Where New Yorkers escape when the heat wave hits the city. Easy to access with subway and buss but less crowded than Rockaway.

I love this quaint lil bar, as it's a good switch of energy from the bar next door. Mostly quiet, cozy and with a working fireplace, I like it here.

The Chelsea Market is filled with great restaurants and speciality food stores and pop up shops. I love stopping in and getting a gourmet grilled cheese from Lucy's Whey or a healthy juice from raw food restaurant One Lucky Duck, while shopping for dinner ingredients at the Italian market Buon Italia. For a great sit down restaurant, I love The Green Table, which serves great farm to table food.

Fav art bookstore in the city (and the world?). Great place for inspiration and reference art, both new and vintage finds. Not very cheap but mostly quite worth it.

Offering 20% off on current “indie bestsellers” (and 10% off picks from their well-read staff), you can still get a good deal while supporting one of the city’s last independent bookstores. They also carry an impressive selection of magazines and literary journals that you can flip through in their café. McNally’s event calendar is packed with appearances and readings by authors like Zadie Smith and Chris Kraus, but they're perhaps best known for their in-store printing press and self-publishing services.