Digital Marketer Melissa Houghton fondly recalls her first experience in New York City. “I got out of an Uber, late for my first day of work at New York Film Academy, and immediately after opening the door, I was hit with a bunch of garbage floating in the wind.” But Houghton (née Randall) didn’t take it as a bad omen. “I feel like everyone who moves to New York gets an initiation,” she says. “The city likes to prove that you have what it takes to survive there.”
Yes, New York City, often considered the “unofficial” capital of the United States (despite it actually being Washington, DC), is a place where grit, character, and perseverance are essential traits. A reflection of what it means to live in America today, NYC is a place where cultures collide and coexist, the best food is to be found on the sidewalk, and public transportation is a way of life.
“Analog” NYC in images. 📸 : Melissa Houghton
Experiencing New York Through an “Analog” Lens
To experience New York is to enjoy the sensory elements that keep visitors and locals grounded and present in the city, such as:
- The glow of windows, signs, and street lights from buildings
- Distorted reflections in the stainless steel pillars in the subway
- Steam drifting out of street grates and manhole covers
- The crunch of fallen leaves underfoot in the fall
- The feel of a Metrocard in your hand (RIP)
From the familiar sight of a yellow taxi to the soundscape of overheard conversations and car horns, the sensory elements of New York are tangible and vital to the city’s fabric. New Yorkers know that the hum of the subway underfoot and the coo of a New York pigeon aren’t just snippets of your day, they’re fragments of what makes New York New York.
In a city best experienced offline, here’s how the Oat Foundry team experiences New York “analog”:
- After taking Amtrak into the city, Creative Director Sarah Van Bemmel can be found wandering the aisles of the Moleskine store in Penn Station
- When visiting, Software & Electronics Lead & Co-Founder Mike Courtney grabs a pint at McSorley’s Old Ale House in the East Village
- As a photographer in the city, Vu Nguyen spent intense, long hours in the office and hopping to after-hours shoots in one of the many boroughs
- After a grad class at NYU, Digital Marketer Melissa Houghton rushed uptown to get to Zabar’s before they closed
A series of New York City images in analog photography film. 📸: Vu Nguyen
How New Yorkers Are “Trending” Towards Analog
As always, local New Yorkers are a step ahead. The recent “analog” indicators in NYC include:
- Creatives coming together to work on “Grandma” hobbies such as knitting at The Bean
- New York’s independent record shops like VP Records in Queens and Record City in Brooklyn are surging, with US vinyl record sales expected to surpass $3.5 billion by 2033
- Commercial filming and photography, as well as drones, tripods, props, and “filming that endangers the privacy of park visitors,” are banned at Little Island Park
- Publications like The Guardian and Vogue are covering stories about a return to “analog” activities and intentional living
From picnics in Central Park to attending the Artful Hour with friends, the analog experience brushes up against every part of New York life, and, as always, brands and spaces are following suit.
A series of New York City images in analog photography film. 📸: Vu Nguyen & Melissa Houghton
The Tactile New York Material Palette
New York is already a city built from tangible elements, ranging from the hand-painted wallpaper at Bemelmans to the subway tile at New York or Nowhere. To achieve the classic “New York” aesthetic, architects and designers always look towards the physical materials within the urban fabric, such as historic architecture, sculptures, murals, mosaics, and classic NYC signage, such as:
- “Neon signs in every language” in Flushing (NYC Building Materials)
- The classic orange gradient of NYC subway seats
- The last of the NYC phone booths
- The Art Deco “Essex House” sign at JW Marriott near Central Park
- The faded “Kopper’s Chocolate” ad in the West Village
- The limestone facades at Grand Central Station
- The pointed stone archways at The Met Cloisters
- Specialty analog camera and film shops such as photodom. NYC
- Zine libraries at Pace University and NYU
Representing a small sliver of the rich tapestry of NYC architecture and design, these elements are just an example of the materiality, tectonics, and finishes that make up the city’s unique aesthetic. Those elements act as a crucial foundation for the “analog” New York City experience, often the focus of New York City cinematography.
Shots of the interior POS in New York or Nowhere (📸: NYON), Nespresso in the Flatiron District (📸: Sarah Van Bemmel)
Momofuku Noodle Bar (📸: Momofuku)
The Approach to Experiential Design in New York
With architecture and interiors trending toward nostalgia design and vintage-inspired aesthetics, New York is decisively shifting back to presence. While preserving the classic materials that make the New York aesthetic what it is, brands are also changing how they shape and define spaces through the lens of experience, shifting toward experiential design that makes presence feel organic and earned:
- Nespresso in the Flatiron District opened a coffee “speakeasy”
- The firm Endlessly Lush created a layered, “residential” inspired space for the Public Affairs Firm Offices with a black felt pool table and framed handwritten notes
- Barnes and Noble is reopening stores in New York, such as the one in Park Slope, which will include an expansive kids department
- Aoife Kamph Interiors created “hospitality-driven lounge spaces” and curated a contemporary art collection for William Hood & Company
- Tecovas in SoHo is encouraging visitors to “linger” with custom, bespoke brand bar
- Macini Duffy revitalized the classic Tin Building, restoring more than 300 artifacts, transforming the space into a public food and restaurant space
- Brands like Buck Mason and Princess Polly have installed permanent “third space” fixtures, such as a coffee shop and photo booths
Shots of the interior and exterior of Moynihan Train Hall (📸: Melissa Houghton) and The Irish Exit within the station (📸: The Irish Exit)
Changes in NYC Architecture and Design
Thanks to architects like Daniel Burnham, who co-designed the Flatiron Building, to Cass Gilbert, the architect of the Chrysler Building, William Van Alen, along with design firms such as Warren & Wetmore (Grand Central Terminal) and Shreve, Lamb & Harmon (the Empire State Building), the NYC skyline already reflects every stage of the city’s architectural evolution.
As outlined in “Design of a Public Space” by NYC’s planning committee, the city is continuing this legacy with experiential, intentional design. The committee offers guidelines for how spaces should be used and experienced, and as described in this document, new designs in New York strive to:
- Improve people’s daily lives
- Prioritize and preserve the cultural “anthropology” of a neighborhood
- Treat the city as an active, evolving space
- Challenge the city’s limitations
We see this reflected at restaurants offering traditional NYC counter service (Momofuku Noodle Bar), a dedication to preserving classic Art Deco-inspired lobbies (The Empire State Building and Chrysler Building), and the popularity of commuter bars (such as The Irish Exit).
The city is also taking advantage of preexisting architectural and ornamental features of classic buildings, refinishing and redeveloping spaces such as Steinway Hall, The Waldorf Astoria, and The Park Row building across from City Hall Park.
The New “Analog” Moodboard for NYC
The ongoing changes have updated the NYC architectural mood board to include more sensory elements, such as:
- The expectation of an “outdoor” element, such as loggias, terraces, and gardens at offices, restaurants, residences, and even once skyscraper-heavy neighborhoods such as Battery Park
- Installing high-quality analog sound systems and vinyl at establishments like Tokyo Record Bar, a restaurant near Washington Square Park with an underground listening room
- Bespoke bookshelves installed at spaces such as Public Records in Brooklyn, which offers the ability to “reconnect” offline and “disconnect from the material world” as a unique value proposition
- Clubs and bars like House of Yes in Brooklyn, opting for screenless, phoneless spaces such as “No Phone” dance floors
- West 8th Street businesses such as Electric Lady Studios and Open New York, NY, provide a “modern anchor” for New York’s analog scene
This expands on pre-existing NYC “analog” architectural elements such as whimsical sculpted caricatures in the lobby of the historic Woolworth building, carved inscriptions of “Truth” and “Beauty” at the New York Public Library, the information booth clock at Grand Central Station, the film-strip inspired aesthetic of the Guggenheim, and the famous “lunch steps” in front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Celebrating the Analog Aesthetic in New York
From the garden-floor condos, brownstones, cozy studios, and railroad apartments residents call home to the historic lobbies, bustling subways, high-rise offices, and structural-steel skyscrapers that define day-to-day life in the city, New York has always been a place best experienced and understood through presence and tactile design.
But for those immersed in the analog movement, the intention goes beyond a mere design style. It marks a commitment to prioritize experience over aesthetic.