by Yvonne Vávra
A loose manhole cover rattling under every passing biker. A baby wailing in despair. The hollow thud of car wheels knocking an empty can back and forth. Someone screams, and someone else screams louder. There’s a truck, a bus, and a ding-ding-ding-dang, which I can’t figure out. It’s a rhythmic hum and thrum — in another context, it might be considered art. I’d pay for it. But for now, it can’t hold my attention because a car is — beep beep beep — reversing somewhere, while a metal waste basket is being dragged to an idling truck, its engine grinding. And here it comes, as always: the siren. Thankfully, just the police this time. A fire truck would have demolished this whole experiment. Their volume makes my nerves pack up and leave. We hear you. We heard you ten blocks ago. Jersey heard you. Why? Why so loud? Woooooo-wee-ooohhh-whyyy?
Sorry, where was I?
In the name of immersion journalism, I found myself standing on the small island at the intersection of Broadway, Amsterdam Avenue, and West 71st Street, where you’re left dizzy from trying to track all the moving chaos coming at you from every angle. Never stake your neck on the green light. I chose this intersection to hear the sound of our existence in one of the noisiest neighborhoods in all of New York City.
According to the city’s 311 logs, Upper West Siders filed 26,369 noise complaints last year, making us the third noisiest district. Granted, the data only shows that we had a lot of complaints and are thus among the most frustrated, not necessarily the noisiest.
Either way, quiet it is not. Why would it be? It’s a city — our fabulous little loudmouth. Back in the mid-19th century, Walt Whitman had already written an ode to New York’s “endless and noisy chorus” in Give Me the Splendid Silent Sun. I enjoy the metropolitan symphony as well. Silence can be nerve-racking, as it can be disrupted at any second. Noise, however, is soothing. It’s safe to assume it’ll stay, and minor disturbances just get drowned in the mix.
Of course, the chaos only calms me until it doesn’t. My personal pet peeves are: (1) people who need their cars to beep when they lock them —because apparently, everyone has to know; (2) the large metal plate at the 72nd Street subway exit on Central Park West, which looks innocent but makes the most painful noise when you step on it, and since I never remember, I step on it every time; and (3) that one Strawberry Fields busker in the morning who … I’m all out of words for this one. Whatever he’s trying to accomplish, it sure is memorable. The tourists seem to like it. Only in New York, I guess.
You’ll have your own hang-ups about the sounds of madness, and please feel free to celebrate them in the safe space that is our comment section below. That could bring much-needed relief because noise is more than just a nuisance. The World Health Organization has declared it the second-largest environmental cause of physical and mental health issues. What’s more, a Harvard study found that you don’t even need to consciously be disturbed by noise to be stressed out by it. Sleeping through the night’s noise, for instance, doesn’t protect you from an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. The “fight or flight” response is triggered anyway, causing chemical changes in our bodies that can lead to hearing loss, heart disease, diabetes, memory problems, and poor work performance. Also on the list: irritability and aggression.
I once saw a grown man on 75th Street totally snap over that one ridiculously loud bird — whose name I’d love to know, by the way — and scream right back at it. Another time, I saw a man so disturbed by two cars on Amsterdam Avenue honking their dispute that he put down his Trader Joe’s bags, needing both hands free to yell at them. The poor soul had to stop his day cold and channel his entire being into throwing daggers of resentment.
It’s not just men. Yours truly is guilty of screaming at a doorman on Central Park West who walked right in front of me to blow his whistle for a cab for one of his tenants. Right in my ear. It wasn’t just the 120-decibel whistle that made me lose it, but the realization that some people deserve a whistle, while the rest of us are just in the whistle’s way. My brain went BOING, and I shouted something about his derrière. I’m not proud of it. But neither should he be.
New York was actually the first city in the US to enact the Noise Control Act of 1972. It got an update in 2007 to tackle new nuisances and has since won several awards. Enforcement? That’s another story. But just so you know your rights: No, Mr. Softee can’t blast jingles when he’s not in motion. No honking except to warn of imminent danger (frustration doesn’t count). And no, your neighbor may not keep a rooster — city law forbids it. Too noisy. Inexplicably, though, sightseeing helicopters are not. They’re allowed to fly over the Hudson at 1,500 feet north to 79th Street or to Yankee Stadium before turning back. Of the 26,369 noise complaints filed by Upper West Siders last year, 14,809 were about helicopter noise.
Of course, we can always raise our voices — whether it’s to support groups like Stop the Chop NYNJ in the fight for a little peace from helicopters, or to keep filing complaints. But still, the noise will go on. The symphony of the Upper West Side is playing, and, like it or not, we’re in the front row. So, next time you’re bothered by honks, whistles, or random wailings, just remember: at least it’s not a rooster.
* * *
Yvonne Vávra is a magazine writer and author of the German book 111 Gründe New York zu lieben (111 Reasons to Love New York). Born a Berliner but an aspiring Upper West Sider since the 1990s (thanks, Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks), she came to New York in 2010 and seven years later made her Upper West Side dreams come true. She’s been obsessively walking the neighborhood ever since.
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Beautifully written piece!
I spent many hours recording the sounds of the city. The noisiest (Times Square), the peaceful (deep inside Central Park), the creepy (a large tree limb rubbing against my window on a windy night), All beautiful, when listened to under the right circumstances.
Everyone should try it. Pull out you phone, start a voice recorder app, and create an aural painting of our great city.
Great article! It took me about 6 months to get used to the noise at night. Now whenever I go back to my parents in a tiny Detroit suburb, I find it hard to sleep without the noise. Whether it be garbage being thrown into the garbage truck or nearby sirens, the city noise is crucial to my sleep!
It should be mandated to repave streets that are dug up and worked on and get rid of metal plates. This is just as bad as all the restaurant sheds.
Ambulances are by far the loudest, and number one problem in this regard. Sure, they are emergency vehicles, but they are louder than fire trucks and police cars. Seriously, they need to put a muzzle on them.
I regularly have to literally put my full palms up to my ears as I try to avoid the earsplitting sounds of ambulances. Truly an assault on pedestrians and undoubtedly tinnitus inducing.
Lovely essay. Yes, the Mt Sinai ambulances are particularly excruciating, but they have expanded teir audiology services.
Hah!
Hear, hear. What’s worse is that they are noticeably louder than they were just a few years ago. What brought on the change? Did it actually improve ambulance driving times?
And the Mt Sinai ambulances are the worst
Especially the one that loves to siren full blast north on WEA at 3 in the morning
Much of the city noise in NYC is really just noise from cars. Go for a stroll in Central Park or down Columbus during the summer Open Streets and its quite peaceful.
UWS Dad,
Actually there has been amplified music at Columbus Open Streets on multiple occasions.
That is much more noise than the “swoosh” of cars driving by.
“Inexplicably, though, sightseeing helicopters are not. They’re allowed to fly over the Hudson at 1,500 feet north to 79th Street or to Yankee Stadium before turning back. ”
I believe the above restrictions apply ( or used to) to tourist helicopters whose flights originate within NYC. At the height of my involvement with Stop the Chop!, if tourist helicopters came from NJ, they fly over the UWS, circle over Central Park, and then drift down the UES and circle over Madison Square. Nadler and Vazquez announced they were introducing legislation to curb tourist helicopter flights over populated areas, but nothing came of it.
I do seem to notice fewer tourist helicopters over Central Park than I noticed before COVID.
To judge the noise level by number of complaints about it doesn’t seem very reliable to me. What if Upper West residents were the biggest complainers, rather than the neighborhood the noisiest?
And let’s not forget the awful, loud, grating, repetitive music in restaurants where we should be able to go for peace and quiet. But no, the speakers blare it – often out to the streets. Speakers can be individually set up so that at the very least, there could be quiet, music free areas. And if we approach it in a similar fashion to how we handled smoking asking if you want music or quiet, I’m sure we’d find many places when we could get peace, calm and a drink and good food..
I got lucky. I moved from an apartment facing a wide street to an apartment that faces a courtyard and except for the morons a few doors down during the summer, it’s super quiet. So what I have to crane my head to see if it’s sunny, at least it’s quiet.
Exactly. I pay a premium to live in an apartment facing a courtyard near West End Avenue (where there are no commercial businesses or trucks). The vast majority of the time it is remarkably quiet.
I am not rich. But that is how I choose to spend my money and I make other compromises in my spending to have the money to make this choice. If noise bothers someone that much, they should think about where they are moving. I know that it isn’t that easy, but there are choices everyone can make that will help. Perhaps you trade off a slightly longer commute for a quieter home. Or walk up one more flight of stairs. Or whatever else.
Sirens are the loudest and most damaging to health, especially for the emergency responders. They could be MUCH quieter, without compromising safety, if we had smart traffic lights. We know where the fire engine is, and where it needs to go. We could manipulate the traffic lights to clear a path for it. Cars that want to enter the road where the emergency vehicle needs to travel get a red light. Cars already in the way get green lights, to clear the path. When the emergency vehicle passes, the lights go back to normal.
Yes, of all the NYC sounds, this seems both the most damaging and also the easiest to reduce,
One idea to reduce the noise is to ask your taxi driver not honk his horn and leave a tip that reflects his response.
I called 311 because I was half sleep at 1 in the morning when I was shaken out of my stupor by drilling
Middle of the night. I was like if it is con ed,, if a buildings gas lines are worn out, I get the need to do something whenever. But this is so loud and I have to wake up in the morning. And that noise went on for awhile.
The drilling of construction is so so bad.
Those who’s car alarms go off at 3am – lasts about a minute and just when you think it’s done, you get a rude reminder that it’s not- should be drawn and quartered. Rude and disrespectful to your neighbors.
I find shrieking brakes when a vehicle comes to a stop horrendously painful. The biggest offenders seem to be the Consolidated Bus Service yellow school buses and large trucks. I thought there was a law that brakes had to adhere to, but I guess I’m wrong – or scofflaws are freely permitted.
Yes, Katherine, it’s not just that we’re older than we were and more sensitive. It does seem like a volume arms race by the ambulance companies. And yet, EMS groups themselves worry about hearing loss for their members and recognize that “running hot” doesn’t affect patient outcomes. https://www.ems1.com/ems-products/ambulance-lights/articles/investigation-less-ambulance-siren-use-wont-impact-patient-outcomes-200d0SS7JiMrLFPa/
Seems odd, but the small amount time saved in arriving to the patient and in getting the patient to the hospital doesn’t actually matter.
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/prehospital-and-disaster-medicine/article/abs/use-of-emergency-lights-and-sirens-by-ambulances-and-their-effect-on-patient-outcomes-and-public-safety-a-comprehensive-review-of-the-literature/CACCCF06D17F925AA40BCF0C95D858E7
And worse, lights and sirens actually increase the chance of the ambulance being involved in a collision. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30648537/
Why can’t NYC be a leader in data-based, cutting-edge emergency response practices? And resident hearing protection and well-being?
I am reduced to screaming obscenities whenever confronted by a trump building.
There is a quiet lane not far from Bow Bridge where one can sit on a bench surrounded by trees such that not one building around Central Park can be seen, and it is so quiet that you can hear a pin drop or a bird tweet. I’m always amazed at how close this quiet sanctuary is to the very noisy corner where I live — the same corner where Yvonne Vavra found the inspiration for this piece. I love the noise, and I love the quiet.
I am incredulous that people live with the clanking of steel plates and manholes. CALL 311 they will fix them! Amplified music? CALL 311 it is prohibited! Car alarms? CALL 311. The system works (not a fast as one would like but it works). Trader Joes trucks late night deliveries making too much noise? CALL TRADER JOES! They want to be good neighbors. Everyone in my building complains to their neighbors but not to anyone who can do anything about it. Geesh!
Jacob’s pickles just built an outdoor bar at their new location on Columbus around 150 feet from my bedroom window. Really not looking forward to that. The building won’t take it lying down if they’re noisy like they are now. No restaurant needs a permanent outdoor bar in a residential neighborhood.
I feel like I’m walking through a stranger’s kitchen when I use the sidewalk on that block.
On the flip side, when 311 was first rolled out some friends who live on Columbus between 105th and 106th joked that they were going to call and complain that there’s not as much loud salsa music on the street anymore, lol!
Excellent article. Thanks! Folks should encourage their Council Member to support legislation pending in the City Council that would ban unnecessary fossil fueled helicopter flights. Here’s the link for more info: https://stopthechopnynj.org/local-legislation/
The New York State budget could include a noise tax on nonessential helicopter flights in New York City. Contact your NY State Senator and Assembly Member and urge them to sign on to budget letters for Sen. Kristen Gonzalez’s S.1140, which calls for a tax of $50 per seat on nonessential flights (with a $200 per-flight minimum), and Assembly Member Robert Carroll’s A.2583, which doubles the Senate version’s tax. Stop the Chop NY/NJ believes a tax will significantly reduce nonessential helicopter flights while raising between $10 million and $15 million, to be dedicated to mitigation projects.
This officially confirms that UWS’ers are some of the best complainer on planet earth. 🙂
Best place to live is the Upper West Side extremely quiet will not live anywhere else in Manhattan.
Living on the Upper West Side for me was to improved my concentration: On West 80 Street is less noise and distraction make it easier to concentrate on my tasks and projects each day. This can lead to my increased productivity and a greater sense of accomplishment.
Appreciation for Nature: Living quietly often means spending more time outdoors here in Central Park/Riverside Park and the Theodore Roosevelt Park and connecting with nature and the most wonderful people you ever want to talk to.
There’s no place like the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Going on 60 years and loving every minute of it since I moved here in 1964 from my parents home in Westchester County.
Hearing loss can occur with exposure over 85 decibels. Sure, it’s related to duration of exposure, but with sirens averaging up to 120 decibels, add up all that exposure in nyc. I’m always surprised that I am often the only one in sight with my fingers plugging my ears on UWS during sirens (although I notice the incidence of ear protection is higher near Lincoln Center!)…
Lovely piece, Yvonne!
Maybe somebody can identify the sound — a low, steady, almost musical hum, not unpleasant — that seems to be coming from all around when I step out on my terrace at the quietest time of the night. Not traffic, not air conditioners; it’s the same summer and winter. I fancy that it’s the sound of the city breathing. Or the music of the spheres.
There is no justification, none, for the ambulance sirens. Many studies have shown that lights are enough to do the job. Sirens don’t impact patient outcome one way or the other. They should be outlawed
Personally, I love the sounds of my city. Our windows face Broadway, and W.73rd. I get to look out of my window down Broadway waiting for the sound to catch up to the sirens going north. Funny, our building is so sound-proofed that I never really hear car alarms, and I only hear the sirens when they’re within a 2-block radius. However, we hear every dog argument imaginable! 🙂
Great article!
The UWS is loud but that’s NY. On the corner of Amsterdam and 81st, after three years of construction, they’re finally done and have cleared out most of the materials, machines, metal plates….. Three years of digging, drilling, sawing, putting in the metal plates, asphalting. then coming back a few months later to dig, drill, saw, put in metal plates and asphalt again – the same section!
Then all the other basic noises of course. The bars and their club level music at 1am. The drunk patrons waiting for their Ubers on the sidewalk as they talk loudly and scream oblivious to the residents in their beds all around them. I sleep with the heating or AC on all year round – it’s loud too but at least it’s a constant sound. No open windows or a fresh breeze on a spring evening. for me. I need it to drown out the outside noise. And yes we have called 311 many, many times.
What a dilemma! We live on West End Ave. In Lincoln Towers in what is called “the most neglected building “ in the entire complex. A bad management Company and an unethical dishonest Board make it really unpleasant and stressful. Nothing works. However we stay because WE HAVE NO NOISE. We face a backyard park and Riverside Blvd. NO CARS. NO STREET NOISE. What to do? We may withhold our maintenance. We are getting an attorney possibly. There are many shareholders with this problem. Any suggestions? THANK YOU.
Come to 92nd and Amsterdam where you can enjoy the smooth sounds of a FreshDirect refrigerated truck parked for up to 8 hours a day!
Interestingly, a screaming ambulance passed my building as I began writing this. 🙂
I agree with all you say — what NYC resident would not? But I wanted to compliment you on the engaging charm of your article. The phrase “… I’m all out of words for this one” will stay with me for a long time. Thank you!
Ambulances have to be loud to penetrate rolled up windows and air conditioning and music in cars.
Don’t most cars beep when you lock them?