35High humidity.
19:36I will say I didn't hear many European languages
19:40being spoken,
19:41some more Middle Easterners, more Asians.
19:45So make what you will of that.
19:47I'm not sure if the hotel I'm staying at,
19:51there are a lot of Europeans.
19:53So some people have said European travels down.
19:57I'm sure there's a statistic for that,
20:00but it's busy.
20:01Things are happening there.
20:03(tourist indistinctly speaking)
20:13(Peter speaking in foreign language)
20:15- Yes.
20:16(Peter speaking in foreign language)
20:18(Peter speaking in foreign language)
20:20(speaks foreign language) Wow.
20:22My most adventurous travel
20:23or up there in the top three was Tajikistan.
20:27Right after we went to Afghanistan in 2001,
20:31the heroine trade just flooded out
20:34of Afghanistan like crazy.
20:36So the Russians were making a fortune from it.
20:40The Taji government. And it was wild.
20:44That was on the number one heroin route
20:46out going out of Afghanistan.
20:49But a lot of guys like that that were just awesome.
20:52Big smiles.
20:53Some of the most hospitable people.
20:56Really a wild place. Huge mountains.
21:00I don't know if they changed the name,
21:01but at the time it was Mount Communism, I think 25,000 feet.
21:06Alright, so I want to take you guys in here.
21:08Grand Central Station.
21:10It's just so cool I can't pass it up.
21:14(bright music)
21:20(bright music continues)
21:27(bright music continues)
21:35(bright music continues)
21:42(bright music continues)
21:49(bright music continues)
21:57All right, Grand Central Station.
21:59And most in the world,
22:0067 tracks on two levels,
22:03three quarters to a million people
22:06walking through here a day.
22:10- If you're planning to hijack it, let me know.
22:12We go together. (chuckles)
22:14- 10 to $20 million is the value of it. That is cool.
22:20And then a lot of people walk right by it
22:22and they have no idea.
22:24Four opal faces valued at 10, $20 million
22:30and the ceiling has 2,500 stars.
22:35So this is the place.
22:36You want to get out of the city,
22:37it's got all the connections to Upstate, White Plains,
22:42I believe that's Long Island, Melrose,
22:45Mount Vernon West, Poughkeepsie,
22:47right in the center of the city.
22:49Designed so well, so well thought out,
22:52to bring everyone in in volume
22:55and to remove everyone in volume.
23:035th Avenue,
23:05one of the most famous shopping streets in the world.
23:09And to our left, Rockefeller Center,
23:12which I want to show you.
23:14Anyone visiting this city,
23:15this is just one of those zones you gotta go to,
23:19especially if you love American Art Deco, like I do.
23:23It's so classic and timeless.
23:25During the Great Depression,
23:27the government was putting a lot of people to work
23:30through building projects.
23:32Our projects around the country.
23:34This I'm sure was mostly private though, being Rockefeller.
23:39But projects like this
23:40had a lot of people from this going totally broke
23:44and not working at all.
23:46There's NBC News,
23:48bunch of produce here.
23:54It's now the Comcast building.
24:03This beautiful hardware on the walls.
24:10See all the old elevators going high up above the city.
24:16Back in the day it was elevator men at each elevator.
24:19Now there seems to be an attendant at each row.
24:25When's the last time you saw something like this?
24:27All of these elevators right next to one another.
24:31You have the US mail letter box.
24:34All the mail would come down from the offices above.
24:38And I just love refreshing into this place.
24:40Every time I come back to the city,
24:43just features like this,
24:45flow in everything, all the design.
24:56- [Tourists] Hello.
24:59- Say hi from Costa Rica.
25:01- [Tourists] Ola, Costa Rica.
25:07- Let's keep going.
25:08We're gonna go Upper East Side,
25:10which is old-money, old-money New York.
25:14It's beautiful.
25:18- Peter. - How you doing?
25:20- Pretty good.
25:21- [Peter] How are things going with Uber these days?
25:23- Slow. Normally I'm not working till three, four o'clock.
25:27- [Peter] Okay.
25:28- I start usually around five o'clock in the morning.
25:30I'm done by 12, one o'clock, two o'clock.
25:33It's getting way too expensive to live here though.
25:36I've thought about getting out of New York City.
25:38- [Peter] Really? The costs are crazy right now.
25:41- Absolutely. Nuts.
25:42- [Peter] Rent still going up.
25:44- Yep.
25:45- [Peter] The people you talk to,
25:46they're all feeling the same.
25:47- Yep.
25:48- [Peter] Sort of situation?
25:49- Yep. I have quite a few of my friends who left city.
25:53- Really? - Yeah.
25:54- [Peter] Where are they going?
25:55- Mostly Jersey.
25:56(radio speaking in foreign language)
25:58- One of two of them actually went to Pennsylvania.
26:02They drive all the way from Pennsylvania to New York.
26:04- [Peter] No way they live over there.
26:07How far does that commute?
26:09- About a hour and a half, two hours.
26:11Just from there to city.
26:12- [Peter] Wow. And then they drive for a job.
26:15So they're driving all day.
26:18So even in the boroughs right now,
26:20say Queens, the Bronx,
26:22rent's still going up.
26:24- Yeah.
26:25- [Peter] What can you get a place for like three bedroom,
26:28modest place?
26:30- I think it's like about 3500, 3500 right now.
26:33- Oh wow. - Plus the utilities.
26:35- Yeah. I was talking to a guy in an Uber yesterday
26:38and he's like, all I do is work and I don't get ahead
26:41and I don't save any money.
26:43And I'm like, why don't you go to like a mid-level city
26:48where the costs are half the amount
26:50And I think there's plenty of work still.
26:52- The only advantage of New York
26:56is the laws are still in your favor.
27:00Like you will be covered.
27:02Like say I have a friend of mine,
27:04he bought a house in Jersey, right?
27:05- Right. - He moved to Jersey
27:07but then he lost his insurance, his health insurance.
27:10- [Peter] Oh, health insurance. Okay.
27:11- New York kind of keeps it affordable, New York state.
27:14He's in Jersey.
27:16And Jersey does not help you in any,
27:19what New York State does
27:20is like you make certain amount of money
27:22and after that they subsidize.
27:23You gotta be a copay, right?
27:25- Right. - You go to Jersey,
27:26you gotta pay everything.
27:28It's all out of pocket expense.
27:29So that's basically the biggest reason
27:31why a lot of people don't leave New York.
27:33- [Peter] And you can get rent control here too, right?
27:36- Yeah. I mean but that's very difficult to get.
27:39- Oh it is. Okay. - But people get that. Yes.
27:43- [Peter] How about raising kids here? How's that?
27:45- My kids are very young.
27:46Where I live, school district is very nice.
27:49So I haven't had any problems yet.
27:51But a lot of people who are living in Queens and Brooklyn,
27:54they're all complaining
27:55because school districts are not as safe anymore.
27:59Not as clean anymore.
28:02There's a lot of, even for middle schools,
28:04there's a lot of drugs available nowadays,
28:07not used to be like that.
28:08- [Peter] What borough do you live in?
28:10- I live on Staten Island.
28:11- [Pete] Oh okay. I'm going there tomorrow.
28:13- Staten Island. - Oh that's nice, right?
28:15- Staten Island.
28:16I think Staten Island is the best borough,
28:18out of the five ones
28:19because not everything is crammed on top of you.
28:24- [Peter] There's some space out there.
28:25- [Driver] There there is space out there.
28:28Thank you.
28:29- [Peter] Yeah, thank you. Take care.
28:31- Take care. - Best of luck.
28:34Here we go. Upper East Side.
28:37That is Andrew Carnegie's former mansion,
28:40one of the big barons of this country.
28:43And this is the old-money here in New York City.
28:48And this was originally farmland in the 19th century.
28:52And then the railway came up here, the elevated railways.
28:551870s and '80s.
28:57- Plus. I know. - And it turned it in
28:59to what it is today.
29:01But during the Gilded Age, this is where the big names
29:05were planting their flag,
29:07the Astors, Carnegies, Rockefellers,
29:10grand mansions out here.
29:12Millionaires row, they called it nearby.
29:15And then it turned into more luxury apartments
29:18for those that have the money
29:19and want a quieter New York City experience.
29:24This is it, 'cause you got Central Park right here
29:27and it's probably one of the safer areas in the city
29:31and bit quieter and way more expensive.
29:41Famous Guggenheim Museum. Worth checking out.
29:44We're not gonna do it, but worth checking out some time.
29:50Okay, let's get a drink.
29:52The juice lady didn't want to be on camera,
29:54but she said business is down, big time this summer.
29:58The last two years actually she says,
30:01one of those little carts she pays to the city,
30:05$5,000 every five months, I believe.
30:09And then another $500 to the person
30:13that I guess owns that or leases that space.
30:17So those two fees.
30:19This,
30:21$13.
30:23So strawberry banana ice and peanut butter.
30:27Skippy peanut butter.
30:29So the prices are high
30:31and she says all the people out front,
30:34they're not buying this here.
30:36So they're always the numbers, right?
30:39The crime numbers or the economic numbers.
30:43And then there are people's experiences on the ground.
30:47So I try to look at all the data
30:50and usually there's some sort of consensus, right?
30:52If you talk to 15 juice people
30:57during the course of a day and they all say numbers are down
31:00and I'm sure they're right and they're spot on.
31:02Some people might be exaggerating things, others not.
31:06It's really hard to know the exact truth of anything.
31:10But at least we get an understanding
31:12with experiences like this.
31:14Okay, so here we have a part of the city
31:18where doormen are still a thing
31:22and you have these old apartments,
31:25you know, some of these places don't look that amazing
31:28to be honest from the outside.
31:29But the wealth here,
31:31look on Zillow, Upper East Side, Manhattan,
31:34I would say just to buy in, you know,
31:38a humble place.
31:40We're talking a couple million at least for something tiny
31:44at like the floor to get in.
31:46And then it goes into the tens of millions here.
31:55When someone lives here,
31:57the doorman service comes with them.
31:59And so you just open the doors, take care of things,
32:02- Take care of them, take care of them also, you know,
32:05make sure they're, you know,
32:07they take care of us as well.
32:08- They do. - Yeah.
32:09- [Peter] Do you like working out here?
32:11- Yes.
32:12- That's cool. - I like people over here.
32:14(metal door thudding)
32:15They got a lot of good tenants in here.
32:18- [Peter] That's awesome.
32:19- You don't mind helping them out.
32:20- Hello. - Alright, how's it going?
32:24- Take care. - Alright, nice meeting you.
32:25- [Peter] Have a good one.
32:26- All right. - I have (faintly speaking).
32:27- Delivery food situations
32:29off the chain here these days.
32:30So you see these guys on bikes draped over the handlebars
32:34with food and on the back
32:36and on some of the big thoroughfares, you see those bikes.
32:40It's like a chain of them.
32:43So there you have it.
32:44That's one of the doormen.
32:45It's really hard to go into one of these buildings,
32:48but you can get a little understanding of this world here.
32:53You know, quite established.
32:55You have your doorman,
32:57he's gonna help you with whatever you might need.
33:00I'm sure he gets tipped very well.
33:02He said he gets taken care of.
33:04Well, so it's interesting.
33:06It's a world that most of us will never know
33:09and it's sort of a time gone by, I would say,
33:14for most wealthy people.
33:17Is new wealth getting into this type of living?
33:20I don't think so.
33:21Correct me where I'm wrong out there.
33:22New wealth, if you're looking for these apartments,
33:26I think they're looking
33:27for maybe something more modern and bigger.
33:31But I could be wrong on that.
33:32And those old school services, right?
33:34Like the guy opening your door
33:37maybe might not be so popular these days
33:40for younger people,
33:42but you never know.
33:44Anyways, there's plenty of it here.
33:46And here, we have an old school guy
33:49that's probably been doing it for decades.
33:53Uniform.
33:56(engine roaring)
33:59Ah, this is amazing.
34:00My first time on an e-bike
34:03and what a good decision.
34:06Little wind around the face.
34:09Let's cruise into Central Park.
34:12Get a look. See.
34:18one of the huge perks to living over here
34:19is I'm right across the street
34:22and all of a sudden we're in Central Park.
34:27It's 2.5 miles long,
34:3025 miles wide.
34:33Bigger than Monaco.
34:34All the way over there.
34:36All the way down there.
34:39- Gimme a smile, young lady.
34:42- Quite detailed in here.
34:43You can go off on all of these little paths.
34:46They're ponds, they're rock areas,
34:49baseball fields, big swimming pool,
34:53such awesome forethought when designing the city
34:58to make this park.
35:01It goes on and on, forever.
35:05(engine roaring)
35:08Starts getting nicer up here actually.
35:11We're at 85th, still Upper East Side.
35:13We wrapped around Central Park, came back,
35:16we're going to the Bronx next.
35:19But it looks actually
35:22a bit cooler up here
35:24than what we first saw when we got out of the Uber.
35:28Yeah, is tons of exploring up here, that's for sure.
35:30Let's turn up the volume a bit. 149th and third.
35:35No Bronx.
35:36(lively music)
35:42So we have different security on the subway.
35:45You guys are army.
35:46I heard crime is down a lot in the subway.
35:50- Actually, with this, (indistinct) of the army.
35:53I don't know if you see almost in every train,
35:55Manhattan, Queens, go everywhere.
35:59After like this,
36:00they've seen that they know this more people of,
36:02They have NYPD, as well, so.
36:04Yes, you're right.
36:07(upbeat music)
36:15(upbeat music continues)
36:22(upbeat music continues)
36:29(upbeat music continues)
36:34- All right, here we are.
36:35Third Ave, 149th Street known as the hub.
36:38- 875. - So the weather's come in,
36:41little rain might not too bad.
36:43Cool things down a tiny bit.
36:45And this is the hub, so known as the big transport area.
36:48A lot of subway lines come in here.
36:51We're deep in the Bronx now.
36:53This is the real deal out here.
36:55And I just wanted to show you guys a different New York City
36:59because there are many faces to this city.
37:01And most of the time
37:02when people think of New York from the outside,
37:05they're thinking Manhattan.
37:07But the city goes on for an eternity.
37:11We're just touching a bit of it today.
37:13But I wanted to show you a different side.
37:16Last time I was here, it was five years ago,
37:19things were pretty bad.
37:21That was in the fig of COVID (car horn blaring)
37:24and down here there were just
37:29so many guys using drugs openly on the street
37:33and we'll see if it's changed.
37:37So vibrant neighborhood,
37:39you can see a lot of people cleared off
37:41while there's trash bags out there.
37:42All that trash by the street vendors here, normally,
37:47but because of the rain,
37:49I think they just packed it up for the day.
37:52Yeah, unfortunately guys, it's that same old
37:57drug scene on the streets that hasn't changed.
38:02I'd say if I'm comparing,
38:06it looks pretty similar.
38:12Alright, so I almost got to the area
38:16where it was just a disaster last time.
38:18And there's this group of guys and I came up
38:21and I said, I'm making a video about New York City
38:24and you guys all from here,
38:25I'd love to get your take on things.
38:28Represent the Bronx a little.
38:30It was a dance, played it well,
38:33could have gone really wrong.
38:35So, I've turned around
38:38and I'm gonna just move through here.
38:41Most people, great people here I'm sure.
38:44And then some people it's like,
38:46alright, who's the dude with a camera,
38:48actually, who's the white dude with a camera?
38:50What's he doing?
38:51So you have to build that trust
38:54and it's just a game of feeling it out
38:58and trying to talk to people.
39:00So giving my best, guys,
39:03sometimes it's easier than others.
39:05I don't know why.
39:05It just could be the weather
39:07could be a whole host of factors,
39:10but it's just sometimes it is easier
39:13to get people on camera than others.
39:18Thanks man, you guys.
39:20It's all right. Keeping it clean.
39:21- Yeah. - Thank you.
39:22- [Street Cleaner] Yeah, no problem.
39:25- Okay, these street cleaner guys back here
39:28had a lot of knowledge.
39:30Fortunately again, they can't be on camera, city uniforms.
39:34If they stop for just a couple days, they said four,
39:38this would be complete trash.
39:41And there is just a constant process.
39:45It's a problem here.
39:46Now they've done a good job cleaning up this,
39:48but there's one guy said
39:50this morning he was getting yelled at
39:52for using the leaf blower
39:54and he wasn't pointing it at anyone,
39:56but it's just a constant process.
39:57Thanks, you guys, looks good.
39:59Take care man.
40:01All right, this guy just told me,
40:03just cleaned this in 30 minutes.
40:06It's going back to trash.
40:08Alright people that I live here,
40:09I'm just showing you what I see.
40:11First impressions.
40:12There are a lot of great families here,
40:14a lot of good people here.
40:16There's stuff that I can't see,
40:18but I'm sharing with you what I come into.
40:21- Is that be yourself. - Do you wanna be in it?
40:23Yes. - Yes.
40:23- Okay. You're from here?
40:25- Yeah. Well I'm not here.
40:26- [Peter] Okay, tell us about this neighborhood.
40:28- It's disgusting. - It's ghetto.
40:30- It's treacherous.
40:31Don't come over here if you're a tourist.
40:33- Okay. - Are you a tourist?
40:35- I'm making a video. - Okay, so don't be over here
40:38- This is ghetto. - when it's dark.
40:39- And it's very, very dangerous.
40:41- So what are you ladies doing over here though?
40:42- We're going to my cousin house.
40:44'cause you know we're real street New Yorkers.
40:46So we're built for this life, you know.
40:47- Is is it a he or she?
40:50- It's a she.
40:50Is she ghetto and dangerous?
40:52- No, no, no.
40:53Very classy. Very demure.
40:54- Alright, can I come? - Yeah.
40:56- No, no, no,
40:56- No, no, no, no.
40:58Making a video. So you okay with that?
40:59- Yeah, we're fine.
41:00- But it's great. Okay,
41:01so you're some bright faces.
41:02So you know, you don't hang out in these parts necessarily.
41:06(upbeat music)
41:09Black friday, every day.
41:17We got five stories of Envy Nails here,
41:20but it looks like Lola is taking over at the bottom.
41:23A bunch of small local businesses
41:26with some of the chains obviously like Cricket.
41:29But there we go with empanadas.
41:31And it's a mix.
41:33You're gonna find a lot of the people
41:35that are working in Manhattan,
41:37live out in these areas.
41:38Not everyone obviously,
41:39but they're gonna go where the rent's cheaper
41:42than go into Manhattan where the hay is better.
41:51Guys, so there's one more location I want to bring you too.
41:55It's gonna be a surprise for me
41:56and I know a surprise for you.
41:58Or at least 99% of you out there that
42:01wouldn't think this exists in the Bronx.
42:05I'm excited for this one
42:06and now we're stepping into
42:08a completely different world from here.
42:11Gotta get an Uber and get it
42:14before that daylight goes away.
42:18(hinges squeaking)
42:20- Ah, hey. Peter. - Hey, how you doing?
42:22- Good, how are you?
42:23- [Peter] Doing well. What's your name?
42:24- Azula. - Azula.
42:26- Yes. - Where's that name from?
42:27That's from Uzbekistan. - Tashkent.
42:30- Oh yeah. You know Tashkent?
42:32- [Peter] I know Tashkent.
42:33- That's cool. That's good.
42:34- [Peter] I love Samarkand.
42:35I actually gave a speech at a wedding in Samarkand.
42:37- Oh nice. Which wedding did you?
42:39- [Peter] Some people I met in Samarkand
42:42and they wanted me to be part of their wedding
42:45and make a speech.
42:45And my Russian is, especially at that time,
42:48pretty primitive.
42:50So I got up in front of a crowd of people.
42:52And talked about the good people of Uzbekistan.
42:54I sound like a politician. - Wow.
42:56- [Peter] But it was a great experience.
42:58- Nice. - I loved Uzbekistan.
43:00- Thank you. Yeah, thank you that you love my country.
43:03- How long have you been here? - Almost three years. Yeah.
43:05- How is it? - I love it.
43:07Yeah, it's beautiful.
43:10- Alright. Azula says come sit up front.
43:13I appreciate it man.
43:14Here we go. Yeah.
43:17So you have fresh eyes on the United States
43:19because you just came here three years ago.
43:21- Yes. - So,
43:22what are your thoughts overall?
43:23Like what do you think about the country?
43:25And you won't offend me.
43:26You can say whatever you want.
43:28- Okay. Oh yeah. All right.
43:30So the United States is like, you know,
43:33it was my dream city, dreams like country before.
43:37Coming here, like during my childhood,
43:40I used to watch a lot of American movies,
43:42all the Spider-Man things.
43:44- Okay. - Fantastic. Marvel movies.
43:47And then it was like boosting my mind, coming here,
43:51travel, you know.
43:52And then I talked to my friend, Hey,
43:54can you just punch me or do something?
43:57Like I was still thinking like I'm in my dream.
44:00- [Peter] What do you think about the American culture
44:02or the people so far?
44:03What are your thoughts on that?
44:05- I can tell you about my first impression
44:07about American people.
44:08You know, coming to States, I have like different, you know,
44:13different like opinions about the States.
44:15I watch some horror movies, like you know,
44:17gangsters and everything.
44:19Maybe it is standards going there, maybe it's not.
44:22First I started living in Virginia.
44:24I did my internship there and I met with supervisor
44:28and her name was if, if she's gonna see on YouTube.
44:31So I'm gonna say hi to her.
44:33- Cool. Shout out to her. - Her name is-
44:34- What's her name? - Her name
44:35is Darlene Romanski.
44:37- Shout out to Darlene. - Yes.
44:39And she's the person that she start also teaching me
44:44how to communicate, how to start living in the States.
44:48Like in the world there are, like,
44:50two type of people like givers and takers
44:52that what always she say,
44:54try to be givers, try to give all the time.
44:57Whatever you can do, whatever you can help,
44:59try to give it but stay away from takers.
45:02That's what she says to me.
45:03- [Peter] That's great.
45:04Good advice From Darlene.
45:06- Yeah, and after start living and working with her,
45:11I start knowing that American people are the most kindest
45:15and you know, they're so welcoming.
45:19Each State has different life,
45:21different lifestyles, different people.
45:23And this is what I really love it.
45:26The Bronx is a good place, but you gotta be careful here.
45:30If the longer trips comes, I accept it.
45:33If the short trips comes, I don't,
45:35just stop and go back to city,
45:37go back to Manhattan.
45:39This is what I prefer to.
45:40- [Peter] Thanks for picking me up.
45:41- Yeah, it was like 30 minutes
45:43and you have a very good rating.
45:45493. I always pay attention to the right.
45:47- What's my rating? - 493, which is nice.
45:50- Okay. - 440, 430 something.
45:53They always have problems.
45:54Once I faced with one guy, he had the 430,
45:59you know, plus ratings and he gave me a heart attack.
46:04- Okay. (chuckles) - That was in Bronx.
46:05After that I told myself I'm not gonna work here.
46:09Even if I come, I'm gonna stop and go back to city.
46:12- [Peter] And we're going to a part of the Bronx.
46:14I had no idea existed,
46:16as in, it's separated from the Bronx.
46:19- [Uber Driver] It is City Island and it's nice
46:21- City Island, - Yeah.
46:23- Oh this is cool. It's like a charming little town.
46:26- Yeah. - Okay man,
46:27you can just drop me off here.
46:29- Thank you so much sir. - Thank you. Take care.
46:31- Yeah. - All the best.
46:31- [Uber Driver] Thank you. Bye.
46:34(car door thudding) - Alright guys, we made it
46:36and wow, what a different feel over here.
46:39I can't believe this is New York City
46:41and there's a lot of salt in the air,
46:43salt water surrounding the island.
46:47We're on a small island.
46:48Check it out on Google Maps.
46:50Or maybe I'll put the map up here.
46:52Still part of New York City.
46:53Still part of the Bronx.
46:55That's what's so cool.
46:56So when someone says New York City
46:58and labels it easily,
47:01it's impossible
47:03because here and where we started today
47:06and many of the neighborhoods we went through,
47:07they're all different.
47:09And then when you even try to label,
47:11the Bronx is such and such,
47:14and well you could be out here,
47:17you could be where we just were.
47:19There's some really pristine neighborhoods in the Bronx also
47:23with nice old mansions.
47:25So you can't even label that easily.
47:28So that's pretty much how the world works with most places.
47:32So let's canvas a few neighborhoods
47:34before the light completely goes away.
47:38I'm gonna try to keep the rain off the lens,
47:40but I'm not gonna be totally successful.
47:42Bear with me here.
47:43I read online last night,
47:45it's got a small town, new England feel and style
47:50and first impressions,
47:51I can agree with that for sure.
47:53Okay, 19th century, it was used as a ship building hub,
47:57then the oyster industry came in the late 1800s
48:01and then the 20th century
48:02and maritime culture during both world wars.
48:06This is just like small town America here.
48:09Look at that white picket fence, flag on the porch.
48:15This guy's got the candles,
48:17the fake candles in the window.
48:20Get this cute place.
48:22You have the chairs out on the porch.
48:25Oh, there's a film shoot. There we go.
48:27Looks like a movie's coming.
48:29Maybe the guys we saw today.
48:32Birds chirping.
48:33Hope this comes through the camera.
48:37God, I want another five hours of daylight.
48:42(water sloshing)
48:44It is coming down hard,
48:46drenched, all the way through.
48:50So let's finish with a good meal here
48:53and leave this island up to our imagination
48:57because it looks very interesting,
49:00but unfortunately for another time.
49:03Let's get in here.
49:07How's the food in here guys?
49:09Pretty good? - Yeah, it's good, good, good.
49:10- Okay, thank you.
49:15All right. We have some lobster specials here.
49:18Lobster and scallop,
49:20eight stuffed shrimp,
49:22six shrimp, four ounce tail,
49:23cluster snow,
49:25some cocktails.
49:29Quite an extensive menu here.
49:31I'm feeling like scallops.
49:34Maybe some lobster. How are you sir?
49:37Old school, they just come in
49:38and drop in 14 inches of garlic bread
49:42before you get going.
49:45This place says stories and history.
49:46Look at how they kept the roof inside, Joe V's.
49:53Here we go, the lobster and scallops.
49:58This guy go here.
49:59(staffs indistinctly speaking)
50:10Start with the scallops
50:19Standard. Pretty good, pretty good.
50:23And then they did it.
50:27Hit it with a good amount of butter and then bake it.
50:46It's nice. Look, it's not the top, top tier lobster
50:51because it's $30 for all of this in New York City,
50:56which is quite amazing.
50:57But it's good.
51:02Yeah, so you just been from the southern tip of Manhattan.
51:07New Amsterdam to City Island,
51:11skipped over so much along the way
51:14and then didn't even get to Queens,
51:15Staten Island
51:18or Brooklyn.
51:22That's how big those place is.
51:24Tomorrow is Staten Island though.
51:26That's gonna be interesting. Never bet.
51:31Hmm.
51:37All right guys, end of the road here.
51:38What a journey today.
51:40A few takeaways.
51:41What's New York City like now?
51:43From my outside perspective,
51:44I haven't been here in two years,
51:45I would say it's got a lot of its buzz back.
51:48It has a lot more of its energy.
51:50Sort of like pre pandemic feel.
51:52So that was great.
51:54Secondly, the Uber drivers I talked to,
51:57the food stall, people I talked to,
51:58they all seem to say
52:00that the financial pressure is higher now.
52:03It seems like it's a tougher crack to pay rent
52:07and keep up with bills and make enough money.
52:09Now New York's always been expensive,
52:11but I heard it more
52:13from those people this trip than prior trips.
52:17And then lastly,
52:18if we go shoot this video tomorrow,
52:21it's a totally different video,
52:22totally different cast of characters.
52:25They'll say different things.
52:26So keep that in mind when watching content like mine.
52:28Nothing's on a video like today is organized or set up.
52:32I don't know what people are gonna say.
52:33I don't know who I'm gonna run into.
52:35Most people today didn't wanna be on camera.
52:37I think it was because of the heat.
52:38It was so hot today.
52:40It was brutal
52:41and people just wanted to get from point A to point B,
52:44but always keep that in mind with content.
52:46And to understand this city fully
52:49is almost next to impossible
52:51'cause it's massive
52:53and there are millions of stories to be told.
52:56So watch my content, watch other people's content.
52:59Stay curious, ask questions.
53:01Have two more videos from New York City.
53:03One about corruption,
53:05one about Staten Island,
53:07which I actually am going to shoot tomorrow.
53:10So check those out. (upbeat music)
53:11Thanks for coming along on this journey, you guys.
53:13Until the next one.
53:18(upbeat music continues)
53:25(upbeat music continues)

About this transcript

This page contains the full transcript of New York City - What It's Like Now by Peter Santenello, generated from the public captions YouTube serves with the video. The transcript has 8,033 words across 1,217 segments, with the original timestamps preserved so you can click any line to jump to that moment in the embedded player.

What you can do with it

Use the transcript to take notes, quote the speaker, build a study guide, generate a summary with ChatGPT or Claude via the YouTube Summary tool, or export it as a timed subtitle file with YouTube to SRT. You can also re-open it in the transcriber to translate the transcript into 100+ languages.

Free YouTube transcript tool

YouTube2Text is a free YouTube transcript generator — no signup, no daily limit. Paste any YouTube link and get the full transcript instantly, with timestamps, click-to-jump, translation to 100+ languages, AI prompts for ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, and exports to TXT, SRT, VTT, or Markdown.