Escaping the New York Weather
New York weather can be, well, brutal.
Just this past week, after an intensely hot and humid week, the temperature was finally back at a normal level… or so I thought.
I took the opportunity to make the ten minute walk to my friend’s house to pick up my box of Codenames (one of the best games out there BTW), and all the way there, the weather was spectacular!
I spent a grand total of two minutes at my friend’s place, and when I left, the skies had made a quick switcharoo from royal blue to an intense grey. I thought; “no way it starts raining before I get back” after all, it had been clear and sunny just two minutes ago, and it never changes that fast, right?
Right?
Wrong.
Ten minutes later I was wringing water out of my clothes, my shoes were soaked through, and my kippah was so waterlogged that it felt like I had a 5lb weight on my head.
Let me remind you, it had been above 35c (95 Fahrenheit) and humid for the past week.
So, my little escapade got me thinking; How am I going to handle my lust for exploring in such dire weather? How would others? What if someone was visiting for a week and this was the weather for the duration of their stay?
Of course, me being me, I couldn’t just settle with the basic NYC museum, bowling alley, and cinema answers, so I looked for some of the more unique offerings that NYC has1.
In this article, I’ve assessed the options, and will tell you my ideas for the Best Ways to Escape the New York Weather.
Whenever you see a 📌, click on it and it will take you to the aforementioned location on Google Maps.
Unleash your inner child at Area 53
Area 53 📌 is a venue with a ropes course, roller skating rink, laser tag, ball pits, slides, a zipline, ropes course, and arcades. AKA, it’s a children’s adventure park… Right?
Or is it?
Not always!
Every Thursday night, Area 53 kicks out the kiddos and hosts an adults only night! All the fun stuff those your annoying little cousin was telling you he was the best at? You can beat his PR now! No screaming kids to distract you 😤
The world is your oyster! Well, the Area is at least. Everything in the building is open on adults night. The event is from 9 p.m to 12 a.m every Thursday night.
Pop into some weird ‘ol shops
X-Ray Googles? Vintage magic tricks? Crab shaped plates? In New York, you’re hard-pressed to find something you can’t buy.
Make a day out of popping into some of the city’s wacky and obscure stores;
At The Evolution Store 📌Peruse through aisles of taxidermy, fossils, and stunning natural crystals.
Tannen’s Magic Shop 📌 is the oldest magic shop in the city, and its walls are lined with props collected from famous magicians over the years, including a few from Houdini himself! Besides for the many props, card decks, and slight of hand magic available to buy, you can also buy a trick. Buying “The trick” means that you’ll get all that you’ll need to perform the trick (special card, rope etc..), and an instruction pack/tutorial on how to master the trick.
(You may have seen Tannen’s in my recent blog One Day Itinerary for the Empire State Building and Koreatown.)
Brooklyn Superhero Supply 📌 Is a playful store selling all things superhero. Think capes, helmets, x-ray goggles, invisibility potions, invincibility potions, incredibility potions, immortality po… you get the gist of it.
Here are just a few more:
Heatonist 📌 – NYC’s hot sauce mecca.
Fountain Pen Hospital 📌 – Fine pens from vintage to modern.
Joanne Hendricks Cookbooks 📌 – Rare and antique cookbooks.
Casey Rubber Stamps 📌 – Thousands of stamps and custom designs.
George Glazer Gallery 📌 – Antique globes and maps.
Enchantments 📌 – Wiccan supplies, tarot cards, and incense.
Go to a Laundromat with a Twist
Before you waggle your finger at me and have me put in a straitjacket, hear me out.
There’s a spot in Greenpoint (an area just north of Williamsburg) that perfectly combines a boring rainy day chore, I.E doing your laundry, with a classic old-school rainy day activity in NYC; Pinball.
At Sunshine Laundromat 📌, you can come to do your laundry, and while waiting for your wash to be ready, grab a pint at the bar in the back and smash out a few games of pinball.
Of course, there’s more than just laundry and pinball; There’s skeeball, board and card games, great draft beer (because it wouldn’t be Sitchtravels.com if I recommended a bar where the beer wasn’t great), and… a fortune-telling chimpanzee…?
Explore Grand Central 📌
You’d be surprised at just how much there is to do in New York’s world-famous train station. Then again, maybe you won’t. After all, “Grand” implies quite a lot.
Share private secrets across a crowded room without blowing your cover in the Whispering Gallery; Where the walls act like a phone, transporting your voice along the ceiling from one corner of the busy room to the other, where hopefully you have someone listening carefully to hear it. Personally, I like to wait until someone I don’t know is listening to the whispering wall, then say something outrageously goofy, occasionally in a foreign language.
The station also has its very own market and food hall. So you don’t have to go hungry while exploring. (Unfortunately, I haven’t seen any kosher food here besides fresh fruit and veg, so you may want to pack your own food. The closest kosher cafes/restaurants are; Bravo Pizza, Milk N’Honey, and Mocha Burger.)
For drinks elegant drink soaked in history, head to The Campbell; an ornate bar tucked into the southwest corner of the station. Reservations aren’t necessary but are recommended if you want to ensure you get yourself a table.
On a personal note, I find Grand Central pretty darn awesome! I’d even say it’s one of my favourite experiences in Midtown, regardless of the weather.
Discover the Secrets of the Subway
Did you know? You can have a fun day out without even leaving the comforts of the subway. Well I’m not sure if comforts is the right word so let me try again:
Did you know? You can have a fun day out without even leaving the discomforts of the subway.
That’s better.
Back to the point, among many subtle art installations, historical oddities, and once famous backdrops, the subway is like an exhibit through the city’s past and present. To be totally truthful, it’s got enough unique flavour to be a museum exhibit from the characters that roam its tunnels alone!
Here is some of the coolest secret subway art and which stations you’ll find them at:
Radiant Site – 34th Street–Herald Square; walk through a glowing 165-foot golden tunnel between train lines.
Halo – 34th Street–Herald Square; spot seven silver rings hovering above the mezzanine like chill UFOs. ✌️
Reach New York – 34th Street–Herald Square (N/R platform); Look above for the plain looking green metal bars that double as a playable subway xylophone. Just wave your hand in front of the holes that look like air ducts, but are actually motion sensors, and you’ll hear a xylophone like sounds. A fun way to wait for your train right?
For Want of a Nail – 81st Street–Museum of Natural History; At this museum station, mosaics tell the story of life from microbes to dinosaurs. Gnarly!
“Respect” Signs at Franklin Avenue – Franklin Avenue–Medgar Evers College (C/F area); A tribute to the late great Aretha Franklin. 🎶🎵 R-E-S-P-E-C-T 🎵🎶
The first stations on the relatively recently opened 2nd Ave subway line are particularly well stocked with striking art.
Blueprint for a Landscape – 96th Street; swirling blue-violet porcelain tiles create dreamy abstract landscapes along the station walls.
Subway Portraits – 86th Street; giant mosaic portraits of NYC artists and icons by Chuck Close greet you on the mezzanine.
Perfect Strangers – 72nd Street; life-size mosaics of everyday New Yorkers, capture real city moments.
Elevated – Lexington Avenue–63rd Street; nostalgic tiles and mosaics depict the old Third Avenue elevated train and scenes from NYC’s past.
If you want to see secret subway sites but don’t want to risk missing any (I can tell you from experience that they sure are hard to find!), you can join a subway tour. Your tour guide will not only show you some of the hidden art but also give you interesting insight into the iconic transport systems history.
Fancy a drink?
La Noxe Speakeasy – 14th Street–Eighth Avenue; This classy speakeasy is technically in a subway station, though it’s accessed from just outside the turnstiles leading to the one train. The unique location alone make it one of the top NYC speakeasies worth visiting. It’s a creative and unique spot, and it can fill up quickly (though they limit capacity), so be sure to make a reservation via Instagram DM or by emailing reservations@lanoxenyc.com. During the day, it operates as a counter-top coffee shop.
What are your favourite NYC indoor activities? Got any hidden gems you don’t mind sharing with everyone? Or better yet; got any hidden gems you specifically don’t want to tell us about but would rather gloat about how you know where to go when we’re stuck in the rain? Please tell me about them in the comment section.
Until next time…
- “Unique” suits NYC to a tee lemme tell you! ↩︎
Sitch Travels 
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