Hi,
I%26#39;m planning a somewhat romantic ';meeting for the first time in real life after months online'; 3-day itinerary in New York City in late January and I would appreciate some help.
1) I%26#39;d like to find a quiet place to meet with not too many people around but still in public;
2) We were hoping to discover the ';City that Never Sleeps'; by staying up all night on a Wednesday night as our train for Montreal leaves around 8 AM and the ride is 10 hours.
3)We are also Art Deco buffs and will be touring the Art Deco buildings in Manhattan.
We%26#39;re 28 and 25.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Happy Holidays!
3-day itinerary sggestions requested
Wow! Interesting situation!
1) NYC has many public atriums (or is that atria?) in the lobbies of private office buildings. They are absolutely perfect for your purpose. This is the result of the 30+ year program to allow office buildings to be built bigger and higher, only if they set aside a portion of space for public use with some greenery.
This webpage lists resources and other lists of good atria. Click on each neighborhood and look for spaces that are called ';destinations.';
www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/priv/priv.shtml
Some popular ones are:
The Citigroup Building, at 53rd St. bwn Lexington and Third Avenues. (Due to security, you must go through a metal detector to enter the atrium). Great food for snacks. Directly above the E and V subway at 53rd and Lex.
Trump Tower on Fifth AVe and 58th Street. Very populated, lots of tourist traffic. Some high-end shops.
Right next door/behind Trump Tower on Madison and 57th is another very nice one. Very airy, not crowded. Forgot the firm of the building.
The Sony building at Madison and 55th St. Airy, nice place to sit.
The World Financial Center ';Winter Garden';. Lots of shops, dining, nice view of marina (outside is great in warmer weather). Located near World Trade Center site.
www.worldfinancialcenter.com
Also downtown is the J.P. Morgan atrium at 60 Wall Street. Nice place to have lunch.
2) I know that Time Out New York magazine has very, very thorough dance club listsings, and indicates which parties are after hours. Great resource! Buy a copy when you%26#39;re here, and pore over it in an atrium with your mystery date.
You can also search The L Magazine for events, music, clubs, etc. This is a very good website and a freebie magazine you can pick up in orange street-corner boxes.
www.thelmagazine.com
If you want to talk until the wee hours after clubbing or whatever, go to the Veselka. Great, stick-to-your-ribs Polish/Eastern European food like blinis, pierogis, etc. May make you fall asleep!
Many diners/coffee shops in Manhattan are open 24-hours. You can find them on Citysearch (restaurants) or Menupages.
www.newyork.citysearch.com
www.menupages.com
I%26#39;ll be back later with answer to #3.
3-day itinerary sggestions requested
3) These books might help you discover the art deco stylings of NYC.
';Art Deco New York';
http://www.powells.com/biblio/17-0823002845-0
';New York Deco';
http://www.powells.com/biblio/1-1932183841-0
Also:
Vlack, Don
Art Deco Architecture in New York, 1920-1940
Well there are quite a few websites that list the Art Deco buildings in the city. Here%26#39;s one
http://www.greatgridlock.net/NYC/nyc2.html
But one of the best masterpieces of Art Deco is Rockefeller Center. I%26#39;d meet there maybe at the ice rink and then go for a coffee.
For your touring of the buildings, I would contact the Municipal Art Society (mas.org) and see if they either have a tour written you could follow or maybe find out if you can pay for a private one. That would be a nice surprise.
As to the staying up all night, you need to tell us what sort of things interest you. ;) There are restaurants in Chinatown that are open 24/7 (Wo Hop is one). The Staten Island ferry runs all night (every hour on the hour apart from 12:30am) That might be fun.
Firstly, thank you for your responses.
I was thinking more of a place to sit down and talk right away I guess, more of a place where we can feel alone without actually being alone, like a funky coffeehouse or something, and given our points of origin and our familiarity with New York (neither of us are American)would be Midtown or the Borough Hall area of Brooklyn.
As for staying up all night I%26#39;m thinking less food more discovering parts of New York most 9-5ers don%26#39;t get to see but not so much sitting and talking or going to bars or restaurants. I like the Staten Island ferry idea I just hope late Janaury won%26#39;t be too cold for an Australian to take the ferry in the middle of the night.
I hope to hear back from you. Sorry I wasn%26#39;t specific enough before.
For a place to meet, I was trying to suggest you meet at some place famous (romantic) like the ice rink at Rockefeller Center, or the top of the Empire State building and then go from there to a coffee house or diner to sit and talk. It may not sound exciting but Starbuck%26#39;s is probably a good bet. There are tons of them, they%26#39;ve usually got a comfortable spot to sit and they won%26#39;t chase you out.
For something a bit more ';New Yorky'; what about under the clock at Grand Central station?
QB%26#39;s idea of one of the public space indoor parks is also a good idea. What time of day will you be meeting? From where will you both be coming?
As to the up all night schedule, not clubs or restaurants, I%26#39;m at a bit of a loss. What day of the week will this be? Bowlmor.com is a famous bowling alley that%26#39;s open quite late on most nights.
I will take all of that into consideration.
Is there a ';better'; Starbucks in Midtown?
I will be coming from either JFK or Morningside Heights and my friend will be coming from Park Slope and we would be meeting either in late morning or early afternoon on a Monday.
As for staying up all night it would be on a Wednesday night/Thursday morning and we%26#39;ll definitely be wanting to eat a later supper and breakfast and maybe stop for coffee at some point in between but we dont want to sit in a club or restaurant all night.
It%26#39;s to bad it%26#39;ll be late January as neither of us are American and the cold may not be kind to us.
As always, your feedback is appreciated.
Many of the atriums I mentioned have Stars#mucks or similar coffee and food opportunites within then.
You need a good map. I highly recommend the Not For Tourist guides. They show each neighborhood and most of the bars, restaurants, ATMs, drug stores, etc in each area. If you sign up on their web site (for free) you can print out all their maps.
But I think it is worth buying one. It is a ';little black book'; that doesn%26#39;t look goofy.
http://www.notfortourists.com/newyork.aspx
If you want to stay up all night talking in a bar, you%26#39;ll be happy to know that 99% of bars and pubs in NYC are open until 4:00 AM.
The Staten Island Ferry has indoor areas. After the ferry, go to the World Financial Center, which is close by. Then you can go to a club or bar in Tribeca. How about the lobby of the Tribeca Grand Hotel? This is all in the downtown area. You can get there very easily by subway.
www.mta.info/metrocard/tourism/index.html
Why do you want to hang out in Midtown Manhattan or Downtown Brooklyn? They%26#39;re both lovely - I%26#39;m just curious how you came up with two very specific neighborhoods that are not often requested by tourists.
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