These Two Men Have Traversed Every Inch of NYC on Foot and Noticed a Few Things

by N/A, 10 years ago | 2 min read

New York City has over 6,000 miles of streets across five boroughs, making it a massive and seemingly endless land of exploration and wonderment. You could literally walk for days, weeks even months and not see everything the Big Apple has to offer. You could even walk the same streets multiple times over and see a new thing every time you walk the sidewalks. The possibilities are endless. Those possibilities are something two men, William Helmreich and Matt Green, plan to conquer.

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This is William Helmreich. Helmreich, a professor of sociology at CUNY, has walked approximately 6,000 miles on his journey across the city. He's old school in his quest–he uses a paper map to navigate where he's headed and where he's been.

This is Matt Green. Younger, as you can see, and more in touch with modern technology, Green uses geotagged maps to navigate his journey and drop pins on all the places he's been.

Green also documents where he's been by taking photos along the way. He's a little bit further along in his walk across NYC, currently 1,426 days in, having covered more than 7,000 miles.

These two men were on the exact same path, to walk every block in NYC, but had never met one another, or even knew about each other's conquest. So, the New Yorker got the two together to share their perspective on taking on such a big task.

First thing they discuss, after exchanging pleasantries, is each other's choice in footwear. That's important knowledge, considering the 13,000+ miles on foot between the two of them.

Helmreich and Green have very different perspectives on why they walk, so seeing the two of them share their story with one another is fascinating. "They ultimately question how—and if—New Yorkers can truly know their city." Here's their conclusion:

What do you think? They seem to think the stereotypes of neighborhoods vanish if you simply walk through them. They've come to realize that New Yorkers can truly be friendly and aren't too busy to say, "Hello." Their story indicates both of those realizations are very true. There's so much we all can learn in this world, we just need to be open to different perspectives–something they've both had plenty of.

*NOTABLY: Green previously walked from NYC to Oregon and documented the entire walk here.*