The Summer Shuffle: How New Yorkers Redefine the City When Everyone Leaves
Plus, the 5 restaurants I'm most looking forward to during Summer Restaurant Week
Every July and August, there’s a strange and beautiful shift in NYC. Half the city vanishes to the Hamptons (or Europe), and what’s left behind is a quieter, softer version of New York with room to breathe.
I noticed it during my first summer in New York. It was a Friday afternoon in late July, and I was walking through SoHo when I realized the sidewalks were actually spacious. I didn’t have to dodge into the street to get around crowds. I didn’t see a stylish gaggle of girls outside Glossier either, nor an impossibly long like at Sadelle’s.
I didn’t put it together until I got home and called a friend to catch up. A 15-year local, she graciously looped me in to the summer shuffle, where half the city leaves so staying behind feels almost conspiratorial.
By the second summer, I found myself envying the people who left. Friends with family homes upstate or a friend of a friend’s pool in East Hampton. I romanticized it because it intrigued me. But the longer I’ve lived in New York, the more I’ve come to love the city during this weird, slow, golden stretch of time when the usual urgency lifts. (That’s not to say I wouldn’t jump at an invitation to spend the month of August pool-side!).
But summer is special, mostly because it’s a whole new side of New York. I’m not suggesting the city becomes quiet, don’t misunderstand me. It’s still New York, after all. But the pace almost doesn’t feel natural. What does feel natural is the shared camaraderie between those who stick around. There’s a kind of intimacy to enduring the heat and humidity (my goodness, the humidity!) together.
During these weeks, the city feels like it belongs to those who stayed. They become the texture of summer. It’s especially true of the folks who live on the same block, whose routines you come to rely on. The holdouts.
I’ve also found that it’s a great time to appreciate New York’s calmer offerings. Long lunches, leisurely strolls through Central Park, and a lack of weekend plans that create space for actual rest (the rarest commodity of all).
I have a few personal daily rituals that anchor me during the summer. I take long stroller walks with my daughter in the mornings before the heat gets too intense. We stop at a cafe on Columbus that has misting fans and good shade. I pick up a cookie or oatmeal scone from Levain if there’s no line (there usually isn’t), and we sit on a bench at Strawberry Fields watching the musicians filter through.
There’s something a little decadent about staying in New York when everyone else leaves. You can finally get a dinner reservation at 8pm! You can wander the Met without bumping into school groups!
And then there’s the food. Summer menus in New York are their own kind of reward. The biggest highlight of summer is Restaurant Week, where more than 600 restaurants offer $30/$45/$60 prix-fixe meals. Many Michelin-starred restaurants join the event. (My birthday falls squarly within the window! I’ll share the restaurants I made reservations at below!).
There are, of course, the downsides. Garbage smells worse. The subway platforms are hell. August is its own unique brand of punishment. But there’s something grounding about living through it. It’s part of the deal. Part of the rhythm.
I used to think summer in the city was a consolation prize, sort of something you did when you couldn’t leave. Now I see it as its own kind of offering. It’s a softer, slower New York.
It’s nice to know that in a place that so often demands your full attention, summer lets you relax your grip. You don’t have to chase anything. And that might be the best part.
