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Wildest thing about all this “NYC is dead” shit is that in a year of hell and pain the day to day quality of life in NYC this summer has been the absolute brightest spot. NYC with free time and free of both fomo and tourists, a joy
Obviously I miss the music and art but taking a break from all that while still having the food and energy and people of the city has been nice. If we could have an outdoor only NYC for a few months every summer is take it
One unexpected bonus, a place where I don’t miss the music is restaurants with no sound system, no one needs those bland soundtracks to dinner
Also super nice is the fact that restaurants are forced to space tables properly for once. Food tastes better without that neighbor’s elbow seasoning
And obviously all the extra outdoor dining is a no brained, hopefully that stays around, along with some of the high end restaurants doing take out and casual food
The electric citibike rollout coinciding with all this is pure coincidence, but those things are transformative, adds a neighborhood and a half to your open air travel range
The energy on the streets reminds me of the good side of 80’s New York, when AC was a luxury and way more people just hung out outside. The parks in good weather are something else
Watching the McCarren track turn into a popping open air gym scene is a trip, especially as some one who doesn’t really do gyms
At risk of sounding like one of those “nature is returning” memes it’s really interesting seeing how much more the weather impacts the city’s mood now too
Obviously I’m worried how this holds up as days get darker and colder but I’m certainly enjoying this as much as I can right now, we need all the rays of light we can find these days
