<h1 class="ChapterName">New York City Overview<br /></h1>
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<p>Even if you’re visiting New York for the first time, you’ve undoubtedly seen some version of this city before. Its images
are ubiquitous—in movies and on television, in novels high- and low-brow, in songs, in classic photographs, and on the nightly
news. You’ve probably watched enough Times Square ball drops and late-show lead-ins to anticipate its blaring horns, mega-watt
neon lights, and skyscraper canyons—and, to be sure, New York will deliver them all. Perhaps you first fell in love with New
York through Woody Allen movies—and imagine it to be full of neurotic writers and fledgling actors, who have affairs in Bohemian
apartments and somehow can afford to eat out every night. While few live a lifestyle that glamorous, artists, intellectuals,
and pseudo-intellectuals of every stripe do seem to gravitate here. Does your family tell stories of immigrant ancestors arriving
at Ellis Island, penniless but hopeful? The 300 languages spoken on the city’s streets and its incomparable array of ethnic
cuisines prove that New York is still a melting pot today. Perhaps you were raised on <em>Eloise</em> stories at bedtime, and you dream of luxuriating in plushly decorated hotel suites. New York certainly has no shortage of
those to offer, though unless you’re here on an expense account, you’ll likely have to content yourself with a drink in a
chic hotel bar. If, with some trepidation, you’re expecting the Gotham City of crime novels and the tabloid press—grimy and
congested, dangerous and macabre—the extent to which New York has cleaned itself up in recent decades may surprise you, though
a host of urban problems persist. On the other hand, if you’re expecting New York’s sidewalks to be as celebrity-packed as
the pages of <em>Us Weekly</em> , you’ll probably be let down—but who knows who you might spot parading in SoHo? The truth is, each of these facets of New
York life contains an element of truth, but what makes the city so intense is that it’s beyond any single cliché—and more
than all of them put together. You could spend your whole life exploring New York and never exhaust its riches.</p>
<div class="Highlights">
<h4>Facts And Figures</h4>
<ul>
<li><span class="Highlights-Run-in">Mayor:</span> Michael Bloomberg, re-elected to a third four-year term in 2009. </li>
<li><span class="Highlights-Run-in">Population: </span> 8.1 million, 18.7 million in the surrounding metropolitan area. </li>
<li><span class="Highlights-Run-in">Land Area:</span> 321 sq. mi.—the most densely populated region in North America. </li>
<li><span class="Highlights-Run-in">Most Populated Borough:</span> Brooklyn, with 2.5 million residents (Manhattan has 1.5 million). </li>
<li><span class="Highlights-Run-in">Racial Mix:</span> 45% white, 27% African American, 27% Latino, 10% Asian. </li>
<li><span class="Highlights-Run-in">Tourists:</span> 46.0 million visitors in 2007—83% domestic, 17% foreign. </li>
<li><span class="Highlights-Run-in">Subway:</span> 468 stations, 660 mi. of track, and 1.4 billion annual riders. </li>
<li><span class="Highlights-Run-in">Licensed Yellow Cabs:</span> 12,778. </li>
<li><span class="Highlights-Run-in">Hotel Rooms:</span> 71,000, with 85% occupancy on an average night. </li>
<li><span class="Highlights-Run-in">New Restaurants Opened Yearly:</span> About 250. </li>
<li><span class="Highlights-Run-in">Acres Of Parkland:</span> 28,000, 843 in Central Park. </li>
<li><span class="Highlights-Run-in">Money Exchanged Annually On The Nyse:</span> $5.5 trillion. </li>
<li><span class="Highlights-Run-in">Gold Stored At The Federal Reserve Bank:</span> $600 billion’s worth—in 27 lb. bars, locked 80 ft. underground by a 90-ton steel door. </li>
<li><span class="Highlights-Run-in">Tallest Buildings:</span> Empire State Building (1250 ft.), Chrysler Building (1046 ft.), American International Building (952 ft.). </li>
<li><span class="Highlights-Run-in">Tallest Structure In 1664:</span> A two-story windmill. </li>
</ul>
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<p><!-- ESSENTIALS LISTING --></p>
<h3>Essentials</h3>
<ul class="listing">
<li><span>Passport:</span> Required by citizens of all foreign countries except Canada.</li>
<li><span>Visa:</span> Required by citizens of most countries</li>
<li><span>Currency:</span> US dollar (US$)</li>
<li><span>Sales Tax: </span>8.625 %; for hotel rooms, there is an additional 5 % hotel tax and $2
room fee per night</li>
<li><span>Tourism Office:</span><a href="http://www.iloveny.com/">www.iloveny.com</a></li>
<li><span>Drinking Age:</span> 21</li>
<li><span>Phone Numbers:</span> 911 for emergencies</li>
</ul>
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