“Welcome to New York. Now get out/Now go home” & “New York. It Ain’t Kansas”

T-shirts have helped spread New York slogans.

"Welcome to New York. Now go home" appeared on T-shirts in the 1980s. "Welcome to New York. Now get out" was popularized in the 1990s as a Time Out New York ad and also a Continental Airlines ad campaign.

One 1980s T-shirt showed a cartoon picture of a handgun with the caption: "New York. It Ain't Kansas."

"Welcome to New York. Duck, Mother Fucker!" is another T-shirt saying.


5 July 1986, The Morning Union (Springfield, MA), "Exchange students see U.S." by Susan McLaughlin, pg. 9, col. 3:
Guerreiro was sporting a black T-shirt which said, "Welcome to New York, Now Go Home," which she said one of her host families bought for her in New York because she wanted it.

Google Books
The American Spectator
Volume 19
1986
Pg. 29:
They sport T-shirts that say "Welcome to New York — Now Go Home."

New York (NY) Times
10 September 1989, New York (NY) Times, pg. 54:
T-Shirts' New Mood Is Sarcastic
By GEORGE DULLEA
Read any good T-shirts lately? How about bad T-shirts, hostile T-shirts, cynical T-shirts, T-shirts with chips on their shoulders? "Welcome to New York," says one. "Now go home."

Another shirt shows a cartoony snub-nosed revolver. "New York," it reads. "It Ain't Kansas."
(...)
"I had second thoughts about 'Die Yuppie,'" acknowledged Leslie Merims, an owner of a string of stores called Alada NY, "until I saw so many yuppies buying them." Other stores balked at carrying the "New York. It Ain't Kansas" gun shirt, a product of 90 degree Angle, a company in which her husband, Daniel, is a partner.

"But tourists love the gun shirt," Mrs. Merims said, "especially the Japanese. Somebody bought one and sent it to Kansas, where it was stolen. So crime is everywhere. Even the police buy gun shirts to wear off-duty."

Google News Archive
20 September 1991, Spokane (WA) Chronicle, "Brushing up on big-city cab etiquette" by Jim Kershner, pg. D1, col. 4:
On top of that, his T-shirt did not inspire confidence. It had a picture of a revolver, and the words "New York -- It Ain't Kansas."

New York (NY) Times
28 September 1995, New York (NY) Times, "A listings guide employs guerrilla tactics to find a niche in New York" by Stuart Elliott, pg. D7:
One poster, for instance, reads: "Welcome to New York. Now get out," while another boasts that Time Out New York lists "all the clubs you'll never get into in one magazine."

New York (NY) Times
24 June 1997, New York (NY) Times, "Mayor Gets Newark Ads Out of His Face" by David W. Chen, pg. B7:
Yesterday, Continental blinked. Two of the offending ads will be changed: the aforementioned one, plus a radio spot featuring the recorded voice now heard in many New York taxis, saying: "If you're on the West Side of Manhattan and don't fly out of Newark, you gotta be a tourist. Welcome to New York. Now get out!"

Ned Walker, a Continental spokesman, said the "Now get out!" phrase was meant to imply "get out of the taxi" -- not say, "get outta town."

Google Books
The New Yorker
1999
Pg. 96:
At this point, you wish you could say to Goodman and his show what the magazine Time Out said in its ads when launching its local version: "Welcome to New York. Now get out."

New York (NY) Observer
Two Hours ($25) at the Last No-Tell Hotel
By Sandy Lawrence Edry | 06/14/99 12:00am
(...)
Imagine the gift shop: T-shirts emblazoned with catchy slogans (“Welcome to New York. Now get the fuck out.”), dildos shaped like Lady Liberty’s torch and candies-in-a-crack-vial.

Salon
FRIDAY, SEP 24, 1999 12:00 PM EDT
He vs. she, part 1
Even new resident Monica can't handle this one, as Rudy and Hillary prepare to take their fearsome domestic quarrel to upstate New York.

JAKE TAPPER
(...)
Thanks to Hillary’s screw-up, Serrano told the press that he was reconsidering endorsing Hillary — which was enough to give the story an extra media bounce, earn Serrano a flattering profile in the New York Times, and make Hillary look like a tourist.

Welcome to New York. Now get the fuck out.

Daily News (New York, NY)
KKK TAKES IT ON THE CHIN
BY GREG B. , SMITH, MICHAEL , O. ALLEN , PATRICE O'SHAUGHNESSY
Sunday, October 24, 1999, 12:00 AM
(...)
The klan members were hustled away some of them running nervously by police as people jeered, "Welcome to New York . . . now get the f--k outta here."

Google Books
What's Wrong with Black Women?
A definitive examination of how and why bad Black women are driving good Black men crazy
By Monte Maddox
Bloomington, IN : 1st Books Library
2002
Pg. 62:
I had not been granted a dance by any black female in the club that night, and Candy only noticed me because of my New York tee-shirt, which read:

WELCOME TO NEW YORK. NOW GO HOME.

(Trademark)
Word Mark WELCOME TO NEW YORK. NOW GET OUT.
Goods and Services (ABANDONED) IC 041. US 100 101 107. G & S: COMPUTER SERVICES, NAMELY, PROVIDING ON-LINE MAGAZINES IN THE FIELDS OF FASHION, ENTERTAINMENT, DINING AND TRAVEL, AND FEATURING LISTINGS OF ART, SPORTS AND ENTERTAINMENT EXHIBITIONS
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Filing Date June 30, 2003
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Published for Opposition March 23, 2004
Owner (APPLICANT) Time Out Magazine Limited CORPORATION UNITED KINGDOM Universal House 251 Tottenham Court Road London W1T 7AB ENGLAND
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Abandonment Date June 16, 2005