Grand Central is big and beautiful and it also periodically hosts free cultural events - poets at typewriters custom-composing poems on demand - or Alvin Ailey dancers performing in Artist, Nick Cave's horse suits!

This quaint shop boasts an artfully arranged and tastefully curated selection of jewelry, pottery, books and art. I have to keep myself from going there too often, because I have trouble leaving without making a purchase.

This is another neighborhood favorite, especially for Sunday brunch which is consistently great.

German Expressionism makes me giddy. All my favorites are here at any given time - George Grosz, Otto Dix, Egon Schiele, Gustave Klimt - and the building was designed Carrére and Hastings, the same architects that designed the New York Public Library.

Within an couple hours' drive of NYC, you can find lots of sleepy seaside towns. Not only can you get your soft ice cream and salt water taffy on, but you can still spot cool, hand-lettered signs and other relics of a past generation's amusements.