The column first appeared in Looped In NYC, a newsletter to help New Yorkers make sense of the city. Sign up to get the email which also features event listings, NYC news to know and a reader photos.
All respect to the sheeple out there grinding away from 9 to 5 before tucking in for their doctor-recommended eight hours, but this is New York City: a place where you can also thrive while working or playing at weird hours!
As a 12-year veteran of the early morning news shift, I’ve long been an appreciator of off-peak city life. The pre-dawn R train full of napping ironworkers. The midday Central Park suntanning session. The near-empty 2 p.m. Trader Joe’s.
I could count on two hands the number of times I passed the same couple doing it al fresco outside a certain restaurant during my 4:30 a.m. walks to the train.
Whether your favorite off-peak activities are done alone or with a partner, fully clothed or less so, we asked “Looped In” readers: How do you take advantage of the city at odd hours?
It wasn’t exactly a surprise to learn that off-peak chores are a hit.
Reader Sam Shapiro takes advantage of a “Free Dry Thursdays” promotion to get his laundry done midweek.
And Sandy Naidich likes to get her grocery shopping done at 2 a.m., when the crowds are gone and you can count on the shelves being fully stocked.
“The other [day] I was in Whole Foods and they were out of mint,” she lamented. “Late at night, you never run into that problem.”
Then there are the off-peak exercisers.
Mihalis Alisandratos said he gets his cycling in between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., when the roads have fewer cars and the park loops have fewer pedestrians. Will Kang plays midday pickleball.
And Nate Maretzki, a Columbia University undergrad, said he schedules all his classes around midday trapeze sessions at the New York Circus Academy in Bed-Stuy.
“Looped In” tagged along last week for a class, where we also met a Long Island retiree, a stagehand for “The Rocky Horror Show” on Broadway and some people “with jobs” getting their swings in.
“The midday crowd, we get people skipping work, faking doctor’s appointments. I’d say the midday crowd is more dedicated.”
“The midday crowd, we get people skipping work, faking doctor’s appointments,” said instructor Sam Hart. “I’d say the midday crowd is more dedicated.”
Keeping weird hours doesn’t have to dampen your social life. Glenn Krasner, a doorman who works from 4 p.m. to midnight, Friday through Tuesday, said he and his fiancée (single off-peakers, there’s hope!) take advantage of their odd schedules for easier date nights.
“Valentine’s Day, for instance, fell on a Saturday this year,” he said. “So we celebrated the Wednesday before — we went to dinner and a Brooklyn Nets game.”
But for others, having some prime alone time in a city of 8.5 million people is its own treat. Graham Schranz, a self-described introvert, said he hits the road late at night — and even when the streets are empty, he keeps it slow just to take in the sights.
“If driving in New York by day is a constant overlapping cluster of frustrations, then driving by night feels like you own the city,” he said.
P.S. Comment on our video with how you like to take advantage of NYC off-peak.
