

Ask HN:  Office share in NYC - dhyasama

I'm moving to NYC in two weeks and would like to find an office share or other place to go and work because it kills me to be in one place all day.  I will be living in South Harlem and the nearby libraries either open late (NYPL on 115) or are private (Columbia, Barnard, CUNY).  Places like Sunshine Suites and We Work NYC look nice and affordable, but I'd rather not trek all the way downtown everyday.  Does anyone know of a library or office share that is uptown?  How about a startup that would consider leasing a desk to a not-to-smelly code monkey?
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variety
First off, congratulations on moving to one of the city's famously non-
existent "neighborhoods" (in that nobody, save for real estate brokers and the
glossy lifestyle rags refers to the genearal area to the east of Morningside
Park as "South Harlem", not with capital letters in any case).

That said, since you seem to like moving around during the day -- and since
you'll get used to jumping into the subway or otherwise traveling considerable
distances throughout all hours of the day and night, far more frequently that
you would in most other large cities -- you might want to take advantage of
the strategic B and D lines, which will put you within 20 minutes shooting
distance of the NYPL branch at 5th and 42nd (after a nice stroll through
Bryant Park, from where you'll be getting off). Quiet and comparatively decent
surroundings, if you don't mind going through bag checks everytime you step
out for coffee, and having a security guard come by to rap his knuckles on
your desk should you find yourself dozing off. And now open 7 days a week
(having sold its soul and naming rights to some zillionaire benefactor or
another).

If you can work in coffeeshops (and have a strong battery in your laptop or
netbook), there's the Hungarian Pasty Shop (behind Columbia, at Amsterdam and
110th; a nice uphill stroll through Morningside Park); many find it oddly
conducive to work (and hacking) despite the cacophanous chatter, and despite
(or perhaps because, depending on your point of view) the lack of wifi (or
outlets). The espresso is sub-par, but the baked goods are decent and decently
priced, and the staff are quite tolerant and permissive.

Those same trains, along with the A and C will also take you down to the
Greenwich Village / NYU area, which has a plethora of options on the
wifi/coffeeshop front (Think Coffee, Tea Shop, Reggio, and Grounded are all
quite reliable).

Outside the coffeeshop mold, there are a lot of other de-facto "study halls"
embedded in strategic throughout manhattan: the atria of many larger office
builings (basically, open spaces the developers were forced to provide in
exchange for air rights and such) have been converted into public lounges
essentially; many now have wifi and cheap espresso bars.

And if you're still blowing through your cash, there are even more scenic
options, like the courtyard at the MOMA (if you felt like dropping a bit more
than the usual coffee bill to visit the museum proper later in the afternoon).

May or may not make up for the near-impossibility of finding decent-size
living and work quarters, sans roommates, anywhere near the center proper, but
these options do provide a break from the usual office or work-at-home tedium,
at least.

"Poverty with a view", we call it here.

