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I was always told that New York City was a cold place, both literally and figuratively. But when I went there, the air was hot and the people were warm—just seconds after my arrival, as I was making my way up the stairs from the metro onto the street, I saw a guy a few rows ahead of me carrying two big suitcases in each hand. Out of nowhere, two other men showed up by his sides, lifted the suitcases for him, and, after they reached the top together, simply let go and wished him a nice day. Luckily for me, most of my visit felt like that small moment of kindness. I don’t know if that’s what the city is like, but that’s what it can be—and how I will remember it.
I believe that it’s worth seeing your surroundings through the eyes of a tourist: no established routines or old grudges to influence your judgment, just an entirely clear slate. It can really put things into perspective—the good, but maybe also the bad, if the comments are made honestly. So when someone on Reddit asked non-New Yorkers who had visited the city what the weirdest thing about it was that locals don’t even realize, the responses quickly poured in. After all, the Big Apple welcomes more than 50 million travelers every year.
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#1
The weirdest thing about it is that's it's not as weird as US citizens paint it to be.
i'm from south america and grew up watching shows that feed the stereotype of new yorkers being rude and always in a rush. i was shocked to find that it was quite the opposite, in my experience.
ppl are wayyyyyy nicer than they are here. y'all love small talk and telling me about your life. a man saw me struggling to use my metrocard and scanned his phone to pay for my ticket. two ladies walked with me down fifth avenue when i asked for directions. a barista gave me a discount on my coffee just because, and so on.
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#2
Scaffolding literally everywhere, for no apparent reason.
#3
I love NYC but always feels like I'm on a film set since I know what NYC looks like mostly through films and TV, it's quite surreal.
The steam coming out of the vents in the road always freak me out too. I still don't know what they're for 😂.
Barong 1 hour ago
New York has a steam system. They sell steam just like other utilities like water, natural gas, and electricity. They are used to heat homes and provide steam for some cooking equipment in commercial kitchens.i worked in restaurants and we had steam jacketed kettles powered by municipal steam rather than a boiler in the building. It would heat up soup in minutes. The steam chimney pictured is used to bleed off excess steam.
#4
How insanely convenient everything is in New York compared to other cities. Being able to walk to everything is insane compared to the rest of the country. The things you can access with a short walk would be a drive or a very long hike everywhere else.
#5
People basically getting bumped by cars as they cross the street and their reaction is to slap the car.
#6
I traveled to New York a lot for work a few years ago. Everyone in New York just kind of has a base assumption that everyone either lives in New York or wishes they did. They'd ask when I was moving there the same way people ask newlyweds when they're going to have a baby. All I had to do was tell them what I paid for rent in Wisconsin and the conversation would end pretty quickly.
#7
Just how international it is. A lot of New Yorkers truly don't stop and think of just how lucky they are to live in a city that's basically a nonstop world's fair. I thought Washington DC and Chicago were international, but it's NOTHING compared to New York City.
Practically every commercial street has restaurants or grocery stores (Korean markets, Jewish/Israeli kosher markets, Arab halal markets, etc) that don't even have any English on their signs. Even in other fairly international US cities like Washington DC, it's rare that they won't even include English on their signs.
#9
The honking. Yes, there's cars everywhere, why are we honking? Not helpful.
#10
A man collapsed on the ground in front of me as I was on my way to catch a Flix Bus back home out of the city.
Not a single person stopped. Not one but his friend was staring absentmindedly down at him.
I called 911, happened to have food prep gloves and got the guy on his side and within about 2 seconds he began to vomit profusely. Clearly would have choked on his vomit. NYPD & FCPD shows up asks how I know him (don’t obv) and they just take him away.
Some people had been watching and someone told me I saved the guys life. Another said he was “glad to see there are still good New Yorkers.”
Whole situation was weird but nobody stopping bothered me more than I thought it would.
David Paterson 33 minutes ago
Collapsing on the ground, and nobody stopping or looking or slowing down, happened to me in London. In New York he could have been trampled to death.
#11
Multiple occasions of strangers getting into heated interactions where they swear and yell at each other for like 10 seconds then just carry on with their day like nothing happened.
#12
The weirdest thing to me was seeing like a normal store like a CVS or Walgreens and it had an escalator to take you to another floor for more stuff. I get that space is limited, but their stores aren't normally all that big to begin with.
Another super weird thing is that I saw a million cars, but not a single gas station. I'm used to there being one on basically every busy intersection. I genuinely don't know how the city operates like that.
Finally, half of our group disappeared in Chinatown. It turns out the women were swept into a secret room that had a fake wall where they showed off counterfeit purses. I ended up with them for one of them and was afraid to touch anything. And I just stared at the camera that was pointing at us while in there.
#15
The subway musicians who are genuinely talented but everyone just walks by like theyre invisible - saw a dude absolutely shredding violin down there and people acted like it was elevator music. Also pizza by the slice at 3am being completely normal blew my mind, back home everything closes at like 9pm.
#16
Not really weird, but when my family and I visited NYC during the holidays I noticed that most people wore black or at least very dark colored winter coats/jackets. Even my in-laws, who are native New Yorkers, wore black jackets. I felt that I stuck out like a sore thumb in my bright light blue jacket. I decided that when we return this winter, that I’m gonna get a black jacket too.
David Paterson 47 minutes ago
Being an Australian, I had never encountered a jacket as a fashion statement, jackets are only for warmth. Visiting New York midwinter, I was very surprised to see that every jacket is a major fashion statement.
#18
I’m from London so I didn’t find anything weird, but NY has a distinct streak of fun and whimsy that London doesn’t really have. I’m thinking stuff like the Halloween dog parade, or all those people dressing up as pigeons to say goodbye to the Highline pigeon. New Yorkers are also much, much nicer and more extroverted than Londoners.
#19
How often a street will be closed for filming. And how often, when someone is complaining, someone else says "Welcome to New York".
#20
Cops. And cop cars. Everywhere. Literally one on every corner. I’ve travelled all over the world and I have never seen so many cops in one place at one time in my life.
It was like someone had a buy one, get ten free sale on law enforcement personnel.
#21
My friend sleeps with her windows open in the winter. 5°F and her windows are open like 6 inches. Because if they weren’t, she’d get heat stroke.
Those radiators you can’t control are something else!
#23
Subway trains being… literal trains. I thought they were gonna be like a monorail or something. When a loud actual train pulled up I felt dumb but I was also surprised.
#24
Yoiu have to go inside the library to return books. No curbside drop off. When I asked why, I was told it was to avoid people dropping trash.
Also, no banks were open on Saturday mornings. This was some time ago, but it was quite different in California.
#25
When my husband and I went in the '00's during the holidays, I couldn't get over the sheer amount of PEOPLE that were there.
I was fully preparing myself to get shoulder-checked over and over again because it was just wall-to-wall people, but, I was astonished when the people actually moved like a well-worn piece of machinery, just following the natural undulations, kinda like waves.
I never did get shoulder checked, nope, not even close!! It's pretty amazing how throes of people just avoided each other by paying attention, yet, not really.
Not sure if I'm explaining it correctly, but that's the gist of it.
David Paterson 42 minutes ago
I found out the hard way never to get in the wrong lane on the sidewalk in New York. I don't know any other city where changing lanes on the sidewalk is considered a major crime by residents.
#26
Was walking into Macy's and this lady with twins in a stroller is behind me I held the door for her. She glared at me.
Then got inside and ended up behind me for the inner door I held it open for her. This time she glared at me and muttered "what the hell is wrong with you.".
#27
Okay this one isn't weird rather it's kind of magical but NYC is the only place I've ever seen it because the city is so uniquely dense. Off leash dog hours in the parks in the early morning happen many places but in NYC between 8-9am there are SO many dogs all just playing together and running around it's such a joy to see.
When I'm visiting for work, I like to go and just sit and listen to a podcast or something and watch them all have so much fun.
#28
My small Canadian city family visited New York in 2017 and here are a few things we noticed (or rather, in many cases DIDN'T notice):
*I had been home for months when I realized I had not seen a single gas station
*ditto the schools: if you aren't passing by a school at a time when kids are outside (lunch, recess) you would have no idea it was a school. They just look like any other building.
*parking without bumping another car's bumper is rare. Waiting in line to get into Live with Kelly and Ryan, I watched an older woman in her massive car from the 70's find a spot outside the window I was at, and parallel park, backing up until she hit the bumper of the car behind her. Then she got out, grabbed her shopping bags and went on her way.
*moving large items in a city like NY is just on another level. I cannot even fathom moving my furniture into a fourth floor walk up. Or buying a piano and having it swung into my apartment by a crane.
*parking in a lot that has a lift that raises your car in the air. Parking in NY is fascinating to watch.
We had a great time and I genuinely love to visit New York. The logistics of having so many people living in a small area are mind blowing. And yet, you actually have neighbourhoods that feel like traditional neighbourhoods, where people know each other and watch out for each other. Kudos to all NYers who make it such a great city.
#31
The amount of jay walking.
I live in an area where police would gladly write you a ticket or a car will hit you. In NYC, pedestrian walk signs are like a suggestion.
I understand though. If you waited for every light in nyc, it'd take you twice as long to get there.
#32
I visited in the summer. Found it odd that the city had kids playing in the streets and neighbors hanging out on the front steps at 3 or 4 in the morning. When I pointed it out to my NY friends I was driving around with, they looked at me like I had 2 heads. Like, of course people are going to be up and about, what else would they be doing?
It is the city that never sleeps.
#33
None of them seem to know that there's a statue of Columbus at the center of Columbus circle. I've asked around & the funniest one was my brother in law who was there the day before and didn't believe me until I pulled up pictures.
Weird, but oddly consistent.
#34
How hot the underground subway stations get in summer.
#35
"Showtime". Aka when kids and teams do annoying dance routines in the subway train between stations, swinging on the poles, and occasionally kicking people, then hold out their hands for money as a performance fee.
Also small children begging for money on the subway during the day instead of being in school.
#37
Good weird? Bodega cats.
Bad weird? All the rats.
Now that I think about it, perhaps there is a correlation.
#38
Going to the top of the twin towers and seeing just how much the yellow cabs dominated the streets.
#39
I have been to NYC dozens of times, but I just completed the Manhattan Top to Bottom Challenge where I walked from the Bronx to Battery Park. I covered a lot of ground in neighborhoods I've never been in. I couldn't help but notice that there seemed to be a hair salon or barber shop every few feet with a nail salon squeezed in-between.
#40
How dirty and old it is. If I didn't know I'd think its a very poor city.
Nicole Weymann 15 minutes ago
"old": I'm guessing they mean delapidated? Because AFAIK most of the buildings are not even 150 years old.
#44
I live in a small rural town where it’s kind of easy to be a biggish fish in a small pond. When I’m in NYC, I just feel like I’m surrounded by brilliant achievers. Not that every New Yorker is such a person, but it’s certainly a place where the brightest and best in their fields can climb to great heights. I can feel that kind of intelligence in the air of Manhattan. It’s intellectually invigorating to me.
#45
Went to NYC in 2018 for a week. Main culture shocks for me as someone who has lived only in Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas
-Children unaccompanied on the subway
-Herds of people suddenly showing up on the sides walks
-Lack of Public bathrooms? Could have just been the area we were in. But I almost soiled myself at one point because I could not find a public bathroom for like 8 blocks 😭.
-The traffic was crazy, but public transit was excellent. Down south we don’t have the public transit accessibility that NYC has. Even in debugger cities, we wore out the Subway and Bus system that week lol.
#46
How normal it is to just not react to anything… sirens, chaos, someone yelling at the air everyone just keeps walking like it’s background noise.
#47
The street vendors! I remember being there during a massive summer downpour and afterwards, street vendors materialized as if from nowhere.
The stench of urine. I remember walking under a bridge in Central Park and it was like getting hit in the face with a wall of ammonia. Nearly as bad as the bat cave I hiked with a million bats living in it. lol.
#50
I (UK) stopped to help someone struggling up subway exit stairs with heavy luggage and my local friends were horrified for my safety.
I hate to break it to you, NYCers, but it's ludicrous to be in a place where the act of helping is treated like a direct request for personal injury...
Edit to say: this was around 2005 or a little earlier. It may be very different by now.
#52
Currently in NYC right now (Live in SF) and I want to know where do you keep the homeless? Are you shipping them out to Hawaii on a one way ticket still? Crazy.
#54
How much it smells like pee… everywhere, always. We went in spring where at homes things smells like pine and fresh flowers but NY smelled like ammonia and grime.
#55
How you can be surrounded by millions of people but feel completely alone. The ability to simply turn off your social interactions and feel totally anonymous and unseen is pretty amazing.
#56
As a non-New Yorker, I was always surprised by some of the vocabulary that New Yorkers use that’s completely normal to them and made no sense to me (from the west coast). Examples: bodega, knish, tri state area, the Hamptons, etc. I visited New York for the first time in high school and was very confused by all of it. For the longest time I thought “the hamptons” was just slang for a rich neighborhood, I didn’t know it was a group of actual seaside communities. .
#57
Some people in New York state referring to New York City simply as "The City". Even when I was Upstate where the nearest city was Albany, when people said "The City" they meant NYC.
#58
The number of hobo fights you’ll witness in the subway, and the number of commuters who will pretend it isn’t happening at all.
#59
The VERY pushy guys at Central Park — we had a pedicab driver and a guy with a horse and carriage get into a FIGHT over who would take us through the park. We just said “uhhh we’re walking” and skedaddled.
The smell is not weird. Every big city smells the same horrible way.
#60
Stepping into the street before crossing.
Just the craziness of crossing the street in general.
So many one way streets.
Paying $30 to park your car in a garage.
Car elevator garages.
Dedicated Bagel Shops. .
#61
I'm a retired firefighter and for me the thing that hit me was that not even pedestrians yield for responding emergency vehicles! I absolutely can't imagine being a apparatus operator in that city.
#62
New York style pizza. A single large slice of thin crust, folded in half, served on a paper plate, eaten with your hands while standing up at a small round table with no chairs, in 45 seconds or less.
#67
How complex the subway system is! Every other major city has a simple subway system, which each line labeled by colors or given a name. NYC’s is like 1,2,3,4,5,6,B,Z,R,P,Q,S,Z and it makes no sense.
#68
Honestly, just NYC people thinking how weird and cool and different they (and their city) are. It's a city. A crowded, expensive city. It's really not that impressive .
#69
Honestly it's how you pronounce "Houston". If NASA hired astronauts from NYC, the famous line would have been "How sten, we have a problem.".
#70
The lack of stars due to light and air pollution. I never realized how different a sky can be when viewed from different places.
#71
People loudly complaining while they’re walking. I listen to this guy pushing a stroller complain about the subway station being closed for the entire walk to the next station.
#73
That significant portions of Central park are chained off. What's the point of having such a big park if you have to stick to the walking paths?
What do you think ?
David Paterson 16 minutes ago
Nobody mentioned the steam coming up through the streets. Steam coming up through the streets in Rotorua, sure. But New York, did not expect that.
Rtblast66 56 minutes ago
Stayed in Greenwich Village just before Christmas, 2005. Met Jello Biafra from The Dead Kennedys in the Library Bar. Nice bloke. Wife and I walked from Greenwich to Central Park. Gatecrashed a wedding at the Tavern on the Green. Good fun. Christmas markets at Grand Central were great. We both loved NYC. Won't be back until the Orange oompaloompa is gone :(
baumgaerhooper 2 hours ago
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David Paterson 16 minutes ago
Nobody mentioned the steam coming up through the streets. Steam coming up through the streets in Rotorua, sure. But New York, did not expect that.
Rtblast66 56 minutes ago
Stayed in Greenwich Village just before Christmas, 2005. Met Jello Biafra from The Dead Kennedys in the Library Bar. Nice bloke. Wife and I walked from Greenwich to Central Park. Gatecrashed a wedding at the Tavern on the Green. Good fun. Christmas markets at Grand Central were great. We both loved NYC. Won't be back until the Orange oompaloompa is gone :(
baumgaerhooper 2 hours ago
my classmate's half-sister gets $80 an hour on the internet. she has been fired from work for eleven months... the previous month her payment was $18872 only working at home a couple of hours every day, check out... LIVEJOB1.COM
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