A place for when you only have a day and your soul needs the smell of an ocean breeze and to feel sand between your toes. You can watch all the craziness of Coney Island from across the water.

Get a piece of the south back with a chicken biscuit from Pies & Thighs.

This is one of my favorite bars in Manhattan. It has a courtyard in the middle and they only serve a large selection of Belgian beer. It's always dark with red lights so it's like a giant darkroom with everyone developing hangovers instead of film. The courtyard creates a front bar that is open on the weekends, so if you get cornered talking about architecture you can escape over to the front bar and watch people walk down 4th street.

The Performing Garage is an Off-Off-Broadway theater in SoHo, New York City. Established in 1968, it is the permanent home of the experimental theater company originally named The Performance Group that morphed in 1980 into The Wooster Group, and their primary performance venue.

Stupendous views of Manhattan and what feels like all of Brooklyn from the only tall-ish building around. And very good beer.