I don’t want to over sell the proximity to NYC but it certainly was a great escape valve.
Several times a year friend groups would go see concerts at MSG or overnight at a particular NYC students home (that had lots of room) and go to Mott street for amazing Chinese food. It wasn’t ad if we wanted to be off campus frequently because there was a lot to do but it was nice to have as an option.
Frequency increased as we became upper class men and women and many had cars on campus.