The City That Never Sleeps?

[holden125]

Originally Posted by JordanUK

It's definetally not like that

Having just visited new york, we were walking the streets at about 1am and there wasn't a lot of people - THIS WAS IN TIMES SQUARE!! There's a lot of homeless on the streets at night though. Yes, in terms of the flashing lights and taxis- it doesn't sleep, but in terms of PEOPLE on the streets- it defo does, not half as busy as it is during the day!

Times Square is generally full of tourists and not all that representative. I tend to avoid it like the plague. The actual New Yorkers there are generally only there for work or the theatre, activities that tend to be finished before 1 am.

Don't expect NYC to be super-bustling around the clock, but if you were on St. Marks Place or MacDougal St there's pretty significant activity at 1 am.

[DesiArnez6]

Yep, as other have said, the village area pretty much never sleeps

[passdoubt]

Totally depends on the neighborhood. But yeah, there's really no place in New York that's quite like the Las Vegas strip or Bourbon Street in New Orleans where you can't tell what time it is.

Parts of Midtown and the Financial District are a ghost town by 8pm. There are areas that are almost all offices, and the retail only serves office workers so it closes after most people go home.

Upper Manhattan is pretty dead at night. Mostly working class families. People get up early and when they come home they make dinner in for the family.

The Village, East Village, and Lower East Side are probably most active at 1am, or even 3am on a weekend night. They're full of young single people of course.

Times Square is usually fairly active at 3 or 4am or so on a Friday and Saturday. I sometimes stop by the McDonalds there on my way home after barhopping downtown and there are almost always a lot of people out. Not just tourists, but there are a good number of nightclubs in the area that people from the Bronx and the suburbs frequent.

When I'm coming home, I take the 2/3 if I'm on the West Side or the 4 if I'm on the East Side. The 2 train to the Bronx is usually fairly full going uptown at 4am on a Friday and Saturday. The 4 train is usually kinda empty though. I'm not sure why.

I do think it's "safe" to walk around most of Manhattan below 96th Street at 3am though. There's enough street life that there are witnesses.

Originally Posted by seren77

On a similar note, my train arrives to Penn Station at 2 am and I have a train leaving at 7:15 am. Any place open 24 hours around the area (or a short subway ride) that I can kill the time on a weekday night? Or I am pretty much restricted to either crash in the station or get a hotel?

You mean like a place to get food? Or drink? Bars close at 4am so you could drink until then. There's a place called Stout on 33rd between 6th and 7th that's pretty clean although kinda big and loud. If you'd prefer more of a dive, walk north on 8th or 9th Aves and you'll find some scruffy old school New York bars like the Holland or the Wakamba Lounge.

After 4, your best bet would probably be 24 hr diners. Tick Tock is right on 8th and 34th, but it's pretty bad. If you walk another block to 9th Ave, the Skylight Diner is better food and a little cheaper too.

But if you have from 2 to 7:15, you could get on the subway and go anywhere in the city if you have the energy... the East Village would be my suggestion for exploring at those hours. You could hit every bar around St Marks and walk down to Moonstruck on 2nd for the 24hr diner when things do start closing.