Today my caffeinated journey took me to a new Downtown neighborhood — Civic Center of Manhattan. This small neighborhood is the municipal heart of NYC. It surrounds the beautiful City Hall Park and contains city hall (obviously…), the courthouses, and the police headquarters. It is also a few blocks north east of the World Trade Center and 911 Memorial.
For being in one of the many hustle and bustle parts of Manhattan, I have to say this Starbucks can handle the crowd just fine. Of course there’s a congestion of low-headed individuals waiting for the 1 restroom near the entrance, but that’s just the NYC norm. Past that, this Starbucks contains a plentiful amount of seating (which is only 3/4 full during business hour rush) and some pretty adorable decor. The music is a blast from the past (70s and 80s), but they seem to have the volume up a tad too much. And there are outlets in the building — they just aren’t conveniently located near the majority of seating.
Another interesting factoid is that this Starbucks is below the Woolsworth building, which New York University owns part of. I randomly ran into two classmates of mine while scoping out the place. One insists that this Starbucks might want to look into dusting the security cameras they have placed above the barista bar. Just passing along the message…
Starbucks and the City 