Photo: Nicole Freezer Rubens

As the cold settles in, our roving photographer transports us to the sunshine of Miami’s South Beach. But even in this Arctic freeze, New York is overflowing with ways to warm the spirit. Enjoy 2‑for‑1 Broadway, Restaurant Week, and winter deals on museums and experiences, while sipping your way through the city’s best hot chocolate spots. This week’s Spotlight on Long Island Women introduces Tova, who has transformed profound grief into purpose and a welcoming haven for others. And looking ahead to spring, tickets to our 10th Renewal Summit—centered on Resilience and Longevity—are now on sale and shaping up to be our most inspiring gathering yet.

Indoors Fun on Frigid Days

With 2 for 1 Broadway Shows, Restaurant Week, and Half-Price Tickets to many museums, there is no shortage of indoor activities and experiences even on the coldest of days.  Here are three ideas.

Arte Museum—A Multi-sensory Art Experience

Arte Museum, which opened last September at Chelsea Piers, is one of the most transportive, multi‑sensory art experiences to arrive in New York, and it has quickly become a standout in the city’s cultural landscape. Drawing from Korean digital design collective d’strict, it blends immersive visuals, enveloping soundscapes, and custom fragrances to create an environment that feels more like stepping into a dream than visiting a museum.Built around the theme of Eternal Nature, visitors move through large‑scale rooms filled with cascading digital waterfalls, blooming flowers, crashing waves, glowing auroras, and reimagined masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay—Monet, Van Gogh, and more—brought to life through light, motion, and sound. newyork.artemuseum.com

Highlights:

• Waterfall Infinite: A towering digital waterfall that surrounds you in motion and sound.
• Wave Room: A 5,000‑square‑foot space where digital waves crash around you.  
• Night Guardians / Live Sketchbook: Draw mythical creatures and watch them animate and appear in the room.
• Eternal Nature Galleries: Lush gardens, auroras, beaches, forests, and star‑filled skies rendered in immersive digital form.
• Arte Café: A tea bar where your table becomes part of the digital artwork.

The museum also incorporates scent—custom fragrances designed to match each environment—and soundscapes created by renowned composer Young‑gyu Jang. Get the details: newyork.artemuseum.com

The New York Public Library on a Cold Winter’s Day

When the temperatures drop and the city feels sharp and unforgiving, the New York Public Library becomes one of Manhattan’s most comforting sanctuaries. Step inside the iconic Fifth Avenue building and the cold disappears, replaced by marble halls, soft light, and a sense of calm that feels almost sacred. The Rose Main Reading Room, with its soaring ceilings and long oak tables, is a warm refuge where time seems to slow. It’s the perfect place to read, wander, or simply sit and breathe in the beauty of a space built for thought and imagination.

Beyond its quiet corners, the library offers a rich lineup of free exhibitions that make it an ideal winter outing. The Polonsky Exhibition of the Library’s Treasures showcases rare manuscripts, letters, maps, and cultural artifacts from the library’s vast collection. Seasonal displays bring a festive glow to the grand halls.

Current exhibitions include A Century of The New Yorker, a look at the magazine’s cultural impact; ¡Wepa! Puerto Ricans in the World of Comics, celebrating Puerto Rican creators; and Niyu Yurk: Middle Eastern and North African Lives in the City, exploring MENA identity in New York. Additional exhibitions across the NYPL system highlight Black contributions to Broadway, archival preservation, and a century of collections at the Schomburg Center.

On a frigid day, the New York Public Library offers warmth, beauty, and inspiration—all without rushing, crowds, or cost. It’s one of the city’s most restorative winter escapes. Get details.

The Best Hot Chocolate in NYC

When the wind is brutal and the sidewalks feel like ice rinks, New York offers one of its sweetest comforts: truly exceptional hot chocolate. These spots get great reviews for delivering richness, warmth, and a little winter magic—perfect for a cozy city escape.

Lysée

44 East 21st Street, Flatiron
Website: lysee.nyc
Lysée is a French‑Korean pastry studio where desserts look like art and the hot chocolate tastes like luxury. Their dairy‑free Valrhona version is silky and deep, topped with a brûléed marshmallow that adds a caramelized finish. It’s elegant, modern, and unforgettable.

Venchi

Multiple locations across Manhattan
Website: venchi.com
Venchi’s Italian‑style hot chocolate is thick, glossy, and intensely chocolatey—more like sipping warm ganache. Add hazelnut spread or a splash of rum for extra warmth. It’s indulgence in its purest form.

Bar Pisellino

52 Grove Street, West Village
Website: barpisellino.com
This West Village gem serves a classic cioccolata calda: dense, velvety, and topped with slow‑melting whipped panna. It’s the kind of cup that doubles as dessert and feels like a quick trip to Rome.

Daily Provisions

Multiple locations (Upper West Side, Union Square, West Village, Cobble Hill)
Website: dailyprovisionsnyc.com
Their hot chocolate is smooth, balanced, and made with house‑made chocolate ganache. It’s cozy without being overly sweet—perfect with one of their famous crullers.

Renewal Summit 2025: Tickets Now on Sale!

This year’s milestone Renewal Summit theme is resilience and longevity.  From finding meaning after life’s curveballs to strengthening your inner toolkit to the latest science on living longer, we’ll explore topics that include emotional flexibility, stress recovery, purpose, and community—not as lofty ideas, but as real‑life tools that make aging feel more vibrant, grounded, and joyful. The first 25 ticket buyers will receive fabuous gift bags and a chance to win a 5 Star Carribean Island vacation.

 A Mother’s Love Becomes A Sanctuary of Healing, Hope, And Community

Gavin’s Treasures in Center Moriches is far more than a gift shop—it’s a sanctuary born from a mother’s unimaginable loss and unwavering love. Our Long Island reporter, Andrea Peponakis introduces us to Tova Keblish.  After her son Gavin died from a fentanyl‑laced pill at age 23, found herself searching for a way forward. That path became Gavin’s Treasures, a spiritual and inspirational shop. READ MORE. 

Roving in South Beach

Nicole Freezer Rubens writes:

South Beach in Miami is tinted with pastel frivolity, offering old school cheer in the dead of winter and accentuating the city’s colorful history. The more SoBe as it is known, changes, the more it stays the same. This small town has been reincarnated many times since its development in the early 1900s when the first bridge was erected connecting the barrier island to mainland Miami. Since then it has boomed, been destroyed by the 1926 hurricane, settled as a play land for the wealthy, and has led the Art Deco architectural revolution. Miami Beach turned into an army base during WWI and then home to the Jackie Gleason Show. From the 1960s till the 80s, the area was in decline, mostly occupied by retired folks on fixed incomes, paving the way for the “cocaine cowboys” to turn the beautiful enclave into a crime filled dangerous drug den.

In the late 1980s Barbara Baer Capitman succeeded to save the significant Art Deco district and to protect one square mile of South Beach on the Register of Historic Places, preserving the beach town as we know it today. Now South Beach is filled with vintage iconic boutique hotels, global tourists, incredible restaurants, and a thriving LGBT culture that is surrounded by the rainbow of all that has been built and maintained just inland of the sandy shores of the sparkling Atlantic Ocean.