Dia:Beacon is a short train ride from the city in a former Nabisco box printing factory. This art foundation has 240,000 square feet of art from the 1960s to the present. Dia features the work of Sol LeWitt, Imi Knoebel, Andy Warhol, Dan Flavin, Agnes Martin, On Kawara, Bruce Nauman, and many others. I love going during the summer to enjoy the gardens surronding the building.

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

This place has one of the hottest rooms I've ever been in. The combination of barely being able to breathe from the heat to immediately jumping into a freezing murky pool is addictive. There's also a great roof patio for a change of scenery. A good old school New York spot.

Strand is a castle of books. It claims 2.5 million new and used books, across 18 miles of shelves, cared for by 200 employees—so set aside a couple of hours. Plenty of art books and good prices. Get your healthy huff of that old book smell.

The Theatre for a New Audience is a non-profit theater in New York City focused on producing Shakespeare and other classic dramas. Its off-Broadway productions have toured in the U.S. and internationally.