O New York! Picture these two UStriches on a boat pretty much like Titanic making their way across the sparkly sunny waters of New York for their morning commute from the Bronx to Manhattan. It was pretty dreamy, especially for $2, to have the windblown hair look on your first zoom call of the day is ideal. Being from Detroit, we have a deep appreciation for public transit. It doesn’t even have to be great – I mean we are coming from “The People Mover”/no public transit so we are easily impressed. However, New York really has public transit down. It was a delight to take the metro and it didn’t bother us how long it took to get from the Bronx all the way downtown or to Brooklyn. It was notable the inequality towards the Bronx in how only one line services this whole borough which also just happens to be the lowest income population of New Yorkers.
I had only been to NYC a few times before for quick trips like to see my friend Antwaun Stanley and Vulfpeck play a sold out Madison Square Garden. We stayed a month in a Bronx Airbnb which felt similar to where we live on the east side of Detroit. A little rough but vibrant. And we had the true New York experience of having to open our oven to open our silverware drawer – yup the kitchen was that small! I got us some groceries at the corner store and loved hearing only Spanish in the store. We started to find some gems in the Bronx from parks that are huge, to cute unique coffee shops (which Pidge will explain below), and we even befriended our neighbor who gave us the inside scoop on the Bronx having been a lifetime resident there.
We ventured out, as Ostriches do, to explore all the NYC hotspots like Central Park, went to the top of the Rock to see all of NY, Coney Island beach, and explored the waterfront sports and activities haven of the Brooklyn Heights, and even made it out to Governor’s Island where you can lay on a hammock and see the Statue of Liberty. We even saw a Broadway play – New York, New York, of course, which we got a great deal through Broadway Roulette. We imagined what it would be like living here and after a month had picked out a few spots that we could see as our next nest 🙂
Coffee Round Up by Pidgette
Ah, New York. Such a working hub with so much influence. It is no surprise that so many remote workers still opt in to pay the extra fees, taxes, and cost of living increase in order to remain in the land of coworking spaces, endless coffeeshops, and networking opportunities.
Well, now its harder for me to provide a true coffeeshop review as we technically stayed in the Bronx. For anyone that has visited the richly cultural borough, coffeeshops are not as prevalent, so I definitely had my work cut out for me on days where we opted not to travel to the other boroughs. BUT it wasn’t impossible and even found a few gems.
In order to stay true to Pidge’s roundup, I only added Bronx places recommended for remote working.
Some of Pidge’s favorite Bronx Coffee Shop Locations:
Boogie Down Grind-868 Hunt Ave.
Absolutely was my favorite. R&B music theme where you could feel it was a neighborhood staple.
787 Coffee Co.-2430 Third Ave.
One of NYC’s chain coffeejoints with a location finally in the Bronx. The location was a little odd wedged between warehouse buildings and residential, but to be honest that is a lot of the Bronx. Perfect interior atmosphere with a roof window.
The Way Cafe-1015 Castle Hill Ave
Honestly, a very cute little neighborhood joint run by a very sweet religious community, but very welcoming to remote workers.
