A Model’s Guide To New York City
New York has always been one of my favorite cities to visit for modeling. There's an energy here that I haven't really found anywhere else. You can walk out of a casting, turn a corner, and immediately find a new restaurant, store, workout studio, or little pocket of the city you didn't know existed.
After enough trips for castings, photoshoots, meetings, and longer stays, I've developed my own version of New York: the places I like to stay, restaurants I genuinely go back to, workouts I look forward to booking, and the little routines that make being away from home feel a lot easier.
Whether you're coming for work, fashion week, a girls' weekend, or simply because you love New York as much as I do, these are a few of the places I'd tell a friend to save.
@erindendres
Where To Stay
Duane Street Hotel
I've stayed at Duane Street Hotel while traveling to New York for modeling, and I loved having Tribeca as my home base. Being downtown put me within walking distance of SoHo and made it easy to build my days around castings, meetings, workouts, and whatever else I had planned.
For longer work trips, I've learned that where I stay can really change how I experience the city. I want somewhere that feels comfortable to come back to at the end of a long day, but location is just as important. Being able to walk to coffee, dinner, shopping, or a workout makes New York so much easier.
My tip: Don't automatically choose a hotel based on where you'd stay as a tourist. Look at where you'll actually be spending most of your time and choose a neighborhood that makes your day-to-day plans easier. In New York, being able to walk to half of your itinerary is a luxury in itself.
Wythe Hotel
If you want to stay in Brooklyn, Wythe Hotel in Williamsburg would be my pick. Set inside a converted early-1900s factory, it has that mix of original character and thoughtful design that feels very Brooklyn, with exposed brick, huge windows, and some incredible views across the East River toward Manhattan.
I especially like the location if you're planning to spend time in Williamsburg or Greenpoint. You're surrounded by great restaurants, coffee shops, shopping, and workout studios, while still having relatively easy access to Manhattan when you need it.
There’s also Le Crocodile downstairs for French-inspired dining and Bar Blondeau on the rooftop, so you don't necessarily have to go far when you want a good dinner or drink after a long day.
My tip: If your itinerary has you going back and forth to Brooklyn several times, consider actually staying there. Williamsburg is one of my favorite areas to have a little more of a neighborhood experience while still feeling connected to everything I love about New York.
Where To Eat
Ume Williamsburg
I happened across Ume and loved how different the experience felt from a traditional sushi restaurant. The intimate setting and omakase-style experience made dinner feel special without needing an entire evening built around it. It's exactly the kind of restaurant I love discovering when I have a free night in the city and want to try something beyond my usual places.
My tip: Some of my favorite restaurants in New York have been places I found because I was already exploring a neighborhood. Give yourself permission to wander a little rather than planning every single stop.
Pasta Eater
Sometimes after a long week of work, you just want pasta. Pasta Eater is one of those comforting New York restaurants I love for exactly that. Their pasta is made fresh, and my favorites have included the bolognese and mac and cheese.
It's currently located near Union Square, making it an easy dinner to work into a day downtown.
My tip: Save a few restaurants that aren't necessarily an "occasion." When I'm traveling for work, I don't want every dinner to require getting completely dressed up and committing to a three-hour experience.
Simple Cafe
Simple Café in Williamsburg is one of those places I found by accident and was immediately happy I did. It's a French-Algerian café with a charming interior, and I still think about the ricotta lemon pancakes. I love it for brunch, especially if you're already planning to spend part of the day exploring Brooklyn.
My tip: Make brunch part of the neighborhood rather than the entire destination. Have breakfast here, then give yourself a few hours to walk around Williamsburg and the waterfront afterward.
Where To Go
The Webster NYC
What Goes Around Comes Around NYC
An Afternoon In SoHo
If I have a few hours to myself in New York, SoHo is one of my favorite places to wander. It's especially perfect between castings or meetings because you don't really need much of an itinerary. Give yourself a few places you want to stop, wear shoes you can actually walk in, and let the rest of the afternoon happen along the way.
I usually start with The Webster. I love seeing what's new, how everything is styled, and which designers or pieces catch my attention in person. Even when I'm not planning to buy anything, stores like this are such a good source of fashion and styling inspiration.
From there, I love making my way through some of SoHo's designer resale stores. The RealReal is always a stop for me. I genuinely enjoy seeing what's circulating on the secondary market, especially handbags, shoes, and pieces from past collections that you may not find in stores anymore.
What Goes Around Comes Around is another favorite, particularly if you love vintage designer. It's the kind of store where I want to take my time because you never really know what you're going to find. I especially love browsing the vintage handbags and seeing pieces from different eras alongside one another.
And somewhere in between, grab a coffee and just walk. Pop into whatever catches your eye, look at the windows, and pay attention to what people are wearing.
One of my favorite things about SoHo is that the fashion inspiration isn't limited to what's inside the stores. Some of the best styling ideas come from simply watching what people are actually wearing on the street.
My tip: Use an afternoon like this to research your wardrobe rather than feeling like you need to buy something. Try on the bag you've been considering. Look at a designer piece in person. Compare new versus resale. Pay attention to what you're repeatedly drawn to. After years of working in fashion and becoming much more interested in resale, I've learned that slowing down before a designer purchase usually makes me much happier with what eventually comes home with me.
Where To Workout
Good Day Pilates
Good Day Pilates is still one of my favorite workouts I've taken in New York. I originally discovered the SoHo studio and loved it enough that I took classes three days in a row during one trip. The beautiful windows, natural light, welcoming instructors, and smaller class setting made it somewhere I genuinely looked forward to going.
They now have studios in SoHo, Williamsburg, and Brooklyn Heights, so it's even easier to find a location that works with your plans.
My tip: If you enjoy working out when you travel, book something close to where you're already going to be. I'm much more likely to actually take the class when I don't have to cross the entire city to get there.
Yoga Space
Yoga Space in Greenpoint was another favorite discovery. I've taken both a Vinyasa class and a rooftop sunset flow, and what I remember most is how nice it felt to slow down after spending so much of the trip moving.
There's something about yoga while traveling that I especially appreciate. Sometimes what I need isn't another intense workout. I just want to move, stretch, breathe, and have an hour where I'm not thinking about where I need to be next.
My tip: Leave yourself extra time before a new class. Finding the entrance to a New York studio can sometimes be an adventure of its own, and arriving rushed defeats the entire point of going to yoga.
A Few Things Modeling Taught Me About NYC
Walk whenever you can. Some of the best parts of New York are the things you notice between destinations.
Group your day by neighborhood. If you have something in SoHo, build the next few hours around downtown rather than bouncing between Manhattan and Brooklyn.
Carry a small survival kit. A charger, water, lip balm, sunglasses, comfortable shoes, a snack, and whatever you need for a quick touch-up can save your day.
Always have a layer. The temperature outside, on the subway, inside a studio, and inside a restaurant can somehow feel like four different seasons.
Don't overpack your schedule. New York will fill the empty space for you.
Look up. This sounds silly, but it's something I have to remind myself to do. When you're rushing from one thing to another, it's easy to forget you're walking through one of the most incredible cities in the world.
I've visited New York enough times for modeling that certain parts of the city have started to feel familiar. I know the feeling of walking to an early casting with coffee in hand, carrying half my life in a bag, changing shoes before I walk in, fitting a workout into an unexpected opening in my schedule, and finally sitting down for dinner after being everywhere all day. And I think that's why I love it so much.
New York can be exhausting. It's loud, fast, crowded, and constantly moving. But it's also one of the places where I've always felt incredibly inspired by the people around me. The fashion, architecture, creativity, ambition, and sheer number of people doing their own thing make me want to do more with mine.
If you're heading to New York soon, I hope a few of these places become part of your version of the city too. Have a New York spot you think I need to try? Leave it in the comments. I'm always adding to my list.
