Summer Streets
On Saturday I, along with my friends Katie and Jim, got up early to take advantage of this year's Summer Streets events. On three consecutive Saturdays in August, "nearly seven miles of New York City's streets are open for everyone to play, run, walk and bike." We did a little playing, and a lot of walking, but our main destination was the Park Avenue Voice Tunnel.
Open to pedestrians for the first time in history, the Park Avenue Tunnel is currently home to an "interactive light and sound installation," known as the Voice Tunnel. I had heard that the lines had been pretty long the previous Saturday, so we met there at 9am. The line was long but moved incredibly fast, even with everyone being required to sign a waiver before entering the tunnel (it's pretty much seizure-city in there so if that's even a possibility for you I would sit this one out).
It's kind of hard to explain what the Voice Tunnel is about and how it works, but if you're interested you can read the official explanation here. I think I was expecting a more randomly influenced pattern of lights, but they came on and off in consistent intervals. It was neat to be able to walk in a tunnel that has never been open to pedestrians before, which is the appeal of Summer Streets in general. It was a pretty long walk through, and by the end of it I was very much in sensory overload. With the hundreds of voices blending together and the flashing, moving lights, I was definitely glad to reach the other end.
It's hard to complain about something that is free, but it's definitely not worth the Rain Room comparisons, in my opinion. I do recommend getting there early if you'd like to get in, especially on the last day. Summer Streets goes from 7am -1pm, but they say to arrive by 11am if you'd like to guarantee entrance into the tunnel. It's been my experience that New Yorkers are late risers in general, so the earlier you can get somewhere the more likely you are to get the proverbial worm.
When we emerged from the tunnel I was pleasantly surprised to find us right under Grand Central Terminal. Because of the car-free streets we were able to walk right up to and around it, then down through the Helmsely Building and back onto Park Avenue. We took Park all the way up to Central Park, and it was kind of awesome to have the entire street as your sidewalk.
There are a ton of events going on along the car-free routes, but we mostly just enjoyed the walk. There's one more Summer Streets Saturday left and I might go back to see what else is going on — I saw a bunch of people eating chocolate-covered bananas, so that definitely warrants further investigation. I love events like this in the city that make you look at places you might pass by every day in a whole different light, and it doesn't hurt when they're totally free.