History Main / NewYorkIsOnlyManhattan

[[quoteright:300:[[Film/EscapeFromNewYork https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_4189.jpeg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:300:Because "Escape From One of the Five Boroughs of New York" just wasn't catchy enough.]]

[[quoteright:350:[[Film/EscapeFromNewYork https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/new_york_prison.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Because "Escape From One of the Five Boroughs of New York" just wasn't catchy enough.]]

* ''Literature/TheBabysittersClub'' treats New York City as Manhattan. Stacey is from Manhattan and the girls later visit Manhattan.

UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity is made up of five boroughs: Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island. Of them, however, [[BigApplesauce Manhattan]] by far gets the most attention in fiction, likely due to the city's best-known landmarks (Central Park, Times Square, Broadway, Rockefeller Center, the Plaza Hotel, the Museum of Natural History, the Empire State Building, Madison Square Garden, Macy's) being located in the borough. This is changing, however, as Brooklyn is becoming trendier. New York ''[[UsefulNotes/NewYorkState State]]'' has it even worse.

UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity is made up of five boroughs: Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island. Of them, however, [[BigApplesauce Manhattan]] by far gets the most attention in fiction. This is changing, however, as Brooklyn is becoming trendier. New York ''[[UsefulNotes/NewYorkState State]]'' has it even worse.

** ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'' stays largely within Brooklyn for the NYC parts, though the final scene and TheStinger (the latter a shortened scene from ''The Avengers'') are in Manhattan.

* {{Lampshaded}} in ''Film/ComingToAmerica''. When Prince Akeem and Semmi arrive at JFK airport in New York City, they ask the cab driver to take them to Queens. Noticing that they are clearly wealthy foreigners, the driver asks if they're sure they don't want him to take them to Manhattan and one of its ritzy hotels. Akeem declines and insists he take them to one of Queens' working class neighborhoods.

* The Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse has TV examples, too:
** ''Series/Daredevil2015'' primarily takes place in Hell's Kitchen, but it does have parts set elsewhere, such as in season 2 when Karen breaks into Frank Castle's house, which is clearly in Queens.

*** Season 1 strictly limits itself to Harlem and the upper part of Manhattan. It gets particularly bad when you tie it in with ''Series/JessicaJones2015'' where Luke was the main love interest. At the end of the season, Luke decides to leave to reinvent himself. But not only does he not leave New York City, ''he doesn't even leave Manhattan.''

* The Franchise/MarvelUniverse has this as a ZigZaggedTrope: While ''the majority'' of events that occur on New York visibly occur only on Manhattan, there are many heroes who live in other boroughs and thus occasionally had to deal with situations closer to home (example: ''Franchise/SpiderMan'' being a Queens native, ''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica'' taking pride in being from Brooklyn). In fact, the only borough that ''really'' [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg gets forgotten about is Staten Island.]]

** ''VideoGame/UltimateSpiderMan'' (2005) has a decently-sized playable area in Queens, since Peter still lives and goes to school there.

* In ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeed'' The Run, the final leg of the transcontinental street race takes place in New York, though because the linear style of the game we only see what's between the Holland Tunnel to the harbor where the finish line is.

** The official gameplay reveal for ''VideoGame/MarvelsSpiderMan2'' starts off with a non-cutscene fight in Queens, suggesting it's following ''USM'''s example and the area is playable to at least some extent.

* Downplayed in ''[[VideoGame/SpiderManPS4 Marvel's Spider-Man]]'': While the other four boroughs (and [[{{Joisey}} Jersey City]]) are acknowledged, gameplay is strictly limited to Manhattan.

* [[ExaggeratedTrope Exaggerated]] in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''. The FantasyCounterpartCulture of NYC is simply called Manehattan, ignoring everything else of the city.

* PlayedWith in ''[[VideoGame/SpiderManPS4 Marvel's Spider-Man]]'': While the other four boroughs (and [[{{Joisey}} Jersey City]]) are acknowledged, gameplay is strictly limited to Manhattan.

* ''ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}'': The main stories in the comic of ''Deadpool'' all take place not only in Manhattan but within a 5 or 10 block Midtown area.
* The Franchise/MarvelUniverse has this as a ZigZaggedTrope: While ''the majority'' of events that occur on New York visibly occur only on Manhattan, there are many heroes who live in other boroughs and thus occasionally had to deal with situations closer to home (example: ''Franchise/SpiderMan'' being a Queens native, ''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica'' taking pride in being from Brooklyn).

Despite what fiction may lead you to think, Manhattan is actually the smallest of the boroughs (By land area; by population, it still lags well behind Brooklyn and Queens), and New York City as a whole is only a relatively small part of New York State.

* Averted in ''Series/TheKingOfQueens''. Which, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin as it says on the label]], is set in and around Queens.

If a character is identified as a New Yorker, they'll usually hail from some portion of Manhattan, unless they come from a troubled background because then [[BrooklynRage Brooklyn]] and the Bronx are fair game. If they're from a suburban or "rural" part of New York, they might be from Long Island or the lower Hudson Valley, which are still considered part of the NYC metropolitan area; everywhere else is regarded as "Upstate".

* Averted by ''Series/{{CSINY}}'' as a whole, since crimes happen in all five boroughs throughout the series' nine year run. There's even an episode in season 1 entitled "Tri-Borough" with cases spread across the city. Also, Det. Danny Messer is from Staten Island, Det. Don Flack is from Queens and Det. Adien Burn was from Brooklyn.
** But invoked by the owner of the Manhattan Minx roller derby team in "Jamalot" who exclaims, "New York IS Manhattan!"

[[WMG:[[center:[[AC:This trope is [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1654281100024205200 under discussion]] in the Administrivia/TropeRepairShop.]]]]]]

* ''Series/Daredevil2015'' primarily takes place in Hell's Kitchen, but it does have parts set elsewhere, such as in season 2 when Karen breaks into Frank Castle's house, which is clearly in Queens.
* ''Series/EverybodyLovesRaymond'' averts this. The location is Lynbrook, a New York City suburb on Long Island.
* ''Series/JessicaJones2015'' primarily takes place in Manhattan, but does avert this as large portions of the show do take place in other boroughs, primarily Queens.

* ''Series/LukeCage2016''
** Season 1 strictly limits itself to Harlem and the upper part of Manhattan. It gets particularly bad when you tie it in with ''Series/JessicaJones2015'' where Luke was the main love interest. At the end of the season, Luke decides to leave to reinvent himself. But not only does he not leave New York City, ''he doesn't even leave Manhattan.''
** Averted in the second season, where the action is split between Harlem and Crown Heights in Brooklyn.

* A New York City advertisement for Seamless boasts about how everything is "big" in NYC, except for the kitchens, by using clips of Manhattan. Small kitchens are also usually associated with Manhattan more than the other boroughs.

* Averted in ''Series/{{CSINY}}'' as crimes happen in all five boroughs throughout the series' nine year run. There's even an episode in season 1 entitled "Tri-Borough" with cases spread across the city. Also, Det. Danny Messer is from Staten Island, Det. Flack is from Queens and Det. Adien Burn was from Brooklyn.

Despite what fiction may lead you to think, Manhattan is actually the smallest of the boroughs (By land area; by population, it still lags well behind Brooklyn and Queens), and "New York City" is only a relatively small part of New York as a whole.

If a character comes from New York, they'll usually come from some portion of Manhattan, unless they come from a troubled background because then [[BrooklynRage Brooklyn]] and the Bronx are fair game. If they're from a suburban or "rural" part of New York, they might be from the Hudson Valley or Long Island.

* For a good 250 years, New York ''was'' only Manhattan. The original Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam (founded 1624), renamed New York when the English captured it in 1664, was on the southern tip of Manhattan Island. The communities of the Bronx, Staten Island, Brooklyn, and Queens were independent municipalities separate from New York City. (This is why Manhattan is still officially New York County.) Between 1874 and 1898 those outlying boroughs were merged with the old New York City to create what was then informally called "Greater New York". But old attitudes persisted, and even now it's not uncommon for residents of the "outer" boroughs to talk about "going into the City" (i.e., Manhattan).

If a character comes from New York, they'll usually come from some portion of Manhattan, unless they come from a troubled background because then [[BrooklynRage Brooklyn]] and the Bronx are fair game. If they're from a suburban or "rural" part of New York, they might be from Albany or Long Island.