Friendships here are largely transactional. Make sure you can do something useful for somebody, and lots of people will want to try to be your friend. In return, seek out people who can do something useful for you, be friendly to them. Hopefully you can start some kind of symbiosis.

One thing you can do is buy a car, you'd be surprised at the number of people who'll be your "friend". It's the big-city equivalent to living in the suburbs and being the only house on your block with a swimming pool.