In and around Times Square
Sidewalk gridlock is in full bloom in Times Square. Some people still wear masks in the open air, others as chin straps ready to pull up for taxis, the subway and city buses, where the mandate still stands (though many increasingly flout it).
Proof of vaccination and masks in cinemas and the majority of restaurants are no longer compulsory. Most Broadway theaters recently dropped the vaccine requirement, although masking will remain in effect through at least Tuesday, according to the Broadway League. Actors from shows like “Plaza Suite” (Sarah Jessica Parker, Matthew Broderick), “Macbeth” (Daniel Craig), “Company” (Patti LuPone, Katrina Lenk), “Funny Girl” (Ramin Karimloo) and “The Music Man” (Sutton Foster, Hugh Jackman) have been sidelined periodically this season by COVID-19, so the precaution is logical.
In concert with Broadway League protocols, the Drama Book Shop also requires masking. The longtime bookstore's previous location closed in 2019, and Lin-Manuel Miranda is among the partners who revived it last year in a handsome new space (266 W. 39th St.). In addition to every play and show business biography imaginable, there are comfy chairs to sink into while gazing overhead at designer David Korins' twisting bookworm sculpture of more than 2,400 books and scripts arranged chronologically as a paean to theater history.
Broadway geeks can bed down at Civilian, a 27-story, 203-room hotel that opened in Hell's Kitchen (305 W. 48th St.) last November. David Rockwell and the Rockwell Group dreamed up the design, its second-floor lounge featuring dollhousesize sets for shows like “Hadestown,” “Take Me Out” and “Moulin Rouge!” An outdoor terrace is tranquil except for the occasional siren. Sensitive sleepers might be more bothered by the noise from elevators; request a room away from them. This month, prices range from $189-$449, according to a recent online search. The cheapest rooms fit a bed and not much else, and amenities are stripped down; it costs $20 per day to request housekeeping.
The hottest place to eat in the theater district is a modest Italian deli, All'antico Vinaio (729 Eighth Ave.), where lines form before it opens at noon. The Florence import is manned by upbeat guys singing along to Italian music while slicing and stuffing squares of golden schiacciata (Tuscan bread that's thinner than focaccia). La Favolosa is the bestseller, the bread plastered with pecorino cream and artichoke cream, piled with salami and spicy eggplant and crushed into a big delicious mess. The shop is cramped, so if it's a nice day, picnic in Bryant Park, a 10-minute walk away.
Below 42nd Street
Heading downtown, you see many new cultural experiences, including Little Island, a blossoming public park on the Hudson River that looks like something out of a fairy tale. It's so popular in warm months that timed entry reservations are being enforced.
Causing a sensation among art lovers is “JeanMichel Basquiat: King Pleasure,” an immersive new exhibition in Chelsea's Starrett-Lehigh
Visitors peruse works by Jean-Michel Basquiat at a new immersive exhibition in Chelsea's Starrett-Lehigh Building.
Building (601 W. 26th St.), where a food hall was scheduled to open this month. Timed tickets, available until Labor Day, often sell out despite the price ($35 on weekdays, $45 on weekends, a bit less for seniors and children under 13).
Basquiat died at 27 of a heroin overdose in 1988, and his estate lent the 200-plus artworks and artifacts, most of them never before exhibited. His sisters helped faithfully re-create their childhood living room and dining room in Brooklyn, and in video clips they, and others, share fun memories of the artist. A replica of his paint-spattered studio on Great Jones Street is here, too; a video projects the artist at work there.
Pumping dance music fills an homage to the Palladium nightclub's Michael Todd VIP Room, where Basquiat loved to party and a mural of his dominated a wall. The intimate family element combined with the scope of Basquiat's glowing, gone-too-soon talent creates an emotional effect that's hard to shake.
In the Meatpacking District, the Whitney Biennial 2022, “Quiet as It's Kept,” is on through Sept. 5 (99 Gansevoort St.; $25 for timed
tickets). Postponed for a year because of the pandemic, the exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art has a somber theme, but beauty is present in the haunting photos of East Los Angeles, by Guadalupe Rosales, and Rebecca Belmore's sculpture of a human cloaked in a sleeping bag and surrounded by bullet casings.
Several videos are mesmerizing, including the first floor's “Extracts,” a meditation on “Moby-Dick,” by the collective Moved by the Motion. On the sixth floor look for Coco Fusco's gorgeous “Your Eyes Will Be an Empty Word” and Alfredo Jaar's “06.01.2020 18.39,” depicting the attack on peaceful protesters in Washington, D.C., in 2020 following George Floyd's murder. And be sure to step outside for Charles Ray's affecting figurative sculptures on the fifth-floor terrace.
Great spots to eat near the Whitney include Pastis, Cookshop, Chelsea Market, the reborn Barbuto and the lesser known Mary Lane (99 Bank St.), a breezy West Village bistro with outdoor seating. Owned by Blackfoot Hospitality, it is open for lunch, brunch, happy hour and dinner (closed Mondays). Morsels of Jonah
crab drift in puréed asparagus soup swirled with smoked crème fraîche. Ravioli plumped with braised chicken in cacciatore sauce boosted with olives, broccoli rabe, garlic slivers and crisp shards of chicken skin is a heartier dish on the seasonal menu.
For a meal near the Morgan, head to Café China in Murray Hill (59 W. 37th St.), which reopened in a three-story building in December. The owners, Yiming Wang and Xian Zhang, whose lovely Tribeca restaurant, China Blue, closed in 2020, favor understated décor, with fringed lamps and luminous touches of jade green. Tea-smoked duck, spicy cumin lamb and liptingling, lush ma po tofu swimming in leeks and chili sauce are highlights. So are delicate scallion pancakes, sautéed string beans with fermented mustard green shoots and dan dan noodles woven with sesame paste and ground pork.
While the pandemic saw the closure of hotels throughout the city, including the Roosevelt, the Excelsior and the Omni Berkshire Place, new lodgings in Chelsea are picking up, including Hyatt Place New York (140 W. 24th St.), SpringHill Suites By Marriott (140 W. 28th St.) and the Motto by Hilton (113 W. 24th St.). Motto's ground floor lobby is an active scene, and there's an expansive, modern lounge on the second floor. Rooms are built for efficiency and start at $300. A recent check on Trip Advisor tallied 163 reviews, 154 of them with an “excellent” rating and zero “poor.”
New York can't yet reclaim its nickname as the city that never sleeps, but what used to feel like a stopped clock is finally ticking away again. Anyone who enjoyed the former peace and quiet is out of luck. Those days are gone.