<p>I don’t find driving in Manhattan easy at all. The taxi cabs are really aggressive. I have done it quite a bit because for about the last 20 years I really like to avoid the trains. When I was was a kid in HS in Long Island, we always took the train. One summer of commuting convinced me to live in Manhattan after I graduated law school.</p>
<p>It doesnt matter if you have your full senior license with drivers ed, you still can’t drive in the city until you are 18. </p>
<p>I go into the city at least once a month I’d say, either with family or friends. I often go to concerts or museums and stuff with my friends. Especially in the summer there are a ton of free concerts, central park summerstage, etc. Usually when i’m going with my friends we take the bus or the train, and then walk or take subways.</p>
<p>Staten Island kids drive into Manhattan because there’s no real public transportation late at night and the Staten Island Ferry terminal is closed during the overnight hours to keep the homeless out. The boat also runs only every hour on the half hour and it’s not safe to wait outside. The buses don’t really run overnight, either.</p>
<p>Completely different world than I live in so I am really enjoying these posts. We live (and I grew up in) small college towns and kids are so sheltered here. I can hardly imagine letting my high school child out into Manhatten until 1 in the morning and then coming home on a train.</p>
<p>Ironically, my son could not be more responsible and I really trust him. We left him home alone for a week when we went on a trip recently and all was fine. But sending out to the city…ackkk! Anxiety meter rising.</p>
<p>He is going to a medium sized city for college. I am not worried at all. Maybe because I won’t know where he is and when he comes home! But as a 10th or 11th grader…</p>
<p>Nick is a musician. Musicians always drove for their equipment. Now in this case, the equipment is in the van and not the Yugo. But still. Driving around to gigs does say car. Especially because public transportation does get spotty at night.</p>
<p>The girls are taking public transportation.</p>
<p>At the end of high school boy friend had a little red Saab and drove us into the city from Syosset, LI all the time. Best guy friend had a little red Beetle. Ditto. Drove us in all the time.</p>
<p>My girlfriends and I always took the the train.</p>
<p>I never drove into Manhattan until I was almost 30. NJ Transit was the way to go when I was in my teens, and Metro North or Amtrak is my preferred way now. The streets of New York are in terrible shape. You just don’t notice it so much when you are stuck in gridlock. Try cruising up First Avenue at 3 am at 35-40 mph and you’re likely to bust an axle.</p>
<p>Re driving in NYC under 18: If you have a Class D license, which you can earn at 17 <em>if</em> you’ve taken driver’s ed (classroom PLUS road), then you have absolutely no restrictions on your license. It’s a full license. You can drive in NYC, and anywhere else.</p>
<p>If you didn’t take driver’s ed, you have a class DJ until your 18th birthday, and you can’t drive in NYC (there are other restrictions as well). The state sends you a new, Class D license when you turn 18.</p>
<p>My oldest (now 20) did it the second way; my second one (17) did it the first way. The information is up-to-date and accurate. We double-checked with the DMV.</p>
<p>We’ll just assume for the sake of this thread that the movie characters who were driving in the city were doing so legally.</p>
<p>The movie sort of reminded me of the old *Peanuts *specials…you knew there must be adults/parents around there somewhere, but you didn’t see or hear them.</p>
<p>Harriet, I was about to post the same thing. DS #'s 2 &3 have “senior” licenses at age 17, having taken driver’s ed, and are permitted to drive into NYC. Not that they do, of course. But does the Bronx count? ;)</p>
<p>I grew up in Fairfield County, CT. In high school we sometimes went into Manhattan to go to plays, museums, classes, et al–never clubs. Maybe I was a wuss. 
I know that when my older sister was in HS in the early/mid 60s, some kids did go into the city with fake ID to go to clubs. But they were the wilder minority. We took the train to Grand Central, then walked or took the subway. I don’t think anyone drove during high school.</p>
<p>Here is another TV fiction question. How is it that all the teens on Gossip Girl can drink. They are clearly not 21 and many are not or barely 18. They drink at home, they drink at the private clubs and they drink in public bars. They order at the bar and are served and drink. They are drinking cocktails like they are kool-aid. Yeah, I know it’s TV. But is the culture in NYC such that, for that echelon of society, kids that age drink that much IN PUBLIC? They don’t drive at all in the city. But boy do they drink.</p>
<p>Yes, it’s absolutely true. And when they grow up they become the “Housewives of New York City.”</p>
<p>Sunnyflorida, last year in a famous restaurant in Miami Beach they offered to pour wine for my teen daughter (seated at a table of all adults). I don’t think she looked 21. Of course I said no wine for her. This has never happened to us in NY. I don’t know about the clubs etc…</p>
<p>hoo boy… my son drove in to NYC a few times with friends to guide him or he never would have found his way home. I got him a junker car to drive 2 miles to school, and he takes it into NYC. (From NJ suburbs) I call him at about midnight… “Where are you!?”… I hear him ask his friends, “Where are we?”… 33rd street on the way to the Holland Tunnel. One hour later… stuck in traffic on the way to the Holland Tunnel… Ah, the good old days! :D</p>
<p>They wouldn’t even let our 16 year old son stand near the bar at a BBQ joint when we were in the city last Saturday.</p>
<p>33rd street to Holland Tunnel? Why not Lincoln?</p>
<p>Apparently, getting into bars/clubs is never a problem if you are underage, according to my two kids who grew up in the city (although this is probably more true for girls than boys). Most high school kids don’t go though because the clubs are very expensive. Just like in the suburbs, they get together at private homes to drink. (Although not my daughter, who is a teetotaler.) There are also big loft parties where high school kids from all over the city congregate. </p>
<p>I see kids who are obviously from the suburbs on the trains late at night who have had too much to drink. For me, as a parent , this always worried me. They have absolutely no street smarts and act very foolishly. Fortunately, the vast majority of city people are tolerant and not exploitative. Probably, a very drunk young woman is more vulnerable at a college frat than on a city subway. I certainly hope they aren’t driving in.</p>
<p>And the subways run fine all night long, with the exception of a few lines, but those are probably not the ones that kids in the city for the night are taking, anyway. It’s the commuter trains that are a problem. I’ve heard there are lots of kids 'crashing" in Grand Central on weekend nights.</p>