There was a time when NYC was very attractive to me. Riding my bike around the entire circumference (at least wherever there were streets and trails) of Manhattan. Running along the river. Great pizza. Watching people in Central Park. Going to Brant park - shopping at the kiosks and watching the ice skaters in the winter. There were all good things.
That said, I wouldn’t live there again at this point.
I have photos of an aunt, now deceased, who grew-up in New York City. As a young woman in early 1950s, she wore a pill-box hat and long gloves, and rode the subway downtown where she worked as a legal secretary.
A very different time with very different standards.