patrick spins — When you finish a hectic week, the first thing you want is a skyline that feels like a secret. The Sky Garden in the Walkie Talkie building offers a 360‑degree panorama, and the best time to visit is 7:30 p.m.

When I slipped through the unmarked door of The Mayor of Scaredy Cat Town on a rainy Thursday, the bartender handed me a password card that read “Moby.” The whole thing felt like a 1920s heist, except the loot was a perfectly balanced gin fizz and the only guard was a velvet rope. In my experience...