Back to Manhattan Today (First time since March 13)

[SamAdams76]

Today I returned to my office on Lexington Avenue (near Grand Central) for the first time since Friday, March 13.

Just wanted to record some observations.

I took the Metro North out of Westport, CT. Arrived around 6:30 am and got my best parking space ever! There were only about 20 cars in the main parking lot when normally it is close to full and people are already jockeying for spaces in the satellite parking lots.

Train showed up right on schedule at 6:52 and it smelled and looked clean. Got a three-seater row all to myself. Very pleasant ride. Grand Central was also very quiet. It had the feel of a Sunday morning. Once out on the street however, it sounded and felt like a typical day in NYC with the taxis, the honks and the occasional sirens.

Lot of people out on the street. Many commuters are choosing to drive in as opposed to taking public transit. So streets are moderately crowded.

Walking into the lobby of my building, a woman took my temperature. 97.8 degrees. I was allowed in and I took my elevator to the 32nd floor. Only four to an elevator and they have red dots painted on the floor in each corner. I was the only one on the elevator the entire day.

My favorite coffee shop (Gregorys) was still closed but Dunkin Donuts was open and doing brisk business.

During lunch, took a walk up and down 5th Avenue, to the Trump Tower and back. Most of the shops were open but not doing a lot of business from what I could tell. At Rockefeller Center, there was a wine vendor setting up shop for later that day. Tables were being setup and POS (point of Sale) terminals were being plugged in.

Many of the stores had signs saying "cashless payments only." The Barnes and Noble was open and I went inside, because I can never pass up a book store. It was not crowded but they had a decent amount of people in there. I bought a couple of books and moved on.

None of the once ubiquitous food trucks from what I could see but restaurants were busy setting up tables out on the streets.

Slowly, the city is coming back to life.

I was struck by how peaceful it all was. I saw very little damage from all the rioting that earlier took place. The graffiti appears to be mostly cleaned up. The streets were clean (at least by NYC standards). There were a few bums here and there but not nearly as bad as I thought it might be. The NYPD was out in full force and they were friendly as ever. I don't know how they do it but they have been able to maintain their professionalism.

Anyway, my purpose for being there today was to get the office ready for re-opening. We have two floors of office space so we were putting up signage and floor arrows and all the other things necessary to facilitate social distancing in the office environment. All conference tables had chairs removed to leave just five. Plan is to have the office 25% occupied by end of July.

I did a few ZOOM meetings from my office and many of my co-workers and clients were still working at home, where it now seems to be pretty much a permanent arrangement. Our go-forward plan is to have about everybody come in maybe one day a week and for client-facing meetings.

Otherwise, work from home appears to be here to stay for a while.

At the end of the day, I went back to Grand Central and once again had a three-seater all to myself. There were a lot more people on the evening train than the morning train, which suggests that nobody was hanging around after the workday having drinks and/or dinner in the city.

I was really struck by how quiet and clean the city was. It was not the hell-hole that the news media would have you believe. Now granted, I was only in the mid-town area between Times Square and 3rd Avenue and between 52nd and 36th Streets. But I had no hassles whatsoever.

Thought I'd pass that on.

[novemberslady]

Thanks for posting.
I used to live in Queens, just over the bridge, and was in the city almost daily.
I still miss it sometimes.

[GnuThere]

Gorgeous. Looks like a ghost town.

[Alberta's Child]

Thanks for the update!

I can't imagine your employer is going to be renewing their lease at that location. Paying top dollar for Manhattan office space and then having it open at 25% of its capacity after 4-5 months of a lockdown is ludicrous.

Just my two pesos here ...

[SamAdams76]

About the masks, I would say that close to 50% of New Yorkers take them off as soon as they hit the street. Now in the buildings, most everybody wears them, probably out of respect for the businesses and people inside. But once outdoors, they come right off much of the time. NYPD has already stated they will not enforce the silly law of wearing them everywhere in public.

I think eventually the whole face mask thing will just go away and everybody will pretend it was never such a big thing to begin with.

Wish I had taken some more pictures of my day today.

[SamAdams76]

It's a loss leader for us. We have over 500 offices around the world. But NYC is a prestige location, where no expense is spared. Like in London, Paris, Tokyo, etc.

Many other corporations have the same mindset. Having a footprint in NYC and other "elite" cities tells the world you are a player.

We'll see how that stands up over time now that the world has changed.

[livius]

Lonely, lonely sits the city
that once was full of people.

I’m not sure our civil society is ever going to come back. If any Freeper had ever been in Grand Central Station before this insane Marxist disease panic, you would know that you really couldn’t have seen more than a few feet in front of you because of all the people rushing to and from trains, heading for work or for dinner, or even just passing through and talking and looking around. Busy, busy, talking, talking. I loved it.

They used to have dances here in Grand Central under Giuliani and you could dance or stand on one of the balconies at the side, get a drink and watch everybody dressed up and dancing (waltzes, fox trots, etc. - just old traditional dances, not twerking).

Now we have an empty space with silent, masked people. How the heck did this happen? And so fast?

In any case, thanks for the report. Family members who still live there have told me much the same . If you go to Soho or parts of Fifth Ave. it’s all smashed and boarded up, but they appear not to have messed with Midtown that much.

[Vendome]

That is one weird photo...

[SamAdams76]

Nice post. Grand Central is probably my favorite place in the world. I've been working in NYC for years and I always ensure to take the "long way" through Grand Central either going to the office from my morning train or going to my train at the end of the day. I almost always think of Ayn Rand as well when walking through there.

I will never forget the evening of March 13, when I left my office and entered a nearly empty Grand Central. That was when I first realized how things were about to change. Little did I know that it would be over three months before I would see Grand Central again - and it would be just as empty, if not emptier.

[Vendome]

Columbus Circle is where the Trump International and Jon George are located.

Blocks away from Trump Tower and at the opposite end of the park

[Vendome]

Now that is an even weirder photo @ 8:15am

Never seen that before and never saw people looking like they worked at a morgue..

[Lisbon1940]

P.T. Barnum‘s hometown.

[SamAdams76]

That would be Bethel, CT

[Gay State Conservative]

I was in NYC in early/mid April..on a Saturday.I was visiting the daughter of a friend who lived on W181st.Took the train out of Greenwich...parking lot empty,train empty,Grand Central deserted,the A Train almost empty.

But that makes the Maoists at Rat Party Headquarters very happy indeed...bring the economy to its knees...bring us back not to 1933 but to 1833!

[Gay State Conservative]

Darien...the town where the teenagers drive Ferraris and the parents drive Bentleys.

[Dr. Scarpetta]

I am somewhat shocked to read your good report. I watched NYC rioting for days and have been thinking it’s in a bad state. Do you have info about the encampment at City Hall?