Best pizza in NY. Be prepared to wait. Check to see if they are shut down by the health department or tax collectors before going. Get the square pie with pepperoni and hot peppers.
I read that the design of Central Park's curving spaces was a Romantic counter to the geometry of Enlightenment-era gardens. I heard this design was influenced by landscape painting, where its foreground, middleground, and background constantly shift as you walk the paths. I find new pockets and features every time I'm there. One of my favorite spots is with the Central Park Dance Skaters, a group that roller skates in circles all day to vintage electro funk. These characters generously lend you the feeling of being in your own 1980's New York film.
Designed by Frederick Law Olmstead (of Central Park), Prospect Park is where I go running in better weather and find an endless supply of flotsam and jetsam for casting in projects all year round. Thickets of trees, hidden paths, and rolling hills are an endless source of inspiration.
Founded and designed by Japanese-American artist Isamu Noguchi (1904–1988), The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum preserves the working atmosphere of the artist's former studio in New York.
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.