Wow, stepwilk, or Stephan Wilkinson, the former Editor of FLYING Magazine and writer for CAR & DRIVER? Welcome to our forum. It's an honor!
You're correct that the Hudson River Corridor is "unregulated," apart from any other regulations applicable to such airspace that exists outside of Class A, B, C or D. No clearance required, nor a need to talk to anyone - just a suggestion to self-announce on the appropriate freq, and of course the requirement of a transponder since you're under the Mode C veil.
One minor nit is that the corridor only extends up to 1100 feet.