{{Potentially_NonCanon}}
{{City
=New York City (as of 2070)
=44,024,620
=63%
=14%
=4%
=15%
=4%
=1%
=4,615/km2
=117,714¥
=30%
=2%
=64%
=14 per 1,000 per annum
=506
=24%
=29%
=26%
='''Regional Telecomm Grid Access''' NA/UCAS-NC/NYC
}}
'''New York''' — officially named City of New York and often called New York City to distinguish it from the state of New York is known affectionately as the "Big Apple" and recognized as one of several "world cities". In the heyday of the city's self-designation as "capital of the world", the United Nations headquarters was located in New York, and the city was home of the East Coast Stock Exchange, back when it was known as the New York Stock Exchange. The city was heavily damaged during a major earthquake and never fully recovered.
In recent decades, the East Coast Stock Exchange has returned to New York City, but the UN has remained in Geneva, Switzerland.
After the earthquake, the corporations rebuilt the island of Manhattan, the city's center, with a series of skyrakers and arcologies tearing into the skyline. Manhattan Island also features possibly the heaviest corporate security in the UCAS, and perhaps even North America. The island is restricted not only by SIN-carrying citizens but also by a series of color-coded pass-cards, issued by the municipal government dependent on status as a resident, commuting worker, visitor, government official, VIP, etc. Black pass-cards are issued to convicted criminals and ex-cons. The pass-cards are constantly crosschecked and the penalties are downright brutal if an individual does not present and/or possess a pass-card or, in the case of former convicts, possess a pass-card other than the black card.
Manhattan's city government is not only handled by an elected mayor and city council, but also by a corporate council know as Manhattan, Inc. Consortium, shares of which are owned by major megacorporations, and while exact membership has been classified, the AAA Megacorporations such as Mitsuhama, NeoNET, and Renraku are believed to have seats on the Consortium. Police contracts for NYC are handled by four security contractors, Lone Star, Winter Systems, Knight Errant, and NYPD, Inc..
== Vital Statistics (unofficial) ==
(This population and demographic Vital Statistics data includes the entire New York City Megaplex Manhattan Island which, by itself, numbers about 17,000,000, The Counties, Long Island, Northern New Jersey, SW Connecticut, and SE NY State)
==Intro==
The most beguiling megasprawl in the world, New York is an adrenaline-charged, history-laden place that holds immense romantic appeal for visitors. Wandering the streets here, you'll cut between buildings that are icons to the modern age – and whether gazing at the flickering lights and holovid ads of the midtown skyrakers as you speed across the Queensboro bridge, experiencing the 4am half-life downtown, or just wasting the morning on the Staten Island ferry, you really would have to be made of ferrocrete not to be moved by it all. There's no place quite like it.
While the events of April 12, 2005, which shook New York to its core, the populace responded resiliently under the composed aegis of then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Until the attacks, many New Yorkers loved to hate Bloomberg, partly because they saw him as committed to turning their city into a city for rich people. To some extent he succeeded, and around the turn of the century New York became more and more difficult for people of average means to earn a living; though seemed cleaner, safer, and more livable, as the city took on a truly international allure and shook off the more notorious aspects to its reputation. However, the maverick quality of New York and its people still shined as brightly as it ever did. Even in the aftermath of the Quake of '05, New York remained a unique and fascinating city – and one you'll want to return to again and again. New Yorkers proved resilient through the Quake of '05, VITAS, the Awakening, the Year of Chaos, the Crash of 2029, Goblinization, the Night of Rage, the Universal Brotherhood, the Corporate Wars, the Year of the Comet, SURGE, and the Crash 2.0. In fact, there are more of us here now than before.
You could spend weeks in New York and still barely scratch the surface, but there are some key attractions – and some pleasures – that you won't want to miss. There are the different ethnic neighborhoods, like lower Manhattan's Chinatown and the traditionally Jewish Lower East Side (not so much anymore); and the more artsy concentrations of SoHo, TriBeCa (Southside), and The Village. Of course, there is the celebrated architecture of megacorporate Manhattan, with the skyscrapers in downtown and the skyrakers in midtown forming the most indelible images. There are the museums, not just the Metropolitan and MoMA, but countless other smaller collections that afford weeks of happy wandering. In between sights, you can eat just about anything, at any time, cooked in any style; you can drink in any kind of company; and sit through any number of obscure simsense. The more established arts – dance, theater, music – are still superbly catered for; and New York's clubs are as varied and exciting as you might expect. And for the avid consumer, the choice of shops is vast, almost numbingly exhaustive in this heartland of the great capitalist dream.
New York City, officially Manhattan, Inc., is the most populous city in the United Canadian and American States and the most densely populated major city in North America. Located in the state of New York, New York City has a population of over 44 million within an area of 40,910 square kilometers.
The city is a center for international finance, fashion, entertainment, and culture, and is widely considered to be one of the world's major global cities with an extraordinary collection of museums, galleries, performance venues, media outlets, international corporations and financial markets. It is also, once again, home to the headquarters of the United Nations.
The New York metropolitan area has a population of about 44 million, which makes it one of the largest megaplexes in the world. The city proper consists of Manhattan, Inc. and the five Counties The Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island. With the exception of Staten Island, each of these boroughs is home to at least five million people and would be among the nation's larger metroplexes if considered independently.
Popularly known as the "Big Apple," or "The Rotten Apple," the city attracts large numbers of immigrants—over a third of its population is foreign born—as well as people from all over the UCAS who come for its culture, energy, cosmopolitanism, and economic opportunity. The city is also distinguished for having the lowest crime rate among the 25 largest UCAS cities.
=== '''NYC Culture Shock 2077''' ===
To some observers, the New York Megaplex, with its large immigrant and metahuman population, seems more of an international and diverse city than something specifically "American" and corporate. But to others, the city's very openness to newcomers makes it the archetype of a "nation of immigrants and the mythic," ''Jewell Keitzman, Peterson’s Guide to Paranormal Animals of North America''. The term "melting pot" derives from the play ''The Melting Pot'', by Israel Zangwill, who in 1908 adapted Shakespeare's ''Romeo and Juliet'' to a setting in the Lower East Side, where droves of immigrants from diverse European nations in the early 1900s learned to live together in tenements and row houses for the first time. At the turn of the century, 36% of the city's population was foreign-born. Among American cities this proportion was higher only in Los Angeles, Pueblo and Miami in the Caribbean League.
While the immigrant communities in those cities are dominated by a few nationalities, in New York no single country or region of origin dominates. The seven largest countries of origin are the Dominican Republic, one of the Chinese States, Jamaica, Russia, the Italian Confederation, Poland and the Indian Union.
And with over six million Elves, over six million Orks; and nearly two million Dwarves, and nearly two million Trolls from across the Megaplex, the tri-state Megalopolis, North America and the world call New York City home. The city has half a million Changelings and over half a million magicians (both Hermetic and Shamanic, but tending more to the Hermetic).
The variety of magic traditions you can find here are staggering... shocking in such a supposedly magic-dead Sprawl. You could find an Aztec ''nahualli,'' or an '''Aztec''' magicians up in East Riverside and Newtown, or a '''Black Magic''' street witch in The Village, '''Bhuddist''' magicians on the East Side or in Queens or Nassau County, '''Chaos Magicians''' in Battery City or Newtown... pretty much all over the fraggin' place, '''Christian Tuergists''' in Midtown and the suburbs, '''Druids''' in The Bronx, Washington Heights, Newtown, The Village, and SoHo, '''Hindus''' traveling on The Wheel of Life in Jersey, Manhattan and The Counties,''' Islamic mystics''' practicing their Craft in the Downtown District and Stuyvesant, '''Norse magicians''' in Riverside and the Lower Westside follow the Norse gods, Elvish followers of the '''Path of the Wheel''' and Irish magicians in Staten Island, Suffolk County, Brooklyn, Southside and TriBeCa, '''German, Roman, and Greek Idolists''' in Little Italy, Times Square, Midtown, Jersey, Washington Heights, and Suffolk County, '''Gypsy Romany''' bands in The Village, SoHo, Newtown, Downtown, Lower Westside, Terminal, the Lower Eastside, Jersey and Suffolk County, '''Jewish Qabbalist''' mages in Westside, The Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, the Lower East Side, Stuyvesant, Midtown, Central Park East and West, and Downtown, '''Shintoist''' and '''Wuxing''' magicians in Chinatown and Lower Manhattan, Flushing, parts of Brooklyn, The Bronx, Staten Island, and Jersey, '''Hedge Witches''' and '''Wiccans''' in Washington Heights, Newtown, The Village, Times Square, Neon City and SoHo, VooDoo magicians in Newtown, East Riverside, Riverside, Westside, and parts of the Counties, and the '''Zoroastrian magicians''' are all over the place.
Changelings, Dwarfs, Elves, Humans, Orks, and Trolls ... all can be either, though these magic traditions (for the most part) are often divided along cultural lines. And that's not counting all the Mentor Spirits magicians followed by in Manhattan, The Counties, Jersey, Nassau and Suffolk Counties follow. All are urban Mentor Spirits from the upstart followers of Adversary, to the ingenious Mentor Spirit of Artificer; and including such Mentor Spirits as Cat, Crocodile, Dark Goddess, Dog, Dragon, Great Mother, Gryphon, Horned Man, Raccoon, Rat, Snake, and Spider. All the German, Roman, and Greek Idols are urban. Also, two ''major'' dominant magic traditions are West African and Caribbean, mostly in The Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, Jersey, Newtown, Washington Heights, Terminal, the Lower Eastside, and East Riverside.
''They're secretive about it...'' You'd never know there were so many magicians of every stripe around you as you jander down 6th Avenue and 54th Street at lunch hour surrounded by corporate suits, but look between and in the shadows of the towering corporate skyrakers of gleaming armored, mirrored glass and polymers, and you'll see the occasional druidic lodge or hermetic circle drawing on and enhancing, sometimes cleansing, the few strands of magic remaining in the Sprawl.
As in many major cities, immigrants to New York and New York metahumans often congregate in ethnic and racial enclaves where they can talk and shop and work with people of their metatype or from their country of origin. Throughout Manhattan, Inc. and The Counties, the city is home to many distinct communities of Irish, Italians, Chinese, Koreans, Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, Caribbeans, Hasidic Jews, Aztlaners, Russians and many others. To further break it down, you can expect to find various ethnic metatypes such as Irish Elves, Italian Dwarves, Chinese Orks, Korean Trolls, and Dominican Changelings living next to Puerto Rican Humans, Caribbean Orks, Hasidic Elven Jews, Black Humans, Aztlaner Dwarves, Russian Trolls and every conceivable type.
Nearly thirty million New Yorkers are citizens of the Big Eight Megacorporations (no surprise, all have offices in the Rotten Apple). Coincidentally, they are mostly Human. Only about half a million of corporate citizens in New York City are metahuman, and most of those are either Elves or Dwarves.
Many of the largest citywide annual events are parades celebrating the heritage of New York’s ethnic communities. Attendance at the biggest ones by city and state politicians is politically obligatory. These include the St Patrick's Day Parade, probably the top Irish heritage parade in the Americas; the Parade of Veryn, the biggest Elvish parade out of Tir Tairngire to commemorate the Elves’ survival and triumph over the oppression and hatred borne of the Night of Rage in 2039, named after the local Elvish civil rights champion Cael Veryn; the Puerto Rican Day Parade, which often draws up to 3 million spectators; the March of Torkara named after the local Dwarven ACLU leader, Walther Torkara, who won metahumans the rights now enjoyed throughout the UCAS; the West Indian Labor Day Parade, among the largest parades in North America and the largest event in New York City; and the Chinese New Year Parade. New Yorkers of all stripes gather together for these spectacles.
Other significant parades include the Metahuman and Arcane Pride Parade, Greenwich Village Halloween Parade and the Coney Island Mermaid Parade, and the Gay Pride Parade, all icons in the city’s counter-culture pantheon.
New York Changelings have been slowly gathering and strengthening, and plan their parade next year.
New York City has a larger Jewish population than any other city in the world, larger than even Jerusalem. Approximately five million New Yorkers, or about 13%, are Jewish. As a result, New York City culture has borrowed certain elements of Jewish culture, such as bagels. The city is also home to the Jewish Theological Seminary, the headquarters of Orthodox Jewish movements, one of three American campuses of Hebrew Union College of Reform Judaism, and the home of the Anti-Defamation League. Temple Emanu-El, the largest Jewish house of worship in the world, became the first Reform congregation in America in 1845.
=== The Quake ===
The city was the center of a major 5.8 earthquake at 720 A.M. on August 12, 2005. Over 200,000 deaths occurred and 200 billion dollars worth of damage was suffered. Among those who died were workers in the buildings, passengers and MTA employees on two commercial airplanes, and hundreds of firemen, policemen, and rescue workers who responded to the disaster. The city's economy was substantially hurt but has since rebounded after the fifty-plus years it took the Megacorporations to rebuild the city in their image. The only Manhattan building of any size that does not collapse is the Empire State Building. As a result of the quake the East Coast Stock Exchange is moved to Boston and the United Nations is moved to Geneva. Both have since returned to their home in the Big Apple, albeit in newer structures.
=== '''When to go''' ===
New York's climate ranges from the sticky hot and humid in mid-summer to warm and damp in January and February high summer (many people find the city unbearable in July and August) is the worst time you could come. Spring is gentle, if unpredictable, and usually wet, while fall is perhaps the best season come at either time and you'll find it easier to get things done and the people more welcoming. Whatever time of year you come, dress in layers buildings still tend to be overheated during winter months and air-conditioned to the point of iciness in summer. Also bring comfortable and sturdy shoes – you're going to be doing a lot of walking since all motor vehicles have been banned from Manhattan, except for those with permits.
==== '''Arrival''' ====
New York's major airports are all within an hour from the city center by taxi or bus, depending on traffic conditions. The city's train, monorail, and bus terminals are centrally located and connected to major subway stations.
===== '''By Air''' =====
Two major airports serve New York. International and domestic flights are handled at John F Kennedy (JFK) (LTG/JFK), in Queens, and Newark (LTG/EWR), in northern New Jersey; La Guardia (was seized by the UCAS and is now used as an Air National Guard station).
JFK runs a rapid transit line to Grand Central Station, Port Authority Bus Terminal, Penn Station and Midtown hotels in Manhattan by way of the Ronald Regan bridge for the masses. For the upper crust, there are full tilt- and rotorcraft service to and from the various Midtown aeropads. The rail line will cost you 10 nuyen and air transport will cost 75 nuyen.
A third airport, Long Island, MacArthur Airport in Suffolk County. LIMA (LTG), in Suffolk County, handles domestic HTSC, and Semiballistic flights only.
The Long Island Railroad maglev trains run between Manhattan (Grand Central Station and Port Authority Bus Terminal) and La Guardia every fifteen to thirty minutes either way. The service operates 0600 to 0000 (to Grand Central and Port Authority), 0500 to 2200 (from Grand Central), 0640 to 2100 (from Port Authority). Buses also run to Penn Station from 0640 to 2340 every thirty minutes, 10 and 40 after the hour; from Penn Station, 0740 to 2010 same time-scale as above. Journey time is 45 to sixty minutes, depending on traffic, and the fare is 50 nuyen (students 30 nuyen) each way. For details on services, discounts, etc. call 1212 (75-8200).
The LIRR is the best bargain in Long Island New York airport transit, which for 70 nuyen takes you into Manhattan, across 125th Street and down Broadway to 106th Street in New Town. From there, you can transfer to get almost anywhere. Journey time ranges from twenty minutes late at night to an hour in rush-hour traffic.
===== '''By Bus, Cab, or Train''' =====
If you come by Blueline Tours and Trips, Whippet Bus Company, and Big Apple Express, or any other long-distance bus line, you arrive at the Port Authority Bus Terminal at 42nd Street and Eighth Avenue. By Amtrak, Inc. train, you arrive at Penn Station, in Terminal, at 32nd Street and Seventh and Eighth Avenues. Both stations are well positioned for all manner of subway service.
Taxis are the easiest option if you are in a group or are arriving at an antisocial hour. Expect to pay a flat rate of 175 nuyen from JFK and 175 - 275 nuyen from Newark; you'll be responsible for the turnpike and tunnel tolls – an extra 25 nuyen or so. And don't forget a tip of fifteen to twenty percent.
Another good way into Manhattan is by bus, the two Manhattan terminals, used by all airport buses, being Grand Central Station and the Port Authority Bus Terminal.
==== '''Getting Around''' ====
If you're in Manhattan, you most likely don't have a car, unless you have a white card (more on those later) or know the right people. Maybe a bike if you're lucky, but if the cops catch you, they'll probably nail you. Ever since the "Rebirth," vehicles have been banned from Manhattan Island, unless you've got a white card or the right connections. This means that those who can afford it have a car, or two, and everyone else is hoofing it. Bikes fall under the category of vehicle and so, technically, are illegal without the permit. But whether or not the cops will bother you depends on what neighborhood you're in and how fast you're moving at the time.
There's enough public transit options to keep you moving regardless.
Getting around the city is likely to take some getting used to; public transit here is on the whole quite good, extremely cheap, and covers most conceivable corners of the city, whether by bus or subway. Don't be afraid to ask someone for help if you're confused. You'll no doubt find the need for a taxi from time to time, especially if you feel uncomfortable in an area at night; you shouldn't ever have trouble tracking one down – the ubiquitous yellow cabs are always on the prowl for passengers.
===== '''The Subway''' =====
The New York Subway is 1.5 nuyen one-way. A monthly pass is 30 nuyen. Much of it caved in during the earthquake, but some parts were rebuilt but serves the poorer and more dangerous sections of Manhattan and The Counties.
The parts of the lower Manhattan subway that connect with Brooklyn still go through customs checks. Before crossing the East River, all commuters have to change trains and undergo a cursory weapons and contraband check.
===== '''Air''' =====
All major air commuter companies offer service at a premium between New York's residential and corporate sky-rakers. Cost varies between 250 nuyen to 1,000 nuyen depending on the distance.
===== '''Cabs''' =====
These are everywhere, both the auto-cabs and those manned by an actual metahuman. The fares are high, two nuyen a block, but the rides are quick and safe.
===== '''The MTA bus''' =====
A single fare is 2 nuyen. A monthly pass is the same as the subway.
===== '''The New El''' =====
This runs south along both shores and then heads east-west. This elevated maglev serves Midtown and the surrounding areas. Clean and efficient, it's almost the exact opposite of the subway. A single ride around costs three nuyen. A monthly pass costs 40 nuyen.
===== '''Walking''' =====
Few cities equal New York for street-level stimulation. Getting around on foot is often the most exciting – and tiring – method of exploring. Figure fifteen minutes to walk ten north–south blocks – rather more at rush hour. However you plan your wanderings you're still going to spend much of your time walking. Footwear is important (sneakers are good for spring/summer; winter needs something waterproof). So is safety a lot more people are injured in New York carelessly crossing the street than are mugged. Pedestrian crossings don't give you automatic right of way unless the WALK sign is on – and, even then, cars may be turning, so be prudent.
===== '''Staten Island Ferry''' =====
The bargain that still can't be beaten, even more so now that the fare has been eliminated, is the free Staten Island ferry (LTG), which leaves from its own terminal in lower Manhattan's Battery Park. It's a commuter boat, so avoid crowded rush hours if you can; at other times, grab a spot at the back (going out) and watch the skyline shrink away. Departures are every 15–20 minutes at rush hours, every thirty minutes midday and evenings, and every hour late at night – weekend services are less frequent.
=== '''Passes, Passes...Who's Got The Passes?''' ===
Are you a resident? Non-resident worker? Resident-worker? Non-resident non-worker? legal or illegal? Long-term or short-term? Rich or poor? Lots o' questions. Plenty o' answers.
When you first get to New York, you'll find Manhattan has a thing for passes. The three basic types are Resident, Work, or Temporary. Resident passes are white; solid white for full-time residents, white with a green stripe for part-time residents. Work passes are blue and also come in two types a white stripe indicate you live and work in Manhattan, and a red stripe means that you live, but don’t work in the city. Temporary passes are red and issued on a monthly basis. Occasionally, you might see a black pass. Those are for permanent guests.
=== '''Lifestyle Costs''' ===
The overall cost of living in NY shows a wide spread. A Luxury lifestyle is 200,000¥ per month. High is 25,000¥. Middle is 8,000¥, while Low only needs 850¥ and Squatter about 50¥ a month. Street is still street, though a little more physically taxing. Hospitalization runs about 400¥ to 750¥ for basic care, 1,200¥ to 2,000¥ for intensive.
=== '''Cyberware''' ===
Getting cyberware into Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and The Bronx is easy, just take it with you. The scanners and detectors at the Northern Access and Terminal are old enough they'll pass over any cyberware less than ten years old.
If you're real paranoid about getting busted, have a Fixer arrange a Manhattan CBP-107 permit. You'll need one of those to get through Kennedy.
== Manhattan ==
{{City=Manhattan (as of 2070)
=17,122,170
=65%
=13%
=6%
=11%
=4%
=1%
=17,743/km2
=23,810¥
=14%
=3%
=84%
=4 per 1,000 per annum
=16
=6%
=30%
=56%
='''Regional Telecomm Grid Access''' NA/UCAS-NC/NYC-MHT; 1212, 2212, 3212, 4212, 5212, 6212, 7212, 8212, 9212, 10212, 11212, 12212, 13212, 14212, 15212, 1646, 2646, 3646, 4646, 5646, 6646, 7646, 8646, 9646, 10646, 11646, 12646, 13646, 14646, 15646, 1917, 2917, 3917, 4917, 5917, 6917, 7917, 8917, 9917, 10917, 11917, 12917, 13917, 14917, 15917
}}
'''Manhattan''' is New York City. It's the business center of the city, and the most superlatively urban. It is the most densely populated, and the home of most of the city's skysrakers.
=== Manhattan Neighborhoods ===
==== Inwood (B-C) ====
(Middle Class Commercial, Low Class Residential).
It has earned the nickname "The Singer's Slum" as many opera singers, musicians, composers and simsense actors live in the area. Its main local thoroughfare is Broadway (also, at this point UCAS 9), its main highways are the Henry Hudson Parkway and the Harlem River Drive, and its main shopping areas are Dyckman Street, Broadway and West 207th Street. Inwood is a largely residential neighborhood, consisting mostly of apartment houses and parkland. It also houses an aboveground subway yard, a bus depot, a Sanitation Department facility, Columbia University's athletic fields, and the Allen Pavilion (an annex of New York-Presbyterian Hospital, the University Hospital of Columbia and Cornell).
==== Hudson Heights (B) ====
(Middle Class Commercial Predominantly Elven Enclave within Washington Heights)
W181 to Fort Tyron Park; Broadway to the river.
The neighborhood is mostly commercial, but it also has strips of residential areas nestled between the major streets. Most buildings are pre-war imitation, designed to resemble 1930s building styles, some in Art Deco style, most are "owner read megacorporate occupied residential properties". Among these is Castle Village on the other side of Cabrini Boulevard, the 16-story Cabrini Terrace, the highest building in the neighborhood. In the 2050s, most rental buildings in the area were converted to corporate-owned housing cooperatives or condominiums. In recent years, Hudson Heights has been an attractive area for homebuyers who want to stay in Manhattan, but can't afford to buy condos or co-ops in most other areas of the borough, or who want to buy condos or co-ops larger than those typically found in other areas. The multiple housing cooperatives and condominiums in the area have formed the Hudson Heights Owners Coalition.
Among notable institutions in Hudson Heights are the Catholic shrine of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini and The Cloisters, where an order of Hermetic mages called the Children of the New Crusade houses and displays its collection of Medieval art, located in Fort Tryon Park.
The area gained notoriety before The Awakening, in May 2005, when a then-75-year-old retaining wall facing the Hudson River on the property of the Castle Village co-op housing complex collapsed onto the Henry Hudson Parkway, causing much consternation and traffic delays.
==== Washington Heights (B) ====
(Middle Class Commercial)
W155 (once 125) to Dyckman St.
Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center. The Cloisters. Hispanic Society of America. Lore stores and numerous small restaurants offering a variety of cuisines.
The best known cultural site and tourist attraction in Washington Heights is The Cloisters in Fort Tryon Park (surrounded by the Elven enclave of Hudson Heights) at the northern end of the neighborhood, with spectacular views across the Hudson to the New Jersey Palisades. This Medieval art and cultural display is under the ownership of The Children of the New Crusade, and is located in a medieval-style building, portions of which were purchased in Europe, brought to the United Canadian and American States (then, the United States), and reassembled.
Another major museum, though little visited, is The Hispanic Society of America, which still has the largest collection of works from El Greco and Goya outside of the Museo del Prado, including one of Goya's famous paintings of Cayetana, Duchess of Alba.
The neighborhood has a large Dominican population (the area is sometimes referred to as "Quisqueya Heights"), and Spanish is commonly heard being spoken on the streets. Since the Awakening, the neighborhood has been the UCAS' most important base for Dominican empowerment in the political, non-profit, cultural, arcane, and athletic arenas.
There is also a significant Jewish Elf population, particularly in Hudson Heights Elf enclave, mainly Elvish students in the Jewish occult (and recent graduates) of the neighborhood's Yeshiva University.
The German-Jewish elvish population is based around Khal Adath Jeshurun, a direct continuation of the pre-war Jewish community of Frankfurt am Main, colloquially called "Hanstine's" after Rabbi Dr. Van Hanstine, founder and first elf rabbi of the congregation. Washington Heights is also served by a number of smaller orthodox synagogues, both Human and Metahuman, as well as the Fort Tryon Jewish Center, a human conservative congregation and the Hebrew Tabernacle, a reform metahuman congregation.
The neighborhood was severely affected by the novacoke epidemic of the early/mid-2050s. This was due, in part, because of the neighborhood crack gang, known as The 155 Boys or the Dark Templars Gang, who were associated with Oz. The 155 Boys were responsible for the raising crime rate, especially murder, during the late 50's and early 60's. Homelessness was rampant. Washington Heights had become the largest drug distribution center in the Northeastern UCAS during that time. It was nicknamed "Crack City" by newspapers and was considered to be the murder capital of New York. Its murder rates reached its height in 2052, when 818 people were murdered in the neighborhood. Crime quickly fell due to aggressive police tactics by Knight-Errant and Winter Systems. Police presence increased and building landlords allowed police to patrol in apartment buildings which led to the arrests of thousands of drug dealers a year in Washington Heights. People were also being stopped for quality of life crimes, which deterred people from carrying guns. A new police precinct was also added in the area. Today, its crime rate, along with that of neighboring Newtown, is much lower.
==== Hamilton Heights (B-A) ====
(Middle Class Commercial, Middle Class Residential in West Newtown)
W135-155; St. Nick to the river.
Hamilton Heights is a neighborhood in Harlem in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is bounded by 135th Street to the south, the Hudson River to the west, 155th Street to the north, and Saint Nicholas Avenue/Bradhurst Avenue to the east.
Beautiful and spacious apartment buildings, magnificent brownstones and stately row houses prominently lining the leafy eastern streets of Hamilton Heights, an area traditionally home to a substantial black Human professional class. Today, Human Hispanics and Latinos constitute a majority of the population followed by African Americans, peoples from the Spanish Antilles; the West Indies in the Caribbean League and remainders of earlier time's ethnic whites.
Gentrification between 2055 and March 2057 has drastically increased the proportion of non-Hispanic whites and Asian residents, and with gentrification, all the cultural, economic, personal, and ownership problems we know to expect. It is the home of the City University of New York (CUNY), Dance Theatre of Harlem, The Harlem School of the Arts, Aaron Davis Hall, the Trinity Church Cemetery, an amazing 1¥ store, Hamilton Palace (a department store), both intended for low income consumers, a Botanica, C Town, bodegas, hair salons and barber shops. The problem in the coming months and years is gathering enough small-business/resident support to enact legislation preventing the complete erasure of these groups of people.
The neighborhood offers several parks, including the very modern Riverbank State Park, around which Riverside Park winds its way to Washington Heights and the historic St. Nicholas Park.
Historic Hamilton Heights comprises the Hamilton Heights Historic District and the Hamilton Heights/Sugar Hill Historic District Extension, both designated by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.
The neighborhood is easily accessed via subway, the number 1 line stops at the 137th Street–City College and 145th Street stations. The famous A train on St. Nicholas Avenue provides service at 145th Street. The C train services 135th Street, 145 Street and 155th street and Saint Nicholas Avenue.
The MTA buses M4 and M5 serve Broadway, M100 and M101 run on Amsterdam Avenue, M18 on Convent Avenue; M11 on 135th Street; Bx19 on 145th Street; Bx6 on 155th Street and the M3 on St. Nicholas Avenue.
==== Strivers' Row (A) ====
(Middle Class Residential in Central Newtown)
W135-155; 8th (centered at W139)
The term Strivers' Row refers to three rows of townhouses in western Newtown, in Manhattan. The houses sit back-to-back with each other. Today, the back areas are used almost exclusively for the parking of cars and drones. Strivers Row houses are among the very few private homes in Manhattan that have space for parking. This means, however, that they are among the few townhouses that do not have gardens in the rear. Middle Managers live here in this gated community.
==== Astor Row (A) ====
(Middle Class Residential in Central Newtown)
centered at W130.
Middle Class Metahuman neighborhood, polarized with elves living on the western end and orks living on the eastern end.
==== West Newtown (B-A) ====
(Middle Class Commercial, Middle Class Residential in Newtown)
W125-155; St. Nick to the river.
Dwarfs make up the largest minority here.
==== Sugar Hill (B-A) ====
(Middle Class Commercial, Middle Class Residential in Central Newtown)
W125-155; Edgecombe Avenue to Amsterdam.
Sugar Hill is a neighborhood in the northern part of Newtown, in Manhattan. The neighborhood is defined by 155th Street to the north, 145th Street to the south, Edgecombe Avenue to the east, and Amsterdam Avenue to the west.
It was a popular residential area of rowhouses for wealthy African Americans before the Leveling and the Awakening. Sugar Hill was made a municipal historic district by the Manhattan Landmarks Preservation Commission in 2060; now it is home to a more integrated population. Along with a small remnant of Afro-American and Latino residents, there is a growing number of Arab, Eastern and Central European, English, French, German, Greek, Irish, Italian, Balkan, Scottish, Azanian, Ukranian, and West Indian Humans, though some metahumans live here, too.
Sugar Hill is primarily known for its pastry shops, thus the name, and is ''the'' place any New Yorker knows they can go for the best ''Elaishón'' in town -- you know, that delicious Elven pastry with strawberry filling and rosepetal/blueberry paste mix. An Ork cabbie chummer of mine picks them up special for me when I get the taste for some. Anyway, some olders may remember a different origin, though... but that's ancient history and not worth the megapulses of this datadump. I'm already taking up enough as it is! Eastern European eateries from Free Macedonia, Albania, Hungary, Brasov-Covasna, and Dalmatia can be found on the ground floors of the biggest condo and office high-rises.
Supply Depots and shipping centers line the Harlem River. Scandinavian and Welsh pastry shops; upscale Balkan, Soul Food, and African restaurants; family-friendly media stores that sell AR for the kids occupy every other block, and are nestled between blocks of gated communities and 5-20-story apartment towers, co-ops, and condos.
The area is well-served by numerous subway lines, grocery centers and retail shops. There is also a UCAS Post Office, a New York City Public Library, a CUNY campus, and several banks, fast food places, and gas/recharge stations. The Nightengale read NeoNET Corp-owned Newtown Medical Complex is only a few blocks to the east.
The streets are still filled with ghetto-tech rappers and raphop street performers.
Rap group The Sugarhill Krew and ghetto-tech raphop record label Sugar Hill Mediaworks pay homage to the neighborhood's roots in their names.
The '''''Albanian Fares''''' seem to be the puppet masters pulling the strings of the few gangs in the area. Please read the Shadows of Europe Datadump for more info on the '''''Fares'''''.
The '''''Vory''''' also are powerful here behind the scenes, but they are more out in the open about it. About 7 out of 10 Mom and Pops here pay protection cred to the Vor. The Vory and the Albanians are currently engaged in a strange shadow war against each other for the various Black Market rackets drugs and chips, protection, prostitution, etc. Sometimes, a runner can be working for one against the other, yet all the while they find the situation may be reversed, or worse yet, their target and their Mr. Johnson are collaborating. Watch you back if you want to play on Sugar Hill, chummers.
==== Manhattanville (B-A) ====
(Middle Class Commercial, Middle Class Residential in West Newtown)
W125-135; St. Nick to the river.
Manhattanville is a neighborhood in Manhattan bordered on the south by Morningside Heights on the west by the Hudson River, on the east by Harlem and on the north by Hamilton Heights and Washington Heights. Its borders straddle both sides of West 125th Street, roughly from 122nd Street to 135th Street and from the Hudson River to St. Nicholas Park. It is now the site of the Columbia University campus, which has campuses in Morningside Heights to the south and Washington Heights to the north.
Aside from Grant's Tomb at the southwestern corner, the principal landmarks in Manhattanville are the elevated section of the IRT Broadway-Seventh Avenue Line and the elevated Riverside Drive Viaduct. Within the neighborhood is Manhattanville Townhomes, a 1,272 unit development housing Manhattanville's upper-middle class, which opened in 1961, and refurbished a hundred years later. Designed in the international style by noted Swiss-born architect William Lescaze, the development was initially created to house middle income residents.
The neighborhood also contains the landmarked Claremont Theater, the Manhattanville Bus Depot, St. Mary's Church, the upper class Fairway Supermarket (a major neighborhood boon, providing fresh produce and a wide variety of groceries).
==== ViVa, Viaduct Valley (B-A) ====
(Middle Class Commercial, Middle Class Residential in West Newtown)
W125-132; the river.
Marcus Garvey Park, Mount Morris Historical District E120-124; Madison to 5th. Facilities in the park include the Pelham Fritz Recreation Center and an Amphitheater (both located on the west side of the park at 122nd Street), and Swimming Pool (on the north side of the park), and two playgrounds designed for infants and disabled, Metahuman, and changeling children, which were re-built in 2054. A Little League baseball field occupies the southwest corner of the park.
The Mount Morris Fire Watchtower was designed by Julius Kroel and erected in 1855-57 of cast iron. The tower was fitted with a 10,000 pound bell cast by Jones & Hitchcock. The watchtower allowed observers to use the natural elevation of the park and the added height of the structure to search for fires, in an era when most buildings were made of wood. The 14-meter cast-iron tower is the only one of eleven to survive the Quake of '05 that had been constructed in the city, and was designated as a landmark 110 years ago. The watchtower is located at the center of the park on an artificial plateau called The Acropolis.
==== Central Newtown (B-A) ====
(Middle Class Commercial, Middle Class Residential in Central Newtown)
E110-155; Park to St. Nick.
East Riverside, was Spanish Harlem, El Barrio, Italian Harlem (B-A Middle Class Commercial, Middle Class Residential East of Newtown) E96-135; the river to Park.
Once known as Spanish Harlem, or El Barrio, is a neighborhood east of Newtown, in the north-eastern part of Manhattan, Inc. East Riverside is one of the largest predominantly Human Latino communities in Manhattan. It was also formerly known as Italian Harlem, and still harbors a small Italian American Human population. However, for over 120 years, residents of Puerto Rican descent, sometimes called Nuyoricans, have dominated it.
East Riverside extends from East 96th Street to East 135th Street and is bound by the Upper East Side, East River and the Metro-North Railroad tracks along Park Avenue. The general area of East Riverside stretches from the East River to Fifth Avenue and from 96th Street to 141st Street. The primary business hub of East Riverside has historically been 116th Street from 5th Avenue headed east to its termination at the FDR Drive. Today, the sky above the 116th Street commercial zone is filled with layers and layers of signs (real and AR) mixing Spanish, Italian, and English text scrolling horizontally, vertically, and anywhere else they can possibly fit.
In the 1920s and early 1930s, Italian Harlem was represented by future Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia in Congress, and later by Italian-American socialist Vito Marcantonio. Italian Harlem lasted in some parts into the 1970s in the area around Pleasant Avenue. It still celebrates the first Italian feast in New York City, Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Some remnants of Italian Harlem, such as Rao's restaurant, started in 1896, still remain.
East Riverside was one of the hardest hit areas in the 1960s and 1970s as New York City struggled with deficits, race riots, urban flight, drug abuse, crime and poverty. Tenements were crowded, poorly maintained and frequent targets for arson. The area still has some of the worst problems with poverty, drug abuse and public health in New York City. However, like the rest of New York, it has enjoyed a resurgence since the Leveling.
With the growth of the Latino population, the neighborhood is expanding. It is also home to one of the few major trideo studios north of midtown, Metropolis (106th St. and Park Ave.), where shows like BET's 106 & Park and The Chappelle Show have been produced, is now known for Latino and Afro-American Hits like, ''Los Inannos'' and ''Chillin' ina Matrix''. The major medical care provider to both East Riverside and the Upper East Side is the Mount Sinai Hospital, owned by NeoNET's Nightengale's Corporation, which has long provided tertiary care to the residents of Newtown and East Riverside. Many of the graduates of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine make careers out of East Riverside public health initiatives including the battle against asthma, diabetes, unsafe drinking water, lead paint, infectious disease, and many Awakened ailments such as addictions to novakoke, deepweed, and other drugs.
Many famous artists have lived and worked in East Riverside, including the renowned timbalero Ramon Molano (110th Street was renamed “Ramon Molano Way), Jazz legend Cortez Madrueno and one of Puerto Rico’s most famous poets, Maia Na (a campaign to rename 106th Street after her is currently in motion), among others. Hector Graza wrote a best-selling AR download titled, "Nuestra Lucha, También" in 2037 during the time of racial tension and strife that precluded the Night of Rage in 2039. It touches on a forgotten fact that cultural minorities were often also discriminated against and were also victims of attacks by white and human supremacists, and seeks to extend an olive branch to the world's Metahuman population. A new generation of artists like Troll sculptor El Solomente, Elf painter The Rose Maker and Human weaver Milan Graza, and Human Carmella Novo, have made East Riverside the epicenter of Latino Art influence.
Influential social establishments like Camaradas El Barrio and La Fonda Boricua have become social and cultural beacons supporting the growing community and cultural preservation efforts in East Riverside. El Museo del Barrio, a museum of Latin American and Caribbean art and culture is located on nearby Museum Mile and endeavors to serve some of the cultural needs of the neighboring community. There is a diverse collection of religious institutions within the confines of East Harlem from mosques, a Greek Orthodox monastery, several Roman Catholic churches, including Holy Rosary Parish-East Harlem, and a traditional Russian Orthodox church. Well-known mages and urban shamans say the background count at this site is rather high, possibly due to the amount of powerful and ancient foci concentrated here. Security is very tight, as you might imagine, with guardian spirits and drones fortifying the perimeter.
Despite the moniker of "Spanish Harlem" or "El Barrio," the region is now home to a new influx of immigrants from around the world. Arab merchants, for example, work in bodegas side by side with those from the Dominican Republic. Italians live and prosper next to the influx of Aztlaner and Amazonian immigrant populations. Their neighboring businessmen and local neighbors can be Korean, Chinese or Haitian in origin. The rising cost of living in Manhattan, Inc. has also caused increasing numbers of whites to move in, to take advantage of the inexpensive rentals, relative to the adjacent neighborhoods of Yorkville and the Upper East Side.
==== Newtown E96-141 (east), W110-155 (central), W125-155 (west) (B-A) ====
(Middle Class Commercial, Middle Class Residential in Newtown)
Newtown shows signs of corporate presence as several real estate subsidiaries belonging to Ares Macrotech, Aztechnology, NeoNET, Wuxing, and Saeder-Krupp, and Renraku cover these blocks. Residential buildings are eight stories or less, in general... though some as tall as twelve stories exist, especially in the higher-rent areas near the Hudson.
Newtown is named for the fact that 80% of the buildings were rebuilt or refurbished after The Leveling. This occurred more to wipe the slate clean than for structural necessity. The consortium decided that New York would be better off forgetting the crime-ridden neighborhood of Harlem that once occupied this area. Hey, at least The Apollo is still here on 125th between 8th and 7th!
Once strictly an African American neighborhood, Newtown has diversified, though seemingly never forgetting its roots. Today, it is a well-integrated Humans, Dwarfs, Elves, Trolls, and Orks of mainly English, German, Irish, Italian, Polish, and West Indian ethnicity live side by side with Mandarin, Cantonese, Han, Japanese, Filipino, Korean, Asian Indian, and the large remaining Afro-American and Puerto Rican population.
Apparently, Ralph Ellison observation "Wherever Negroes live uptown is considered Harlem," proved as false as it was degrading. Once home to third-world living conditions, crumbling tenements, high crime rates, political activism and riots, as well as drug abuse and prostitution, Newtown is now home to upscale urban boutiques, salons, clothing stores, body shops; office buildings; grocery stores, electronics stores, and media stores; it has excellent transit, police, and fire protection coverage; and residents live in clean and well-maintained three- to twelve-story townhomes.
The Harlem where political dissidents agitated for change within a ghetto neighborhood became Newtown where middle class corporate families can raise their children and enjoy the economic security life with the megacorps can bring.
The gangs here are the Soulmen, Latin Eagles, The Skulls, The Turks, Nick's Boys, and an ork go gang called The Tuskers are warring with a troll gang called The Bloody Goblins.
==== Manhattan Valley, Bloomingdale District ====
W100-110; Central Park W to B-way
(Security Ratings AAA closer to the Luxury Enclaves surrounding Central Park; A-B the further west you go into middle class urban residential and commercial areas of the southern blocks of Newtown).
This area is known for its excellent Chinese and Filipino restaurants that line 9th Ave and Amsterdam Ave within the shadows of the towering office towers that line those streets.
Manhattan Valley occupies a natural depression running east-west across Manhattan, declining rapidly from high rocky bluffs at the western border of modern Central Park, and following west the valley created by what was once a minor stream draining from roughly the area of the Harlem Meer into the Hudson River.
Broadway and Central Park West provide the largest thoroughfares longitudinally through the neighborhood, but it also transected, from west to east, by Amsterdam Avenue, Columbus Avenue, and Manhattan Avenue. The former two extend through the entirety of the Upper West Side (and beyond). The latter originates at 100th Street and proceeds north into Harlem, and can thus be considered uniquely a feature of Manhattan Valley.
Manhattan Valley has gentrified significantly since the 2040s, along with the rest of the Upper West Side and Newtown. Coinciding with this transition, the Megacorporations organized in the late 2050s to develop stronger presence along the main thoroughfares of Columbus and Amsterdam, and to provide ''entrepreneurial'' opportunities to locals.
While Broadway still provides most retail shopping opportunities, Amsterdam Avenue has emerged as a major contender in local nightlife with a glut of six bars in the two blocks from West 110th Street 108th Street. These join the venerable JackPoint West (wizzer AR and BTL if you've got the cyberware!) on Columbus, which has been providing a hipster vibe to the area for a century, but under different names. The renaissance has much to do with increased migration of Columbia and Barnard College students south as Morningside Heights venues become increasingly expensive.
Corporate brokers report the properties in the area remain up to thirty percent less expensive than comparable Upper West Side neighborhoods. The neighborhood's proximity to the much-valued Central Park as well as to three separate subway lines make it attractive to young suits, and prices are rising dramatically as New Yorkers are "tipped off" by their brokers. In a startling and uncharacteristic expression of wisdom, many of the historical brownstones and townhouses were preserved from demolition by the consortium, particularly east of Columbus Avenue, where the property values are the highest.
'''Morningside Heights (Newtown)''' W106-125; Columbus to Riverside
Middle Class Residential. Some commercial areas. Human Hispanic community.
'''Carnegie Hill (Upper Eastside)''' E86-98; 3rd to 5th (centered at E91 and Park)
Major Japanese Enclave. Large Japanese Dwarven ''Koborukuru'' community.
'''Yorkville (Upper Eastside)''' E79-96; the river to 3rd (centered at E86 and 3rd)
Caucasian Human Upper Class Residential neighborhood.
'''Ansonia (Westside and Midtown)''' W72 and Amsterdam
Caucasian Elvish Upper Class neighborhood owned by Telestrian Light Industries.
'''Lincoln Square (once San Juan Hill) (Midtown, Central Park West)''' W65-66; Columbus to B-way
Luxury Caucasian Human neighborhood. Busy business/commercial district.
'''Upper West Side (Central Park West, Midtown, Westside, Riverside, Newtown)''' W59-125; Central Park W to the river
Mixed area (see Manhattan, Inc. demographics) ... Mostly Caucasian, high minority of Trolls.
'''Upper East Side, Lenox Hill, Silk Stocking District (Eastside, Upper Eastside, Central Park East, Midtown, Newtown)''' E59-96; the river to 5th (and E96-110 along 5th)
Upper Class to Luxury Human Hispanic community. Crowded and bustling business district.
'''Columbus Circle (Midtown/Central Park West)''' W59 and 8th
Human Caucasian and Black community on Luxury residential blocks. Crowded and bustling business district.
'''Sutton Place (Eastside)''''E53-59 and Sutton Pl
Middle Class Caucasian neighborhood with a large Dwarven minority.
'''Rockefeller Center, Trideo City (Midtown)''' W49-51 and 5th to 6th
High Security. Human Caucasian area. Congested and expensive business district.
'''Diamond District (Midtown)''' W47 and 5th to 6th
Tight security. Caucasian neighborhood with a major Ork minority. Crowded and bustling business district.
'''Great White Way (Times Square, Lower Westside, and Midtown)''' W42-53 and B-way
Caucasian Human Luxury business/entertainment/urban residential high-rise area. Crowded and bustling business district.
'''Theater District (Times Square, Lower Westside, and Midtown)''' W42-53 and 6th to 8th
Luxury business/entertainment/urban residential high-rise area neighborhood with a large Caucasian Elvish community. Crowded and bustling business district.
'''Turtle Bay (Eastside)''' E42-53 and the river to Lex
Middle Class business and housing area, mostly Caucasian Human. Crowded and bustling business district.
'''Midtown East (Midtown, Eastside)''' 42-59 and the river to 5th
Human Caucasian area. Crowded and bustling business district.
'''Midtown Proper (Midtown, Times Square, Lower Westside)''' 40-59 and 3rd to 9th
Human area. Large Hispanic minority in few residential condos. Crowded and bustling business district.
'''Tudor City Condoplex (Lower Westside)''' E40-43 and 1st to 2nd
Human Caucasian condoplex area with a large Hispanic community.
'''Times Square (Times Square)''' W39-52 and 7th-9th
Caucasian Human area. Major tourist/entertainment business district.
'''Hudson Yards (Terminal)''' W28-43 and 7th to the river
Human Caucasian area with huge minority populations of Hispanics and Amerindians.
'''Midtown West (Midtown, Neon City, Times Square, Lower Westside)''' W34-59 and 5th to the river
Caucasian Human with a large Black Minority. Crowded and bustling business district.
'''Hell's Kitchen, Clinton (Westside, Midtown, Lower Westside)''' W34-57 (59) and 8th to the river
Caucasian Elf enclave. Wage-slave zone. Lower-middle class/poor residential.
'''Garment District (Neon City, Midtown, Times Square, Lower Westside)''' W34-42 and 5th to 9th
Caucasian Dwarf and Troll minorities. Counter-culture.
'''Herald Square (Neon City)''' W34 and 6th
Luxury residential/business/entertainment area. Predominantly Caucasian Human. Busy entertainment district.
'''Korea Way (Neon City, Downtown)''' W32 and 5th to B-way
Human Asian Commercial District.
'''Koreatown (Neon City)''' W31-36 and 5th to 6th
Human Asian Commercial District.
'''Murray Hill (Downtown, Eastside, Neon City, Midtown)''' E29-42 and 2nd to 5th
Human Caucasian Upper Class Residential Area.
'''Tenderloin''' W23-42 and 5th to 7th
Human Asian and Amerind Upper Class Residential Area.
'''Flatiron District, Toy District, Photo District (Downtown, Neon City, Midtown)''' W23-42 and 5th
Human Commercial District. Residential Streets have a large Amerind and Hispanic minority population.
'''Midtown South (Stuyvesant, Downtown, Neon City, Eastside, Midtown, Times Square, Lower Westside, Terminal)''' 23-42 and 2nd to 11th.
Human Commercial/Residential Zones. Large Hispanic Minority population.
'''Madison Square (Neon City)''' W23-26 and 5th to B-way.
Human Caucasian Busy Entertainment Zone.
'''Little Constance (Terminal)''' W30 and 8th to 9th.
Human Hispanic Ghetto.
'''Flower District (Neon City)''' W26-28 and 6th.
Human Caucasian Retail District.
'''Brookdale (Stuyvesant)''' E25th and 1st to FDR.
Luxury Condoplex. Predominantly Human Afro-American.
'''Kips Bay (Downtown, Stuyvesant)''' E23-34 and the river to 3rd.
Busy Human Caucasian Commercial Zone.
'''Rose Hill, Curry Hill (Downtown)''' E23-30 and 1st to B-way.
Human Asian Indian Commercial District.
'''Peter Cooper Condoplex Plaza (Stuyvesant)''' E20-23 and C to 1st.
Caucasian Ork Luxury Condoplex.
'''Chelsea (Southside, Terminal)''' W14-34 and 8th to the river.
Human Caucasian. Heavy Elven Community. Residential slums to the north, the blocks to the south are much like Downtown and predominantly commercial/business.
'''Gramercy (Downtown)''' E14-30 and 1st to B-way.
Human Caucasian Upper Class Residential Zone.
'''Union Square (The Village)''' E14-17 and 4th to University Pl.
Major Entertainment District. Predominantly Human Caucasian.
'''Stuyvesant Town Condoplex (Stuyvesant)''' E14-20 and C to 1st.
Caucasian and Black Changeling and Gnome Metavariant Luxury Housing.
'''Gashouse District (Stuyvesant)''' E14-23 and C to 1st.
Caucasian Human Luxury Housing Condoplex.
'''Meatpacking District (Southside)''' Gansevoort to W15th and Hudson to the river.
Human Caucasian Residential/Business Zone. Strong Elven Minority. No longer used for packing meat, but rather turned into something uniquely Metahuman by the residents, and by Elven and Dwarven artists. Turf of the Ancients.
'''Little Germany (former) (Lower East Side)''' E7-10 and A to B.
Residential Troll Slum.
'''Alphabet City Luxury Condoplex''' Houston to E23rd (14th) and FDR to A.
Caucasian Human Luxury Housing Condoplex.
'''East Village (Downtown, Lower East Side)''' Houston to E14th and the river to the Bowery.
Predominantly Elven Population. Upper-Middle Class Businesses/Residences, changing to Slums the closer you get to the East River.
'''Greenwich Village, the Village (The Village, Southside)''' Houston to W14th and B-way to the river.
Predominantly Human Population. Major Counter-culture/Changeling/Metavariant Population.
'''NoHo (The Village)''' Houston to Astor and Bowery to B-way.
Large gay/lesbian Troll population.
'''The Bowery (Downtown, Lower Eastside, the Village)''' Canal to E4 and Allen to Bowery
Human Caucasian Ethnic Retail/Entertainment Zone,
'''West Village (Southside)''' Canal to W14th and 6th to the river<.br>
Large Dwarf, Ork and Troll Minority Groups. Metahuman dock worker ghetto.
'''Lower East Side''' Canal to Houston and the river to Bowery.
Squatter Ghetto. Mostly Human Caucasian. SINless Corporate Housing Projects.
'''SoHo (Southside, SoHo, Lower Eastside)''' Canal to Houston and Lafayette to Varick
Major Caucasian Elf Community. Counter-Culture Entertainment Zone.
'''NoLIta (SoHo)''' Broome to Houston and Bowery to Lafayette.
Major Entertainment District. Caucasian Human predominantly.
'''Little Italy (SoHo)''' Canal to Broome and Mulberry.
Italian Commercial Zone. Major Italian Elf population.
'''Chinatown (Chinatown, Lower Eastside, SoHo, Southside)''' Chambers to Delancey and E B-way to B-way.
Asian Commercial Zone. Very congested, crowded streets. 99% Mandarin, Cantonese, Henanese, Manchu, Sichuan, Shaanxi, Beijing
Hainan, Ningxia, Taiwanese, Yunnan, Gansu, Provincial, Guangxi, Shandong population. Residents from the Sprawls of Hong Kong, Beijing, and Macao also. Mostly Human, some Metahuman.
'''Lower Manhattan, Financial District (City Center, FuchiTown, and Battery City)''' below Chambers.
Mostly Human Caucasian. World-renown Business/Commercial District. Battery City is a Lower Class Residential Housing enclave for Wage Slaves. Wall Street. City Hall. Financial District. Brooklyn Bridge. Manhattan Bridge.
'''Five Points (former)(Chinatown)''' Worth & Baxter.
Congested Residential/Commercial Lower Class Zone. Large population of Trolls from the Chinese States.
'''Cooperative Village (SoHo, Lower East Side)''' Frankfort to Grand and FDR to E B-way
Corporate Housing for Corporate Wage Slaves. Mostly Caucasian Human residents.
'''Two Bridges''' Brooklyn Bridge to Montgomery, St. James Pl to the river.
Low-Income Corporate Housing. Mostly Human Caucasian Corporate Wage-Slave residents.
'''TriBeCa (SoHo, Southside)''' Park Pl to Canal and B-way to the river.
Upper Class Residential brownstones. Predominantly Human Caucasian residents.
'''Civic Center (Southside, Fuchi Town)''' Vessy to Chambers and the river to B-way.
Major Business District. Tight Security. Surrounded by NeoNET Towers.
'''Radio Row (former) (Now FuchiTown)''' Cortlandt to Dey and Greenwich St (WTC).
Major Megacorporate Enclave. Owned by NeoNET Corporation.
'''South Street Seaport Historical District (Battery City)''' east of Fulton and FDR.
Major Tourist Attraction. Surrounded by Low-Income Housing Towers Battery City.
'''Battery City''' west of West Street.
Low-Income Wage Slave Housing. Huge Black/Hispanic Population. Mostly Human.
==== 42nd St Times Square and Neon City (AAA, AA-A) ====
'', , , , , , , , , and . Or , , , and ''
Though its western side holds few attractions, east of Eighth Avenue 42nd Street is home to some of the city's most distinctive buildings, ranging from great Beaux Arts palaces like Grand Central Station in Midtown, to white elephants like the New United Nations Building at the street's eastern end on the Eastside. In between lie gems such as that definitive New York icon, the Chrysler-Nissan Building. Surrounded by superb architecture and breathtaking views down such great avenues as Fifth, Madison, Lexington and Third, this section of New York is one of the most distinctive parts of the city.
Times Square is where those who have the nuyen go for a dose of high culture. Manhattan's old theater district got crammed in here during the Rebuilding. Now, at least 6 full-size theaters and about 12 smaller venues are found here. All are AR-capable. Tens of thousands of corporations, retailers, and businesses have shops here. And they all advertise. Advertising for anything can be found on every available surface in Times Square. What's more, many surfaces were created simply to add more advertising space. Everything from simple billboards and print spots to animated graphics, holographic images, catchy jingles in every language, commlink-propagated word-of-mouth campaigns, and targeted odors are everywhere here blazing the night away. These ads are tailored to each person's radio frequency ID (RFID) tags, and the information is broadcast by each person's commlink. By doing this, each advertiser in Times Square can tailor ads to each person's preference on the fly and beam them to each person's PAN from all angles. For this reason, most people in Times Square have their RFID tags set to Stealth Mode.
Neon City is a series of interconnected, mall-like structures. Whereas Times Square is the AR and VR Tourist Mecca, this is the Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Playground. But let's discuss physical space, shall we? Glass-enclosed crosswalks that rise high above the traffic link the buildings. There are many open-air spaces, some several floors above the street, where people can meet and look out at the marvelous views of the city.
Neon City also harbors a deep and dark criminal element. But the perps here are professionals, they know better than to ''look'' like the perps they are. The area is heavily patrolled, obvious as well as undercover, and the criminals have adapted to that reality.
==== Bryant Park and the New York Public Library (AAA-AA) ====
'', , , .''
Located in Midtown, one block east of Times Square, Bryant Park, Sixth Avenue between 40th and 42nd streets, is a lush grassy square block filled with slender trees and inviting green chairs. As well as free synthjazz in summer months and several outdoor eateries, there's also a rather aggressive happy hour singles scene at the Bryant Park Café. All corporate. Just across from the park, at 40 W. 40th St, the New Radiator Building, designed in 2024 a replica of the original American Radiator Company, commands attention for its neo-Gothic tower and polished black-granite facade.
==== Chrysler-Nissan Building (AAA-AA) ====
'', , , .''
Occupying the block between Lexington and Third avenues, the Chrysler Building has been extensively refurbished and reconstructed after the Quake. It dates from an era (1930, though renovated in 2000 by Philip Johnson, and again in 2013 by Vincenzo Driesbach) when architects carried off prestige with grace and style. The building has easily become easily Manhattan's best loved. Its car-motif friezes, a spire resembling a car radiator grill and hood-ornament gargoyles jutting from the setbacks all recall the golden age of motoring ... a favorite among many a corporate rigger in New York. The lobby, once a car showroom, has opulently inlaid turbolifts, walls covered in African marble and on the ceiling a realistic, if rather faded, study showing airplanes, machines and the anthroforms that worked on the tower, which, unfortunately, is not open to the public.
==== East of the Chrysler-Nissan Building (AAA-AA) ====
Flanking Lexington Avenue on the south side of 42nd Street are two more buildings that repay consideration. The Aleff Building on the west side is another Art Deco monument, cut with terra-cotta carvings of leaves, tendrils and sea creatures. More interestingly, the design on the outside of the weighty Mobil Building across the street is deliberately folded in such a manner that the movement of the wind can clean it automatically.
East of here is the somber yet elegant former Daily News Building, whose stone facade fronts a surprising Deco interior. The most impressive remnant of the original 1923 decor is a large globe encased in a lighted circular frame (with updated geography), made famous by the Superman sims, in which the Daily News Building housed the Daily Planet.
Further east still, 42nd Street grows more tranquil. Between Second and First avenues, the Ford Foundation Building provides one of the most peaceful spaces of all. Built in 1967, and rebuilt in 2020, this was the first of the atriums that are now commonplace across Manhattan, and it is certainly the most lush. It's got a giant Japanese-style greenhouse, with two walls of offices visible through the armored-glass windows. 42nd Street is no more than a murmur outside.
At the east end of 42nd Street, steps lead up to the 1925 ensemble of Tudor City, which rises behind a tree-filled park. With its coats of arms, armored glass and neat neighborhood shops, it is the very picture of self-contained residential respectability, and an official historic district. Trip down the steps from here and you're facing the new United Nations building.
==== Grand Central Station ====
'', , , .''
A masterful piece of urban planning, the 1903 Grand Central Station (rebuilt in 2027), between Madison and Lexington avenues, mainly serves commuters speeding out no further than Connecticut or Westchester County. A Beaux Arts monument to the power of the maglev railways, Grand Central was the symbolic gateway in the nineteenth century to an undiscovered continent. Today, the most spectacular aspect of the building is its size. Its main concourse is one of the world's finest and most imposing open spaces, the barrel-vaulted ceiling speckled like a Baroque church with a painted representation of the winter night sky. Stand in the middle and you realize Grand Central represents a time when stations were humbling preludes to great cities.
Active commlinks can display realtime train schedules for Metro North and the LIRR... you have to get yourself to Penn Station for the LIRR, though! RFID tags alert the traveler of transit deals offered by the MTA.
For those -gasp!- without a commlink or RFID tags, Grand Central has patented WallSpace AR technology that allows travelers to access virtual timetables and GeoSpace Maps to display routes, timetables, and fare costs. You can even use the WallSpace displays to pay for tickets. Purchased tickets are downloaded to your commlink or your RFID tag (you must have either on you for proof of purchase), the guard scans your commlink or tag on the train just before departure.
==== TriBeCa (B-A) ====
Citigroup's Global Corporate and Investment Bank has its headquarters in TriBeCa. TriBeCa is a middle class residential and commercial neighborhood in downtown Manhattan. The name is a syllabic abbreviation of "Triangle Below Canal Street." It runs roughly from Canal Street south to Park Place, and from the Hudson River east to Broadway; just north of FuchiTown.
TriBeCa is part of Southside, a combo of businesses and residences, but mostly business. There are few skyscrapers here, and there is an industrial district, dominated by warehouse structures, that in the last decade has undergone a major revitalization. Many warehouses have been converted to livable residential lofts and new businesses that emerged make the neighborhood much more like a community than an industrial district. Residents like the neighborhood for its vibrancy, as well as for the solitude and harmony achieved by mixed zoning.
TriBeCa is a fashionable residential neighborhood with an affluent population. Many of the streets are lined with boutique shops and high-end restaurants such as Nobu, Chanterelle and Bouley. TriBeCa is also home to the TriBeCa Simsense Festival. The neighborhood is a frequent filming location for movies, including the 1984 hit movie ''Ghostbusters'', which took place in a TriBeCa firehouse. The sim remake took place in the same area after The Awakening with all the wild magic, and a second sim sequel of Ghostbusters took place during the Year of the Comet with the Shedim outbreaks all over the city. Made for great entertainment, and the Sim was a box office hit, but I felt it came a little too close to reality.
Many celebrities reside in TriBeCa Lew Allenby, Darkvine, Deirdre, Enoch Ian Keys, Maria Mercurial, Eddie Mwabe, Orxanne, Teddy X, and Melody Tyger. Others include Doug Z of Chip Truth, Warren Cartwright, Andrea Frost, Rancois Nyanze, Moira Thornton of Concrete Dreams, Tony Li of Eight Immortals, Johnny Bale and Chantell Taylor of Plastosapiens, Sheena M and Jay Keith of Shield Wall, Sandra Willowfall of Til Es Hault has a summer penthouse condo here, and Zir Zemo of Zazz. A host of Simsense celebrities have residences here, too Emmett Riegle, Rhona and Kathleen McGuire, Sha Coxey, Ervin Hannagan, Sarita Meyn, Ted Lechman, Margarita Bialczyk, Sean Habersham, Adrienne Ramirez, and Guillermo Lybarger just to name a few.
After the April 12, 2005 earthquake, TriBeCa initially suffered financially. However, government grants and incentives provided an infusion of capital and the area rebounded. Amidst the real estate boom of the mid-2040s Tribeca housing prices outpaced even that of the red-hot Manhattan market. Forbes Magazine ranked the 10013 zip code in TriBeCa as the 12th most expensive zip code in the United Canadian and American States in 2070.
==== Greenwich Village (A) ====
Greenwich Village (pronounced "Grennich" Village; also called simply the Village) is a largely residential area on the west side of downtown (southern) Manhattan in New York City. This is one of the most wizzer locales in the City where the hip go to meet the too-hip-to-be-real. There is more than enough ''faux culture'' to gag on. The area is full of art galleries, book-nooks, poetry spots, loft apartments at insane prices, and crowds of moody-looking, leather-clad children of the night. The nightly parties sport scads of Van Cliber-clad women and guys in Actioneer stylish wear.
'''Location'''
Broadway and Bowery roughly bound the neighborhood on the east, the 6th Avenue and Greenwich Avenue on the west, Houston Street on the south, and 14th Street on the north. The neighborhoods surrounding it are SoHo to the south, and Downtown to the north and east. Downtown is also home to the East Village neighborhood. The East Village, which was formerly known as the Bowery or north Lower East Side, is occasionally referred to as part of Greenwich Village, but is more properly considered its own neighborhood.
'''Layout'''
As Greenwich Village was once a rural hamlet, entirely separate from New York, its street layout does not coincide with most of Manhattan's more formal grid plan (based on the Commissioners' Plan of 1811). Greenwich Village was allowed to keep its street pattern when the plan was implemented, which has resulted in a neighborhood whose streets are dramatically different, in layout, from the ordered structure of other parts of town. Many of the neighborhood's streets are narrow and some curve at odd angles. Additionally, unlike most of Manhattan, streets in the Village typically are named rather than numbered. While there are some numbered streets in the Village, even they do not always conform to the usual grid pattern when they enter the neighborhood. For example, West 4th Street, which runs east-west outside of the Village, turns and runs north, crossing West 12th Street.
Currently, artists and local historians bemoan the fact that the bohemian days of Greenwich Village are long gone, because of the extraordinarily high housing costs in the neighborhood. Many artists have fled to Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Long Island City, and New Jersey. Nevertheless, residents of Greenwich Village still possess a strong community identity and are proud of their neighborhood's unique history and fame, and its well-known liberal live-and-let-live attitudes. Indeed, its cultural uniqueness and apartness are felt so strongly, and so many of its residents' lives are so locally focused, that it is sometimes said thereabouts that "upstate" New York is anywhere north of 14th Street.
Greenwich Village includes the primary campus for New York University (NYU), The New School, and Yeshiva University's Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. Cooper Union is located in neighboring East Village.
The historic Washington Square Park is the center and heart of the neighborhood, but the Village has several other, smaller parks Father Fagan, Minetta Triangle, Petrosino Square, Little Red Square, and Time Landscape. There are also city playgrounds, including Desalvio, Minetta, Thompson Street, Bleecker Street, Downing Street, Mercer Street, and William Passannante Ballfield. Perhaps the most famous, though, is "The Cage", officially known as the West 4th Street Courts. Sitting on top of the West 4th Street subway station at 6th Avenue that serves the A-B-C-D-E-F-V trains, the courts are easily accessible to basketball and American handball players from all over New York. The Cage has become one of the most important tournament sites for the city-wide "Streetball" amateur basketball tournament.
The Village also has a bustling performing arts scene. It is home to many Off-Broadway theaters; for instance, Greet Troll Group has taken up residence in the Astor Place Theater. The Village Vanguard hosts some of the biggest names in jazz on a regular basis. Comedy clubs dot the Village as well, including The Boston and Comedy Cellar, where many American stand-up comedians got their start.
Each year on October 31, it is home to New York's Village Halloween Parade, a mile-long ad hoc pageant of masqueraders, mummers, drag queens, exhibitionists, chipheads, gangers, drunkards, druggies, puppets and pets that draws an audience of two million from throughout the region, the largest Halloween event in the country. The delighted and high-spirited throngs include everyone from the smallest children dressed in the simplest homemade or store-bought costumes on up to adults bedecked in the most elaborate and ingenious guises and disguises that professional and amateur costume designers and makeup artists can conceive and create with a year's notice. Mages and local Shamans have reported the Background Count spikes quite well around this time of year each year.
Several publications have offices in the Village, most notably the Village Voice Matrix PLTG.
The 2050 NBS sitcom The Odd Coven takes place in the Village, though it was filmed and produced in Hollywood, Pueblo. The exterior shot of the Friends' apartment building is actually located at Grove Street and Bedford Street in the West Village.
'''NoHo (A)'''
NoHo, for North of Houston Street (as contrasted with SoHo, South of Houston) is a small area of The Village, roughly bounded by Houston Street on the south, The Bowery on the east, Astor Place on the north, and Broadway on the west. Lafayette Street is one of the most fashionable streets in New York. The Bowery is Wraithchildes turf. You’ve been warned.
==== SoHo (B) ====
SoHo is a neighborhood in Manhattan that is bounded roughly by Houston Street on the north, Mott Street on the east, Worth Street on the south, and Sixth Avenue on the west.
Lots of artist studios and residences here. this is where people with a little more style, and sense, tend to be.
After abandonment of the highway scheme the city toyed with while rebuilding after the Leveling, the city was still left with a large number of historic buildings that were unattractive for the kinds of manufacturing and commerce that survived in the Quake. Many of these buildings, especially the upper stories which became lofts, attract artists who value the spaces for their large areas, large windows admitting natural light and dirt-cheap rents. Most of these spaces were also used illegally as living space, being neither zoned nor equipped for residential use, but this was ignored for a long period because the occupants were using space that would probably have been dormant or abandoned in the poor economic conditions of the era.
BTL use is big here, like in The Village, but SoHo is also where people with a little more style (and sense) than their Village counterparts tend to lurk. There are a lot of burned-out mages packed with cyberware on these streets, but you’ll find they are more capable than they normally should be …
==== Lower East Side (Z, occasional E, rare AAA) ====
"The Pit" The Lower East Side is a neighborhood of Manhattan, Inc. It has traditionally been an immigrant, working-class neighborhood, was gentrified at the turn of the century and was increasingly populated by artists, students and hipsters. Since the Leveling, it fell into steep decline, abandoned by the law enforcement companies and left to the street dogs. Today refers to the urban blight of tenement towers and broken streets of violent gangs, BTL and drugs, and black market services and items. It covers the area south of East 14th Street along the East River, roughly bounded on the west by 1st Avenue and the south by the Brooklyn Bridge.
One of the oldest neighborhoods of the city, the Lower East Side has long been known as a lower-class, working neighborhood and often as an outright slum. The Lower East Side once was, and in a few parts still is, a center for Eastern European Jewish immigrant culture. More recently, immigrants from Aztlan, Amazonia, the Caribbean, and the various South American nations, and elsewhere have settled it.
In what is now the East Village, a pre-existing population of Poles and Ukrainians has been significantly replenished with newer immigrants, and the arrival of large numbers of Japanese metahumans over the last fifteen years or so has led to the proliferation of Japanese restaurants and specialty food markets. There is also a notable population of Bangladeshi metahumans and other Elf, Dwarf, Ork, Changeling, and Troll immigrants from Muslim countries, many of whom are congregants of the Madina Masjid (Mosque), located on First Avenue and 11th Street.
This diverse neighborhood also contains many synagogues and a great variety of churches, both in terms of denomination and ethnic and linguistic makeup. In addition, there is a major Hare Krishna temple and Buddhist houses of worship.
The Bowery, a largely destroyed place, remains the location of the famous Bowery Mission, serving the down-and-out since 1879. Another notable landmark on the Bowery is CBGB, a nightclub that has been presenting live music – including some of the most famous figures in rock 'n roll – since 1973. A bit further north and east is McSorley's Old Ale House, a famous Irish bar that opened its doors in 1854. Both of which were refurbished after the ’05 quake.
East Village was once Lower East Side's northwest corner alongside Greenwich Village; it received that name from real estate developers in the 1980s trying to dissociate the area from the Lower East Side's reputation. The name stuck and the term "Lower East Side" now refers specifically to the portion of the neighborhood lying south of 14th Street and East Village has become its own separate neighborhood.
In the early 2000s, the gentrification of the East Village spread to the Lower East Side, briefly making it one of the trendiest neighborhoods in Manhattan. Clinton Street and Orchard Street were lined with upscale restaurants and boutiques, although Orchard Street is still dominated by discount clothing stores.
In late 2004, a boutique hotel, The Hotel on Rivington, or THOR, opened on Rivington Street. The glass-walled, 50-storied hotel towers over the neighborhood and provided a sharp contrast to the surrounding low-rise brick tenements.
All this ended in 2005. Since the Leveling, the random riots and looting were coordinated into organized attacks on law enforcement and the military. So many lives were lost that all law enforcement personnel were pulled out of the area and the immigrants who lived here were left to fight the street gangs on their own, without the help from NYPD, Inc., Winter Systems, Knight-Errant, or Lone Star.
The neighborhood has historically been a home for counterculture, Jewish, leftist, and revolutionary elements. Emma Goldman, Leon Trotsky, Allen Ginsberg and Abbie Hoffman; and more recently, Rico Whittet, Rudolf Breeman, Felton Brin, Anibal Galleno, Leonora Lohmiller, Ollie Spinelli, Harry Mengarelli, and Jolie Mohmand have all made it their home at one time or another. For the past hundred years various radical groups, such as Humanis, Ork Rights Committee, the Manhattan Astral Preservation Society, Stonecutters Guild, Mothers of Metahumans, Young Elven Technologists, Ghoul Liberation League, and Renelle ke’Tesrae just to name a few have had their headquarters in the area. Many still do. One of the most notorious was the Universal Brotherhood. When the true horror of that mysterious cult became obvious, the authorities cordoned off The Pit and several Citimasters were placed around the perimeter. After the Chicago debacle in August 2055, the authorities in New York planned a different tactic, similar to the one used by a team in the Seattle Metroplex to wipe out what they found underneath a secret location in the Ft. Lewis District.
Oddly, one of the benefactors behind the "liberators" has seemed to replace the Brotherhood here. Anyone hear of the DIMR? Or the New York City Astral Preservation Society? Or, even the Manhattan Group for Ethical Magical Research? Why the frag would these slots be so interested in the Lower East Side? Who knows? They've been here ever since 2055.
Also, in that year, after the Chicago Incident, SWAT teams and other troops moved into the area after several Universal Brotherhood chapter houses were closed down. When that happened, the worst terror New York City could have ever imagined swarms of insect spirits erupted from the buildings and beneath these streets! It took the NYPD Inc., Knight-Errant, FedPol, and Winter Systems sent in hundreds of snipers, combat mages, ritual teams, nature spirits and elementals to contain the swarms. "I'll be damned if we're going to be another Chicago!" proclaimed the Mayor, and the hives, nests and swarms were neutralized within several months. We all knew the UB was a front for some such drek, but nobody knew how bad... lots of people in the subways lost their lives (and their heads) to the mandibles of man-sized roaches and beetles, man-sized wasps snatched people from the upper floors of the housing projects, and two-meter-tall flies attacked and killed several homeless on the streets.
Since then, these ordinary New Yorkers have been memorialized for their bravery, their daring and their sheer heroism.
Prominent anarchists Yoko Sultanburg and Tyler Anaar published the Mother Earth PLTG, founded in 2066, out of a busted tenement at what might be 210 E. 13th St., where she is honored with a plaque today.
The neighborhood has become a popular late night destination with go-gangers, street gangers, and other street drek. Also, it’s a popular slumming spot for people averse to weapons checks. Clinton Street and Ludlow Street between Rivington Street and Stanton Street become especially packed at night with lots of shadowbiz to be had, and the resulting noise is a cause of tension between bar owners, the gutterpunks and gangers, and longtime residents.
Also, the Pit is home to many live music venues. Up and coming alternative rage rock bands play at Bowery Ballroom on Delancey Street and Mercury Lounge on East Houston Street, while lesser known bands play at Pan's on Norforlk Street and Galipo on Suffolk Street. There are also bars that offer performance space, such as Screech and the Lyte Rooms on Ludlow Street.
==== Chinatown (B-C) ====
The Chinatown neighborhood is an ethnic enclave with a large population of Chinese immigrants, similar to other Chinatown districts in UCAS, CAS, and California cities.
By the 1980s, it had surpassed San Francisco's Chinatown to become the largest enclave of Chinese immigrants in the Western hemisphere, but in the last few years it too has been outgrown by the lesser-known but larger New York City Chinatown community in nearby Flushing, Queens.
Chinatown is dominated by Chinese "tongs" (now sometimes rendered neutrally as "associations," or Triads), which are a mixture of clan associations, landsman's associations, political alliances (Kuomintang vs Communist Party of China) and (more secretly) crime syndicates. The associations started to give protection from harassment due to anti-Chinese racism. Each of these associations was aligned with a street gang. The associations are a source of assistance to new immigrants -- giving out loans, aiding in starting business, and so forth.
The associations form a governing body named the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association. Though this body was meant to foster relations between the Tongs, open warfare periodically flares between the On Leong and Hip Sing tongs. Much of the Chinese gang warfare takes place on Doyers street. Gangs like the Ghost Shadows and Flying Dragons are prevalent.
The only park in Chinatown, Columbus Park, was built on what was once the center of the infamous Five Points neighborhood of New York. This is the most dangerous slum area of immigrant New York.
Much of Chinatown works in an underground economy, where wages are below the mandated minimum wage and transactions are done in cash to avoid paying taxes. This underground economy is responsible for employment of large numbers of new immigrants who lacked the language skills to seek better jobs. This system attracted the garment industry to use large-scale sweatshops in the Chinatown area. Tourism and restaurants are also major industries.
Chinese green groceries and fish mongers are clustered around Mulberry Street, Canal Street (by Baxter Street) and all along East Broadway (especially by Catherine Street). Many of these fish and produce products are gengineered for maximum storage capacity, taste, and profit and the expense of safety.
The Chinese jewelry shop district is on Canal Street between Mott and Bowery. Due to the high savings rate among Chinese, there are many Asian and American banks in the neighborhood. Canal Street, west of Broadway (especially on the North side), is filled with Chinese street vendors selling commlinks and PANs, matrix games and sim chips, programs, upgrade services, cyberware, and all kinds of magic foci and fetishes … mostly from China and east Asia, imitation perfumes, bootleg RFID tags and pass codes, watches, bioware and nanoware, and hand-bags. This section of Canal Street is the home of warehouse stores selling surplus/salvage electronics and hardware.
A gigantic federally subsidized housing project, named Confucius Plaza was completed on the corner of Bowery and Division streets in 2037. This 236-story residential tower block gave much needed new housing stock to thousands of residents, several shopping malls, and a theme park. The building also houses a new public grade school. Since new housing is normally non-existent in Chinatown, many apartments in the building were acquired by Triad-linked wealthy individuals through under-the-table dealings, even though the building was built as affordable housing.
In the 2050s, Chinese people began to move into some parts of the western Lower East Side, which over 100 years earlier was populated by Eastern European Jews and 80 years earlier was occupied by Hispanics. There are today only a few remnants of Jewish heritage left on the Lower East Side, such as the famous Katz's Deli and a number of synagogues and other old religious establishments.
Currently, the approximate borders of Chinatown are Canal Street in the North (bordering the Pit and SoHo sections of NYC) The Bowery in the East, Nassau in the West (encroaching the TriBeCa sections of NYC) Meade Street in the South (encroaching the City Hall area).
Unlike most of other urban Chinatowns, Manhattan's Chinatown is both a residential area as well as commercial area. Most population estimates are in the range of 806,237 to 1,343,728 residents (some estimates go as high as 1,881,219 residents). It is difficult to get an exact count due to low participation of the UCAS Census (due to language barriers as well as large scale illegal immigration).
Besides the obvious 1,000 (some estimates go as high as 1,500) Chinese restaurants in the area for employment, there are still some sweat shops. The proximity of the fashion industry has kept some garment work in the local area though most of the garment industry has moved to China. The local garment industry now concentrates on quick production in small volumes and piece-work (paid by the piece), which is generally done at the worker's home. Much of the population growth is due to immigration. As previous generations of immigrants gain language and education skills, they tend to move to better housing and job prospects that are available in The Counties, Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, and Jersey.
The housing stock of Chinatown is still mostly composed of decrepit and cramped tenement buildings, some of which are over 160 years old. It is still common in such buildings to have bathrooms in the hallways that are shared among multiple apartments.
For much of Chinatown's history, there were not many unique architectural features to announce that you had arrived into the neighborhood (other than the language of the holovid shop signs). In 2023, at Chatham Square the Kam Lau memorial archway was rebuilt in memorial of the Chinese who died in the Republic Civil War as Communist hardliners solidified their power in Henan and withdrew it from the Republic, and the Provinces between the Yellow River and the Canton Confederation splintered into microstates. This memorial, which bears calligraphy by the great Chieu Dao-zi (1940—2025), is mostly ignored by the residents due to its poor location on a busy car thoroughfare with little pedestrian traffic. A statue of Xiao Zhang, a Fuzhou-based Chinese official who opposed the opium trade, is also located at the square; it faces uptown along East Broadway, now home to the bustling Fuzhou neighborhood and known locally as Fuzhou Street. In the 2030s, New York Telecomm, then the local phone company started capping the street phone booths with pagoda-like decorations. In 2037, the statue of Confucius in front of Confucius Plaza became a common meeting place. In the 2040s, banks, which opened new branches and others, which were renovating started to use Chinese traditional styles for their building facades.
Chinatown was greatly affected by the quake of April 12, 2005. After the rebuilding, tourism and business has been very quick to return to the area, thanks to the locals. Part of the reason was the NYPD, Inc., Winter Systems, and Knight-Errant closure of Park Row - one of two major roads linking the Financial Center with Chinatown. A lawsuit is pending before the State Superior Court regarding this action.
Currently, approximately 1,612,474 people live in Manhattan's Chinatown.
Until the 2020s, the bulk of the population was Toisan and Cantonese speaking, coming from a small area of Guangdong province and Hong Kong with a small minority of Hakka also represented. Mandarin was rarely spoken by natives even well into the 2040s.
More recently, most new immigrants speak Putonghua (Mandarin), coming from Mainland China, with large numbers from Fuzhou who also speak the Fuzhou dialect.
Other New York City area Chinese communities have been settled over the years, including that of Upper-Middle Class Flushing (Security Rating AA) in Queens, which in recent years has actually surpassed the community in Lower Manhattan. It is said by some that the best Chinese cuisine in New York is now found here as well. Another community is located in Sunset Park (Security Rating AA), an upper class area in Brooklyn, particularly along 8th Avenue from 40th to 65th Streets. Sunset Park is much the same as Flushing, where visitors can walk safely at night unarmed. New York's newest Chinatown has recently sprung up on Avenue U in the Homecrest section of Brooklyn (Security Rating B), a middle class commercial area. Outside of Manhattan or The Counties, a growing suburban Chinatown is developing in Edison, New Jersey (Security Ratings AA-B), which lies across the Hudson and 4 klicks to the southwest.
==== Little Italy (B) ====
Little Italy is a neighborhood in lower Manhattan, New York City, once known for its large population of Italian immigrants.
Historically, Little Italy extended as far south as Bayard St, as far north as Bleecker, as far west as Lafayette, and as far east as the Bowery. As Italian-Americans left Manhattan for other boroughs, neighborhoods (with integration) and the suburbs in the middle of the Twentieth Century, the neighborhood recognizable as Little Italy gradually shrank. Large portions of the neighborhood were absorbed by Chinatown, as immigrants from China and other East Asian countries moved to the area. The northern reaches of Little Italy, near Houston Street, also ceased to be recognizably Italian, and eventually became the neighborhood known today as NoLIta, an abbreviation for North of Little Italy. Today, the section of Broadway between Broome and White Streets, lined with Italian restaurants popular with tourists, remains distinctly recognizable as Little Italy.
The Feast of San Gennaro is a large street fair, lasting 11 days, which takes place every September along Broadway between Houston Street and Canal Street.
Other Italian American neighborhoods in New York City include the luxury Little Italy neighborhood of the Bronx (Arthur Avenue) (Security Rating AAA), Bensonhurst, Brooklyn (Security Rating E) which qualifies as a slum, the lower class residential area of Ozone Park, Queens (Security Rating C), and the upper class bedroom community of Staten Island (Security Rating AA), where 40% of the population is of Italian ancestry. Contrary to popular opinion, these communities are not Mafia-controlled. If there is a center of power here, it's the megacorps, like anywhere else in New York.
Tompkins Square Park Tompkins Square Park is a 42,000 m² public park in the Alphabet City (Security Rating D) section of the Lower East Side neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is square in shape, and is bounded on the north by East 10th Street, on the east by Avenue B, on the south by East 7th Street, and on the west by Avenue A. St. Marks Place abuts the park to the west.
The "Square" is a large training ground for the New York Marauders World Combat Cyclists League, the New York Slashers Urban Brawl Team. The “Square is also used for drilling the New York National Guard. During training and drilling, the occasional gutterpunk from the surrounding blight may get in the way, but them’s the cost of life in the ‘hood.'?
Tompkins Square Park is also, for many New Yorkers, synonymous with the city's increased social problems. The park is a high-crime area that contains encampments of squatters, and is a center for illegal drug and chip dealing, and heroin use.
In February 2050, a police riot erupted in the park when police attempted to clear the park of homeless people; 230 people were injured. Bystanders as well as homeless people and political activists got caught up in the police action that took place on the night of February 6 and the early morning of February 7, after a large number of police surrounded the park and charged at the hemmed-in crowd while other police ordered all pedestrians not to walk on streets neighboring the park. Much of the violence was recorded and clips were shown on local trid news reports (notably including one by a man who sat on his stoop across the street from the park whose cybercam continued to record while a police officer beat him up), but ultimately, although at least one case went to trial, no police officers were punished.
Increasing gentrification in the northern blocks of the Pit during the 2050s and 2060s, as well as enforcement of a park curfew and the eviction of homeless people, have changed the character of Tompkins Square Park. The park was closed and refurbished in the early 2050s and today, is walled-off, home to the NYC WCCL and Urban Brawl teams.
When the WCCL and Urban Brawl Franchises aren’t practicing here, the outdoor drag festival Wigstock, held in the park, is now part of the Howl Festival. That summertime festival also features one day of the two days of the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival, a musical tribute to a famous former resident of Avenue B. There is also an annual "Riot Reunion" concert every summer that features the neighborhood punk-rock band 3V Shard.
There is a monument on the north side of the park commemorating the General Slocum boating disaster on June 15, 1904. This was the greatest single loss of life in New York City prior to 9/11/2001. 1300 people, mainly German immigrant mothers and children, drowned in the East River that day. The area near the park, formerly known as Little Germany, effectively dissolved in grief as shattered German families moved away. This disaster is also memorialized in James Joyce's novel Ulysses.
The park is also the place where Indian Sadhu A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada came to sing and preach in 1965, which began the worldwide Hare Krishna movement. A plaque was established in the park several years ago.
==== The East Village (Security Rating B) ====
The East Village is a middle class commercial neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. The neighborhood overlaps Downtown and The Lower East Side, and is bounded by 14th Street on the north, the East River on the east, Houston Street on the south, and, roughly, the Bowery and Third Avenue on the west. It lies east of Greenwich Village and NoHo, south of Stuyvesant Town (AAA), and north of the Lower East Side. The East Village includes the area known as Alphabet City (Avenues A - D).
The East Village was — and still is by many — regarded as part of the Lower East Side. In the 2040s, real estate developers began promoting the name East Village to dissociate the neighborhood from the Lower East Side's reputation as a slum district and to try to capture the cachet of Greenwich Village. This has led many to believe that the East Village is part of Greenwich Village. Extensive gentrification during the 2040s around Tompkins Square Park was a contributing factor to several riots (in 2049 and 2056) as police disbanded homeless encampments.
Other than geography, the East Village's most notable commonalities with Greenwich Village are a colorful history, vibrant social and cultural outlets, and street names that often diverge from the norm. The most notable of those streets are the Bowery, a north-south avenue which also lends its name to the somewhat overlapping neighborhood of the Bowery; St. Mark's Place, a cross-town street well known for countercultural, especially punk, businesses; and Astor Place/Cooper Square, home of the Public Theater and the Cooper Union, one of the world's most prestigious art, architecture, and engineering schools. Nearby New York University (NYU) has dormitories in the neighborhood.
CBGB, the nightclub considered to be the birthplace of punk music, has re-opened during the Rebuilding and is located in the neighborhood on the Bowery. Other important East Village clubs in punk history were the Mudd Club, A7 and the Mercer Arts Center both of which are now closed. Max's Kansas City, another important club, was located just outside the neighborhood. No Wave and New York Hardcore also emerged in the area’s clubs. Among the many important bands and singers who got their start at these clubs were the Queens of Psalm, New York Dolls, Patti Smith, Arto Lindsay, MasterBasser!, the Ramones, Area 52, Blondie, the Talking Heads, Dark Star, the Plasmatics, Glenn Danzig, Abandoned Children, Sonic Youth, Feedback, Madonna, the Beastie Boys, Anthrax and The Strokes, Brian, Jaded Cynic, Dandelion Frenzy, and Serengetti.
Over the last 170 years, the East Village/Lower East Side neighborhood has been considered one of the strongest contributors to American arts and culture in the UCAS. During the great wave of immigration (Germans, Ukrainians, Polish) in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, countless families found their new homes in this area. The East Village has also been the home of cultural icons and movements from the American gangster to the Warhol Superstars, folk music to punk rock, anti-folk to hip-hop, advanced education to organized activism, experimental theater to the Synthbeat Generation. Club 57, on St. Mark's Place, was an important incubator for performance and visual art in the late 2030s and early 2040s, followed by God Bless Zero as, during the 2040s, the East Village art gallery scene helped to galvanize modern art in America, with such artists as William Sagala, Vatta Brittingham and Etsuko Levine exhibiting.
==== Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan (C south of 52nd and west of 7th and Broadway, AA (AAA) north of 52nd) ====
Hell's Kitchen (also known as Clinton and Midtown West) is a neighborhood of New York City that includes roughly the area between 34th Street and 57th Street, from 8th Avenue to the Hudson River.
The neighborhood, which provides transportation, hospital and warehouse infrastructure support to the Midtown Manhattan business district has a gritty reputation that has resulted in its housing prices being lower than much of the rest of Manhattan. A great number of actors have spent residence time in the neighborhood thanks to its proximity to the Broadway theaters and the Actors Studio training school.
Throughout its history, Hell's Kitchen has figured prominently in the New York City underworld, especially in Irish-American organized crime circles. Gangsters like Owney Madden, bootleggers like Bill Dwyer, and Westies leaders Jimmy Coonan and Mickey Featherstone were Hell's Kitchen natives. The rough and tumble days on the West Side figure prominently in Damon Runyon stories. The conflicts between Puerto Ricans and Irish formed the basis of West Side Story.
Hell’s Kitchen is basically synonymous with the Lower Westside and falls quickly from the splendors of Midtown and the Upper Westside, becoming nearly slum down near the walls of Terminal. It is mostly lower-middle class/poor residential full of wage slaves from Midtown and Westside. Several street gangs rule the area, the worst is the Blood Monkeys whose turf runs into Southside and Downtown.
The shores of the Hudson contain port and cargo handling facilities.
Once a bastion of poor and working-class Irish-Americans, in recent years Hell's Kitchen has undergone tremendous gentrification, due to its proximity to Midtown.
Southern boundary Hell's Kitchen and the Chelsea overlap and are often lumped together as the West Side since they support the Midtown Manhattan business district. The traditional dividing line is 34th Street. The name Chelsea Clinton was used for a newspaper and a restaurant before the famous first daughter last century. The transition area just north of Madison Square Garden and Penn Station includes the Jacob Javits Convention Center in Terminal.
Eastern boundary The neighborhood overlaps the Times Square theater district to the east at Eighth Avenue. On its southeast border, it overlaps the Garment District if you're on a decidedly non-New York budget, you can find the New Yorker Hotel along with the lackluster Manhattan Center Building, both of which had fallen into disrepair when the original owners sold them before the neighborhood went downhill. Included in the transition area on Eighth Avenue are the Port Authority Bus Terminal at 42nd Street, the Pride of Manhattan Fire Station (from which 15 firefighters died at the World Trade Center in 2002 and The Leveling in 2005). There are also several theaters that remain...including Studio 54, the original home of Seinfeld's Soup Nazi, and the Hearst Tower.
Northern boundary The neighborhood edges toward the southern boundary of the Upper West Side, and 57th Street is considered by some to be the traditional northern boundary. However the neighborhood often is considered to extend to 59th Street (the southern edge of Central Park) where the avenue names change. Included in the 57th to 59th Street transition area are the old Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle, Roosevelt Hospital, where John Lennon died in 1980 after being shot, and John Jay College.
Western boundary The western boundary is the Hudson River.
Hell's Kitchen has stuck as the name even though real estate developers have offered alternatives of Clinton and Midtown West or even the Mid-West. The Clinton name originated in 1959 in an attempt to link the name to the DeWitt Clinton Park at 52nd and 11th Avenue. Clinton was a former New York governor.
Today Hell's Kitchen is a mixed neighborhood of yuppies, artists, hipsters, longtime Irish, Puerto Rican, and Dominican residents. There is also a large gay community here. Now largely free from street crime, it is, for the most part, removed from the degree of neo-gangsterism, which has long characterized the neighborhood.
==== Special Clinton District-The SCD (C) ====
Although the neighborhood is immediately west of New York's main business district, development lagged for more than 30 years because of strict zoning rules called the Special Clinton District designed to protect the neighborhood's low rise character.
When the third incarnation of Madison Square Garden at 50th and Eighth Avenue was torn down in 2029 after the riots following the worldwide computer crash, New York developed a master plan calling for 10,750 to 16,125 hotel rooms, 134,373 apartments, 4,095,684 square meters of office space and a new super liner terminal in the neighborhood which it described as "blocks of antiquated and deteriorating structures of every sort." During this time a proposal was made to build the world's tallest building on the Madison Square Garden site and a massive convention center at 44th Street and the Hudson River.
In April, 2035, the Planning Commission approved the establishment of the Special Clinton District and Mayor Al Gregor moved the Jacob Javits Convention Center to 33rd and the Hudson River.
The District severely restricted development in the neighborhood for more than 20 years. The world's tallest building was not to rise and its Madison Square site was to remain a parking lot until 2050.
Provisions of the District
The SCD was originally split into four areas
Preservation Area 43rd to 56th Streets between 8th and 10th Avenues. R-7 density, 6-story height limit on new buildings, suggested average apartment size of two bedrooms. (This was a response to the fact that between 2030 and 2040 developers had torn down 12,362 family-sized units and replaced them with coffin motels.) Perimeter Area 8th Avenue, 42nd and 57th Streets. Bulkier development permitted to counterbalance the downzoning in the preservation area. Mixed Use Area 10th and 11th Avenues between 43rd and 50th Streets. Mixed residential and manufacturing. New residential development only permitted in conjunction with manufacturing areas. Other Areas West of 11th Avenue. Industrial and waterfront uses. The mixed use area and other area are now combined into "Other areas."
Building height in the Preservation Area cannot exceed 20 meters or seven stories, whichever is less.
Special permits are required for all demolition and construction in the SCD, including demolition of "any sound housing in the District" and any rehabilitation that increases the number of dwellings in a structure. New developments, conversions or alterations which create new units or zero bedroom units are required to contain at least 20% two bedroom apartments with a minimum room size of 51 square meters. Alterations, which reduce the percentage of two bedroom units, are not permitted unless the resulting building meets the 20% two bedroom requirement.
In the original provisions no building could be demolished unless it was found to be unsound.
'''Lean Times'''
Eighth Avenue used to be lined with sim-porn brothels and bordellos. The stores are mostly gone now but this particular store was highlighted in Phone Booth (pre-sim film) and its re-make Comm Node. Hell's Kitchen hit on very hard times and was a drug and chip infested neighborhood until the late 2030s when it began to gentrify.
As gentrification pace increased, there were numerous reports of problems between landlords and tenants. The most extreme example was the eight story Windermere complex at the southwest corner of Ninth Avenue and 57th Street—two blocks from Central Park.
Built in 1881 and refurbished in 2034, it is the second-oldest large apartment house in Manhattan. All the major New York newspapers covered the trials that sent the Windermere's managers to jail. According to former tenants and court papers, rooms were ransacked, doors were ripped out, prostitutes were moved in and tenants received death threats in the campaign to empty the building. Its landlord Alan B. Weissman made top billing in the 2046 edition of The Village Voice annual list, "The Dirty Dozen New York's Worst Landlords." He was never convicted of anything.
Most of the tenants eventually settled and moved out of the building. However, as of November 2067, 6 tenants remain—with only one paying rent. Court orders have protected the tenants and the building has been allowed to remain in derelict condition even as the neighborhood had gentrified.
'''September 11'''
While almost all fire stations in Manhattan lost fighters in the September 11 terrorist attacks, the hardest hit station was Engine 54, Ladder 4, Battalion 9 at 48th Street and Eighth Avenue, which lost 15 firefighters. Given its proximity to Midtown, the station had specialized in skyscraper fires and rescues and is reputed to be the busiest station of any in all of New York City.
Its patch reads "Pride of Midtown" and "Never Missed a Performance." Memorials dot the station's exterior walls and a granite memorial is in a park to its north.
Developer Larry Silverstein made part of his fortune that eventually earned him the lease for the World Trade Center by building and managing buildings in the neighborhood. Silverstein's architect David Childs who began designing the Freedom Tower designed the Time Warner Center and Worldwide Plaza buildings in the neighborhood. Signature features of those towers are slated for the Freedom Tower.
Boom Times Developers have constantly attempted to chip away at the zoning rules.
The City, under the Late Mayor Michael Bloomberg, relaxed zoning rules all over the city in the wake of the September 11 attacks. This led to a real estate building boom with Hell's Kitchen getting some of the biggest projects in the city including the Hearst Tower at 56th Street at Eighth Avenue and a complex of high-rise towers by Larry Silverstein along 42nd Street.
An indication of how fast the neighborhood became hot was a 2004 transaction involving the Howard Johnson's Motel at 52nd and Eighth Avenue. In June Vikram Chatwal’s Hampshire Hotel Group bought the motel and adjoining SIR (Studio Instrument Rental) building for $9 million. In August they sold the property to Elad Properties for about $43 million. Elad, the corp that owns Plaza Hotel, is in the process of building The Link, a luxury 183-story building.
After the Leveling, however, The Freedom Tower never came to be. Fuchi Industrial Electronics bought up the original World Trade Center Site and began construction of Fuchi Town. Now, the area consists of a triad of black buildings, each 200 stories tall. Each building stands atop a wider, octagonal-shaped 50-story-high structure that acts as its base. Radiating outward are interconnected buildings that contain residences, shopping, and entertainment venues, etc. for Fuchi employees.
The area has undergone one upheaval after another during the dissolve of Fuchi and the takeover of Novatech, and then the take over of NeoNet after the second Crash.
NeoNet owns the entire area, which is provided by an unknown entity. Speculations abound that the Corporate Court Matrix Authority, NeoNet, the UCAS FedPol, and even Celedyr the Welsh Great Dragon that owns the Scottish mega Transys Neuronet. Truth is, Security is AAA and nobody knows who runs it here.
==== Actors' Neighborhood (C) ====
Manhattan Plaza performing artist residence and Film Center Cafe on Ninth Avenue Hell’s Kitchen's gritty reputation has meant that housing prices there tend to be cheaper than elsewhere in Manhattan.
Given the lower costs and its proximity to Broadway theaters, the neighborhood is a haven for aspiring actors. Many famous actors and entertainers have resided there, ranging from Bob Hope and James Dean to Jerry Seinfeld and Madonna; and from Ahmed Corl to Chantay Klarman. This is due in large part to the Actors Studio on West 44th, which rose to prominence under Lee Strasberg and is famed for its method acting style used by such actors as Marlon Brando, Horacio Biederman, Marilyn Monroe, Steve Abetrani, and James Gandolfini.
Manhattan Plaza at 42nd Street between Ninth and Tenth Avenues was built in the 1970s to house the artists; rebuilt in the 2040s. It consists of eleven 250-story towers that were slated to revitalize Terminal, but fell into neglect and decay as the different managing co-op companies bickered about one petty issue or another. 70 percent of the apartments are set aside performing artists who are subsidized with federal Section 8 housing grants.
The neighborhood is also home to a number of broadcast and music-recording studios, including the CBC Broadcast Center at 524 West 57th Street (also the home of Black Entertainment Trideo's 106 & Park show), Sony Music Studios at 460 West 54th Street, and Right Track Recording's Studio A509 orchestral recording facility at West 38th Street and 10th Avenue. The syndicated Samuel Hemmings show is also taped locally at the Unitel Studios, 433 W. 53rd Street, between Ninth and Tenth Avenues. AV8 records is housed in the film center building.
Comedy Central's satirical program, The Daily Show with Bruce Pierri, is also taped in Hell's Kitchen — recently trading one local studio for another. In the summer of 2066 it moved from its quarters at 54th Street and 10th Avenue to a new studio in the neighborhood, at 733 11th Avenue, between 51st and 52nd Streets. The old location at 54th and 10th is now home to The Dossier Report.
The headquarters of Troma studios is located in Hell's Kitchen.
The Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre opened on Ninth Avenue in 2006.
'''Transportation Center'''
About every conceivable form of transportation including horses, ocean going ships and airplanes have infrastructure in the neighborhood.
Automobiles - Electric Cars and Trucks Only! Internal-Combustion by Special Permit Only! The Lincoln Tunnel connects New York City to New Jersey. Parking lots dot the neighborhood. Eleventh Avenue (Manhattan) is lined with car dealerships many of which claim to have the highest volume of any dealerships for their brands in the country.
Electric Buses - The massive Port Authority Bus Terminal is between 39th and 42nd Street and Eighth Avenue.
Horses - Many of the horse drawn carriages from Central Park stay in stables just off the West Side Highway. It is not uncommon to hear the clip clop of horses in the neighborhood. There have also been calls for banning horses following collisions between horses and cars.
Planes - An assortment of planes including the Concorde, Federated Boeing Lightning 4000, and SR-71 Blackbird are on display at the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum. All of Manhattan's skyrakers have heliports and make air commute travel by way of VTOL tilt-rotorcraft popular.
Ships - Cruise ships, including the Cunard Queen Victoria and Mitsuhama Calypso Liner continuously dock at the New York Passenger Ship Terminal in the 48th to 52nd piers called Piers 88, 90, 92. The SS Normandie caught fire and sank its Pier 88 berth during World War II. Cruise ship horns are a common sound in the neighborhood. Several French restaurants opened on West 51st Street to accommodate traffic from the French Line. The piers originally built in 1930, and rebuilt in 1991, are now considered small and so the city is considering sending cruise traffic to other locations. In addition to the passenger ships, the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum features the USS Powell-Class Supercarrier as well as an assortment of submarines and destroyers. Other ship operations in the neighborhood include the Circle Line at West 42nd and the New York Waterway ferry service.
Trains - All Trains Are Maglev. Hells Kitchen begins just northwest of Penn Station. Amtrak Inc trains going into the station run along a sunken corridor just west of Eleventh Avenue. It is not uncommon to hear their train whistles in the neighborhood. During the post-Leveling building boom, apartment tenements have been built over sections of the train tracks.
==== Restaurant Row on West 46th Street (C) ====
Ninth Avenue is noted for its many ethnic restaurants. The Ninth Avenue Association's International Food Festival, stretches through the Kitchen from 37th to 57th Streets every May, usually on the third weekend of the month has been going on since 1974 and is one of the oldest street fairs in the UCAS. In addition to the usual American, Caribbean, Confederate, Chinese, Elvish, French, German, Orkish, Greek, Italian, Irish and Mexican restaurants, there are multiple Afghan, Algonkian, Amazonian, Argentine, Athabascan, Aztlan, Ethopian, Peruvian, Pueblo, Salish, Sioux, Turkish, Ute, and Vietnamese restaurants.
Restaurant Row is located on West 46th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues.
==== Chelsea (C-E, occasional bursts of Z, B-A, B, AA-A) ====
Chelsea was once a world-renown prestigious neighborhood known to be home to the likes of John F Kennedy Jr and others. Now? It's gotten a little rough around the edges. You still have the estates and the ten-million-nuyen homes. But they are gated communities, guarded by the most advanced and deadliest electronic security measures known in the Sixth World. Word has it the walls here also boast the best in astral security, too.
The rest of Old Chelsea is a squalid area filled with old multiplex apartment complexes were Ethnic and Metahuman families are crammed together in a few small rooms. Black Market Trade, abandoned buildings, and industry cover the rest of the former quaint streets once filled with overpriced brownstones hidden behind leafy trees. The trees and the brownstones are long gone, replaced by corporate shipping centers, welfare and DMV offices, abandoned buildings, closed businesses, and dozens of restaurants boasting undeserved character.
Chelsea is located on the West Side of Manhattan, New York City. It covers areas of Terminal, Southside, Downtown, and Neon City. Chelsea is located in Terminal, to the south of Hell's Kitchen and the Garment District, north of Greenwich Village, and north / north-east of the Meatpacking District that centers on West 14th Street.
Chelsea takes its name from the Federal-style house of the Moore family, named after Chelsea, the manor of Sir Thomas More on which the borough in London has been built. The house was the birthplace of Clement Clarke Moore, who is more often credited with "A Visit From St. Nicholas"— which he may have authored— than with the first Greek and Hebrew lexicons printed in the old United States, which he certainly authored.
"Chelsea" stood surrounded by its gardens on a full block between 9th and 10th Avenues south of 23rd Street until it was replaced by high quality row houses in the mid-19th century. The former rural charm of the neighborhood was tarnished by the freight railroad right-of-way of the Hudson River Railroad, which laid its tracks up 10th and 11th Avenues in 1847 and separated Chelsea from the Hudson River waterfront. Clement Clarke Moore gave the land of his apple orchard for the General Theological Seminary, which built its brownstone Gothic tree-shaded campus south of "Chelsea."
By 1900, the neighborhood was solidly Irish and housed the longshoremen who unloaded freighters at warehouse piers that lined the waterfront and the truck terminals integrated with the raised freight railroad spur. The film On the Waterfront (1954) recreates this tough world, dramatized in Richard Rodgers' jazz ballet "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue" (1936).
Chelsea was an early center for the motion picture industry before World War I. Some of Mary Pickford's first pictures were made on the top floors of an armory building on West 26th Street.
London Terrace was one of the world's largest apartment blocks when it opened in 1930, with a swimming pool, solarium, gymnasium, and doormen dressed as London bobbies.
Traditionally Chelsea was bounded by Eighth Avenue, but in 1883 the apartment block, soon transformed to Hotel Chelsea helped extend it past 7th Avenue and now it runs as far east as Broadway. The neighborhood is primarily residential with a mix of tenements, apartment blocks and rehabilitated warehousing, and its many businesses reflect that restaurants and clothing stores are plentiful. Chelsea has a large gay population, stereotyped as gym-toned "Chelsea boys". Since the mid-1990s, Chelsea has become a center of the New York art scene, as an increasing number of art galleries have moved there from SoHo.
'''Landmarks'''
Chelsea Piers (AA) - The Chelsea Piers were the city's primary luxury cruise terminal from 1910 until 1935. The RMS Titanic was headed to Pier 60 at the piers and the RMS Carpathia brought survivors to Pier 54 in the complex. The northern piers are now part of an entertainment and sports complex operated by George W. Bush fraternity brother Roland Betts.
Hotel Chelsea - The hotel attracted attention to the neighborhood with its involvement in the death of Dylan Thomas in 1953 and, also, the slaying of Nancy Spungen by Sid Vicious in 1978. The Hotel has been the home of numerous celebrities and the subject of books, films (Chelsea Girls, 1966) and music.
Hudson River Park - The entire Hudson River waterfront from 59th Street to the Battery including most of associated piers are now a combination state and city park and are undergoing a massive renovation.
High Line - The High Line of the New El is an elevated maglev rail line that was once an old-tech rail line used to handle freight from the waterfront. Since the Leveling, it had been replaced by the New El, which took the name High Line in this area of Manhattan. The High Line of the New El runs along an elevated park.
London Terrace - The apartment complex on West 23rd was one of the world's largest apartment blocks when it opened in 1930, with a swimming pool, solarium, gymnasium, and doormen dressed as London bobbies. It has been rebuilt and modernized after the Quake.
==== Midtown Manhattan (Security Rating AA-AAA) ====
Midtown is a neighborhood in Manhattan, New York City that has such world-famous commercial buildings as IIS Tower at Lenox and W 115th St, Rockefeller Center, Sony Dataworks Plaza at 5th Avenue and E 106th St, Netlink Circle at E 96th St and Park Ave, UCAS DataSystems Terminal at Park and W 99th St, Villiers Building at E 86th and Park, Chrysler-Nissan Building, Saeder-Krupp Tower at 3rd Avenue and W 72nd St, Radio City Music Hall, Ares Macrotech Center at W 63rd St and 8th Avenue, Trideo City Simsense Hall, the Aztechnology Pyramid at 5th Avenue and E 52nd St, Eastern Financial Center at Lexington and E 60th St, Kesai & Wilhelm Complex at W 61st Street and Columbus Avenue near Lincoln Center, Trans-Orbital Tower at E 55th Street and 6th Ave, and the Empire State Building.
Also scattered throughout the area are the offices of Renraku, Mitsuhama, and most of the other multinational and domestic megacorporations.
Winter Systems and Knight-Errant ride the area hard, keeping the street-drek away and the taxpayers safe. At any time of day or night, at least one patrol aircraft is in the area, probably heading to one of the many rooftop VTOL pads.
Upscale and bars, night clubs, and restaurants cover this area and cater to the executives, CEOs and other Sararimen working in the trid and simsense studios, the corporate skyrakers, luxury hotels, Federal Post Offices, media broadcasting stations, and who live in the area's luxury high-rises, gated communities, and multiplex apartments and condos.
Also located here is Lincoln Center (Columbus and W 63rd), the high culture institute that attracts herds of limousines almost every night. The Metropolitan Opera is in Lincoln Center, but these days, it alternates with the Japanese-backed Kobo Playhouse.
At the southeast corner of the park (5th and E 60th) is the Manhattan Club, a ritz and members-only club. If a person is one of the powers-that-be in NYC, they'll be members here.
Parks dot Midtown, orbiting the gigantic Central Park like a dozen green planets in a solar system of concrete, ferrocrete, chrome, polymers, and steel.
Midtown also has such world famous sights as Rockefeller Center, Radio City Music Hall, Trideo City Simsense Hall, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Museum of TV, Radio, Trideo, and Simsense, the New Trump Tower, Plaza Hotel, etc.
The exact size of the Midtown area is disputed, as is the case to some extent with every neighborhood. Most agree that the core commercial area extends from 40th Street up to the north of Central Park on 116th Street and from Third Avenue in the east to Tenth Avenue in the west, but some take a broader view and classify Midtown as the whole area of Manhattan in the 30s, 40s, and 110s between the Hudson and East Rivers. Midtown is sometimes broken into "Midtown East" and "Midtown West" or into more traditional neighborhood distinctions like Turtle Bay, Murray Hill-Kips Bay, Hell's Kitchen-Clinton, and others.
Officially, it covers the blocks surrounding Central Park, Central Park East, and Central Park West from 116th Street to 40th Street and from 10th Avenue over to 2nd Avenue.
Notwithstanding the dispute over its area and boundaries, Midtown Manhattan is indisputably the busiest single commercial district in the United Canadian and American States. The great majority of the city's skyscrapers and skyrakers, including most of its hotels and many apartment towers, lie within Midtown. More than 16 million commuters work in its offices, hotels, and retail establishments; the area also hosts many tourists, visiting residents, and students. Some areas, especially Times Square and Fifth Avenue, have massive clusters of retail establishments.
'''Museum of Modern Art '''The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan in New York City on 53rd Street between 5th and 6th Avenues. It is one of the leading museums of modern art in the world. The Museum of Modern Art is often considered a rival to the nearby Metropolitan Museum of Art, although the latter is a "universal museum", where modern art is only one area of specialism among many. Metahuman (Changeling, Dwarf, Elf, Ork, and Troll) artists have had an unbelievably hard time showing their artwork here.
'''St. Patrick's Cathedral '''St. Patrick's Cathedral is the largest decorated gothic-style Catholic Cathedral in the UCAS. It is the seat of the archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, and a parish church, located at 50th Street and Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, just across the street from Rockefeller Center.
'''Grand Central MegaTerminal (A) '''Grand Central MegaTerminal (often still called Grand Central Station) is a train station at 15 Vanderbilt Avenue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. GCT (as it is often abbreviated) is located at 42nd Street and Park Avenue. Built by the New York Central Railroad (for which it was named) in the heyday of American long-distance passenger trains, it is the largest train station in the world by number of platforms 236, with 360 maglev tracks along them. They are situated on three underground levels with 230 maglev tracks on the upper level and 140 on the two lower levels.
Currently it serves commuters traveling on the Metro-North Railroad to Westchester, Putnam, and Dutchess counties in New York, and Fairfield and New Haven counties in Connecticut.
Although it has been properly called "Grand Central MegaTerminal" for half a century, many people continue to refer to it as "Grand Central Station". Technically, that is the name of the nearby post office and major IRT Lexington Avenue Line station of the New York City Subway, as well as the name of a previous station on the site.
'''Layout''' Besides train platforms, Grand Central contains restaurants (the most famous of which is The Oyster Bar), fast food outlets, delis, newsstands, a food market, an annex of the New York Transit Museum and over forty retail stores.
'''Main Concourse''' The Main Concourse is the center of Grand Central. The space is cavernous and usually filled with bustling crowds, with practically each person using their commlinks to access the virtual route maps, schedule timetables and fee scales. The ticket booths are here, although many now stand unused or repurposed since the introduction of commlink-ready AR and wireless VR ticket vending machines where users can jack into the Matrix and book their travel on-line.
The main information booth is in the center of the Concourse. This is a perennial meeting place, and the four-faced clock on top of the information booth is perhaps the most recognizable icon of Grand Central MegaTerminal. Each of the four clock faces are made from opal, and both Sotheby's and Christie's have estimated the value to be between ten and twenty billion nuyen to rebuild. Within the marble and brass pagoda lies a secret door, which conceals a spiral staircase leading to the lower level information booth.
Outside the station, the clock in front of the Grand Central facade facing 42nd Street contains the world's largest example of Tiffany glass and is surrounded by sculptures carved by the John Donnelly Company of Minerva, Hercules and Mercury. For the terminal building French sculptor Jules-Alexis Coutan created what was at the time of its unveiling (1914) considered to be the largest sculptural group in the world. It was 14.6 meters high, the clock in the center having a circumference of 4 meters.
The upper level tracks are reached from the Grand Concourse or from various hallways and passages branching off from it.
'''Ceiling''' In 1999, a twelve-year restoration of Grand Central revealed to commuters that the concourse had an elaborately decorated astrological ceiling—painted in 1912 by French artist Paul César Helleu—which had previously been obscured by decades of what people thought was coal and diesel smoke. Spectroscopic examination revealed that it was actually tar and nicotine from cigarette smoke. If one looks carefully, a single dark patch remains above Michael Jordan's Steak House. This small portion was left untouched by renovators to remind people of the grime that once covered the ceiling.
The ceiling had to be extensively refurbished after the Leveling.
There are two peculiarities to this ceiling. First, the sky is backwards. Second, all of the stars are slightly displaced compared to the current sky. One explanation is that the ceiling is based on a medieval manuscript, which visualized the sky as it would look from outside the celestial sphere This is why the constellations are backwards. Since the celestial sphere is an abstraction (stars are not all at equal distances from Earth), this view does not correspond to the actual view from anywhere in the universe. The reason for the displacement of the stars is that the manuscript showed a (reflected) view of the sky in the Middle Ages, and since then the stars have shifted due to precession of the equinoxes. Most people, however, simply think that Helleu reversed the image by accident. Embarrassed, the Vanderbilts explained it away by saying that the ceiling depicted the heavens as it would look outside the celestial sphere, from God's vantage point.
At times, mages had cast illusion spells so the sky on the ceiling matches that of the real sky outside. The city hasn’t yet coughed up the nuyen for the ruthenium-polymer paint that mimics the real sky in real-time.
It is also interesting to note that there is a small dark circle in the midst of the stars right above the image of Pisces. In a 1957 attempt to counteract feelings of insecurity spawned by the Soviet launch of Sputnik, Grand Central's main lobby played host to an American Redstone missile. The Redstone was fifteen centimeters too tall for the lobby and a hole had to be cut in the ceiling to fit the massive missile.
'''Dining Concourse''' The Dining Concourse is below the Main Concourse. It contains many fast food outlets and restaurants such as Golden Archers, Regal Burgers, Loco Foods, You Should Not Eat So Much!, the world-famous Oyster Bar with its Guastavino tile vaults, and provides access to the lower level tracks. The two levels are connected by numerous stairs, ramps, and escalators.
'''Vanderbilt Hall''' Vanderbilt Hall, named for the Vanderbilt family who built and owned the station, is located just off the Main Concourse. It is used and rented out for various events.
'''Omega Board''' The Omega Board was an holotrid display projected into the Grand Central MegaTerminal, and used to display the times and track numbers of arriving and departing trains. Rendered as a large black block with rows of virtual flip panels to display train information on the front, the Board is held suspended above its base and spins slowly in a clockwise direction with VirtuaSpin® technology.
'''Subway station''' 42nd Street-Grand Central (New York City Subway) The subway platforms at Grand Central are reached from the Main Concourse. Built by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) rather than the New York Central Railroad, the subway areas of the station lack the majesty that is present throughout most of the rest of Grand Central, although they are in similar condition to Grand Central's actual track levels. The Grand Central shuttle platforms were originally the Grand Central express stop on the original IRT line, opened in 1904. Once the IRT Lexington Avenue Line was extended uptown in 1918, the original tracks were converted to shuttle use. One track remains connected to the downtown Lexington Avenue local maglev track. A fire in the 1960s destroyed much of the shuttle station, which has been rebuilt. The only sign of the fire damage is truncated steel beams visible above the platforms.
'''Grand Central North''' Grand Central North was a relatively recent addition that provides access to Grand Central from 47th and 48th streets. It is connected to the Main Concourse through two long hallways, known as the Northwest and Northeast passages, which run parallel to the tracks.
LIRR's East Side Access Project The Metropolitan Transportation Authority brings Long Island Rail Road maglev trains into the terminal.
The LIRR does not run on existing track, nor does it compete with existing Metro-North service. Instead, a bi-level, eight-track tunnel under Park Avenue, more than ninety feet below the existing Metro-North track and more than 42 meters below the surface, serves the LIRR. Commuters on the lowest level, more than 53 meters deep, take about 10 minutes to reach the street.
LIRR trains access Park Avenue via the lower level of the 63rd Street Tunnel, connecting to the railroad's main line running through Sunnyside Yards in Queens. Extensions are located on both the Manhattan and Queens sides.
The project was scheduled for completion by 2012, but was interrupted by the Quake of 2005. Construction began again in 2015 and was completed by 2037.
==== Central Park (AAA) ====
"All radiant in the magic atmosphere of art and taste." So raved Harper's magazine on the opening of Central Park in 1876, and though that was a slight overstatement, today few New Yorkers could imagine life without it. At various times and places, the park functions as a beach, theater, singles' scene, athletic activity center, and animal behavior lab, both human and canine. In bad times and good New Yorkers still treasure it more than any other city institution.
In spite of the advent of motorized traffic, the sense of disorderly nature the park's nineteenth-century designers, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, intended largely survives, with cars and buses cutting through the park in the sheltered, sunken transverses originally meant for horse-drawn carriages, and the faint sound of skittering surveillance security drones going by unseen overhead, mostly unseen from the park itself. The midtown skyline, of course, has changed, and 200-story buildings thrust their way into view, sometimes detracting from the park's original pastoral intention, but at the same time adding to the sense of being on a green island in the center of a magnificent city.
==== Central Park (South) (AAA) ====
Entering at Grand Army Plaza (Fifth Ave and 59th St), to your left lies the Pond and a little further north you'll find the Wollman Memorial Rink. Sit or stand above the rink to watch skaters and contemplate the view of Central Park South's skyline emerging above the trees. Or rent skates of your own rollerblades, the most popular mode of park transportation, and ice skates are each available here in season.
Northeast of the skating rink lies the small zoo, or Central Park Wildlife Center at 64th Street and Fifth Avenue (Mon–Fri 1000hrs–1700hrs, Sat, Sun & holidays 1000hrs–1730hrs; 14¥, ages 3–12 2¥, under 3 free; LTG). Its collection is based on three climatic regions – the Tropic Zone, the Temperate Territory and the Polar Circle, and the complex also boasts the Tisch Children's Zoo, with interactive displays and a petting zoo. Its collection is based on three climatic regions – the Tropic Zone, the Temperate Territory and the Polar Circle, and the complex also boasts the Tisch Children's Zoo, with interactive displays and a petting zoo.
The next point to head for is the Dairy (65th Street at mid-park), a kind of Gothic toy ranch building built in 1870 and originally stocked with cows (and milkmaids) for the purpose of selling milk and other dairy products to mothers with young children. It now houses one of the park's Visitor Centers (Tues–Sun 1000hrs–1700hrs; LTG), which distributes free e-paper leaflets and organizes weekend walking tours.
Just west of the Dairy stands the Carousel at 64th Street at mid-park (Mon–Fri 1000hrs–1800hrs, Sat & Sun 1000hrs–1900hrs; 4¥). Built in 1903 and moved from Coney Island to the park in 1951, this is one of fewer than 150 left in the country (one of the others is at Coney Island). The Carousel offers a ride on hand-carved jumping horses accompanied by the music of a military band organ.
Straight ahead and north past the Dairy, you'll come to the Mall, the park's most formal stretch, where you'll witness every manner of street performer. To the west lies the Sheep Meadow (66th–69th sts, West Side), fifteen acres of commons where sheep grazed until 1934; today the area is usually crowded with picnic blankets, sunbathers and Frisbee players.
On warm weekends, an area between the Sheep Meadow and the north end of the mall is filled with colorfully attired rollerbladers dancing to loud synthfunk, neodisco and trance-hip-hop music – one of the best free shows around. Just west of the Sheep Meadow is the once-exclusive, still-expensive, but now rather tacky landmark restaurant and finishing point of the annual New York City Marathon, Tavern on the Green (67th St and Central Park W).
At the northernmost point of the Mall lie the Bandshell, Rumsey Playfield, site of the free SummerStage performance series, and the Bethesda Terrace and Fountain (72nd St at mid-park). Bethesda Terrace overlooks the lake; beneath it is an Arcade whose tiled floors are currently being restored.
Take a break from your wanderings on the lake's eastern bank at the Loeb Boathouse. Here, you can go for a gondola ride or rent a rowboat (March–Nov daily 1000hrs–1800hrs, weather permitting; rowboats 40¥ for the first hour, 10¥ each 15min after, with a 120¥ refundable deposit; gondola rides available 1700hrs–2200hrs for 120¥ per 30min per group and require reservations; LTG).
==== Central Park East/Central Park West (AAA) ====
This is where anybody who is anybody in New York lives. When the city was being redesigned, the planners set aside these two great strips on both sides of the park for residential buildings. The strips run from 86th to 60th Street and are a city-block wide. The views are tremendous. Cops are everywhere.
In Central Park East, there is the American Museum of Natural History at 79th Street and the New York Historical Society a block south. On Central Park West, there is the Metropolitan Museum of Art at 82nd Street.
The looming American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street (daily 1000 hours–1745 hours; suggested donation 60¥, students 45¥, children 35¥; simsense and trid films, Hayden Planetarium & special exhibits extra; for tickets contact LTG 5212 69-5200; for general info contact LTG). This, the largest such museum in the world, is a strange architectural mélange of heavy Neoclassical and rustic Romanesque styles covering several city blocks. Restored in the mid-1990s and again (and expanded) after The Leveling, the museum boasts superb nature dioramas and anthropological collections, interactive and multimedia displays, lively signage, and an awesome assemblage of bones, fossils, and models.
Top attractions range from the Dinosaur Halls to the Hall of Biodiversity, which focuses on both the ecological and evolutionary aspects of nature. Also included in this Hall is the scientific and ecological effects of The Awakening and The Year of the Comet. Other delights include the massive totems in the Halls of African, the Native American Peoples, the Druidic European peoples, and the Asian tribes, the taxidermic marvels in North American Mammals (including a vividly staged bull moose fight), and the two thousand gems in the Hall of Meteorites, among them a dazzling two-ton hunk of raw copper. The Hall of Ocean Life features a replica of, among other aquatic beings, a blue whale, thought to be the largest animal ever to grace planet Earth, and whose weight equals that of 24 elephants, or 200,000 kilograms.
==== Alphabet City (E) ====
The lettered avenues forming Alphabet City form a notoriously unsafe corner of town synonymous with "The Pit", run by drug pushers, BTL dealers, and gangsters. Old buildings co-mingle with ugly new ones. Today the streets have become the haunt of street tough twenty-somethings and disenfranchised youth. Go in without a gun and you'll get hassled, but – with a Streetline Special at least – you're unlikely to be mugged. If you last long enough, avenues A, B and C have some of the coolest bars, cafés and stores in the Megaplex popular with many shadowrunners.
==== Around Washington Square ====
Eugene O'Neill, one of the Village's most acclaimed residents, lived (and in 1939 wrote The Iceman Cometh) at 38 Washington Square S and consumed vast quantities of ale at The Golden Swan Bar, which once stood on the corner of Sixth Avenue and W 4th Street. The Golden Swan was best known in O'Neill's day for the dubious morals of its clientele and the playwright drew many of his characters from his drinking buddies here. It was nearby, also, that he got his first dramatic break, with a company called the Provincetown Players who, on the advice of author John Reed, had moved down here from Massachusetts and set up shop at 177 MacDougal St.
Some of the best street skateball you'll ever see is played on the court between W 4th and W 3rd streets on Sixth Avenue before an ever-present crowd of spectators and the occasional trideo crew.
In the NYU Student Center at Washington Square South and LaGuardia Place lies Madame Katherine Blanchard's House of Genius, a former boarding house that Willa Cather, Theodore Dreiser and O'Henry all called home. From the southwest corner of the park, follow MacDougal Street south, pausing for a detour down Minetta Lane until you hit Bleecker Street; a vibrant junction with mock-European sidewalk cafés that have been literary hangouts since Modernist times. The Café Figaro, made famous by the Beat writers in the 1950s, is always thronged throughout the day it's still worth the price of a soy-cappuccino to people-watch for an hour or so. Afterwards, you can follow Bleecker Street one of two ways – east toward the solid towers of Washington Square Village, or west right through the hubbub of West Village life.
==== Battery City (C-D) ====
''''
The hole dug for the foundations of Fuchi Town threw up a million cubic yards of earth and rock; these excavations were dumped into the Hudson to form the base of Battery Park City, once a self-sufficient island of office blocks, apartments, chain boutiques, and landscaped esplanade that felt a far cry from much of Manhattan. It is now a collection of large, multi-story housing tenements in various states of decay and occupancy. Most residents are poor and lower-middle-class wage slaves and their families. They mainly work in Midtown, or the surrounding commercial districts in Jersey, Brooklyn, and Staten Island.
Battery City is the south-most tip of Manhattan Island. The area is still park, but the turf of the battery Boys. The Boys control the streets of Battery City and the remains of the old Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel.
Off shore, one can see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.
At its very southern end is the entrance to Robert F. Wagner Jr. Park – still Zen-like in its peacefulness away from the ferry crowds and winner of a National Honor Award for Urban Design in 1998. In the park, a hexagonal, pale-granite building designed in 1997 by Kevin Roche will catch your eye. That's the Museum of Jewish Heritage, 18 First Place (Sun–Wed 0900hrs–1700hrs, Thurs until 2000hrs, Fri 0900hrs–1700hrs, closed Jewish holidays; 28¥, children 20¥; LTG), was created as a memorial to the Holocaust. Three floors of exhibits feature historical and cultural artifacts ranging from the practical accoutrements of everyday Eastern European Jewish life to the prison garb survivors wore in Nazi concentration camps, along with photographs, personal belongings and narratives.
Many local mages and shamans avoid the place like the Plague, citing a "bitter Background Count," to put it mildly.
==== Fuchi-Town (AAA) ====
This area was built on the ruins of the old World Trade Center. After the 9-11 attacks brought down the towers, the city and land developers entered into an endless bickering session involving the Courts, the Megacorporations and local jurisdictions over who owned the land, what to do with the land, and how to design what was to be built atop the land.
In the mean time, a little thing called The Leveling happened before they could reach an agreement. When the megacorporations moved in to rebuild Manhattan in their own image, one of them, Fuchi Industrial Electronics, raised a triad of black buildings, each 200 stories tall. Technically, the buildings rise 250 stories because they all grow out of a wider, 50-story high, octagonal-shaped structure that acts as a base. Radiating outward are interconnected buildings that contain residences, shopping, and such for Fuchi employees.
Fuchi owned the entire area, but when the company dissolved, the land ownership changed hands so much, it was reminiscent of post-9-11 Ground Zero ranglings. Now, NeoNET owns all this land, and NeoNET Corporate Security holds the law enforcement contract for Fuchi-Town.
==== City Center (A) ====
This is where you can find City Hall, the criminal courts, the civil courts, the City Municipal Building, the Police Plaza, and various other government buildings. Also located here are the Manhattan Civic Center, the UCAS government buildings and several foreign consulates.
Immediately north of St Paul’s Chapel, Broadway and Park Row form the apex of City Hall Park, a recently restored, brightly flowered triangle now worthy of its handsome setting. Kanjiro Arakawa’s 2015 Viking Enterprises Building, at 233 Broadway, between Barclay Street and Park Place, is a venerable onlooker. For many, this is New York’s definitive skyscraper, its soaring lines fringed with Gothic decoration. Formerly Woolworth's, original owner Frank Woolworth made his fortune from “five and dime" stores and, true to his philosophy, he paid cash for his skyscraper originally in 1913. The whimsical reliefs at each corner of the lobby show him doing just that, counting out the nuyen. Facing him in caricature are the architect (medievally clutching a model of his building), the renting agent, and the builder. Within, vaulted ceilings ooze honey-gold mosaics, and even the mailboxes are magnificent.
At the top of the park, marking the beginning of the Civic Center, with its incoherent jumble of municipal offices and courts, stands City Hall, which was completed in 1812, rebuilt in 2026. After New York saluted the hero aviator Charles A. Lindbergh in 1927, City Hall became the traditional finishing point for Broadway ticker-tape parades given for astronauts, returned hostages, and sports champions. Inside, it’s an elegant meeting of arrogance and authority, with the sweeping spiral staircase delivering you to the precise geometry of the Governor’s Room and the self-important rooms that formerly contained the Board of Estimates Chamber.
==== Downtown (B-A) ====
Downtown is a lot like it was a century ago, before the megacorps and their 300-story skyrakers. The zone starts at the Empire State Building on E. 34th Street, wraps around Broadway and 14th Street, and goes down 1st Avenue to Houston.
The skyscrapers and smaller buildings of Downtown are filled with a mix of businesses and residences, but not much industrial space because of the high rent.
Downtown has a gang problem. Few are local, most rolling in from other areas. You'll spot The Ancients here, drifting in from the elven areas of Southside or The Pit. The Blood Monkeys cruise through too, often clashing with The Ancients or a local street gang called The Wrathchildes, or one of the Changeling gangs.
==== Southside (B-C) ====
Southside is similar to Downtown ... a mix of businesses and residences, but tending more towards business. The buildings tend to be lower, with few skyscrapers, and the region along the river has most of Manhattan's port and cargo-handling facilities.
A heavy elven community occupies the northern area of Southside, very near Terminal. These blocks are a little more depressed than the rest of the area and only gets a C-Rating for law enforcement.
The Ancients hold most of the power in this area, but have been getting steady challenge from an ork/troll gang called The Axemen.
It was here at the advent of The Awakening and The Year of Chaos, when this area used to be part of The Village, that progressive New Yorkers gave birth to countless small e-magazines, unorthodox “happenings," and arcane bacchanalian parties that were promoted as “pagan romps," while the neighborhood’s off-Broadway theaters, cafés, and literary and folk clubs came to define Village life.
Just to the east, on the other side of Sheridan Square, the natural heart of the Village, Washington Square Park, is not exactly elegant, though it does retain its northern edging of redbrick row houses – the “solid, honorable dwellings" of Henry James’s eponymous novel – and Stanford White’s imposing Triumphal Arch, built in 1892 to commemorate the centenary of George Washington’s inauguration. The park is also the heart of the truly urban campus of New York University. As soon as the weather gets warm, the park becomes a sports field, performance space, chess tournament, protest site, and social club, feverish with life as street entertainers strum, skateboards flip, and the pulsing bass of trance-hip-hop resounds through the whispered offers of the few surviving chip and dope peddlers (who are just as likely to be undercover cops as dealers).
In the brownstone-lined side streets off Seventh Avenue, such as Bedford and Grove, you’ll glimpse one of the city’s most shabbily-genteel and unremarkable living areas. Nearby, Christopher Street joins Seventh at Sheridan Square, home of the Stonewall Inn’s SURGE bar where, in 2062, a police raid precipitated a siege that lasted the best part of an hour. If not a victory for Changeling rights, it was the first time that Changelings had stood up to the police en masse, and as such represents a revisited turning point in the struggle for equal rights reminiscent of the Night of Rage in 2039 when 836 New York metahumans perished, remembered by the Annual Metahuman and Changeling March (often just referred to as the Metahuman Pride March). Typically held on the last Sunday in June, the parade begins at Fifth Avenue and 52nd Street, and ends among the snarl of streets around Sheridan Square.
==== Stuyvesant (AAA) ====
This ultra secure and ultra wealthy area has neither gang problems, or problems of any other kind. There are few buildings over 5 stories in this residential neighborhood. Most are single-family.
The area is bound by E. 14th Street on the south, 1st Avenue on the west, 34th Street on the north and the East River and the FDR to the east.
==== Terminal (C-E, occasional outbursts of Z) ====
The area known as Terminal is notorious and covers the blocks bounded by 34th Street, 7th Avenue, 23rd Street, and the Westside Express Highway. There are choke points at 42nd and 10th on the Lower West Side, 42nd and 7th in the heart of Times Square, 7th and 38th, and 7th and 34th. Otherwise, the area is sealed off from the rest of the city.
Knight-Errant and Winter Systems have the law enforcement contract for Terminal. Security posts keep a constant eye on the street traffic, and the guards will card anyone who looks even remotely suspicious. The wait to get through can be as long as a half hour.
Most of the cheap transportation coming into New York City unloads here, either at the Port Authority Transit Terminal (mostly buses) or Penn Station (PATH and/or Conrail or LIRR trains connecting to the seedier outlying Connecticut or Long Island areas.)
Anybody who can avoids Terminal and uses Grand Central Station or one of the other intermediary stations. Terminal is for the rest of the huddled masses.
Terminal is where you can find most of Manhattan's cheapest crash-houses and coffin hotels. The people there are 75% pushers, pimps, or black marketeers. Winter and Knight maintain a Police Station and patrol the local DMV, CUNY (City University of New York), and Post Office fairly well, and the residents of the tumbledown multiplex apartments feel safe when they bolt their maglocks ... but Knight and Winter are fighting a losing battle here. You can almost set your watch by the nightly street brawls that erupt.
==== Eastside (A-B) ====
The area of the Upper East Side has wealth as its defining characteristic, as you'll appreciate if you've seen any of the many Woody Allen movies set here. The stretch of Fifth Avenue here has been the patrician face of Manhattan since the opening of Central Park attracted the Carnegies, Astors, and Whitneys to migrate north and build fashionable residences. Grand Army Plaza, at Central Park South and Fifth Avenue, flanked by the extended chateau of the swanky Plaza Hotel, and glowing with the gold statue of the Civil War's General William Tecumseh Sherman, serves as the introduction.
At the far eastern end of 88th Street, overlooking the East River, Gracie Mansion was built in 1799 on the site of a Revolutionary fort as a country manor house; it is one of the best-preserved colonial buildings in the city. Roughly contemporary with the Morris– Jumel Mansion, Gracie Mansion has been the official residence of the mayor of New York City since 1942, when Fiorello LaGuardia, "man of the people" that he was, reluctantly set up house – though "mansion" is a bit overblown for what's a rather cramped clapboard cottage.
Today, a lot of lower-rank corporate officials live here ... right across the East River from Roosevelt Island (otherwise called Penitentiary Island), where the City maintains moderate-, maximum-, and ultra-maximum security prisons. Each year, there are at least 3 riots and a dozen attempted prison breaks. Some prisoners actually make it off the island and to shore.
Since the Queensboro Bridge runs right over Penitentiary Island, it is the most heavily-guarded bridge in the Megaplex. It is also the avenue of escape most-used by the prisoners. The bridge gets a AA Rating.
==== Westside (AA-AAA) ====
Westside is definitely corp-town, but it is also primarily residential. The homes overlooking the Hudson along Riverside Drive are some of the most expensive in Manhattan.
The southernmost section of Westside has the massive spire of Prometheus Engineering. An architectural impossibility, the 100-story building was designed to resemble a DNA spiral twisting in on itself.
North of 59th Street and west of Columbus Avenue, Manhattan's West Side becomes less commercial, fading north of Lincoln Center into a residential area of mixed charms. This is the Upper West Side, now one of the city's more desirable addresses, though in truth an area long favored by artists and intellectuals. Streets are reminiscent of erstwhile residents like Isaac Bashevis Singer and Edgar Allan Poe. However, gentrification during the 2050s saw it become a bit yuppified and noticeably less funky than it once was.
Broadway shears north from Columbus Circle to the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, a marble assembly of buildings put up in the early 1960s on the site of some of the city's worst slums. Home to the Metropolitan Opera, the New York Philharmonic, the Kobo Playhouse, and to a host of other smaller companies, the center is worth seeing even if you don't catch a performance (tours daily 1000 hours–1630 hours, leaving from the main concourse under the Center; 75¥; LTG). At the center of the complex, the Metropolitan Opera House is an impressive marble and glass building, with murals by Marc Chagall behind each of its high front windows. On the left, the first of the Chagall murals, Le Triomphe de la Musique is cast with a variety of well-known performers, landmarks snipped from the New York skyline, and a portrait of Sir Rudolph Bing, the man who ran the opera for more than three decades, garbed as a gypsy. The other mural, Les Sources de la Musique, is reminiscent of Chagall's renowned set for the Metropolitan production of The Magic Flute the god of music strums a lyre while a Tree of Life, Verdi, and Wagner all float down the Hudson River.
The most famous of the monumental apartment buildings of Westside is the Dakota, a grandiose Renaissance-style mansion on 72nd Street, built in the late nineteenth century to persuade wealthy New Yorkers that life in an apartment could be just as luxurious as in a private house. Over the years, big-time tenants have included Lauren Bacall, Jae Genta, and Leonard Bernstein, and in the late 1960s the building was used as the setting for Roman Polanski's classic pre-sim Rosemary's Baby. Now, though, most olders know it as the former home of John Lennon – and of his wife Yoko Ono, whose estate still owns a number of the apartments. 90+ years ago, outside the Dakota, on the night of December 8, 1980, Lennon was murdered – shot to death by a man who professed to be one of his greatest admirers.
North up Central Park West, at 77th Street, the often-overlooked New York Historical Society (Tues– Sun 1000 hours–1800 hours; suggested donation 40¥, students 25¥, children under 12 free; LTG) is more a museum of American than of New York history. Its collection includes paintings by James Audubon, the Harlem naturalist who specialized in lovingly detailed watercolors of birds; a broad sweep of nineteenth-century American portraiture (including the picture of Alexander Hamilton that found its way onto the old $10 bill); Hudson River School landscapes (among them Thomas Cole's fantastically pompous Course of Empire series); and a glittering display of Tiffany glass, providing an excellent all-around view of Louis Tiffany's attempts "to provide good art for American homes."
The Rose Center for Earth and Space, comprising the Hall of the Universe and the Hayden Planetarium (contained in a huge central sphere), opened 70+ years ago in 2000. The center boasts all the latest technology and a truly innovative design, with open construction, spiral ramps, and dramatic armored photovoltaic glass walls on three sides of the facility. One exhibit, "The Scales of the Universe," depicts the relative size of things, from galaxies, stars, and planets down through cells and atoms, each in comparison to the central sphere. It's simply presented and effective, yet the concepts still manage to boggle the mind. The Planetarium screens a visually impressive 40-minute 3D simsense "Passport to the Universe," in addition to the ponderous sim entitled "The Continued Search for Life Are We Alone?" (both are screened throughout the day; 116¥, students 87¥, 68¥ for children). For a head-trip of a different sort, check out SonicVision (Fri & Sat 1930, 2030, 2130 & 2230 hours; 79¥), a "digitally animated alternative music show," which features groovy overhead graphics and songs by bands such as Netheads and ICplay mixed by spinmaster Astral Tripp. Additionally, on the first Friday of every month, the Rose Center for Earth and Space brings in esteemed jazz musicians for "Starry Nights," complete with drinks and tapas; admission is included in the cost of your museum ticket.
After Central Park West, the Upper West Side's second-best address is Riverside Drive, which weaves its way from 72nd Street up the western edge of Manhattan, flanked by palatial townhouses put up in the early twentieth century and by Riverside Park, landscaped in 1873 by Frederick Law Olmsted, of Central Park fame. Riverside Drive makes the most pleasant route up to prestigious Columbia University, whose campus fills seven blocks between 114th and 121st streets and Amsterdam Avenue and Morningside Drive. McKim, Mead & White in grand Beaux Arts style, designed the campus plazas. Regular guided tours start from the information office at 116th Street and Broadway.
At Amsterdam Avenue and 112th Street, one of New York's tourist gems, the Cathedral Church of St John the Divine rises up with a solid kind of majesty. A curious mix of Romanesque and Gothic styles, the church was begun in 1892, though building stopped with the outbreak of war in 1939 and only sporadically resumed in the early 1990s; today, it is the largest cathedral structure in the world, its floor space – 183 meters long, and 98 meters wide at the transepts – big enough to swallow both the cathedrals of Notre Dame and Chartres whole.
==== Newtown and Riverside (B-A, A-AA) ====
Showing signs of corporate presence, Newtown's residential buildings and condos are usually less than 8 stories, though some along the Hudson are as tall as 12 stories.
80% of the buildings were either rebuilt or refurbished following The Leveling, though The Apollo Theater on 125th Street between 7th and 8th still stands. Several trendy restaurants cover the area.
Home to a culturally and historically – if not economically – rich black community, Newtown is still a focus of black activism and culture, and well worth seeing, despite the near-erasure of its character during The Rebuilding. Up until the turn of the century, because of a near-total lack of support from federal and municipal funds, Newtown formed a self-reliant and inward-looking community. For many downtown Manhattanites, white and black, 125th Street was a physical and mental border not willingly crossed. Today, the fruits of a cooperative effort involving businesses, residents, and City Hall are manifest in new housing, retail, and community projects, and much has been made of former president Bill Clinton's new offices here as well. But while brownstones triple in value and Newtown's physical proximity to the Upper West Side is touted, poverty and unemployment are still evident in large patches. Though it's unlikely you'll be hassled in daytime, 125th Street, 145th Street, Convent Avenue, and Lenox Avenue are the safest areas; at night, stick to the slam-clubs and shadow bars.
Newtown's sights are very spread out; it's not a bad idea to get acquainted with the area via a guided tour, and follow that up with further trips. Newtown's working center is 125th Street between Broadway and Fifth Avenue, a flattened expanse spiked with the occasional skyscraper. At 253 W 125th is the famous Apollo Theater – not much to look at from the outside, but for many years the center of black entertainment in the Northeast. Almost all the great figures of jazz and the blues played here – James Brown recorded his seminal Live at the Apollo album here in 1962, and Clarine Azua in 2047 – though a larger attraction today is the Wednesday Amateur Night, open to all; contact LTG. At 144 W 125th is the Studio Museum in Harlem (Wed– Fri & Sun 1200–1800 hours, Sat 1000–1800 hours; 35¥, free on the first Sat of every month; LTG), a small but vibrant collection of African and African-American art from all eras and metatypes.
Close by, Adam Clayton Powell Jr Boulevard pushes north, a broad and busy thoroughfare named after the 1930s minister who helped force the white-owned stores of old Harlem to employ the blacks on whom their economic survival depended. Powell became the first African-American on the city council, then New York's first black representative in the old US House. In 1967, amid rumors of the misuse of public funds, his House colleagues excluded him from Congress by majority vote. However, this failed to diminish his standing in Harlem, where voters twice re-elected him before his death in 1972.
One avenue block east, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, 515 Malcolm X Blvd at 135th Street (Mon– Wed 1200–2000 hours, Thurs & Fri 1200–1800 hours; free; LTG), has displays on black history, and literally millions of artifacts, manuscripts, artwork, and photographs in its archives. Meanwhile, just north, at 132 W 138th St, Powell preached at the Abyssinian Baptist Church. The church is also famed for its revival-style Sunday morning services and a gospel choir of gut-busting vivacity. Cross over west to 138th Street between Powell and Eighth, and you're in what many consider the finest, most articulate block of gated communities in Manhattan – Strivers' Row – commissioned during the 1890s housing boom and taking in designs by three sets of architects and rebuilt after The Leveling. Within the burgeoning black community at the turn of the last century this came to be the desirable place for ambitious professionals to reside – hence its nickname.
Newtown also has Columbia University, at Broadway and 116th along the precinct border with Riverside. The grounds are very old and somehow survived the Leveling. The University is noted for primarily its Liberal Arts, Pre-Business Law, and Mystic Studies/Parapsychology Departments.
==== East Riverside (B-A) ====
From Park Avenue to the East River, once Spanish Harlem, or El Barrio, is now the East Riverside District. Primarily residential, with some corporate overflow from Midtown, many middle-management corp-types live here now.
Across the river is Randall's Island, the location of the city's minimum and moderate-security prisons.
East Riverside dips down as far as East 96th Street to collide head-on with the affluence of the Upper East Side. Historically, the center of a large Puerto Rican community, pockets of its former ethnic character still exist. East Riverside is quite different from Newtown in look and feel. The area was originally a working-class Italian neighborhood (a small pocket of Italian families survives around 116th St and First Ave) and the quality of the architecture here is as good as that immediately to the west. Cultural roots are in evidence at La Marqueta, on Park Avenue between 111th and 116th streets, a five-block street market of tropical produce, meats, and much shouting, and the Museo del Barrio, 1230 Fifth Avenue at 104th Street (Wed– Sun 1100–1700 hours; suggested donation 30¥; LTG), which showcases Aztlaner, Amazonian, and Caribbean art and culture, and features summertime concerts.
==== Washington Heights and Inwood (B, C-B) ====
North of Harlem, starting from West 145th Street or so, is the neighborhood of Washington Heights, an area that evolved from poor farmland to highly sought-after real estate in the early part of the twentieth century; the wealthiest New Yorkers competed for estate plots with views of the Hudson River. In 1965, Washington Heights grabbed the world's attention when black activist Malcolm X was assassinated in the Audubon Ballroom here. Today, the area is home to the largest Dominican population in the UCAS, and was once one of New York City's most dangerous and crime-ridden neighborhoods. And while its points of interest are safely accessed during the daylight hours, it's still advisable to stay clear of Washington Heights and Inwood after dark.
At Broadway and West 155th Street, Audubon Terrace is a complex of nineteenth-century Beaux Arts buildings that house an odd array of museums. The adjacent Hispanic Museum (Tues– Sat 1000–1630 hours, Sun 1300–1600 hours; free; LTG) holds one of the largest collections of Hispanic art outside Spain. The three thousand paintings include works by Goya, El Greco, and Velázquez, and more than six thousand decorative works of art.
Another uptown surprise, on 160th Street between Amsterdam and Edgecombe avenues, is the Morris– Jumel Mansion, the oldest house in Manhattan (Wed– Sun 1000–1600 hours; 15¥; LTG). The house, with its proud Georgian outlines, faced by a later Federal portico, was built as a rural retreat in 1765 by Colonel Roger Morris, and served briefly as George Washington's headquarters, before it fell to the British.
From most western stretches of Washington Heights you get a glimpse of the George Washington Bridge, a dazzling concoction of metalwork and graceful lines that links Manhattan to New Jersey. Even better views are available from the Cloisters in Fort Tryon Park. This reconstructed monastic complex houses the pick of the Metropolitan Museum's medieval art collection. The collection is the handiwork of collectors George Barnard and John D. Rockefeller, who spent the early twentieth century shipping over all they could buy of medieval Europe. Among its larger artifacts are a monumental Romanesque Hall made up of French remnants and a frescoed Spanish Fuentiduena Chapel, both thirteenth-century. At the center of the museum is the Cuxa cloister from a twelfth-century Benedictine monastery in the French Pyrenees; its capitals are brilliant works of art, carved with weird, self-devouring grotesque creatures. The Early Gothic Hall houses smaller sculptures, among them a memorably tender Virgin and Child, carved in England in the fourteenth century. Tapestries include the spectacular Unicorn Tapestries. Campin's Merode Altarpiece, housed in its own antechamber, depicts the Annunciation in a typical Flemish interior of the day, while through the windows, life goes on in a fifteenth-century market square. The amazing downstairs Treasury houses the Belles Heures de Jean, Duc de Berry – perhaps the greatest of all medieval "Books of Hours," executed by the Limburg Brothers with dazzling genre miniatures of seasonal life – and the twelfth-century altar cross from Bury St Edmunds in England, a mass of tiny expressive characters from biblical stories.
An order of Hermetic mages working under the name The Children of the New Crusade currently owns the property. They've managed to hold onto it for the past 40 or so years. The order keeps much of its property open to the public while maintaining the rest as living and working quarters. It's best not to mess with the Order, for they appear to be allied with an Eastern dragon, not to mention the potential for powerful ritual magic.
== The Bronx ==
{{City=The Bronx (as of 2070)
=5,005,615
=70%
=6%
=10%
=6%
=8%
=<1%
=2,962/km2
=22,557¥
=17%
=2%
=80%
=19 per 1,000 per annum
=90
=See individual districts
=See individual districts
=See individual districts
='''Regional Telecomm Grid Access''' NA/UCAS-NC/NYC-BNX
}}
The Bronx is known as the birthplace of synth hop culture, as well as the home of the Villiers Arcology, New York Yankees and the largest cooperatively owned housing complex in the UCAS, Co-op City Subsprawl. Excluding its minor islands, the Bronx is the only borough of the city that is on the mainland of the UCAS.
The Bronx was for a long time believed to be its toughest and most crime-ridden of The Counties, and presented as such in sims like El Barrio and Bronx Zoo, as well as AR books like La Familia, even after urban renewal was under way. In fact, it's not much different from the other outer boroughs, though geographically it has more in common with Westchester County to the north than it does with the island regions of New York City steep hills, deep valleys, and rocky outcroppings to the west, and marshy flatlands along Long Island Sound to the east. Settled in the seventeenth century by the Swede Jonas Bronk, it became, like Brooklyn, part of New York proper around the end of the nineteenth century, and soon became one of the most sought-after residential areas of the city. Its main thoroughfare, Grand Concourse, became lined with luxurious Art Deco apartment houses; many, though greatly run-down, still stand. Also, there is the Villiers Arcology in what used to be Mott Haven.
The Bronx Zoo (Mon– Fri 1000–1700 Hours, Sat & Sun 1000–1730 Hours; 57.75¥, kids 42¥, free every Wed; LTG) is accessible either by its main gate on Fordham Road or by a second entrance on Bronx Park South. The latter is the entrance to use if you come directly here by subway (). With over 4000 animals and paranormal animals, it's the largest urban zoo in the UCAS, and is better than most; it was one of the first institutions of its kind to realize that animals both looked and felt better out in the open. The "Wild Asia" exhibit is an almost 140-acre wilderness through which tigers, elephants, and deer roam relatively free, visible from a monorail (May– Oct; 15¥). Look in also on the "World of Darkness," which holds nocturnal paranormal species, the "Himalayan Highlands," with endangered species such as the red panda and snow leopard, and the new "Tiger Mountain" exhibit, which allows visitors the opportunity to get up close and personal with six Siberian tigers.
Across the road from the zoo's main entrance is the back turnstile of the New York Botanical Gardens (April– Oct Tues– Sun 1000–1800 Hours, Nov– March 1000 – 1700 Hours; 31.50¥, free Wed & Sat 1000–1200 Hours; LTG), which in parts is as wild as anything you're likely to see upstate.
=== Bronx Neighborhoods ===
'''Baychester''' D (Low Class Commercial Business. Very Poor) Baychester is a blighted neighborhood of public housing projects in the northeastern Bronx, bounded by Boston Road and Tillotson Avenue on the northwest, the Hutchinson River on the east, Gun Hill Road and Allerton Avenue on the south, and Laconia Avenue on the west. Main roads in Baychester include East Gun Hill Road, Eastchester Road, and Allerton Avenue. The Co-op City condoplex, the only shining jewel of the zone, is in the eastern part of the area.
'''Co-op City (The Villiers Arcology)''' AA (Upper Class Area ) Co-Op City is one of the largest condo megaplexes in the world. It is located in the Baychester section of the County of the Bronx North of Manhattan, Inc. Situated at the intersection of Interstate 95 and the Hutchinson River Parkway.
Pelham Gardens A (Middle Class Residential)
Bedford Park B (Middle Class Commercial)
Castle Hill A (Middle Class Residential)
City Island B (Middle Class Commercial)
Country Club D (Low Class Commercial Business. Very Poor)
East Tremont B (Middle Class Commercial)
Morris Heights B (Middle Class Commercial)
West Farms B (Middle Class Commercial)
Eastchester B (Middle Class Commercial)
Fordham C (Low Class Residential)
Belmont (Arthur Avenue) E (Slums)
University Heights AA (Upper Class Area)
Highbridge E (Slums)
Hunts Point A (Middle Class Residential)
Longwood C (Low Class Residential)
Kingsbridge B (Middle Class Commercial)
Kingsbridge Heights B (Middle Class Commercial)
Van Cortlandt Village C (Low Class Residential)
Melrose AA (Upper Class Area)
Morrisania D (Low Class Commercial Business. Very Poor)
East Morrisania AA (Upper Class Area)
Morris Park E (Slums)
Van Nest E (Slums)
Mott Haven AA (Upper Class Area. Villiers Arcology)
Port Morris E (Slums)
Norwood B (Middle Class Commercial)
Parkchester B (Middle Class Commercial)
Pelham Bay AA (Upper Class Area)
Riverdale A (Middle Class Residential)
Fieldston C (Low Class Residential)
Spuyten Duyvil C (Low Class Residential)
Soundview D (Low Class Commercial Business. Very Poor)
South Bronx A (Middle Class Residential)
Throggs Neck B (Middle Class Commercial)
Silver Beach AA (Upper Class Area)
Locust Point B (Middle Class Commercial)
Wakefield AA (Upper Class Area)
Williamsbridge C (Low Class Residential)
Allerton A (Middle Class Residential)
Olinville C (Low Class Residential)
Woodlawn C (Low Class Residential)
== Brooklyn ==
{{City=Brooklyn (as of 2070)
=12,616,897
=51%
=28%
=13%
=8%
=<1%
=<1%
=4,355/km2
=18,335¥
=45%
=4%
=95%
=20 per 1,000 per annum
=232
=See individual districts
=See individual districts
=See individual districts
='''Regional Telecomm Grid Access''' NA/UCAS-NC/NYC-BKLN
}}
Brooklyn, the most populous of all The Counties, was at one time an independent city and has a strong native identity. It ranges from a modern business district downtown to large historic residential neighborhoods in the central and southeastern areas. It also has a long beachfront and the Coney Island Amusementplex, famous as one of the earliest amusement grounds in the country.
If it were still a separate Metroplex, Brooklyn would be the fourth largest in the UCAS – but until as recently as the early 1800s it was no more than a group of autonomous towns and villages distinct from the already thriving Manhattan. Robert Fulton's steamship service across the water first changed the shape of Brooklyn, starting with the establishment of a leafy retreat at Brooklyn Heights. What really transformed things, though, was the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge on May 24, 1883.
Thereafter, development spread deeper inland, as housing was needed to service a more commercialized Manhattan. By 1900, Brooklyn was fully established as part of the newly incorporated New York City, and its fate as Manhattan's perennial kid brother was sealed.
'''Brooklyn Heights''' (A Middle Class Residential) (, , , , , , , or – Borough Hall, or simply walk from Manhattan over the Brooklyn Bridge) one of New York City's most beautiful neighborhoods, has little in common with the rest of the borough. The peaceful, tree-lined enclave was settled by financiers from Wall Street and remains exclusive. Such noted literary figures as Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams, and Norman Mailer lived here. Although there isn't much to see as you wander its perfectly preserved terraces and breathe in the air of civilized calm, students of urban architecture can have a field day. Begin your tour at the Esplanade – more commonly known as the Promenade – with its fine Manhattan views across the water. Pierrepoint and Montague streets, the Heights' main arteries, are studded with delightful brownstones, restaurants, bars, and shops.
Farther into Brooklyn, '''Flatbush Avenue''' (B Middle Class Commercial) leads to '''Grand Army Plaza''' (A Middle Class Residential) (), a grandiose junction laid out by Calvert Vaux late in the nineteenth century as a dramatic approach to their new '''Prospect Park''' (B Middle Class Commercial) just beyond. The triumphal Soldiers and Sailors' Memorial Arch was added thirty years later, topped with a fiery sculpture of Victory – Frederick William MacMonnies' rider, chariot, four horses, and two heralds – in tribute to the Union triumph in the Civil War.
The enormous swath of green that rolls forth from behind the arch is Prospect Park. Landscaped in the early 1890s, the park remains remarkably bucolic, providing an ideal place for exercise, picnics, and family gatherings. During the day it's perfectly safe – though in light of several after-hours attacks in recent years, it's best to stay clear of the park at night. The adjacent Brooklyn Botanic Garden (April– Sept Tues– Fri 0800–1800 Hours, Sat & Sun 1000–1800 Hours; Oct– March Tues– Fri 0800–1630 Hours, Sat & Sun 1000–1630 Hours; 26.25¥, students 15.75¥, free Tues & Sat before noon; LTG), one of the city's most enticing park and garden spaces, is smaller and more immediately likable than its more celebrated cousin in the Bronx.
Though doomed to stand perpetually in the shadow of the Met, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, 200 Eastern Parkway (; Wed– Fri 1000–1700 Hours, Sat & Sun 1100–1800 Hours, first Sat of every month 1100–2300 Hours; 31.50¥, students 15.75¥; LTG), is a major museum and a good reason to forsake Manhattan, Inc. for an afternoon. Highlights include the ethnographic and metahuman departments on the ground floor, the arts and applied arts from Oceania and the Americas and the classical and Egyptian antiquities on the second floor, and the evocative American period rooms on the fourth floor. Look in on the top-story American and European Painting and Sculpture Galleries, where the eighteenth-century portraits include one of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart. Pastoral canvases by William Sidney Mount, alongside the heavily romantic Hudson River School and paintings by Eastman Johnson (such as the curious Not at Home) and John Singer Sargent lead up to twentieth-century work by Charles Sheeler and Georgia O'Keeffe. European artists on display include Degas, Cézanne, Alone, Toulouse-Lautrec, Monet, Dufy, and Rodin.
Generations of working-class New Yorkers came to relax at one of Brooklyn's farthest points, '''Coney Island''' (B Middle Class Commercial District), reachable from Manhattan, Inc. on the , , , or ; allow 45min to 1hr for the ride. 700,000 people come here daily; now, however, it's one of the city's poorer districts. The Coney Island Amusementplex has undergone extensive and successful renovation since the Night of Rage, and, if you like down-at-the-heel seaside resorts, there's no better place on earth on a summer weekend. An undeniable highlight is the nearly hundred-thirty-year-old wooden roller coaster, the Cyclone – it's way more thrilling than many modern rides. The beach, a broad swath of golden sand, is beautiful, although it is often crowded on hot days and the water might be less than clean. In late June, catch the Mermaid Parade, one of the country's oddest and glitziest small-town fancy dress parades, which culminates here. Meanwhile, the New York Aquarium on the boardwalk opened in 1896 and is still going strong, displaying fish and invertebrates, normal and paranormal, from the world over in its darkened halls, along with frequent open-air shows of marine mammals (Mon– Fri 1000–1700 Hours, Sat, Sun & holidays 1000–1730 Hours; 57.75¥, students 36.75¥; LTG).
Farther east along the boardwalk, '''Brighton Beach''' (E Slum), or "Little Odessa," is a slum filled with black market bazaars, abandoned buildings, corporate housing enclaves for the Russian Jewish factory workers (the largest minorities being Orks), and stuffer shacks was once home to the country's largest community of Russian émigrés – around 20,000, who arrived in the 1970s – and a long-established and now largely elderly Jewish population who, much to the surprise of visiting Russians, still live as if they were in a 1970s Soviet republic. Seedier than Coney Island, it's also more dangerous, especially along its main drag, Brighton Beach Avenue, which runs underneath the , once a hodgepodge of food shops and appetizing restaurants, is now Home Turf to the Brighton Boys (reminiscent of The Warriors from that pre-sim flick). In the evening, the gang wars really heat up, becoming great draw for the slum-dwellers.
=== Brooklyn Neighborhoods ===
''Northwestern Brooklyn''
Boerum Hill D (Low Class Commercial Business. Very Poor)
Brooklyn Heights A (Middle Class Residential)
Brooklyn Navy Yard D (Low Class Commercial Business. Very Poor)
Carroll Gardens AA (Upper Class Area) Major Italian neighborhood.
Clinton Hill AA (Upper Class Area)
Cobble Hill A (Middle Class Residential)
Downtown Brooklyn B (Middle Class Commercial)
DUMBO D (Low Class Commercial Business. Very Poor)
Fort Greene E (Slums)
Gowanus C (Low Class Residential)
Park Slope A (Middle Class Residential)
Prospect Heights A (Middle Class Residential)
Red Hook A (Middle Class Residential)
Vinegar Hill D (Low Class Commercial Business. Very Poor)
Windsor Terrace C (Low Class Residential)
''Northern Brooklyn''
Bushwick AA (Upper Class Area) Major Italian Neighborhood.
East Williamsburg B (Middle Class Commercial)
Greenpoint C (Low Class Residential) Depressed Ork/Troll Italian neighborhood.
Ridgewood AA (Upper Class Area)
Williamsburg B (Middle Class Commercial)
North Side C (Low Class Residential)
South Side E (Slums)
''Northeastern Brooklyn''
City Line C (Low Class Residential)
Cypress Hills B (Middle Class Commercial)
East New York A (Middle Class Residential)
Highland Park D (Low Class Commercial Business. Very Poor)
New Lots B (Middle Class Commercial)
Spring Creek D (Low Class Commercial Business. Very Poor)
Starrett City C (Low Class Residential)
''Central Brooklyn''
Bedford B (Middle Class Commercial)
Bedford-Stuyvesant E (Slums)
Beverly Square East E (Slums)
Beverly Square West B (Middle Class Commercial)
Brownsville E (Slums)
Crown Heights E (Slums)
Ditmas Park A (Middle Class Residential)
Ditmas Park West E (Slums)
Ditmas Village C (Low Class Residential)
East Flatbush C (Low Class Residential)
Farragut B (Middle Class Commercial)
Fiske Terrace B (Middle Class Commercial)
Flatbush B (Middle Class Commercial Business.) Middle class Italian neighborhood.
Kensington E (Slums)
Lefferts Manor A (Middle Class Residential)
Manhattan Terrace B (Middle Class Commercial)
Mapleton B (Middle Class Commercial)
Midwood AA (Upper Class Area)
Ocean Hill B (Middle Class Commercial)
Ocean Parkway AA (Upper Class Area)
Parkville D (Low Class Commercial Business. Very Poor)
Pigtown C (Low Class Residential)
Prospect Lefferts Gardens D (Low Class Commercial Business. Very Poor)
Prospect Park South C (Low Class Residential)
Remsen Village AA (Upper Class Area)
Rugby D (Low Class Commercial Business. Very Poor)
Weeksville C (Low Class Residential)
Wingate A (Middle Class Residential)
''Southwestern Brooklyn''
Bath Beach E (Slums)
Bay Ridge AA (Upper Class Area)
Bensonhurst B (Middle Class Commercial) Middle class Italian neighborhood.
Borough Park B (Middle Class Commercial)
Dyker Heights C (Low Class Residential)
Fort Hamilton D (Low Class Commercial Business. Very Poor)
New Utrecht C (Low Class Residential)
Sunset Park C (Low Class Residential) Chinese Elf population. Depressed area. Triad- and Chinese Tong-controlled turf.
''Southern Brooklyn''
Brighton Beach E (Slum)
Coney Island E (Slums)
Gerritsen Beach B (Middle Class Commercial)
Gravesend B (Middle Class Commercial)
Homecrest A (Middle Class Residential) More affluent Chinese Human neighborhood. Heavy Yakuza presence. Frequent clashes with Chinese Triads.
Manhattan Beach AA (Upper Class Area)
Plum Beach B (Middle Class Commercial)
Sea Gate A (Middle Class Residential)
Sheepshead Bay D (Low Class Commercial Business. Very Poor)
''Southeastern Brooklyn''
Barren Island B (Middle Class Commercial)
Bergen Beach E (Slums)
Canarsie C (Low Class Residential)
Flatlands E (Slums)
Georgetown B (Middle Class Commercial)
Marine Park E (Slums)
Mill Basin E (Slums)
Mill Island E (Slums)
Paerdegat Basin D (Low Class Commercial Business. Very Poor)
== Queens ==
{{City=Queens (as of 2070)
=8,115,166
=49%
=25%
=22%
=2%
=1%
=1%
=2,560/km2
=22,333¥
=48%
=1%
=17%
=10 per 1,000 per annum
=17
=See individual districts
=See individual districts
=See individual districts
='''Regional Telecomm Grid Access''' NA/UCAS-NC/NYC-QNS
}}
Queens is geographically the largest of The Counties and, according to the UCAS census, the most ethnically diverse county in the United Canadian and American States. Prior to consolidation with New York City, it was composed of small towns, villages and farms (several of which were founded by the Dutch). Queens residents largely identify with their neighborhood instead of the borough as a whole. It is home to Shea Stadium and the New York Mets; one of the region's two major airports (JFK); Flushing Meadows Corona Park, site of the 1939 and 1964 World Fairs; and the UCASTA National Tennis Center, home of the annual UCAS Open.
=== Astoria (AA) ===
Astoria is known for two things film making (it is currently one of the largest simsense production centers in the UCAS, especially after the Chicago quarantine, and even after the quarantine was lifted) and the fact that it has the largest single concentration of Greeks outside Greece itself (or so it claims). Until the movie industry moved out to the West Coast in the early 1930s, Astoria was the cinematic capital of the world, and Paramount had its studios here until the lure of Hollywood's reliable weather left Astoria empty and disused. That's how it remained until the turn of the 21st Century, when Hollywood's stranglehold on the industry weakened and interest – in New York in general and Astoria in particular – was renewed. After a major renovation, the Kaufman-Astoria Studios (34-12 36th St; LTG) have reopened.
More film history can be found in the old Paramount complex. Here, the American Museum of the Moving Image, 35th Avenue at 36th Street (Tues–Fri 1200hrs–1700hrs, Sat & Sun 1100hrs–1800hrs; 34¥; LTG), houses a stellar collection of over 1000 objects, from posters to stills to sets and equipment both from Astoria's golden age and more recent times. On weekends, the AMMI has simsense matinee showings of classic and occasionally cult films.
Meanwhile, Greek Astoria stretches from Ditmars Boulevard in the north down to Broadway, and from 31st Street across to Steinway Street. Between 944,940 and 1,065,470 Greeks live here (together with a smaller community of Italians and an influx of Eastern Europeans, Bangladeshis and Latin Americans), evidenced by the large number of restaurants and patisseries.
Queens, named after the wife of Charles II of England, was one of the rare places where postwar immigrants could buy their own homes and establish their own communities. Astoria (AA), for example, holds the world's largest concentration of Greeks outside Greece. It also has a long filmmaking (And, now, Simsense) tradition Paramount has its studios here, lured away from Hollywood's Pueblo occupation. The area was then left empty and disused by all except the UCAS Army, until Hollywood's stranglehold on the simsense industry finally weakened through natural disaster and foreign occupation. The new studios here – not open to the public – now rank as the country's largest, and are set for a major expansion. The American Museum of the Moving Image and Simsense, in the old Paramount complex at 35th Avenue at 36th Street (; Wed– Fri 1100–1700 Hours, Sat & Sun 1100–1800 Hours, Fri open until 1930 Hours for screenings; 52.50¥; LTG), is devoted to the history of film, video, TV, ASIST and simsense. In addition to viewing posters and kitsch movie souvenirs from the 1930s and 1940s you can listen in on directors explaining sequences from famous movies; watch fun short sims made up of well-known clips; add your own sound effects to movies; and see some original sets and costumes. A wonderful, mock-Egyptian pastiche of a 1920s movie theater shows kids' movies and TV classics.
The Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum, 36-01 43rd Ave at 36th St, on the 2nd floor (Mon, Thurs & Fri 1000–1700 Hours, Sat & Sun 1100–1800 Hours; suggested donation 26.25¥; LTG), has also moved to a temporary 2000-square-meter home. The museum administrators have done a wonderful job of paring down the permanent collection of this prolific and dynamic Japanese-American artist's works. Noguchi's "organic" sculptures, drawings, modern dance costumes, and well-known Akari Light Sculptures are all on display. The main museum and its Zen-like garden are located at 32-37 Vernon Blvd at Broadway on the East River; call or visit the PLTG for updates. Just upstairs from the current location of the Noguchi Museum, the Museum for African Art (Mon, Thurs & Fri 1000–1700 Hours, Sat & Sun 1100–1700 Hours; 31.50¥; LTG) is a marvelous institution exclusively devoted to historical and contemporary African art.
Lastly, where Broadway and Vernon Boulevard intersect on the shores of the East River, Socrates Sculpture Park (daily 1000– sunset; free; LTG) has been transformed from an illegal dumpsite into one of the city's most distinctive places to view and experience mundane and arcane art, namely large-scale sculptures.
=== Queens Neighborhoods ===
Addisleigh Park AA (Upper Class Area)
Arverne B (Middle Class Commercial)
Astoria Heights E (Slums)
Astoria AA (Upper Class Area)
Auburndale A (Middle Class Residential)
Baisley Park E (Slums)
Bay Terrace A (Middle Class Residential)
Bayside AA (Upper Class Area)
Bayswater B (Middle Class Commercial)
Beechhurst AA (Upper Class Area)
Bellaire AA (Upper Class Area)
Belle Harbor AA (Upper Class Area)
Bellerose AA (Upper Class Area)
Blissville C (Low Class Residential)
Bowery Bay Beach A (Middle Class Residential)
Breezy Point C (Low Class Residential)
Briarwood D (Low Class Commercial Business. Very Poor)
Broad Channel D (Low Class Commercial Business. Very Poor)
Brookville C (Low Class Residential)
Cambria Heights AA (Upper Class Area)
Cedar Manor AA (Upper Class Area)
Clearview B (Middle Class Commercial)
College Point AA (Upper Class Area)
Corona AA (Upper Class Area)
Corona Heights D (Low Class Commercial Business. Very Poor)
Cunningham Heights AA (Upper Class Area)
Ditmars / Steinway A (Middle Class Residential)
Douglas Manor C (Low Class Residential)
Douglaston Hill C (Low Class Residential)
Douglaston C (Low Class Residential)
Dutch Kills A (Middle Class Residential)
East Elmhurst A (Middle Class Residential)
East Flushing AA (Upper Class Area)
Edgemere A (Middle Class Residential)
Electchester AA (Upper Class Area)
Elmhurst D (Low Class Commercial Business. Very Poor) Large Cantonese immigrant zone.
Far Rockaway AA (Upper Class Area)
Floral Park B (Middle Class Commercial)
Flushing C (Low Class Residential) Large immigrant working class wage slave population from Guangzou.
Flushing Heights AA (Upper Class Area) Home to several New York Yakuza Oyabun.
Flushing South B (Middle Class Commercial)
Flushing Suburban C (Low Class Residential)
Forest Hills Gardens (housing development) E (Slums)
Forest Hills D (Low Class Commercial Business. Very Poor)
Fresh Meadows B (Middle Class Commercial)
Garden Bay AA (Upper Class Area)
Glen Oaks E (Slums)
Glendale B (Middle Class Commercial)
Hamilton Beach AA (Upper Class Area)
Hammels A (Middle Class Residential)
Hillcrest A (Middle Class Residential)
Hillcrest Estates E (Slums)
Hilltop Village C (Low Class Residential)
Hollis Hills A (Middle Class Residential)
Hollis E (Slums)
Holliswood D (Low Class Commercial Business. Very Poor)
Howard Beach A (Middle Class Residential)
Howard Park E (Slums)
Hunters Point D (Low Class Commercial Business. Very Poor)
Jackson Heights C (Low Class Residential)
Jamaica C (Low Class Residential)
Jamaica Estates E (Slums)
Jamaica Hills D (Low Class Commercial Business. Very Poor)
Kew Gardens Hills B (Middle Class Commercial)
Kew Gardens A (Middle Class Residential)
Laurelton D (Low Class Commercial Business. Very Poor)
LeFrak City (corporate housing enclave) AA (Upper Class Area)
Linden Hill D (Low Class Commercial Business. Very Poor)
Lindenwood (corporate housing enclave) A (Middle Class Residential)
Long Island City B (Middle Class Commercial)
Little Neck A (Middle Class Residential)
Malba C (Low Class Residential)
Maspeth B (Middle Class Commercial)
Meadowmere E (Slums)
Middle Village C (Low Class Residential)
Morris Park C (Low Class Residential)
Murray Hill C (Low Class Residential)
Neponsit A (Middle Class Residential)
New Howard Beach D (Low Class Commercial Business. Very Poor)
New Hyde Park A (Middle Class Residential)
North Corona B (Middle Class Commercial)
North Flushing D (Low Class Commercial Business. Very Poor)
Oakland Gardens B (Middle Class Commercial)
Old Howard Beach E (Slums)
Ozone Park AA (Upper Class Area)
Pomonok AA (Upper Class Area)
Queens Village E (Slums)
Queensboro Hill D (Low Class Commercial Business. Very Poor)
Queensbridge (housing development) AA (Upper Class Area)
Ramblersville AA (Upper Class Area)
Ravenswood A (Middle Class Residential)
Rego Park AA (Upper Class Area)
Richmond Hill AA (Upper Class Area)
Ridgewood C (Low Class Residential)
Robinwood E (Slums)
Rochdale E (Slums)
Rockaway Beach D (Low Class Commercial Business. Very Poor)
Rockaway Park D (Low Class Commercial Business. Very Poor)
Rockaway Point C (Low Class Residential)
Rockwood Park B (Middle Class Commercial)
Rosedale B (Middle Class Commercial)
Roxbury D (Low Class Commercial Business. Very Poor)
Saint Albans B (Middle Class Commercial)
Seaside E (Slums)
Sommerville AA (Upper Class Area)
South Jamaica AA (Upper Class Area)
South Ozone Park E (Slums)
Springfield Gardens D (Low Class Commercial Business. Very Poor)
Sunnyside Gardens AA (Upper Class Area)
Sunnyside AA (Upper Class Area)
Terrace Heights A (Middle Class Residential)
Trainsmeadow AA (Upper Class Area)
Tudor Village AA (Upper Class Area)
Utopia C (Low Class Residential)
Westmoreland E (Slums)
Whitepot E (Slums)
Whitestone D (Low Class Commercial Business. Very Poor)
Willets Point D (Low Class Commercial Business. Very Poor)
Winfield C (Low Class Residential)
Woodhaven B (Middle Class Commercial)
Woodside AA (Upper Class Area)
== Staten Island ==
{{City=Staten Island (as of 2070)
=1,164,772
=46%
=20%
=17%
=8%
=5%
=3%
=1,447/km2
=30,717¥
=26%
=2%
=44%
=16 per 1,000 per annum
=21
=See individual districts
=See individual districts
=See individual districts
='''Regional Telecomm Grid Access''' NA/UCAS-NC/NYC-SI
}}
Staten Island is quiet and the most suburban (especially in the southern half) in character of The Counties, but has gradually become more integrated with the rest of the city since the opening of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in 1964, an event that caused controversy and even an attempt at secession. Until 2001, Staten Island was the infamous home of the Fresh Kills Park, one of the largest urban parks in the United Canadian and American States.
Until 1964, Staten Island was isolated from the rest of the city – getting here meant a ferry trip or a long ride through New Jersey, and commuting into Manhattan was a bit of a haul. In 1964, Staten Island became part of the city in more than just name when the Varrazano Bridge was built. Then, in 2027, Staten Island, along with Brooklyn, The Bronx, and Queens, in Manhattan inc. v. The State of New York, was forced from New York City.
Upwardly mobile Brooklynites soon found inexpensive property on the island and swarmed over the bridge to buy their parcel of suburbia. Today, Staten Island has swollen to accommodate dense residential neighborhoods amid the rambling greenery and endless backwaters of neat homes.
Without a car, the best way to reach the fifth borough is via the Staten Island Ferry (LTG) which sails from Battery Park around the clock, with departures every 15–20min during rush hours (between 0700–0900 Hours and 1700–1900 Hours), every 30min midday and evenings, and once an hour late at night; on weekend, service is less frequent. Truly New York's best bargain, the ferry gives great wide-angled views of Lower Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty absolutely free. Jack up the optical magnifiers enough, and you can see the gleaming rows of combat choppers.
Once you get to the island, the ferry terminal in which you arrive quickly dispels any romance – though it's easy to escape to the adjoining bus station and catch the , 338 Lighthouse Ave (Wed– Sun 1300–1700 Hours; 26.25¥; LTG). The Center was the Sacred Cow of the Late Inazo Aneki of Renraku.
From Richmond Road, one of Staten Island's main drags, it's just a short walk to Historic Richmond Town (June– Aug Wed– Sat 1000–1700 Hours, Sun 1300–1700 Hours; Sept– May Wed– Sun 1300–1700 Hours; 21.00¥; LTG), where a dozen or so old buildings have been transplanted from their original sites in other areas of Staten Island and grafted onto the village of Richmond, which dates from 1695–1880. Half-hourly tours negotiate the best of these – including the oldest elementary school in the UCAS, a picture-book general store, and the atmospheric Guyon-Lake-Tysen House of 1740. It's all carried off to picturesque effect in rustic surroundings, a mere 19 kilometers from Downtown Manhattan.
=== Staten Island Neighborhoods ===
Arrochar A (Middle Class Residential)
Annadale B (Middle Class Commercial)
Arden Heights E (Slums)
Bay Terrace E (Slums)
Bloomfield E (Slums)
Brighton Heights AA (Upper Class Area)
Bulls Head AA (Upper Class Area)
Caliville E (Slums)
Castleton Corners E (Slums)
Charleston C (Low Class Residential)
Clifton A (Middle Class Residential)
Concord B (Middle Class Commercial)
Dongan Hills AA (Upper Class Area)
Egbertville E (Slums)
Elm Park B (Middle Class Commercial)
Eltingville A (Middle Class Residential)
Emerson Hill C (Low Class Residential)
Fort Wadsworth C (Low Class Residential)
Graniteville B (Middle Class Commercial)
Grant City D (Low Class Commercial Business. Very Poor)
Grasmere B (Middle Class Commercial)
Great Kills C (Low Class Residential)
Greenridge A (Middle Class Residential)
Grymes Hill A (Middle Class Residential)
Heartland Village E (Slums)
Huguenot E (Slums)
Lighthouse Hill A (Middle Class Residential)
Livingston B (Middle Class Commercial)
Manor Heights AA (Upper Class Area)
Mariners Harbor C (Low Class Residential)
Meiers Corners AA (Upper Class Area)
Midland Beach AA (Upper Class Area)
New Brighton B (Middle Class Commercial)
New Dorp B (Middle Class Commercial)
New Springville E (Slums)
Oakwood A (Middle Class Residential)
Ocean Breeze AA (Upper Class Area)
Pleasant Plains AA (Upper Class Area)
Port Ivory A (Middle Class Residential)
Port Richmond E (Slums)
Prince's Bay AA (Upper Class Area)
Randall Manor C (Low Class Residential)
Richmond Valley D (Low Class Commercial Business. Very Poor)
Richmondtown A (Middle Class Residential)
Rosebank AA (Upper Class Area)
Rossville B (Middle Class Commercial)
Rudolph Lake A (Middle Class Residential)
Shore Acres D (Low Class Commercial Business. Very Poor)
Silver Lake A (Middle Class Residential)
South Beach E (Slums)
St. George E (Slums)
Stapleton C (Low Class Residential)
Stapleton Heights E (Slums)
Sunnyside C (Low Class Residential)
Todt Hill AA (Upper Class Area)
Tompkinsville B (Middle Class Commercial)
Tottenville AA (Upper Class Area)
Tottenville Beach E (Slums)
Travis C (Low Class Residential)
Ward Hill A (Middle Class Residential)
Westerleigh C (Low Class Residential)
West New Brighton AA (Upper Class Area)
Willowbrook AA (Upper Class Area)
Woodrow E (Slums)
== Long Island ==
Before you head out here, do your homework and look the part. If you have a meet with a fixer in Amityville and you dress like you’re going to The Hamptons, you’ll get targeted by every street gang in the haunted burg.
If vice-versa, you’ll be gunned down by security at the front gates and your carcass tossed out with last night’s drek.
Just east of New York City, Long Island unfurls for 200 kilometers of once-lush farmland and broad sandy beaches ... now covered with acres of major office blocks, business areas, and upper class residential enclaves, both high rise apartment towers and sprawling palatial houses or gated communities, both with huge lawns.
Sure, there are pockets of poverty and seediness, but aren’t those everywhere? Those places are best missed if you don’t want trouble. But they are few and far between.
Long Island is perhaps best explored as an excursion of a few days from the megalopolis. Its western end is by far more urban and abuts the urban Counties of Brooklyn and Queens, and begins the suburban sprawl of shopping malls and fast-food outlets that continues out to the end of the Island. The north (A) and south shores (B) differ greatly – the former more immediately beautiful, its cliffs topped with luxurious mansions and estates, while the South Shore is fringed by almost continuous sand, interspersed with holiday resorts such as Jones Beach (A) and Fire Island (AA). At its far end, Long Island splits in two, the North Fork (C) retaining a marked rural aspect while the South Fork (A), much of which is known as the Hamptons (AAA), sets itself apart as an enclave of New York's richest and most famous.
The quickest way to reach Long Island is via the reliable if rather worn Long Island Railroad from Penn Station (LTG, LTG), which runs thirty-five routes to over three hundred destinations on Long Island. You can also arrive via ferry from New England Cross Sound Ferry makes the trip from New London, CT, UCAS to Orient Point, Long Island (LTG, LTG). Numerous bus services (operated by the usual major companies, as well as Hampton Jitney; LTG) cover most destinations. Parking permits for most of Long Island's beaches are issued only to local residents, so on the whole it works out to be less expensive to head to the beach on public transport. If you are driving to Long Island, you'll take the Brooklyn– Queens Expressway (the BQE) to I-495 East.
There's plenty of accommodation, listed in the text below; A Reasonable Alternative (117 Spring St, Port Jefferson, NY 11777; LTG) offers a good range of B&B lodging throughout Long Island.
=== The South Shore and Fire Island ===
Long Island's South Shore merges gently with the wild Atlantic, with shallow, creamy sand beaches and rolling dunes – two of the most popular options are Long Beach and Jones Beach, which together run along 80 kilometers of seashore. These get less crowded the further east you go; once you get as far as Gilgo or Oak Beach, or cross the water to Robert Moses State Park, on the western tip of Fire Island, you can find solitude. Long Beach has a die-hard surfer contingent, while just east, Ocean Parkway leads along the narrow offshore strand from Jones Beach to Captree, a good base for fishing expeditions organized by the Captree Boatman's Association (LTG), before crossing back to Bay Shore (AA), a dull town that serves as a ferry terminal for Fire Island. This way you bypass the sprawling mess of Amityville, famous for its "horror" of thirty years ago. The house on the hill, in which a mysterious supernatural force is said to have victimized the occupants, still stands as a private residence.
==== Fire Island (A) ====
Fire Island, a slim spit of land parallel to the South Shore, is in many ways a microcosm of New York City. On summer weekends, half of Manhattan seems to be holed up in its tiny settlements. Though the population is definitely mixed, certain parts of the island are primarily known as gay resorts lesbians, young partiers, and a few older men make for Cherry Grove, and wealthier gay men for The Pines, where the social scene revolves around private house parties as opposed to bars. Ocean Beach has also a lively (straight) nightlife; and Point O'Woods is the most exclusive of the lot. A mixed crowd hangs out in the Sunken Forest (aka Sailor's Haven), so called because it's the only part of the island that lies below sea level – and the pressure, barometric and otherwise, is less intense.
The season is as rigidly defined as the neighborhoods. From Memorial Day onwards, Fire Island hums with activity and is swamped with crowds – though it's always possible to escape for gorgeous wild walks along the sand (there is a national seashore here, with a beautiful restored lighthouse). After Labor Day, the weather may still be very warm, but the throngs diminish dramatically.
Most ferries dock at Ocean Beach, where trippers pile up groceries on trolleys (cars are forbidden) and set off for their vacation pads. Ferry schedules are subject to change; Fire Island Ferries (30–45min; 34¥ one way; LTG) run from Bay Shore, the Sayville Ferry Service (25–45min; 31.50¥ one way; LTG) from Sayville, and the Davis Park Ferries (25–35min; 30¥ one way; LTG, from Patchogue.
All accommodation should be booked well in advance; options include the hopping Grove Hotel, Bayview Walk and Holly Walk, Cherry Grove (LTG; 393.75¥-525¥); Cleggs Hotel, 478 Bayberry Walk, Ocean Beach (open May– Oct only; LTG; 525¥-682.50¥), which, along with regular rooms, offers garden apartments with full kitchens and baths; and the Fire Island Hotel & Resort, at 25 Cayuga Walk. If you'd like to splash out on a meal, try nearby Matthew's, 935 Bay Walk (LTG), for its terrific fish specials for around 147¥. At weekends, the Ice Palace, at the Grove Hotel (LTG), and Flynn's, at 1 Cayuga St in Ocean Beach (LTG), once good for riotous boozing and dancing are now places where those with nuyen rub credsticks and insider info. Download the Fire Island News from a newsstand PLTG node to your PAN and find out what's happening while you're here.
The UCAS military keeps a watchful eye on Long Island through the Ocean Bay Coast Guard Station, which used to be a luxury resort hotel.
=== The North Shore and North Fork ===
Along the rugged North Shore, Long Island drops to the sea in a series of bluffs, coves, and wooded headlands. The expressway beyond Queens leads straight onto the Gold Coast, where Great Neck was F. Scott Fitzgerald's West Egg in The Great Gatsby, home of Gatsby himself. Some of this real estate is so expensive that only the richest of the rich can afford to live here. The motley French Norman -style buildings at Falaise in Sands Point, on the sharp tip of the next peninsula, were once owned by the Guggenheims; they now house a self-celebratory museum (May– Oct Wed– Sun tours hourly 1200–1500 Hours; 31.50¥; LTG). The 328 acres of unkempt parkland offer great views over what Fitzgerald called "the most domesticated body of salt water in the Western hemisphere, the great barnyard of Long Island Sound." In Old Westbury, at 71 Old Westbury Rd, Old Westbury Gardens is a classier attraction a Georgian mansion with beautiful, well-tended gardens and some pleasant works of art, including a few Gainsboroughs (April– Oct daily except Tues 10am–5pm, Nov Sun 1000–1700 Hours; 52.50¥; LTG).
Sagamore Hill, on the coast road in Oyster Bay, just 19 km north of the slums of '''Old Westbury''' (D), is the heavily touristed former country retreat where Teddy Roosevelt lived for thirty-odd years (May– Sept daily 1000–1600 Hours, closed Mon & Tues rest of year; tours only, first-come first-served; 26.25¥; LTG). Its 23 rooms are adorned everywhere with the great man's trophies, sprouting horns from walls or grinning toothily up from the firesides. Within the site, near the parking lot, the Old Orchard Museum (May– Sept 0900–1700 Hours, closed Mon & Tues rest of year; 3¥) recounts Teddy's political and personal life – but the real reason to come is to stroll the gorgeous grounds, open daily dawn to dusk at no charge, where green lawns drop to the public housing of '''Oyster Bay''' (C) and the sea. It's a very pleasant trip altogether, with helpful and knowledgeable tour guides (often Roosevelt descendants) taking you around on 45-minute tours.
Nearby '''Cold Spring Harbor''' (A) grew up as a whaling port, and retains some of its looks. A fully equipped whaleboat and a 400-piece assembly of scrimshaw work help its Whaling Museum (Tues– Sun 1100–1700 Hours; 15¥; LTG) to recapture that era. The Vanderbilt Museum and Planetarium just outside '''Centerport''' (A) (May– Sept Tues– Sat 1000–1700 Hours, Sun 1200–1700 Hours, rest of year Tues– Sun 1200–1700 Hours; 36.75¥ planetarium, 15¥ mansion tour; LTG) displays the dubious taste typical of Vanderbilt residences. In the style of a Baroque Spanish palace, it's heavily ornate both outside and in, with marble-encased galleries, swirling staircases, and gaudy fireplaces.
On the less touristed North Fork – once an independent colony – the scenery is typical of the wild Atlantic coast. In '''Greenport''' (A), its most picturesque town, a clutter of narrow streets and alleys leads down to a harbor pierced by the masts of visiting yachts, where there's a small maritime museum nearby (May– Oct Wed– Mon 1000–1700 Hours; 10.50¥; LTG). Plentiful accommodation includes Victorian B&Bs like the ten-room Bartlett House Inn, 503 Front St (LTG; 525¥-682.50¥), and the waterfront Watson's by the Bay, 104 Bay Ave (May– Sept; no children; LTG; 525¥-682.50¥). Regular ferries connect with Shelter Island and the South Fork every 15 to 30 minutes (pedestrians 5.25¥ each way, cars 51.20¥ round-trip); others cross to New London, CT, UCAS.
=== The South Fork (AAA) ===
The UCAS holds few wealthier quarters than the small towns of Long Island's South Fork, where huge mansions lurk among the trees or stand boldly on the flats behind the dunes. Nowhere is consumption as deliberately conspicuous as in the Hamptons – among the oldest communities in the state, settled by restless New Englanders in the mid-1650s, but relatively isolated until the rich began to turn up in their motorcars. The current generations of high rollers clog the roads in SAAB Dynamits and Rolls Royce Phaetons, and the sidewalks in slow, sauntering processions; pretty as the Hamptons are, avoid them if you are at all antisocial. Nightlife venues are expensive and notoriously changeable; download Dane's Papers or the East Hampton Star to find out what's happening.
=== Southampton (AA) ===
Long association with the smart set has left Southampton unashamedly upper class. Its streets are lined with galleries and clothing and jewelry stores, but the nearby beaches are superb. The visitor center at 76 Main St (Mon– Fri 1000–1600 Hours, Sat & Sun 1100–1600 Hours; LTG) has lists of B&Bs like the charming, slightly out-of-the-way Mainstay, 579 Hill St (LTG; 682.50¥- 840¥). You can get marvelous fresh seafood in a number of restaurants, notably Barrister's, at 36 Main St (LTG), and the venerable brewpub-restaurant Southampton Publick House, at 40 Bowden Square (LTG). Relatively casual nightspots like Southampton Tavern on Tuckahoe Lane nestle down the road from impossibly upscale clubs, like JetSet East on North Sea Road, where super-rich regulars shell out thousands of nuyen to reserve Saturday-night tables.
=== Sag Harbor (A) ===
Historic Sag Harbor, in its heyday a harbor second only to that of New York, was designated first Port of Entry to the New Country by George Washington; the Old Custom House (May– June & Sept– Oct Sat & Sun 1000–1700 Hours; July– Aug daily 1000–1700 Hours; 15.75¥; LTG) dates from this era. The Whaling Museum on Main Street (May– Oct Mon– Sat 1000–1700 Hours, Sun 1300–1700 Hours; Oct– Dec Sat & Sun 1200–1600 Hours; 15.75¥; LTG) commemorates the town's brief whaling days with guns and scrimshaw. Nearby, the First Presbyterian "Old Whalers" Church is crenellated with jutting rows of whale-blubber spades, and beautiful memorials in Oakland Cemetery commemorate deceased young whalers.
In summer, the windmill where John Steinbeck once lived serves as a visitor center (June– Sept daily 1000–1700 Hours, Fri & Sat until 2000 Hours; rest of year Sat & Sun only 1000–1700 Hours; LTG). You can get a nice room at the Baron's Cove Inn, at 31 W Water St (LTG; 393.75¥– 1,050¥), but at the well-heeled American Hotel on Main Street (LTG; 840¥-1,050¥) you can also get a splendid French meal and a good cigar from the hotel's humidor. There are several good, less expensive restaurants along Main Street, such as the superb sushi bar Sen at no. 23 (LTG), which is popular with the Japanese corporate executives from Renraku and Mitsuhama.
=== East Hampton (AAA) and Amagansett (AAA) ===
East Hampton is the trendiest of the Hamptons, filled with the mansions of celebrities like Honey Brighton, Pat Yasuhiro, Maria Mercurial, Harvey Voice of Rivers, Sandra Willowfall, and Walt Whitman – as well as obnoxiously chic shops and restaurants. However, if you're here, it's worth driving or biking around Further Lane, Lily Pond, and some of the other exclusive neighborhoods to catch sight of the spectacular (and highly secured) homes.
Amagansett is a village within East Hampton, and, though crowded in the summer, tends to be more down-to-earth than the rest of town. Note the old shingle homes along quiet leafy side streets and enjoy the lively weekend scene (and fresh muffins) at Farmer's Market, on Main Street. Don't miss the partying at Stephen Screamhouse, 161 Main St, a terrific bar and music joint that draws well-known folk, jazz, and synth-rock performers year-round (LTG).
=== Montauk (AA) ===
Blustery, wind-battered Montauk, beyond Amagansett on the farthest tip of Long Island, never quite made it as a resort; plans to develop it were shattered by the Quake of 2005 and again by the Crash of 2029. The town isn't chic or quaint – but real people actually live here, and it provides access to the rocky resort areas of Montauk Point, whose rare beauty figures in all the tourist brochures. A lighthouse – New York State's oldest, dating from 1796 – forms an almost symbolic finale to this stretch of the UCAS coast.
Motels in the town center offer reasonably priced rooms (a rarity in the eastern end of Long Island); for something fancier, try Gurney's Inn on Old Montauk Highway (LTG; 1,050¥- 1,312.50¥). The ultimate Montauk dining experience is The Lobster Roll, on Montauk Hwy/Rte-27 (technically in Amagansett; LTG), which serves excellent fresh fish, including the eponymous delectation. Other good options include the moderately priced Shagwong on Main Street (LTG) and the delicious sushi at West Lake Clam & Chowder House from the tables here, you can watch the fishermen bring home their catch and have it delivered to you via the kitchen in minutes.
=== Long Island Communities and their Security Ratings (Nassau and Suffolk Counties) ===
Many of these communities were severely damaged by the Quake of 2005. The megacorporations have rebuilt some of them, but, like the Seattle Barrens, others like Baldwin Harbor and Bohemia (though once-fine enclaves) were left to the street drek.
Many of the good little corporate drones who work in Manhattan, Inc. come from out here and many of them live in such corporate enclaves as Brentwood, Atlantic Beach, and Deer Park.
The poorer run-down communities are generally nothing more than metahuman housing projects for Orks and Trolls who can't afford Manhattan, or The Counties, and find New Jersey or Connecticut too far away from the NYC MegaSprawl. Elves tend to live in marginal places Rated B on the Lone Star and Knight Errant security databases. You'll find Dwarves in C Rating places, and mostly Orks and Trolls in D and E Rating places (though there are some exceptions like Bohemia and Ridge... Bohemia being home to some transplanted Romy families from the Czech Republic, and Ridge home to a large Shamanic population). Race doesn't matter as much here, so if you're an Elf or a Human, try befriending some of the Ork and Troll families; give them a break, pay a bill for them, or give them a Thanksgiving dinner. They'll love you.
The AAA-A Rating places are Humans-only, Corporate-only enclaves, except for the A-Rated places where the only metahumans you'll find might be a handful of Elf families.
Nassau County is known for its designer living, chauffeured rotorcraft, and cool places like Roosevelt Field, the Great Neck arcology, the Inwood Combat Zone, and Nassau Coliseum. The pollsters are betting, however, that the whole South Shore is primed for a repeat of the Night of Rage!
Nassau County, is probably more anti-metahuman than Suffolk. No idea why. If I had a guess, it might be the congress-things out there are trying to beat back the urban blight creeping in from parts of The Counties. Unfortunately, they seem to equate metahumans with blight. In Suffolk County, many of the B-C Rated places are also home to Street Witches and Shamans. these places are also rife with Wiz-Kid gangs.
=== Nassau ===
{{City=Nassau County (as of 2070)
=11,420,344
=92%
=1%
=5%
=1%
=1%
=0%
=9,736/km2
=63,000¥
=37%
=3%
=31%
=8 per 1,000 per annum
=37
=See individual districts
=See individual districts
=See individual districts
='''Regional Telecomm Grid Access''' NA/UCAS-NC/NYC-NC
}}
==== Communities ====
'''Atlantic Beach''' AAA (Luxury Enclave. Gated Communities, and High Security. Located on resort barrier island. Atlantic Beach laboratory and research facility. Upscale shopping.)
'''Baldwin''' AA (Upper Class Area Upscale bars and nightclubs, magic shops and high-end Beta-grade body shops, office buildings, high-end shopping, gated communities)
'''Baldwin Harbor''' D (Low Class Commercial empty lots, parking structures, abandoned tenements and squats, factories, old townhome communities. Harbor Pirates turf.)
'''Barnum Island''' A (Middle Class Residential Parks, Boutiques, Salons, Clothing Stores and Alpha-Grade Body Shops, Post Offices and New York State Office Buildings, Social Services Offices, Streetdoc Black Clinics, blocks of Townhomes)
'''Baxter Estates''' A (Middle Class Residential Undergoing a period of gentrification ... Social Services Offices, Factories, Abandoned Tenements and Squats, Empty lots, Streetdoc Black Clinics, Homes and Townhomes)
'''Bayville''' A (Middle Class Residential Clinics and large hospitals, LIRR monorail stop, fire stations and police stations, 5-20 story condo towers, gated communities, upper-class hotels)
'''Bellmore''' AAA (Luxury Enclave. Corporate housing enclaves, multiplex apartments, Bayville Public Library, Grocery, Electronics and Media Stores, Corporate Training Facilities and Schools, Industrial Complexes)
Bethpage (This hamlet is shared with the Town of Oyster Bay.) C (Lower Class Residential)
Brookville AA (Upper Class Area) Extremely high-priced suburban homes. Quiet bedroom community.
Cedarhurst B (Middle Class Commercial Area) Middle and Lower Class residential zones surrounding commercial areas with numerous small restaurants offering a variety of cuisines.
Centre Island A (Middle Class Residential Area)
Cove Neck AA (Upper Class Area)
East Hills (This village is shared with the Town of Oyster Bay.) AAA (Luxury Enclave)
East Massapequa AA (Upper Class Area)
East Meadow A (Middle Class Residential Area)
East Norwich D (Low Class Commercial)
East Rockaway C (Low Class Residential)
East Williston AAA (Luxury Enclave) Luxury condo-towers and businesses. Designer shopping and entertainment.
Elmont AA (Upper Class Area) Upper Class residential and office neighborhoods.
Farmingdale B (Middle Class Commercial) Middle class apartment blocks surrounding commercial centers and an LIRR maglev stop. Artists' district, lore stores.
Floral Park (This village is shared with the Town of North Hempstead.) B (Middle Class Commercial)
Flower Hill D (Low Class Commercial)
Franklin Square D (Low Class Commercial)
Freeport D (Low Class Commercial)
Garden City (This village is shared with the Town of North Hempstead.) D (Low Class Commercial)
Garden City South D (Low Class Commercial)
Glen Head AA (Upper Class Area)
Glenwood Landing (part) C (Low Class Residential)
Great Neck B (Middle Class Commercial Area)
Great Neck Estates D (Low Class Commercial)
Great Neck Plaza D (Low Class Commercial)
Greenvale (part) D (Low Class Commercial)
Hempstead (village) AA (Upper Class Area)
Hewlett Bay Park AAA (Luxury Enclave) Plush lawns, and even plusher mansions for corporate officers who don't want to live in Manhattan or The Counties.
Hewlett Harbor AAA (Luxury Enclave) Luxury residences and businesses.
Hewlett Neck D (Low Class Commercial)
Hicksville D (Low Class Commercial)
Island Park B (Middle Class Commercial)
Jericho E (Slum)
Kensington B (Middle Class Commercial)
Kings Point AA (Upper Class Area)
Lake Success AAA (Luxury Enclave) The land of the corporate elite. Lake Success sports plush mansions, chauffeured rotorcraft and tons of designer living. Security is top-notch.
Lakeview AA (Upper Class Area)
Lattingtown D (Low Class Commercial)
Laurel Hollow AAA (Luxury Enclave)
Lawrence D (Low Class Commercial)
'''Levittown''' B (Middle Class Commercial) Levittown gets its name from its builder, the firm of Levitt & Sons, Inc., which built it as a planned community 130 years ago. Levittown was the first truly mass-produced suburb and is widely regarded as the archetype for postwar suburbs throughout the country. Today, Levittown is a gated community whose residents work at the local industrial plant and shop at one of the many low budget automated strip malls.
Lido Beach AAA (Luxury Enclave)
Locust Valley A (Middle Class Residential Area)
Lynbrook B (Middle Class Commercial)
Malverne D (Low Class Commercial)
Malverne Park Oaks A (Middle Class Residential Area)
Manhasset B (Middle Class Commercial)
Manorhaven D (Low Class Commercial)
'''Massapequa''' C (Low Class Residential) Once a suburban area of some degree of affluence, Massapequa had succumbed to the spread of the urban ghetto. Today, Massapequa is a Dwarven ghetto full of lower class housing blocks, run down shops, and crumbling streets. A few gangs to keep away from The Buzzsaws, Four-wheelers, and Warhammer.
'''Massapequa Park''' D (Low Class Commercial) Massapequa Park is like Massapequa, but worse. The housing projects are towering monoliths of crumbling urban blight housing the area's Orks and Trolls. The Orks and Trolls fight with the Dwarfs as much as they fight with each other. Some gangs to look out for Bash, the Spikes, the Horned Skulls.
Matinecock D (Low Class Commercial)
Merrick B (Middle Class Commercial)
Mill Neck D (Low Class Commercial)
Mineola (This village is shared with the Town of North Hempstead.) B (Middle Class Commercial)
Munsey Park D (Low Class Commercial)
Muttontown D (Low Class Commercial)
New Hyde Park (This village is shared with the Town of North Hempstead.) B (Middle Class Commercial)
North Bellmore D (Low Class Commercial)
North Hills B (Middle Class Commercial)
North Massapequa AAA (Luxury Enclave)
North Merrick D (Low Class Commercial)
Oceanside D (Low Class Commercial)
Old Bethpage B (Middle Class Commercial)
Old Brookville D (Low Class Commercial)
Old Westbury (This village is shared with the Town of Oyster Bay.) D (Low Class Commercial)
Oyster Bay C (Low Class Residential)
Oyster Bay Cove AAA (Luxury Enclave)
Plainedge AA (Upper Class Area)
Plainview B (Middle Class Commercial)
Plandome B (Middle Class Commercial)
Plandome Heights D (Low Class Commercial)
Plandome Manor D (Low Class Commercial)
Point Lookout D (Low Class Commercial)
Port Washington A (Middle Class Residential Area)
Port Washington North AA
Rockville Centre A (Middle Class Residential Area)
Roosevelt A (Middle Class Residential Area)
Roslyn D (Low Class Commercial)
Roslyn Estates C (Low Class Residential)
Roslyn Harbor (This village is shared with the Town of North Hempstead.) D (Low Class Commercial)
Russell Gardens AAA (Luxury Enclave)
Saddle Rock AAA (Luxury Enclave)
Salisbury C (Low Class Residential)
Sands Point AA (Upper Class Area)
Sea Cliff AAA (Luxury Enclave)
Seaford AA (Upper Class Area)
South Farmingdale C (Low Class Residential)
South Floral Park D (Low Class Commercial)
South Hempstead A (Middle Class Residential Area)
Stewart Manor D (Low Class Commercial)
Syosset D (Low Class Commercial)
Thomaston AA (Upper Class Area)
Uniondale D (Low Class Commercial)
Upper Brookville D (Low Class Commercial)
Valley Stream C (Low Class Residential)
Wantagh A (Middle Class Residential Area)
West Hempstead D (Low Class Commercial)
Westbury A (Middle Class Residential Area)
Williston Park D (Low Class Commercial)
Woodbury AAA (Luxury Enclave)
Woodmere D (Low Class Commercial)
Woodsburgh AAA (Luxury Enclave)
=== Suffolk ===
{{City=Suffolk County (as of 2070)
=16,252,002
=56%
=20%
=15%
=5%
=3%
=1%
=2,644/km2
=90,000¥
=35%
=3%
=64%
=3 per 1,000 per annum
=67
=See individual districts
=See individual districts
=See individual districts
='''Regional Telecomm Grid Access''' NA/UCAS-NC/NYC-SC
}}
Suffolk County is home to many back-to-landers and eco-freaks. Shamanic groups are mega out here. The Bear Doctor's Society and the Children of the Dragon are the biggest out here. The DIMR also has a presence here.
That's not to say there is no megacorp influence. There is. The two big influences are Aerospace (Ares), and Biotech (Brookhaven headed listen up all you Shadowrunners! by Shiawase, Yamatetsu, Telestrian, Proteus, Transys, and AG Chemie Europa), and they go at it every day. There is no shortage of megacorp backstabbing out here, almost more than there is in Manhattan, Inc.
Long Island MacArthur Airport to the west of Brookhaven is a small airport serving the wealthy corporate communities out here. Here, teams of luxury Rolls Royce Phaeton and Toyota Elite limos fill the Arrivals and Departures driveways. MacArthur Airport handles HCST craft and VTOL/VSTOL commuter service to different points throughout the East Coast Megasprawl for corporate clientele. Sorry, no semi-ballistic or suborbital service here.
MacArthur's a good alternative to Kennedy for wealthy sararimen. Wage Slaves often have to do Kennedy and can't afford LIMA. Aircraft out of LIMA focuses on North American domestic flights to other corporate destinations such as Boston, Chicago, Dallas ... or even as far as Seattle, which offers connections to the Far East. Flights to/from MacArthur also have common destinations to DeeCee (BWI, Tommy, and National), Philly, JFK, LaGuardia, Newark, Atlantic City, Hartford/Providence, Albany, Buffalo, Toronto, Montreal, Quebec City. MacArthur also has connecting service to other major cities throughout the UCAS, the CAS, California Free State, Pueblo, and the Salish-Shidhe. Travel from MacArthur to Tir Tairngire, Denver, and the Sioux Nation, however, will require months of paper work processing, even for corporate citizens. Tir Tairngire's the worst (even though their borders are supposedly opened).
Since most corporate citizens would prefer to arrive well in advance of their flights when schedules permit, several luxury hotels immediately surrounding the airport have been designed to cater to their corporate travelers' every whim and need. The Long Island Hyatt, Townline Marriott, the Hilton Gardens, Long Island Holiday Inn, and the Ronkonkoma Marriott are but a few Luxury hotels. Electric trams shuttle guests/passengers to/from the airport and their respective hotel.
Security is tight at the airport(AAA), maintained by NYPD Inc., Winter Systems, and Knight-Errant. Word to the wise watch your P's and Q's. Any outrageous behavior is certain to draw the attention of the airport cops. These boys and girls are no one to play with! Cybered to the max with teams of security mages and security hackers, they are prepared for anything. Just ask the fragger last week who thought he'd be cute and argue with the agent behind the glass about some upgrade. The minute his hand started glowing, he was floppin' around on the floor like a fish. Seems a mage hit him with a paralyzing spell so the security officers could take the man in. The hacker that was supposed to deck into the airport's PLTG node got a dose of psychotropic IC fed into her brain and now is learning to appreciate the taste of soy-tapioca. She'll probably regain the use of her limbs in about 6 months.
Word to the wise make sure your cyberware, bioware, and magic foci are legal so the guys and gals in uniform don't have to ask you any unnecessary questions.
There is really no bias here, though Trolls and Orks get screened more often than do Humans, Elves, or Dwarves. However, Elves are generally thought to be tricksters (often being blamed for things they didn't do and for having motivations they did not carry) but are generally much-loved; Dwarfs tended to be regarded as having extreme cases of a Napoleonic Complex (maybe it's because they are generally treated as children for some reason), but are generally regarded as hard-working. Changelings are often given special treatment ... not out of bias, but more-so out of the airlines corps' not wanting to be found liable for not attending to the special biological needs of some Changelings ... like that guy last week who needed to keep his skin moist, lest the air dry it out. It seems that when he changed, he took on a marked Osteichthyic trait where, back when he changed, his skin became scaly and needed to retain a constant high-level of moisture or he would die. The flight attendants were never told of this, and the man almost died in-flight. The airline lost the case, but appealed to the Corporate Court and won.
For those sararimen who wish to keep their travels un-tracked or who are on a budget, the LIRR, or the many expressways that feed into the airport, are the way to get to MacArthur. Much to the chagrin of the taxi companies, when the megacorps rebuilt New York, they decided it would be more convenient for there to be a direct link to the airport from the LIRR. So, they built a maglev people mover that runs an underground loop from the Ronkonkoma LIRR maglev stop to the terminal and back. There are three types of passes a daily, a weekly, and a monthly. The cost is 3¥ for a daily tram pass. 25¥ for a weekly tram pass. 80¥ for a monthly tram pass.
The communities surrounding the airport have been designated housing enclaves for MacArthur and airline employees. The Orks and Trolls who work security generally live in places like Bohemia, Center Moritches, Centereach, and Commack. Dwarfs, who fill most of the mechanic positions at the airport and for the airlines, live in places like Brookhaven, Central Islip, Hauppauge, and Smithtown. The Elven ticket agents and customer service agents live in places like Holtsville, Centerport, Mastic, and Stony Brook (though many Elves commute in from Manhattan, Inc. or one of The Counties). The Human ticket agents, customer service agents, and supervisors generally live in wealthier places like Islandia, Islip Terrace, Lake Ronkonkoma, Ronkonkoma, Sayville, and West Islip. The managers live in the wealthiest, and most secure, luxury enclaves on the Island Brentwood, Deer Park, East Islip, Holbrook, Islip, New Suffolk, West Babylon, and West Sayville.
===== Communities =====
'''Amagansett''' AAA (Luxury Enclave) A popular resort location, many famous people have resided in or owned second homes in Amagansett through the years.
'''Amityville''' E (Slum) Amityville is best known as the setting of the resurrected simsense feature ''The Amityville Terror'' by sim director Clement Carlozzi which was published in 2047, and has spawned a series of sims made between 2049 and 2075. The story of ''The Amityville Terror'' can be traced back to a real life murder case in Amityville in November 1974, when Ronald DeFeo, Jr. shot dead six members of his family at 112 Ocean Avenue. In December 1975 George and Kathy Lutz and their three children moved into 112 Ocean Avenue but left after twenty-eight days, claiming to have been terrorized by paranormal phenomena produced by the house. Clement Carlozzi's simsense, taking place after the return of Haley’s Comet, is said to be based on these events but has been the subject of much controversy, by alleging the Shedim, ghosts, and specters had actually been present 100 years before the Awakening. The house featured in the original simsense and its predecessors still exist, but have been renovated and the address changed in order to discourage tourists from visiting it.
Word has it, the simsense was based on a novel written 100 years ago.
Otherwise, little remains of the once-quaint town. After the Night of Rage tore through New York City and its suburbs, Amityville was one of the places the Orks and Trolls gathered together for safety. Still, several were injured and killed at the hands of angry, frightened xenophobic humans who chased them into the town. The entire area was looted and vandalized. The County authorities had abandoned Amityville to its fate, only building housing towers to house the metahumans to keep the Feds and State officials off their backs. Inside deals and sweetheart connections ensured the metahumans’ housing would just meet New York State and UCAS Federal housing code standards.
As if the simsense was a reflection of reality, after Haley’s Comet, the housing projects were infested with Shedim. SWAT Team Combat Mages, New York State, and Suffolk County DPI Combat Mages have since neutralized the problem.
A gang problem does exist here … you can see it in the gang scrawl covering the abandoned buildings, the squatter shacks, and power plants. There are too many gangs here to list, but you have the Skulls (an Ork gang) fighting the Tuskers (a Troll gang), and the Bloodaxes (a Human white supremacist gang) fighting the Latin Kings.
'''Aquebogue''' C (Low Class Residential)Aquebogue is a labor neighborhood in the northeast part of the Riverhead District. Aquebogue is part of Long Island's North Fork wine region and is home to such wineries as Paumanouk Vineyards. Metahuman and immigrant workers from Aztlan, the NAN, and Quebec subsist on the labor they perform in the fields.
And by labor, I mean maintaining and running the harvesting drones that supply nutrients to the fields. They live in pre-fab homes cheaply built by the megacorps whose subsidiaries own these fields.
'''Asharoken''' AAA (Luxury Enclave) This is where the crime bosses of Huntington live behind their made men and electrified razor wire. Within this oasis among the blight of Huntington are green lawns, large palatial homes, and enough deviant pleasures a crime boss could buy.
'''Babylon''' B (Middle Class Commercial) Lower- and middle-class housing is clustered around the LIRR stop and commercial centers here. Several Metahuman Policlubs are active here.
'''Baiting Hollow''' AAA (Luxury Enclave) Mansions, secured and gated communities, luxury condo towers.
'''Bay Shore''' AAA (Luxury Enclave) Several attempts were made at suburban regeneration from the 1960s through the 1990s, however none came to fruition. One of those plans was an attempt to realign Montauk Highway onto two parallel two-lane one way streets, leaving downtown Main Street for pedestrians only. A planned aquarium appeared to have fallen through along with many other invigorating ideas. However, since The Leveling, efforts seem to have been having a significant positive effect finally; a former YMCA was rebuilt and expanded into an attractive simsense theater. Redeveloping Main Street was a focal point and efforts included the new sidewalks, antique streetlights, new landscaping, and the rebirth of the parks. More importantly on Main Street was the occupancy of storefronts with many new high-end restaurants, clothing stores, and the feel of an old-fashioned village. It began drawing a more upscale clientele and gradually spreading from west to east leading to Bay Shore's revival.
South of Main Street lies an area of estates and other large homes. Oconee Estates is the most well-known estate section in Bay Shore; yet as grand and elaborate as the homes are, they are not as opulent as many of the estates elsewhere in this District. The average Bay Shore estate is roughly 2,350 sq meters.
Awixa Avenue is known for its historic homes, like The W.H. Wray House, The Awixa Castle, The Hulse House (which has regentrified), The Guastavino Tile House, and one of the former homes of Zsa Zsa Gabor.
On the North side of town was an area of rundown housing near the railroad that was torn down and replaced with upscale town houses for corporate salarymen and their families. Some other of the smaller, older housing stock in the northern part of the District has attracted a wealthy and eccentric artist community.
Bayport B (Middle Class Commercial)
Baywood D (Low Class Commercial) high percentage of Ork and Troll residents.
Belle Terre A (Middle Class Residential)
Bellport AAA (Luxury Enclave) Exclusive homes, small and unassuming, but very, very expensive and very, very well-guarded.
Blue Point D(Low Class Commercial)
Bohemia D (Low Class Commercial)
Brentwood AAA (Luxury Enclave)
Bridgehampton A (Middle Class Residential)
Brightwaters AA (Upper Class Area)
'''Brookhaven''' C (Low Class Residential) This area is very overcrowded with a lot of corporate eggheads working special secret projects for Brookhaven National Labs. The Labs comprise the only top-500 firm in the area. The site and the nearby residential areas are all part of the BNL's corporate sector. Security is stringent (AA). Beyond this area, the Brookhaven District descends quickly into lower class residential housing blocks and blighted residential towers.
Calverton AA (Upper Class Area)
Center Moriches D(Low Class Commercial) Labor neighborhood with a high percentage of Ork and Troll residents surrounding run-down business districts.
Centereach D(Low Class Commercial) Labor neighborhood with a high percentage of Ork and Troll residents surrounding run-down business districts.
Centerport A (Middle Class Residential) Upper and Upper Middle Class residential district.
Central Islip C(Low Class Residential) Lower class residential and business districts.
Cherry Grove (a.k.a. Fire Island) A Middle and Upper Middle Class resort area and residential district.
Cold Spring Harbor A(Middle Class Residential)
Commack D(Low Class Commercial) Labor neighborhood with a high percentage of Ork and Troll residents surrounding run-down business districts.
Copiague D(Low Class Commercial) Lower Class business and residential areas.
Copiague Harbor D(Low Class Commercial) Severely depressed residential, warehouse, and light industrial district.
Coram A (Middle Class Residential) Middle Class residences, medium office district.
Cutchogue AA (Upper Class Area) High-security corp facilities and their employee residences.
Deer Park AAA(Luxury Enclave) Expensive estates for corporate officers.
Dering Harbor C (Low Class Residential) Lower Class residential and business districts.
Dix Hills AA (Upper Class Area) Extremely high-priced homes, shops, clubs, and other high-priced consumer businesses galore.
East Farmingdale AA (Upper Class Area) Upper Class residences, high priced shops, restaurants, and clubs.
East Hampton AAA(Luxury Enclave) High class living, palatial homes and multi-million nuyen estates.
East Islip AAA(Luxury Enclave) High class living, low-rise luxury condo towers and office blocks.
East Marion AAA(Luxury Enclave) High class living, high-rise luxury condo towers and office blocks.
East Moriches A (Middle Class Residential) Middle Class bedroom community.
East Northport D(Low Class Commercial) Run-down business district.
East Patchogue D(Low Class Commercial) Run-down business district.
East Quogue D(Low Class Commercial) Run-down business district.
East Setauket D(Low Class Commercial) Run-down business district.
East Shoreham AAA(Luxury Enclave)
Eastport D(Low Class Commercial) Run-down business district.
Eatons Neck C(Low Class Residential)
Elwood D (Low Class Commercial) Run-down business district.
Farmingville C(Low Class Residential)
Fire Island Pines D(Low Class Commercial)
Fishers Island AA (Upper Class Area)
Flanders D(Low Class Commercial) Run-down business district.
Fort Salonga D (Low Class Commercial) Run-down business district.
Gilgo-Oak Beach-Captree D(Low Class Commercial) Run-down business district.
Gordon Heights D(Low Class Commercial) Run-down business district.
Great River D(Low Class Commercial) Run-down business district.
Greenlawn D(Low Class Commercial) Run-down business district.
Greenport A (Middle Class Residential)
Greenport West D (Low Class Commercial) Run-down business district.
Halesite D(Low Class Commercial) Run-down business district.
Hampton Bays AAA(Luxury Enclave) High-priced estates for corporate and underworld bosses.
Hauppauge C(Low Class Residential) Low Class business and residential districts.
Head of the Harbor D(Low Class Commercial)
Holbrook AAA(Luxury Enclave) The land of upper management, this is an area of luxury gated communities and townhomes with land valued at thousands of nuyen per square meter.
Holtsville B(Middle Class Commercial)
Huntington D(Low Class Commercial) Run-down business district.
Huntington Bay D(Low Class Commercial) Run-down business district.
Huntington Station D (Low Class Commercial) Run-down business district.
Islandia AA (Upper Class Area) This is something of an economic cross-section. Mixed together are several upper-middle and upper-class apartment buildings and shopping complexes.
Islip AAA (Luxury Enclave) Islip is more residential than Islip Terrace or Islandia, and more expensive.
Islip Terrace AA (Upper Class Area) Upper-class apartments and shopping complexes.
Jamesport AA (Upper Class Area) High-priced shopping and expensive residential areas.
Kings Park AA (Upper Class Area)
Lake Grove D(Low Class Commercial) Public Housing towers with a large Ork/Troll community.
Lake Ronkonkoma AA (Upper Class Area)
Laurel AA (Upper Class Area)
Lindenhurst D (Low Class Commercial)
Lloyd Harbor A (Middle Class Residential)
Manorville AAA (Luxury Enclave) Acres of estates cover this area, each divided by quaint gates and sensor arrays.
Mastic A (Middle Class Residential) Major business and Upper Middle Class residential areas.
Mastic Beach B(Middle Class Commercial)
Mattituck D(Low Class Commercial) Public Housing towers with a large Ork/Troll community.
Medford C (Low Class Residential) Public Housing towers with a large Dwarven community.
Melville D (Low Class Commercial) Public Housing towers with a large Ork/Troll community.
Middle Island C (Low Class Residential) Public Housing towers with a large Dwarven community.
Miller Place D(Low Class Commercial) Public Housing towers with a large Ork/Troll community.
Montauk AA (Upper Class Area) Located at the end of the island, Montauk is an Upper Class resort area popular with corporate middle and upper management and their families.
Moriches C (Low Class Residential) Public Housing towers with a large Dwarven community.
Mount Sinai C (Low Class Residential) Public Housing towers with a large Dwarven community. Mt Sinai Hospital. DIMR community outreach centers.
Napeague C (Low Class Residential) Public Housing towers with a large Ork/Troll community.
Nesconset D(Low Class Commercial) Public Housing towers with a large Ork/Troll community.
New Suffolk AAA(Luxury Enclave) Gates estates.
Nissequogue B(Middle Class Commercial) Public Housing towers with a large Elven community.
North Amityville D(Low Class Commercial) Public Housing towers with a large Ork/Troll community.
North Babylon D(Low Class Commercial) Run-down business district.
North Bay Shore D(Low Class Commercial) Run-down business district.
North Bellport D(Low Class Commercial) Run-down business district.
North Great River D(Low Class Commercial) Run-down business district.
North Haven C (Low Class Residential) Depressed Dwarf community.
North Lindenhurst D(Low Class Commercial) Run-down business district.
North Patchogue AAA(Luxury Enclave) Luxury housing enclave.
North Sea AA (Upper Class Area) Luxury condo towers.
Northampton D(Low Class Commercial) Public Housing towers with a large Ork/Troll community.
Northport B (Middle Class Commercial) Local sea shaman community.
Northville D(Low Class Commercial) Depressed Ork/Troll community.
Northwest Harbor C (Low Class Residential)
Noyack D (Low Class Commercial) Depressed Ork/Troll community.
Oakdale D (Low Class Commercial) Public Housing towers with a large Ork/Troll community. "Orkdale".
Ocean Beach D(Low Class Commercial) Public Housing towers for Ork/Troll community lining the polluted shoreline.
Old Field D(Low Class Commercial) Ork/Troll labor neighborhoods.
Orient AA (Upper Class Area) Luxury estates.
Patchogue C (Low Class Residential) Public Housing towers with a large Dwarven community.
Peconic C (Low Class Residential) Public Housing towers with a large Dwarven community.
Poquott D(Low Class Commercial) Public Housing towers with a large Ork/Troll community.
Port Jefferson C (Low Class Residential) Lower Class residential and business districts.
Port Jefferson Station D(Low Class Commercial) Public Housing towers with a large Ork/Troll community.
Quioque (Quiogue) D(Low Class Commercial) Public Housing towers with a large Ork/Troll community.
Quogue D (Low Class Commercial) Run-down business district.
Remsenburg AAA(Luxury Enclave) Luxury estates.
'''Ridge''' C (Low Class Residential) Ridge is an area of warehouses, 5-20 story condos, and hospitals located at the northwestern end of the Long Island Pine Barrens Region and is referred to by a sign in the center of town as the "Gateway to the Pine Barrens." Many of the physicians at the Ridge Medical Center Complex are shamans from around the globe following the Mentor Spirits of Snake and Bear, while others are Druids who follow the Mentor Spirits of Ishtar, Ra, Vishnu, Amaterasu, Freya, Damballa, Great Mother, Lugh, Ti-Tsang Wang, Apollo, Artemis, Phoenix, and Sun.
The Pine Barrens is now an area devoted to the Medicine Lodges of the physician shamans working at the medical complex. This is where they conjure spirits of the Land, Skies, and Waters to heal those who can afford their services. Guardian spirits and elementals guard this large tract of forest and swamp land. Many of the urban-oriented shamans have their Shamanic Lodges in the condoplex enclaves or the medical complex. Shiawase and Evo Corporation both own facilities in the complex. Word on the street is the DIMR is secretly running tests at the Ridge complex and need shadowrunners to keep their op hush-hush, to ferret out secrets of the megacorps, or to confirm whether or not Telestrian Biotech, the Elven corp from Tir Tairngire, is maneuvering to pull the rug out from under Shiawase and Evo.
Riverhead A (Middle Class Residential) A resort community for the average American family. This is a home away from home for the Upper Middle Class from the megaplex.
Riverside C (Low Class Residential) Public Housing towers with a large Dwarf community.
Rocky Point D(Low Class Commercial) Public Housing towers with a large Ork/Troll community.
Ronkonkoma AA (Upper Class Area) This is where the LIRR stop is for MacArthur Airport. Ultra Secure and expensive. The shops here satisfy the expensive tastes of their clientele.
Sag Harbor A (Middle Class Residential) Middle Class residential community.
Sagaponack C (Low Class Residential) Public Housing towers with a large Dwarf community.
Saltaire AAA(Luxury Enclave) Exclusive estates.
Sayville AA (Upper Class Area) Upper Class residential and office neighborhoods.
Selden C (Low Class Residential)
Setauket AA (Upper Class Area) Upper Class residential and office neighborhoods.
Shelter Island B (Middle Class Commercial)
Shelter Island Heights AAA(Luxury Enclave) This island is an exclusive island of estates and luxury condominiums.
'''Shinnecock Hills''' D(Low Class Commercial) The natives still live here and the UCAS don't like that one bit. Shinnecock Hills is a depressed commercial area of gun shops, liquor stores (fronts for BTLs and other illegal chips), and pawn shops selling fake magical native American kitche, cannibalized electronics. Surrounding these shops are sprawling communities of pre-fab housing and squatter shacks. A gang called The First Nations prowls the area demanding tribute payments from the poor residents in exchange for protection and contraband.
Shirley AAA(Luxury Enclave) Luxury estates.
Shoreham AAA(Luxury Enclave) Luxury estates.
Smithtown C (Low Class Residential) Lower Class residential areas surrounding a run-down business district with lore stores, pawn shops, and small ethnic restaurants.
Southampton AA (Upper Class Area)
Southold (town) B(Middle Class Commercial)
Sound Beach C (Low Class Residential)
South Huntington D(Low Class Commercial)
Speonk AA (Upper Class Area) Luxury housing enclave. Exclusive shoppingplexes.
Springs D(Low Class Commercial) Public Housing towers with a large Ork/Troll community.
St. James D(Low Class Commercial) Public Housing towers with a large Ork/Troll community.
Stony Brook A (Middle Class Residential)
Terryville AAA(Luxury Enclave) Luxury resort community.
Tuckahoe C (Low Class Residential) Large shaman population. Lore stores in the historic district.
Village of the Branch AA (Upper Class Area)
Wading River D(Low Class Commercial) Lower class shamanic zone.
Wainscott D(Low Class Commercial) Severely depressed residential zone.
Water Mill (Watermill) A (Middle Class Residential)
West Babylon AAA(Luxury Enclave)
West Bay Shore D(Low Class Commercial) Run down business area.
West Gilgo Beach A (Middle Class Residential) Resort area.
West Hampton Dunes (Westhampton Dunes) AA (Upper Class Area)
West Hills D(Low Class Commercial)
West Islip AA (Upper Class Area) Upper Middle and Middle Class residential areas.
West Sayville AAA(Luxury Enclave) Upper Middle Class residential and business areas.
Westhampton AA (Upper Class Area) Luxury resort. Exclusive and expensive estates.
Westhampton Beach AA (Upper Class Area) Luxury resort.
Wheatley Heights D(Low Class Commercial) Public Housing towers with a large Ork/Troll community.
Wyandanch D (Low Class Commercial) Public Housing towers with a large Ork/Troll community.
Yaphank D(Low Class Commercial) Public Housing towers with a large Ork/Troll community.
==Economy==
Williams Technologies Headquarters {{src}} p.72
==References==
''portions of this article forked from the New York City entry of the Wikipedia''
==Index==
*{{src}}, 118-120 "Company Towns Manhattan"
*{{src}}, 4
*{{src}}
*{{src}}, 2
*{{src}}, 2
*{{srcx}} {{src}}, 127
*{{src}}, 173-174
*{{src}}
*{{srcx}} {{src}}
*{{src}}, 72
*{{src}}, 115-127
*{{src}}
*{{src}}, 2
*{{src}}
==External links==
{{wikipedia}}
CategoryPotentially NonCanonCategoryCities
CategoryCities (North America)
CategoryCities (UCAS)
deNew York City
plNowy Jork (miasto)
frManhattan