Union Square: Where Real New Yorkers Shift From Business To Pleasure

New York / Görmeye Git
en / New York City Diary /  Victor Ozols, 28. Oca 2009

If I could give visitors to New York only one piece of advice, it would be this: get out of Midtown Manhattan.


Posing on Times Square. Photo: Joe Shlabotnik

Don't get me wrong, Midtown has a lot going for it. That's where you'll find the Empire State Building and Rockefeller Center. But the thing is, real New Yorkers don't hang out in Midtown unless we have to. We work there every day, in the forest of skyscrapers. But when it's time to shut off the computer and go meet friends for a drink, we instinctively head downtown, where the buildings are shorter, the bars friendlier, and the people that much more interesting. After all, life in New York is divided between work and play, and Midtown represents work, while downtown is all about playing. It's no contest.


Photo: Whatleydude

I feel sorry for the tourists I see walking glassy-eyed through Times Square, thinking it's the heart of the city. It's not. Union Square is the real center of New York, and there's no better jumping-off point for your downtown adventures. You see, Union Square represents the union between uptown and downtown, Broadway and the Bowery, business and pleasure, tight and loose. It's the place where weekends begin, where people meet and embark on wild evenings downtown, amassing tales to tell and secrets to keep. It's a gateway to a fun time in New York, as well as a good place to buy a loaf of bread for dinner. It's a place of possibility and of balance.


Photo: Ed Yourton

Above all, it's a park, with lovely trees, wooden benches where you can sit and read your New York Times, dog runs, playgrounds, a green market, buskers, cops, political activists, poets, a big subway station, and statues of George Washington and Mahatma Gandhi. And it's surrounded on all sides by everything you need in this city. At the northern end is the Barnes & Noble bookstore, useful to visitors for its periodicals, cafe, and public rest rooms. At the northeast corner is the W Union Square hotel. On the west is a string of hip restaurants and shops, ranging from the trendy Coffee Shop and Blue Water Grill to laid back Heartland Brewery and Diesel Jeans.


Photo: K. Coles

Students from the New York Film Academy on the east side are always wandering through the square with cameras, making their masterpieces, while the nearby Daryl Roth Theatre draws big crowds for live performances of the otherworldly musical Fuerzabruta. To the south lie two remarkably large stores that somehow haven't hurt the character of the place: Virgin Megastore - which is open late, so you can drunkenly listen to new music on headphones at their listening booths - and Whole Foods, a pricey organic grocery that's a good spot to buy a premade sandwich if you're saving your dinner budget for martinis later.


Yo Majesty at Irving Plaza. Photo: Gaelenh

And within five minutes walk of Union Square in any direction, the whole city opens up. Looking for something to read? Drop by the Strand on 12th Street, the city's finest old bookstore and the last survivor from the days of Booksellers Row. Thirsty for a beer? Cruise on over to Shades of Green, a comfortable Irish bar on East 15th Street the pours the best pint of Guinness this side of Dublin. Feel the need to rock? See a show at Irving Plaza, a perfect mid-sized performance space that draws some of the best emerging bands in the country. Feel like traveling back in time to Old New York? Bend an elbow at the Old Town Bar & Grill, a neighborhood staple since 1892.

I could go on, but the best part about Union Square is that it just feels good to be there. In fair weather or foul, it's a pleasure to simply sit and watch people from every walk of life pass by, lost in their own New York adventures, just like you.

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