Just last week, I took the metro into downtown DC for the first time since March of 2020 and then on Monday I rode the train to New York City. No particular reason. I just felt like taking a trip and seeing how the city was faring in the wake of COVID. I also wanted to see some New York friends I hadn’t seen for more than a year. New York has always been a city that fascinated me and I particularly like the gritty parts. I especially love the subway, that fine example of early 20th century industrial design that costs little to use, goes everywhere, and (I don’t care what you say) works incredible well all things considered.
I took the local commuter train right from my town to Union Station. I was shocked to see the state of DC’s train station. Virtually all of the retail in once gleaming Beaux Arts showplace, was shuttered. Only Starbucks and McDonalds seemed to be doing a thriving business. Downstairs in the food court, only the large chain restaurants seem to have survived.
In New York I checked into my old standby, The New Yorker. The New Yorker is an old hotel (1929) but is kept up pretty well by the Wyndham chain that owns it. It was also the cheapest thing I could find in its class and super convenient being right across the street from the train station.
I found the city quieter than it was on my last visit. Here too, much of the retail, at least in Manhattan was vacant. However, the restaurants that survived the pandemic were busy. The diners and coffee shops seemed to be doing a decent business. Of course, there are no international tourists yet and that is keeping hotel prices down and making even mid-town feel quiet.
Once out of midtown, things get really chill. Usually in Manhattan you don’t even consider jaywalking but some streets were completely empty of traffic. The sidewalks felt uncluttered. Again, many businesses were shuttered. Some business had signs on the door that masks were required, others didn’t. There was no discernible pattern.
Part of the quiet was, no doubt, that it was insanely hot this week. Wednesday’s high was 36 C (97 F). The heat was brutal. But what I love to do in New York is walk and so with my water bottle I braved the heat until I could take no more finding refuge in a diner and lingering over a salad and iced tea. But those who live there and lucky enough to have AC in their homes or office perhaps wisely stayed indoors.
I came away from my visit with a better understanding of how we are emerging from Covid and like most human journeys there is no clear consensus for what we should be doing. Some people are still wearing masks even while walking alone in an open park. Others aren’t wearing them even where required by law such as public transportation or ignoring signs a business has on the door saying they are required. In all fairness sometimes it is not clear whether the business still wants you to wear a mask or just hasn’t taken down the sign. The CDC says vaccinated people don’t need to wear masks in most situations but the delta variant is causing some authorities to rethink this though there seems to be little or no evidence that it poses a significant risk to those who are vaccinated.
Some restaurants are still only offering takeaway while others are packed with unmasked patrons. Many restaurants have clear plastic barriers installed between tables and booths that I suspect will never come down. Some wait staff are masked and others are not.
In other words, what one should be doing from moment to moment is confusing and all over the place.
While I was away, express transit was installed at every subway turnstile allowing paying with your phone or smartwatch at every entrance. No more waiting in line to buy or refill a Metro card. (The DC metro has added this too). I always felt that the old tokens worked better than the metro cards but I have to admit, I like just tapping my watch to enter the subway. The subway felt clean and safe as always.
There is a new waiting area for Amtrak trains in New York. The Daniel Patrick Moynihan Hall was built in the old post office building that is across the street from the horror that is Pennsylvania Station and Madison Square Garden. (Madison Square Garden is like the Holy Roman Empire. It’s not on Madison, it’s not square but round, and it’s not a garden.).
Although the new train hall doesn’t make up for the travesty of the demolishing of the first Penn Station in 1965, it is nonetheless beautiful, light and spacious. It is worthy of being a transport hub for one of the world’s great cities. The old new underground Penn Station has largely been relegated to the departure of Long Island Railroad Trains.
As hot as it was Central Park is an amazing gift. It was cooler in the park and it was full of runners, bikers and parents/nannies with strollers. Many people only work in New York but a lot of people still live here. I spent a good hour on a bench watching the midday world at play.
Heading home as the holiday weekend approached, the train to DC was packed and a cooling rain was falling as the heat wave broke. My town just announced that it will resume the annual outdoor 4 July costume contest, parade, and celebration and then there is a family gathering for a long-postponed family wedding.
So we lurch forward but not toward what was. Any remaining illusions that there is a ‘normal’ to return to are pretty well dispelled at this point. At every turn we are called upon to adapt, to learn, and (ouch) to change. Some of what we lost is gone forever. Some of what we’ve gained will alter things in profound ways. We know that. We just don’t know anything else.