This free outdoor library at Bryant Park is the best Shabbat activity

Despite a few days of rain in the forecast, the weekend is looking beautiful, a proper taste of summer after a nearly endless winter. That immediately leads to thoughts about Shabbat afternoon and how to spend it outdoors without just defaulting to Central Park. May we suggest another NYC green space, perhaps?

The Reading Room at Bryant Park—basically, a free, open-air library, is back open for the season: you’ll spot the giant yellow umbrellas the second you walk in from the 42nd Street entrance. There are books, newspapers and magazines available to borrow and read on site, no library card, no ID, no fee, between 11am and 7pm daily.

There’s a separate kids’ section with its own book rack, child-sized tables and regular StoryTime sessions for ages 2–9, which makes this actually usable for families with young children. Free programs run throughout the season as well, Shabbat or not: author talks, writing workshops, history panels, you can check out the calendar right here.

In addition to giving you something to do on Shabbat, the Reading Room will offer a glimpse into the city’s history: few people realize that the destination first opened in August 1935 as a Depression-era public service, a place where unemployed New Yorkers could spend the day with no money, no address and no library card required. It closed in 1944 and was revived by the Bryant Park Corporation in 2003. Ninety years later, it’s clearly still a treasured part of NYC… and the perfect place to lull away a Saturday afternoon.