Within an couple hours' drive of NYC, you can find lots of sleepy seaside towns. Not only can you get your soft ice cream and salt water taffy on, but you can still spot cool, hand-lettered signs and other relics of a past generation's amusements.

Somewhat off the beaten Williamsburg-track, Brooklyn Art Library is nestled on a mostly residential street. It’s home to tens of thousands of artist sketchbooks known as “The Sketchbook Project”. Over 100 countries are represented and their “collection houses books from small communities in Mongolia next to professional illustrators from New York.” You can donate one of your very own! All the sketchbooks have been cataloged for easy searching of their vast shelves, by artist and subject, and visitors are invited to browse what feels much like a hands-on museum. The Art Library also remains one of the few places to find art supplies (while limited) in the neighborhood, and if you’re in the market for a special gift (including books, totes and the cutest retro pennants) for your favorite art-lovin’ bibliophile, you might just get lucky here.

The best part of the new Whitney Museum is the view in all directions from the terrace - and also from the staircase facing West. I'm afraid it upstages the Art.

not only as an Austrian you are sometimes craving sausages - the "Wurst Case" Car parked in front of Diviera Drive is as photogenic and good as the place itself!

Niche cinema for people who care too much about film and like obscure things. The restaurant/bar upstairs has great food, drinks, and skylights too.