New Yorkers argue over where Upstate begins — but fuming Westchester residents say ‘not here'

New York Post

4 days ago

It's an 'Up' setting debate for suburbanites.
New Yorkers have argued over where 'Upstate' begins for decades – with Westchester County residents notoriously thin-skinned about being told they're on the 'up' side of the invisible border.
The Post recently visited the Westchester city of Yonkers at the edge of the Bronx, hunting for the long-elusive line of demarcation and asking locals and passersby if this is the spot where Upstate begins.
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4 East-facing view of McLean Ave.
Tomas E. Gaston
'It's not,' declared 33-year-old Yonkers resident Reaghan Giannello as she walked along McLean Avenue.
'Bronx is one street over. Depending on where I am in my apartment, my GPS says New York City or Yonkers,' the recreational therapist added. 'Spend a minute talking to us, we sound like we're from the Bronx. Upstate they say things differently. We're not in the city, but we're close enough. We don't have cows.'
While many Gotham residents have long labeled anything beyond Yankee Stadium and the reaches of the subway 'upstate,' Giannello was among the numerous suburbanites to snap back at that suggestion – while offering other questionable spots for the designation.
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She claimed Dutchess County – a roughly 100-mile trip from Midtown Manhattan – had upstate vibes.
'That's where you're starting to get cows and horses. We have street lights here, that's how you know you're not in the country yet,' she said.
McKeon's Bar and Restaurant bartender James Flynn said once a traveler reaches the state capital, Albany, they're downstate.
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'This is not upstate. Bronx is right there,' he said as he gestured across the street. 'The 4 train comes here, the Metro North.'
The owner of Angelo's Pizza in Yonkers was even more blunt.
'You can call it anything you want, but it's not upstate,' Steve Ugrinag, 65, said.
4 Steve Ugrinag, 65, owner of Angelo's Pizza on McLean Ave in Yonkers
Khristina Narizhnaya/NY Post
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Mili Diaz, a floral assistant and Blossom Flowers in Yonkers admitted when she used to live in the Big Apple, she dubbed anything north of Inwood upstate.
'I think it was just like crossing the bridge to me was like, you know, just another world,' Diaz argued. 'Anything like past Inwood felt like really, really far, but it's not.'
Now, she thinks anything past White Plains – a mere 15 miles from Yonkers and also in Westchester – is upstate.
4 McKeon's Bar and Restaurant bartender James Flynn said once a traveler reaches the state capital, Albany, they're downstate.
Tomas E. Gaston
'The area I go to my vet, my vet is in Bedford Hills, it's all green, like it's the feeling of it, the vibe is so different,' she explained.
A White Plains native turned Florida-based rapper LYPHE even made a rap about people calling Westchester upstate more than a decade ago as part of a magazine interview.
'Upstate is the place where you see, all the farms with cows like Albany,' part of the rhymes goes. 'You comparing who? Where we choose to share the views. We can see the skyline in our backyard we not scary dudes from Syracuse.'
The rapper, 47, who once lived in Yonkers, called it offensive to suggest anywhere in Westchester is upstate.
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'It's the stigma that anyone born or raised outside the New York City border can't be classified as a true New Yorker,' he insisted.
4 A White Plains native turned Florida-based rapper LYPHE even made a rap about people calling Westchester upstate more than a decade ago as part of a magazine interview.
Khristina Narizhnaya/ NY Post
'The idea that we don't have the same experience, the same credo, the same grit because we don't reside in a borough is comical.'
Jon Chattman, founder of events and music series A-Sides, said the recipe for upstate is lots of trees, mountains and no cell service.
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'Oh, and when there's more than a half hour between exits,' said Chattman, who is also content and outreach director at the Westchester Parks Foundation.
He called the idea that only the city and Long Island is downstate 'ridiculous.'
'I mean I know you can walk 70 blocks in Manhattan in a half hour but that doesn't mean a car ride or train ride in under an hour is the boondocks or Lake George,' Chattman said. 'Speaking of which, Lake George is definitely upstate.'