5 Beautiful NYC Spots to Work From

There is no sign. Buzz at the door on Bowery and walk up one flight to three rooms of Togo couches, hundreds of records, and a sound system you will not hear anywhere else. Silence Please designs and builds the speakers in-house: Hush, Hum, Whisper, Roar, Thunder.

The record shop in the middle is Duty Free Records, and you can listen on headphones. Tea comes from across Asia, with pastries from Paloma in Greenpoint.

Where · 132 Bowery, Floor 2

The room is cozy and modern, with enough buzz to keep you inspired and not so much that you lose the thread. The lobby café is very good: we come back for the Yemenite latte and the baharat beef hummus with pine nuts. The bar has outlets underneath it, which is where the laptops usually go.

The tables are great for meetings. Music stays low enough to take a call, and because it is a hotel lobby it runs effectively around the clock.

Where · 97 Wythe Ave, Williamsburg

Wooden furniture, cozy rugs and plants everywhere, including a 25-foot living green wall running up one side of the lobby. The floor-to-ceiling windows face the river. And there is a signature smell that makes the place feel familiar as soon as you walk through the door.

The lobby and the rooftop are both open to you, and the lobby runs straight out into the park, so you can take in the iconic view.

Where · 60 Furman St, Brooklyn

The espresso bar opens at 7am. A staircase splits the lobby in two: the espresso side has a big communal table and the outlets, and the fireplace side fills up with friends and dates. Dark wood, patterned floors and worn-in rugs make it warm and lived-in.

Chez Nous, the French brasserie at the back, sends food out to you. Seating is first-come, first-served, and the space is not big.

Where · 5 W 8th Street, two minutes from Washington Square Park

The back room has no chairs. It is set up as a baithak, the South Asian way of sitting on the floor: low mattresses around the perimeter, embroidered cushions and beaded ottomans over Kashmiri rugs. The light is dim, the walls are hung with tapestries, and there are board games out and novels by South Asian writers, some in Urdu.

We usually get the butter chai, a pinkish Kashmiri gunpowder brew finished with salt and crushed almonds, with their yummy samosas.

Where · 156 Mott Street