Watching US sitcoms like Seinfeld & Friends, everyone just walks in without even knocking. Is this normal in cities like New York?

48 comments

  1. ~~No. NY is probably the last place you’ll find unlocked doors.~~

    So I may have regurgitated incorrect, outdated fear mongering. Apologies. Ignore this.

  3. They usually get buzzed in, so I’m pretty sure there are people who keep their door unlocked.

  4. So you understand these TV shows weee set and made 30 years ago? Also, fictional television programs are NEVER going to reflect 100% real life.

  5. No. I live in a safe part of New York in a building with a buzzer and a doorman, but it would never occur to me to leave my door unlocked when going out. Unless I go to the basement for a few minutes to do garbage disposal or laundry, then I don’t bother.

  6. It might be more likely in a controlled access building (eg Seinfeld) when you’re at home.

    But mostly it’s just to advance Kramers character and avoid having to pause the show when other characters arrive and depart.

  7. Yes. Also, we typically leave the keys to our car in the sun visor, with the doors unlocked.

  8. Absolutely not! No place in America is so safe (or honest) you can leave your door unlocked all the time! That’s just begging for burglars to come in and rob you!

  13. My cousins grew up in a small upstate NY town dominated by a prison. Their house doors were kept locked but at least one car was kept unlocked with the keys in it. Their logic was, if someone escapes, I don’t want them knocking on or breaking down the door looking for the car keys. Also better they are out of town ASAP.

  14. I think it’s the same reason no one says Goodbye when they hang up the telephone on TV. We say goodbye, bye-bye, or bye normally.

  15. In the city probably never. Up north in the country, I don’t lock shit. Not my house, shed, cars, etc.

  16. Anytime I’m in need of a snack, I walk into u/MisterBurlap’s apartment and make a sandwich.

  17. Because there are a lot of people who don’t live in NY saying ‘no’ based on TV, I’ll just say, I actually grew up in Manhattan and… yup! I never locked my door growing up. I didn’t even carry keys.

    Our building had a doorman and only around 20 apartments. So it was just one type of NYC living, and there are many. But it’s not as unusual as a lot of people are positing here.

  18. While most people answered your question already, if you watch closely in Seinfeld, you can usually see Jerry unlock his door only after one of his friends announces that they’re there through the intercom.

  19. Ha Ha Haaaaa NO.

    That’s just a cinematic technique to keep the humor going. In a 30-minute comedy show no one is wasting precious seconds waiting for someone to get up and unlock the door.

  20. Male teacher walking into a girls changing room when he knew we were all getting cha ged and making some excuse of an announcement to come in and say it for at least 3-4 mins. I’ll always remember it, we were all half dressed..oh and we were 11-12 year old at the time. He did it every PE lesson which was 2 times a week. Makes me sick to think about it and look back on now 😔

  23. During seinfeld sometimes they show Jerry unlock the door when he has a guest on the way up after they announce themselves on the intercom.

  25. TV shows are not gonna show you every detail of someone’s mundane life. Unless its relevant to a scene or story, they usually will not show someone locking a door. They will show someone unlocking a door more often since its seen as an introductionary action.

    You are more likely to see a scene that showcases locking the door in a horror movie because it can add tension.

    Seinfeld and Friends are sitcoms.

  26. I mean, it’s also unlikely the Winslows would have left their front door open in suburban Chicago for Urkel to constantly be walking in or for the Tanners to constantly have both their front and back doors unlocked all the time in San Francisco for Kimmy Gibbler or Steve to walk in. Obviously Joey, Jesse and eventually Becky could conceivably have keys.

  27. Apparently you have never seen a sitcom where a New Yorker unlocks 8 locks on a steel door.

  28. I grew up in NYC in a building that had a locked entry from the vestibule but no doorman. Our regular door lock (built into the door knob mechanism) had both a spring latch operated by the door knob and a deadbolt. The latch mechanism in the knob could be controlled by [two buttons on the mortise side of the lockset](https://images.homedepot-static.com/productImages/af95c201-85b8-42f1-a9dc-a01f8152f753/svn/baldwin-chain-locks-6321-003-r-64_1000.jpg), so the exterior knob either could or could not operate the latch. We always kept it set so that it couldn’t, and hence that aspect would lock automatically. The lone exception was when taking garbage out to the incinerator chute on our floor. (We still called it the incinerator even after they stopped burning garbage on site.).

    That lockset also had a deadbolt, [made clearer in this picture](https://static.grainger.com/rp/s/is/image/Grainger/1ABG6_AS01) (though the lockset pictured here doesn’t have the button settings). This was always locked with a key on leaving the apartment. It was also always locked when we went to bed, and often but not always locked when we were in the apartment.

    In addition, we had a [second deadbolt lock](https://s3-media1.fl.yelpcdn.com/bphoto/QwppnZqjJrtHuuem6oDpdA/o.jpg) mounted on the door. (Our doors were steel and didn’t have the extra holes showing in this picture, indicating a previous mechanism was once mounted there.). These were installed by the tenant, but nearly everyone had them. We used this the same as the above deadbolt. I have no idea whether this provided any extra security. I don’t recall any burglaries in our building.

  29. When you see something on TV that doesn’t make sense, as yourself: “Is this a real thing or is it just a plot convenience?”

  32. I think strategic door unlocking in NYC is much more common than many people here would like to believe. I know people that leave their doors unlocked all the time (edit: that is to say they are regularly leaving their doors unlocked under specific circumstances. NOT that they always leave their door unlocked and it is never locked.). Especially if you live in a doorman building or a building with a keypad entrance. Going out for a quick run? Leave your door unlocked so you don’t have to bring your keys. Expecting company? Leave your door unlocked so you don’t have to be available to open it every time more people arrive. Going to the grocery store? Leave your door unlocked so you don’t have to fiddle with your keys while your hands are full.

    I could see the same logic apply to the Seinfeld universe. It’s Wednesday night, Melrose Place is on (“That Jane, she makes me so mad!”), people will be coming over to watch? Leave the door unlocked. Kramer is going to come over before we head to the Met game? Leave the door unlocked. Elaine will be stopping by while running errands on the UWS for one of her outrageous bosses? Leave the door unlocked. A Columbia student is coming over to clean the apartment? Lave the door unlocked so you don’t have to be there when they arrive and they aren’t responsible for a spare set of your keys. I think there could be an implied strategy behind what many people are assuming represents a laissez faire door locking approach.

  33. As true as every other tv/movie depiction of American life.

    When we are talking about something, if we turn on the tv, it’s always on the right channel and there is a news blurb about that subject.

    Every morning, we have a huge breakfast laid out on the table, and either dad or a teenager just grabs a piece of toast and says they’ll be late before running out the door.

    Everyone socializes mostly with their co-workers, who are also their closest friends.

    We can always park right in front of our destination.

    Lots of American women fall down when they try to run away from somebody.

  34. People who live in buildings with doormen might. I never did, growing up in a walk up apartment and then in a duplex both in southern Brooklyn.

  36. New York is fascinating the way it’s depicted. You can get such a different impression of what the city is like depending on if you just watched Friends, Sex and the City, Law & Order, Taxi Driver, or Fort Apache The Bronx. It really is all things to all people.

    No, they don’t all leave their apartment doors unlocked.

  37. There are a lot of things that are not realistic about what you see on Friends and Seinfeld.

  38. I certainly don’t live in NYC, but I do live on the edge of downtown in a mid sized city.

    There’s somewhat restricted access into the complex (inward facing apartments, locked doors from parking garage into courtyard).

    I only lock my doors if I’m gone or maybe when I’m in the shower if my kids aren’t home. Otherwise I feel like my dog will deter unwanted visitors and will also warn me.

  41. No. And Kramer been had a key. I don’t live in New York but nobody does that. Plus often b they lived in the same building. A stranger still had to be buzzed. An apartment feature also found in other cities like DC. Coming from Georgia I had to get used to that:

  42. Seinfeld always buzzes them in from the outside, then unlocks his door, so I don’t understand your question. Then during the day one keeps it unlocked generally since it’s a secure apartment building. And then if we leave the apartment or go to sleep we lock it.

  43. Say it with me once again:

    **TV shows aren’t reality.**

    On shows like Seinfeld, they have people just come and go through unlocked doors because they’re trying to fit a storyline and jokes into a show that has a tight budget of how much time they can fill.

    Having Kramer just barge in through the door lets the story progress and jokes fly faster than him knocking, and Jerry going over to open the door to let him in.

  44. No one does that. And if you watch some 1970s and 1980s movies that take place in NY, you’ll see people who somewhat comedically have like 5 or 6 locks. Used to be a lot more crime. Though Madonna, who lived there in a bad neighborhood in the 1970s when she was poor, said she stopped locking her door because she got broken into so much. She also got raped I think twice.

  45. I think if access to the building is limited and you are in the apartment and have close friends in the building you expect to pop over to visit that wouldn’t be out of the question.

    I never watched Friends that much but in Seinfeld they always showed him buzzing in Elaine or George and I think usually show him unlocking the door for them after doing so…. It’s usually *then* that Kramer bursts in without even knocking… I think because he hears the activity next door and wants to be part of it. In the earlier episodes he comes across more as a a nosy, perhaps lonely eccentric neighbor who is inserting himself into their friend group.

    [And sometimes Seinfeld did lock the door](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qv3zHT60Hbs)

  46. No, but on screen you’re not going to waste time with somebody knocking, somebody else getting up off the couch to fumble with the lock and open the door if it doesn’t move the plot forward…

  47. The only places I’ve lived at where this was common we’re old but nice rural communities where everyone knows everyone. Even then though, people still knocked first.

  48. People need to understand that things happen on TV for TV reasons: knocking/unlocking a door wastes time when you have 23 minutes of sitcom plot to get through. Taking shoes off when you come inside is boring for audiences to watch (and TV set floors have things like stray screws on them).

    Stuff on TV happens for TV reasons, and doesn’t necessarily reflect real life. In any country.

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