Another
very good place, although only in the
midtown area:
Their bathrooms are much nicer and cleaner that what
you'll find elsewhere - particularly in the subway,
where, as a friend put it, "There are bathrooms that
Dante himself would not enter."
They are also good places to rest and cool off
(or warm up). The main thing is to act as if you
belong there, and no one will ask whether you are
actually a guest in the hotel - unless you look
like a real bum. I have gone into the Plaza Hotel
lobby, dressed in cutoffs and a t-shirt, and sat there
for a half hour, reading a magazine.