Did you take any photos of Union Square? I would like to take a look.
Chess in New York

Very cool video. Two things that struck me:
Ashton Kutcher listed as an Executive Producer. He surprises me more and more all the time with things he does/gets involved with.
The opening where the man named Alfred says "There are only three moves in chess. A bad move, a good move and the best move." What a great quote.
hello,
Just travelled to NYC and had some great chess experiences.. Had a look at the Marshall chess club, it was early afternoon and very quiet but was good to go and have a look at. Then off to the chess forum just south of washington park. It had an ecclectic array of chess sets and picked up a weighted plastic set.
My best experience was playing with the chess hustlers at union square. They were one of the friendliest bunch that you could come across. It was only a small fee for a game - $3-5 but they gave great banter and let the game go through. My record was 2-18. I thought great for a patzer! I would recommend having some fun there - there was absolutely no pressure. have a look at them in this chess look at NYC on this link:
http://thrashlab.com/the-subculture-of-chess-8600/
I played alfred as well, who was a very well travelled, intelligent individual.