Directions
Location, location, location
The meetings take place in Citigroup Center, on the corner of 53rd Street and Lexington Avenue, on the first Friday of every month.
Google Map
Directions
The easiest way by far for most people in the area to get to Citigroup is to take the subway.
From Pennsylvania (commonly known as Penn) Station, and from the New York City Port Authority, the E train is quickest and easiest. Just hop on an uptown (meaning northbound - uptown means North and downtown means South) E train, and get off at the Lexington Avenue station.
Lexington Avenue Subway Station exits right underneath the Citigroup building, just outside the doors, in their small outdoor corner patio thing. You exit the station, and you’re standing at the front doors. It couldn’t be simpler!
From Grand Central Station, take the uptown 6 train just one stop to the Lexington Avenue station. Or, just walk one block East to Lexington Avenue, and then eight blocks uptown (North) on Lexington Avenue, and you’ll reach 53rd and Lexington. Citigroup is the corner with wide stairs leading downward into a cut-out corner of the building.
If you’re willing to spend a little extra cash, you may find it easier to take a taxi from your starting point in NYC to 53rd and Lexington.
For a beginner’s guide to the subways and taxis, see our NYC Transit page.
Citigroup
Formerly known as Citicorp Center, Citigroup is located on the corner of 53rd Street and Lexington Avenue and just upstairs from the Lexington Avenue subway station. It is the uneven-looking building you may have seen in the skyline and wondered who broke the top off of it. Wikipedia has some decent pictures and info on the building, the 45th tallest skyscraper in the world.
Once inside, you’ll pass the security guards and step down a few stairs to a large food court atrium with various eating and drinking places, a bar, a Kinko’s, and a decent Barnes and Noble bookstore. This atrium is where the meetings are held.
Security notes
Due to the building’s landmark status, its occupation by a large financial institution, and the current political climate, there are security tables with airline-style x-ray tables set up. These are used to x-ray bags as people enter the food court. Keep in mind as you pack your bags for the day, they will be x-rayed, and they may ask you to open your bag and show the contents.
Hackers being hackers, the security staff are now quite used to meeting-goers bringing tools, gadgets, and unidentifiable masses of wires and components to the center.
Bag scans are the extent of the security devices, you won’t have to empty your pockets or go through metal detectors yourself.
It is also important to note that the security staff has been known to forbid photography inside the building. If the security guards see you taking a photo, they may well tell you to stop. Whether or not they have the right to do this is debatable, and answers are currently being sought through the proper channels. While this was enforced fairly (ahem) strictly for the past few years, nowadays they seem to enforce it rather arbitrarily. Some months they will take steps to stop photography, and some months they don’t seem to care in the slightest.