This was my experience also. I lived in NYC for almost a decade, and never once did I feel unsafe anywhere in the entire city. This includes doing things like taking the subway and walking home alone at 3:00 in the morning. It was just an incredibly safe feeling city. I too was a young white guy in excellent physical shape at that point, but while I'm sure that influenced things somewhat, I simply don't believe that anywhere in NYC is so dangerous that this is a reasonable option.