New York with kids 2025
New York has been and likely always will be a core center for the cultural development of the United States of America. Originally, it’s location and defensibility as a port, and trading hub made it a central place during the Industrial Revolution [1]. Manhattan was filled with factories up until the World War 2 reorganization of the economy and advent of the computer, at which point Skyscrapers started to appear, largely fueled by IBM who needed massive vertical file cabinets to house punch cards and other papers their computers needed (before microchips). The office towers were later easily converted to the traditional office space we know today.
I grew up in South Florida, in Boca, and every year millions of “Snowbirds” would literally fly south for the winter, mostly from New York, a few from New Jersey, and from Canada. The New Yorkers have a bad reputation for being rude, actually it was the Canadians we could live without. New Yorkers were mostly happy to be warm, had money to spend, and generally stayed to themselves – they wouldn’t bother you. They had a funny sense of humor and often would provide entertainment for the locals with their unusual and wild behavior. They fit into Florida like a hat on a bald head.
Being in the financial industry Wall St. has been a big part of it so I’ve travelled to NYC many times over the years, but never with my wife and child. We have lived in Atlanta, South Carolina, Charlotte, and now Knoxville, TN – which are all open suburbs with lots of trees. It was our first ride on the Subway, our first visit to Statue of Liberty, and first visit to the Big Apple.
I was surprised to see the amount of dogs of all sizes, many in boots. While I didn’t see many kids (they were probably in school) there were tons of babies.
Key topics and observations I want to touch on:
We went in March, the weather was awful. Freezing cold hurricane force winds around several blocks. Had to walk with my head a foot in front of my body to avoid falling down.
When it rained, the subways were flooded with muck and there is no way to walk around.
Aside from a couple gang bangers throwing gang signs and taunting each other, no signs of violence or strange things like you’ve seen on TV or in social media. Probably that was in another part of the city.
Overall, there was less of a mass of people compared to last time I visited which was pre-COVID.
Let’s start with a pro vs. con just listing the positive things that really were meaningful and the annoying things you have to deal with.
Pros-
If you can afford the less than bottom line junk food there was a variety of healthy food that was really good. Saturday we had long breakfast at Le Pain Quotidien Wall St. area it was fantastic, from the coffee to the food, service (it was Saturday, but anyway) and overall vibe was great, kid-friendly. A little pricey but you get what you pay for in NYC (and I suppose everywhere) so if you can afford it don’t sweat the 25% premium you pay for really high quality food it’s really a treat.
Amazing museums, where to begin. Let’s start with the Met. I love Ancient History and the Met is filled with it. As a kid I never even went to the Met because I thought it was all paintings, I only went across the park to the Museum of Natural History. There are thousands of real artifacts from Egypt, looking at these physical artifacts you get the true sense that there was a real non-human presence in Egypt.
Another must see isn’t really a museum it’s called Mercer Labs, it’s an artistic augmented reality journey through amazing experiences too interesting to describe in words.
Mercer Labs is a must see.
Great for business, the amount of companies that have an HQ or any office in NYC is huge. No matter what your industry, it’s a great place for networking, for meetings, and business activities.
There is tons to see and do. We planned to go back to the Met for a 2nd day but became tired.
There are tons of Museums, if you like that kind of thing. Broadway, probably great nightlife. Certainly a diverse mix of whatever fizzles your nizzle.
People are pretty friendly especially to tourists. I’m guessing this isn’t the case in every part of NYC but if you are in the normal areas people are fairly normal.
Cons-
Everything is overpriced. The hotel, Hilton Garden Inn, we have stayed in many cities – this one was the worst. Food quality was horrible, it was burgers and fries. Room was so small we had to pass by the bed one at a time to get to the coat closet. The door on the bathroom would slide open by itself. Horrible smells in the corridor. Everything is under construction.
Weather sucks, it was cold, raining, there were puddles with unknown liquids.
The smells of stale food, weed, and other foul odors can be too much to get used to.
There are only very small spaces, whether you are out and about, on a Subway, in an elevator, you’re moving around to let people out or bumping into people, which is OK but it’s not like being in the country or the burbs.
You are trapped – if you are a bit claustrophobic, this is not a good place to be. We stayed by the water for this reason, but there are small spaces in a small place with lots of people, dogs, buses, noises, etc.
Beware of scammers! On the way to Statue of Liberty there were people with purple shirts practically grabbing you to visit their overpriced ‘excursion’ tours, see here:
There are lots of great parks but if you’re there in the winter it’s too cold to be outside and it was always windy, we were there in March however it was winter conditions.
Overall Analysis
The Subways are efficient and mostly dirty and dreary with a couple of notable stand outs like Grand Central Station which is like a Museum.
The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island is a must see, amazing history surrounding our great and powerful country. How many millions of people have connected to this icon over the years, with mixed hopes and dreams, grand success and horrible failures…
New York is an amazing place and a center for US culture and business. I don’t think it’s a good place to have a primary residence, unless you live and work in the city. Manhattan has additional city taxes, NY state income taxes, and the value for your real estate is nothing compared to other areas. That is talking about Manhattan, there are many nice suburbs 1 and 2 hours away from the city which look cozy and appealing. It’s a great place to regularly visit and plus if you have an apartment you’ll never get to stay in one of the hundreds of amazing hotels.
The Trip was amazing, although I can’t imagine people who live in the city with kids. It was kid friendly, but there’s a constant fear of them running into the streets, or stepping in something ugly, and other unknowns. Probably the locals are used to it, but when you combine this with the sky high rents and other variables, I think I’ll remain an NYC tourist for the time being – a remote commuter at best.
References
[1] https://www.6sqft.com/historic-map-shows-the-manufacturing-industries-of-1919-nyc/
