Try it out rooftop-cycling and find magical cactuses on the road!

Strand is a castle of books. It claims 2.5 million new and used books, across 18 miles of shelves, cared for by 200 employees—so set aside a couple of hours. Plenty of art books and good prices. Get your healthy huff of that old book smell.

It’s photographer Jay Maisel’s studio building on the Bowery. The fact that he hasn’t sold out to the manic gentrification of everything in New York is even cooler. Makes me happy that the whole place is covered in piss stains and graffiti when everything around it is all polished and shiny and expensive. It’s like a giant middle finger raised to those disgusting, bloodthirsty, city-raping real-estate developers. Awesome.

An unchanged 1940s lounge known for its masterpiece Martinis and whimsical murals painted by the author of “Madeline,” Ludwig Bemelmans.

Its quite a trip out there but so very worth it if you wanna have the very special beach-experience! You can go there by car and then take the ferry either to Pines or Cherry Grove (I would prefer Pines!) or you do all by public transportation - there a "getaway tickes" for 36Dollars and the transfer works really smooth - may even be faster than by car!