[NoCarsGo]

I lived in an NYU dorm in the Financial District (Water St.) last summer. Nice dorm, really [censored] location. It really was dead after 6pm or so, so I had to often resort to taking the subway into Soho/East Village/Midtown/Times Sq. It was a bit of a walk to the station (4-5 blocks) and coming home after drinking and walking down Fulton at 2am with the hobos yelling at you w/ no one else around is kind of unsettling. That routine got old real quick and I started using taxis, which gets pretty expensive when you have to go from Times Square or Midtown... You basically feel very disconnected from the night life, even though you are living on the island.

I highly recommend living in the Soho to Murray Hill/Midtown areas along the East Side. These are the youngest areas of the city with a very active night life, some very good (but not ridiculously overpriced) food, etc.