Quiet Place to Write in NYC?

June 17, 2008 8:53 AM

Help me find a quiet place in Brooklyn/ Manhattan to read and write.

I used to go to the Poets House reading room in Soho-- wonderful, quiet, natural light, big tables-- but it's closed until November. Any recommendations for other reading rooms/libraries/quiet places where one can read and write?

Coffee shops are too noisy for me. The main reading room in the NYPL on 42nd St. is filled with echoes and electronic beeps.

There must be somewhere I can work undisturbed in the city! Ideally: smallish, natural light, tables, extreme quiet. Thanks!

posted by airguitar2 to writing & language (6 comments total)

Any library? NYC has libraries, yeah?
posted by xmutex at 9:32 AM on June 17, 2008

Depends on what time and exactly how quiet you're looking for. There's a Starbucks next to Chase Manhattan Plaza that gets pretty deserted after 7-8 PM. I've also seen a bunch of places in that area (outdoor seating and storefronts) that quiet down a bunch after "normal" working hours as that area, the later you get the more deserted it is. The Financial District empties out pretty quickly unless you're near a happy hour place.

A smaller Library with Noise Cancelling Headphones and your favorite soft/creative music (though a good pair will still drop everything between 10-20 DBs even with nothing playing through them) seems like your best bet for anytime quiet though....
posted by Debaser626 at 9:44 AM on June 17, 2008

I used to get a lot of writing done at Oslo coffee in Williamsburg. No wifi = no technogeek beepers and wires to trip over. Plus, they have phenomenal coffee and a friendly staff in a quiet corner of brooklyn. Just don't go during the weekends or any time in the early mornings. It's overrun with hipsters and their little children wearing ironic baby shirts in their SUV-like strollers. Oslo won't be silent, but no where in the city will, save for the occasional museum. Here's a list of free ones in the city.
I would also reccomend finding a branch library that doesn't have computers. The free internet seems to attract all kinds of loud-smelly weirdos for some reason.

Good luck! And, if all else fails, you can always get a pair of these.
posted by willie11 at 9:45 AM on June 17, 2008

Seconding any place in the financial district after 6, especially City Hall Park. I also write a lot in the coffee shops in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 9:47 AM on June 17, 2008

what about one of these?
posted by mizrachi at 10:06 AM on June 17, 2008

Have you tried the library of the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen on W 44th?
posted by plastic_animals at 10:37 AM on June 17, 2008