"Mills" is my local bar, I live in that block, it's an old horse stable (for two horses) it's tiny, cozy, great drinks, food is great too - in the summer you can sit outside
I'm a huge Japanophile: if there's one other place I'd like to live, it's Tokyo. I must have been there seven or eight times, most recently just after the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. Anyway, EN is a gem on Hudson Street, serving real Japanese cuisine. It turns out that EN is a chain in Japan; there are a lot of branches making lovely bosky food in cosy neighbourhood locations. But their New York incarnation is grand in scale and ambition, with solid, warm interiors (not unlike if the Whitney were a Japanese restaurant, oddly) - a remarkable hybrid of this city, and the other one that I'd love to live in.
Mcgolrick Park at midnight in the snow. Any early morning with all the bums and drunks passed out on Nassau Avenue. NYC still looks best between 3am and 6am, just before the light comes in to shine on all its flaws.
Dumbo, which stands for 'Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass,' is a neat neighborhood in Brooklyn that is at an awesome vantage point of Manhattan. There are cool rocks on the shore of Brooklyn Bridge Park that are fun to relax on and sneak alcoholic beverages.
This is a hot spot for plant enthusiasts. A recurring L.A. pop-up where the employees can tell you as much or as little as you want to know about cacti. Marco can tell you about the trees. Must visit, but only open April/May - September/October.