DeepaSingapore

Hi all, I have been a a regular on the Europe Forum for the past 10 years and this is my first post on the US one!

I am currently visiting my brother in NJ and have deceided to go into the City for a few hours to just walk around and get a good lunch and soak in the atmosphere. I have the done usual tourist sites before and am now only interested in enjoying a few hours on Saturday morning /afternoon. We are 3 adults and are leaving four kids at home with a baby sitter!

We seem to have the lunch sorted (my brother has a reco for a neat place that serves great organic burgers!). I am looking for some good cafe type recommendations! Or any other suggestions you may have.

Thanks in advance for your replies.
Deepa

Aduchamp1

To me the best places to people watch are Central Park and Wahington Square Park. So get a coffee and sit down at different places in Central Park.

nytraveler

Other places that can be interesting are Lincoln Center and the shoreline path in Battery Park City.

Where is this restaurant - that might help people make recos.

djkbooks

Well, in Midtown, the huge sidewalk terrace at Maison is terrific.

djkbooks

And, the sidewalk terrace at Rue 57, but I don't know if you can order just coffee there. Great place for weekday breakfast or weekend brunch.

And, the enormous terrace in front of the Hyatt Regency in Jersey City at Harborside Club is a magnificent place to sit and stare at the skyline of Manhattan, also with views of Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.

KathyM

Sitting at my desk in upstate NY, I have a bookmark from Centrale Brasserie 1700 Broadway, Corner of 53rd and 7th; that was always a good spot!

NeoPatrick

Isn't Washington Square Park completely closed down for renovation? It appeared to be last week -- with a fence all the way around it.

DeepaSingapore

Thank you very much for your replies. Any one else?

DeepaSingapore

The lunch place is called Rare and is on Lex and 37th.

AustinTraveler

Washington Square Park is not completely closed but a good portion is fenced off. Lincoln Center is under construction as well. I would say NYC Library steps and Bryant Park are good options for people watching.

Aduchamp1

Most of the eatern portion of Washington Square is open now and it was filled the other day with people including a few musicians.

mp

Not to be snarky here, but the people watching in midtown will primarily consist of tourists and worker-bee NYers . . . take a short subway ride to the UWS or downtown to see at least a bit of visual diversity . . Washington Sq. Park is a good idea, one of the sidewalk cafes in the east village, one of the places on Orchard St. or Stanton Street. Union Square Park is GREAT for people watching, also Madison Square Park.

NeoPatrick

mp, you may call it snarky, I'd just call it misinformed. I've just spent a month living right next door to the very large WorldWide Plaza in midtown west, and let me assure you the VAST MAJORITY of people hanging out there all day everyday are locals -- either those who live in the thousands of apartments within a block or two, or some of the thousands who work in the neighborhood. There is little reason for tourists to go sit there. The same would be true of most of the little midtown plazas and around the water fountains (Rockefeller Center excepted, which really is tourist central), which are generally filled with local workers enjoying a coffee break, lunch, or a before or after work break or meeting. I'm sometimes surprised how many local New Yorkers don't seem to realize how many thousands and thousands of people LIVE midtown.

Ah but that explains it about Washington Square Park. I only saw it from the West end and it looked from there as if the whole park was fenced off.

trippinkpj

Midtown is a large area, it would be helpful if the OP narrowed it down a bit. Midtown West, Midtown East, 40's or 50's, etc..

mp

Patrick, I don't think it's misinformed to say that midtown is primarily NYC workers and tourists - perhaps it's just a perception of midtown - you yourself qualify your area as "midtown west."

As a current resident of Manhattan for 30+ years, when a tourist asks about midtown I (perhaps wrongly) assume they mean the area from 42nd to 59th, Park to 7th Avenue - and usually the tourists focus on the area around Rockefeller Plaza, which you yourself admit is filled with workers and tourists. You also seem to be saying that there is little reason for some one to sit there and people watch.

Looking back on your post, you seem to take exception to the idea that NYers think people don't live in midtown. This is amusing to me, because my dear late brother and I had a running joke/argument about our respective neighborhoods. He lived and loved his Hell's Kitchen neighborhood, and passed away in his beloved little studio on 46th and 8th. As a downtowner, I couldn't understand the appeal of midtown. We agreed to disagree. Funny that within the distance of approximately 3/4 of a mile we could find such a world of difference.

The OP asked for good people watching and to soak in the atmosphere. Others suggested Lincoln Center, Washington Square and Battery Park City. All I tried to do was suggest some visual diversity from what is usually found in midtown - hence the suggestions of Union Square and Madison Square.

NeoPatrick

While I did say that Rockefeller Center is mainly tourists, I sure didn't mean to imply it's not great for people watching. Again, not to be snarky, but aren't tourists generally a lot more fun to watch than local business people? What exactly is it that people are looking for when "people watching"?

And mp, that is so true about how many New Yorkers are SO into their own neighborhoods and often SO "Anti" many other neighborhoods. But I do think that often when locals say to avoid midtown (for anything), they really mean to avoid the two or three blocks immediately surrounding Times Square. There's a whole lot more to midtown than that!

dmlove

And mp, that is so true about how many New Yorkers are SO into their own neighborhoods and often SO "Anti" many other neighborhoods.

I'm sorry, I know this is OT, but I had to add an anecdote -- my friend's son's girlfriend grew up on the UES and lives there now (post-college). My friend's mother lives near Lincoln Center. So they invited the "kids" to brunch near Lincoln Center and the response they got was "I don't know...it's so far" LOL.

Aduchamp1

Snark away Neo, that is what you enjoy.

I assume people watching means everything from foreigners, to people who blew their brains out in a car, Ny'ers, tourists, religious cuckoos, would be artists and musicians, real writers and dancers, rich folk, street folk, and people skating backwards without skates.

Midtown usually leaves out about half those people.

You will see a greater variety of people in fifteen minutes at Washington Square Park, Central Park or Thompkins Square Park than a live time Rock Center.

Union Square usually has an extra layer of fun and chaos with political groups and animal advocates.

Try the steps of Met Museum, especially for overt courtship rituals.

NeoPatrick

"Snark away Neo, that is what you enjoy."

Auduchamp you are way off base. And why do you keep insisting on trying to insult me? Maybe you missed that my snark comment was borrowed from mp's own comment "not to be snarky here. . ." There is no way what I have said is snarky, even if you think somehow it is. And despite what you believe, there is no way I "enjoy" being snarky (other than once in a while to people who have just insulted me or others). Even now I'm choosing NOT to be snarky to you, even though you clearly have "snarked away" at me. Does that mean that you enjoy being snarky?

What is your problem with me anyway? Just because we happen to have different opinions about a few New York issues -- like I believe it makes sense for a theatregoer midtown who is also in a hotel midtown to eat midtown before or after a show, while you insist it makes more sense to travel somewhere else half way across Manhattan because "everything in midtown is a tourist trap" -- that's no reason to take personal offense. That's pretty much the only thing I remember you going off on me for -- along with you insisting that someone who doesn't live in New York can't possibly know as much or have as good opinions as someone who does. I agree with the VAST majority of very helpful New York comments you make, just not that eating before or after theatre one. Must two posters agree on everything?

Gekko

In the basement of 30 Rock there's a Starbucks and a large seating area.

Buy a coffee, take a seat, and watch the crowd (which often includes NBC personalities).