The jetties along Rockaway Beach are one of my regular destinations when I can get out there. I grew up in a Coast Guard family and spent a fair amount of time around the ocean and surfing. I still like to get in the water and this is the first Atlantic-exposed beach on Long Island as you start to get out of the city. When it comes to the environment, constructions like these can be contentious things but they also make for a series of interesting surf spots. Its got a lot of New York metro qualities you might expect including the Subway making its stops a couple of blocks back from the water.

This is a pro tip, but also a summer tip, take the ferry from Lower Manhattan to Rockaway and spent the day. The beach is great and the area is impossible to gasp that it's 30 min from Manhattan (without traffic) - Eat as many tacos you can, cause it's the best in the state of New York!

My favorite restaurant to pop in spontaneously on a weeknight. Get the lamb burger with sardines and a mezcal negroni. It also has my favorite looking bathroom in NYC.

If I lived closer to the West Village I’d go over to Jack’s every morning for a coffee and occasionally having what is probably the best chocolate chip cookie in New York (and it’s just a dollar!). Even though it’s rarely in my way I try to go here now and then, maybe in combination with a stroll down the beautiful Bleeker Street or to read a book sitting in their window.

Apropos mural on an iconic street