+1

You shouldn't let NYs overexposure stop you from visiting one of the worlds great cities.

The "50 neighborhoods" in Manhattan kind of overstates it - cuz basically they're now just major subway stops with the same bunch of stores clustered around. I walked down by CB's yesterday and I had to look around, I felt lost for a minute, its hard to describe the transformation from a barren, empty stark area to sparkling new glass condos FOR BLOCKS around! Its not just one new building theres a half dozen. But the old is being replaced with the generic and cultureless. For instance, the old mainstay restaurant Kiev is being renovated into the "American Grill Bar" totally without any irony at all. Its the mall mentality come to the city: bland, unoffensive, unchallenging. Thankfully there are still some people who believe the way to success is to produce a quality product, not simply market a brand (unfortunately, these days the consumer responds more to a brand than quality). You have to go out to the boroughs to really find some neighborhoods.

What is the East Village / Lower-East Side like anyway?

Its funny that Sonic Youth are so closely associated with New York, for me their music evokes images of vast deserts and sprawling suburbs. Their new music certainly sounds 'New York' to me.

I've been to New York City twice and loved it both times, i would love to live there, not forever, but maybe 3 or 4 years. That would be amazing!

I went to NYC last February with school, it was mind numbing since all we did was the usual touristy shit (Empire state, statue of liberty, times square etc). It felt so strange when everyone else was screaming "OMG NYC!" when I was quite happy to stay in DC, seemed slightly more interesting.
Times Square really, really sucks.
I was actually a bit shocked to discover how indifferent I was to be in the places that are always on TV and seen as the centre of the universe, I did wish at the time to wander off and find some cool stuff, but the trip had no one cool on it...