The Roomorama Blog

We are the people behind Roomorama.com, a short-term rentals website based in New York City. You may have heard of us from this New York Times article.

When we are not coding in Rails, answering heavily-accented queries on the phone, or fretting over our site stats, we ask ourselves existential questions. And we answer every one of them on this blog.

Why are we here?

This blog is about New Yorkers, their physical environment, and the interplay between the two.

As New Yorkers, we love quoting Carrie Bradshaw, who plays Sarah Jessica Parker in real life. Oh, wait - sometimes even we get confused.

“…When I arrived in the city in 1976, New York was financially a wreck… to me it’s the New York that Matthew and I literally try to find every day of our lives. It was the best place in the world. ” – Sarah Jessica Parker, NY Mag, May4th 2008.

It seems the prerequisite to living in New York now is to prefer living in New York in the 70’s, when we were all friends with Andy Warhol. Alas! We are now stuck with clean streets, safety, and happiness all round.

What do they say? - “When there are 7 Marc Jacob stores within walking distance from each other, you know it’s time to move.” I disagree, you know it’s time to franchise!

I prefer New York circa 2008; it’s a good time to be here. Everything is in flux: the economy is shit, Brooklyn is cool, people are buying second-hand clothes, and European tourists are all over the place. Very soon, Carrie may just find the New York she is looking for - you know, the poor type.

Some say New York is at the tail-end of a gilded age. Are we twittering on the precipice, staring down into the abyss of has-beens?

This blog is interested in plotting every step of this supposed downward spiral, mostly through the lens of neighborhoods. Argh, vertigo!

We will also take the time to tackle other very important questions in New York culture. Questions like, “Hipsters: nature or nurture?”; “NY housing: buy, rent, or afford to buy food?”; “Cheap fake wayfarers: bad for your eyes, or mine?” We owe all our New York readers a relentless supply of well-rounded, gritty New York navel-gazing.

So that’s it. A little real estate, a little economics, a little culture, a little gossip, and a whole lot of New York. We hope you like our blog.