Recommended by my friend and talented illustrator, Isabel Castillo Guijarro, this spot makes incredible cappuccinos and is in one of my favorite NYC buildings, the WoolWorth Building

City Island is a seaside town in the Bronx. Known for its fishing, seafood, and main street it is a self-contained working-class haven. The buildings range from late 1800's houses to 1960's storefronts, and you can smell the ocean everywhere on the island. Restaurants and local pubs dot City Island Ave, and even the few empty storefronts stay vibrant. 

Vegan and magnificent!

This burlesque club contains a stripper pole, but is hardly worth it unless you know someone who will hook up drinks.

Coming back from from New Haven, we got off at Grand Central and he took me down one of the concourses to the place with the vaulted ceiling. He stood at one corner and I stood at another and we whispered into the walls, our voices drifting across to each other.