Exploring Central Park: How to get around the massive oasis 🌳

Hello,

It’s Wednesday again – Yay!

In this week’s newsletter:

• Subway cars strapped with Google Pixels

• New York Know How: How to (correctly) ask for directions 🗺️

• Exploring Central Park: How to get around

• Events we love this week: March 19 - 26

• NYC History: Was the March Madness bracket pool invented in Staten Island?

• This week’s You’ll Have to Check It Out

The time is now.👇

Note: As always, this email was written by an actual human who lives in NYC, not artificial intelligence. 🥸

Using Google Pixels for Subway Improvements

The NYC subway system is notoriously technologically archaic.

In fact, the vast majority of lines use signaling systems installed initially between the 1930s and 1960s. That is.. too old when it comes to technology for massive moving hunks of metal. (For humans, it’s excellent - Aging is beautiful. 😘)

So, what can be done?

Besides spending billions and billions of dollars on wholly updated tech, the MTA has partnered with Google to use Google Pixel phones to record audio and movement data to listen for and identify track defects.

Sounds wild, I know!

However, the initial AI analysis of these recordings for flagging issues was roughly 92% accurate when corroborated by human inspectors.

Finally - A good use of AI! 😜

Learn more about the Google Pixel + MTA data project here.

Exploring Central Park: The Best Ways to Get Around

On a crisp winter afternoon in 2017, I took my first steps into Central Park. And not to be too simplistic, but I don’t think my life has been the same since.

Fast forward to today, and I am lucky enough to go to Central Park daily. 🙏

I’ve covered damn near every inch of the park and can tell you ALL the best (and worst) ways to get around Manhattan’s famous park!

Do NOT skip this one. 👇

Events We Love This Week (March 19-26, 2025)

In the city this week? Here are some fun events we’re keeping an eye on.

Testing Fate: A Night of Storytelling - March 20th @ 7:30 pm

Looking for something cool and artsy to do with friends on a Thursday? Come join Golden Gilly Arts for a night of Storytelling on the Upper West Side. Our theme for the evening is “Testing Fate,” and the stories are all true.

Doors open at 7:30. 1/2 off wine all night and sweet deals on all food and drinks.

Come support local artists (including our friend Molly) and small businesses!

Learn more & get tickets here.

Crayola Internation Colour Day - March 21, 10am - 5pm 🖍️

I can’t find the words for this one..

Retired crayola colors (didn’t know that was a thing) are returning for a reunion on March 21.

Please, someone go to this and tell us what in the world this is about.

Learn more here.

Sound Installation at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens

Back in 2021, New York City-based composer Michael Gordon filled the Brooklyn Botanic Garden's cherry esplanade with sounds of seven vibraphones every hour as part of a specially commissioned sound installation meant to honor those lost during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Titled “loved.,” the five-minute-and-31-second audio program will once again take over the cherry esplanade this year, playing sounds hourly from March 15 through 30, from 10am to 5pm, commemorating the fifth anniversary of the pandemic.

Learn more here.

NYC History: Did a Bar in Staten Island Invent March Madness Bracket Pools? 🤯

Some stories warrant a deeper look, and this story needs its own 30 for 30.

Pulling from the PBS article:

“Before all those office pools truly defined March, betting the bracket was the supposed brainchild of an Irish pub owner in Staten Island — a “creative businessman,” his son calls him — whose straightforward idea of plunking down 10 bucks to pick the Final Four teams and the national champion turned the unassuming spot into a bustling attraction where the special of the day could be a million-dollar payout.

“We created a pool that just blew up over time,” current bar owner Terence Haggerty said. “Looking back at it now, how did we pull it off? How did we do it? It was crazy.”

…By the time Jody’s Club shut down the pool in 2006, under scrutiny from everyone from the IRS to Sports Illustrated, the jackpot was a whopping $1.6 million to the winner.”

Unsurprisingly, someone else (a Kentucky postal worker) also lays claim to coming up with the bracket pool idea..

Read the complete story here.

This Week’s You’ll Have to Check It Out - Giano

The week before heading to NYC to search for our first apartment in the city, I was scrolling for restaurants offering indoor dining for our upcoming weekend trip. It was right as the pandemic was starting to ease up, and indoor dining was finally back!

Thank heavens I found Giano on that random Google search.

From the first time dining to our 20th+, Giano has become our favorite Italian spot in the city.

This cozy Italian spot serves delicious homemade pasta dishes in the East Village's heart.

The staff is very friendly, the food is fresh, and they boast a solid wine list.

Ashley’s favorite dish from Giano is the Tagliatelle alla Bolognese. In her words, “It’s the best meat sauce I’ve ever had.”

My go-to order is the Rigatoni con Salsiccia (pictured above). There’s something about the truffle oil that really ties the whole dish together.

Check out our full review of Giano here.

Stay safe,

Ashley & Devin from Better Together Here 🥳

PS- The cherry blossoms are almost blooming in Central Park! 🌸