New York Winter Trip

My dad lived in Manhattan for a long time and I worked in Frankfurt which has similar weather. Long and short of it is no cotton. Wool will be your friend. Capilene tights and either a Capilene undershirt or merino tee or henley. Something waterproof like Millerain pants and a good shell are a must. An umbrella is ridiculous in the city, better to just have a jacket and pants. I've got an Aether shell that's i wear more than any other jacket. Windproof and totally waterproof.

Skip leather soles too. Either Dainite or lugged soles will be your friend. Worth having a waterproof pair of gloves too and a scarf and wool hat aren't bad to have either.

Depending on how cold you might want each of these.

I have a version of this from a few years prior and it's fantastic. I can wear in from - 10 to 50 degrees and not sweat.

www.mountainhardwear.com/mens-zer%C3%B8grand-trench-coat-1667021.html

I also have one of these, one of my most used jackets. Not good for super cold but the wind resistance and water resistance makes it an easy 2+ season jacket (spring,fall and winter(ish))

www.mountainhardwear.com/mens-fairing-jacket-1585681.html

I personally wear cotton all year round but to Bentins point about wool, wool socks are essential. Look at buying some darntough or smartwool and pay attention to the padding and length depending on if you are wearing boots or shoes.

For gloves these are my workhorses.  Windproof and even though they are rated at 32F you can wear them lower than that easily, and I do regularly.

blackdiamondequipment.com/en_US/ski-gloves/midweight-windbloc-fleece-BD801039_cfg.html

Aether's in LA, but they've moved a lot of their production to China, so I don't really recommend them anymore. But they do have a lifetime warranty, which has proven handy. My seam tape failed and they replaced the whole jacket.

But yeah, layers are great, much better than a heavy coat that's too hot. The key thing is keeping dry, once you get soaked, or steam up the inside, it's impossible to stay comfortable. Hence my dislike of cotton for exercise and cold weather.

You can make your SoCal stuff work there with a few smart additions. Gloves, a scarf and a merino or synthetic base layer and you can survive the worst weather and not melt once you get inside.

One of my favorite things there is the Whitney.

And go take a ride on the Toys R Us ferris wheel at Times Square.

What kinda soles do your boots/shoes have? If they're leather i'd bring something with more traction. Leather soles are like skis on ice.

I live in Queens, NY so it gets pretty cold here, but as of late the weather hasn't been to bad. So I would say bring a nice thick (but not to thick) jacket a few sweaters and as for denim 16oz and up will be good. It does get cold here about 25 degrees during the night.

Now as for food. It depends on what you like to eat. I can recommend a few great spots in the manhattan.

It really hasn't snowed in NY. So you should be good unless we get a blizzard. But I've been checking the weather. I snow in the up coming forecast.