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The Rockaways.
(Photo: Andres Kudacki) |
Sick of your same old summer routine? Then take someone else’s. We found dozens of opinionated locals to pick from.
�Light Hallucinogenics� and Speedos on Fire Island
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Casey Spooner in his Fire Island element.
(Photo: Matthew Conley) |
Casey Spooner, musician
Stay: Use ShareGurl’s service to find a room in a house with a hot tub or a pool. If you’re a guy, the Belvedere (from $199) is an amazing clothing-optional hotel in Cherry Grove that looks like Las Vegas. Or, if you can, get a mid-century-modern house by Horace Gifford.
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One of architect Horace Gifford’s many wooden modernist homes.
(Photo: @augstagram/Instagram) |
Friday: Last summer, I had a hot, fun, young boyfriend who loved the Pines. I tried packing “Euro beach elegant” — Tom Ford, a sweater for dinner — and he was like, “No, no, no. You need cutoffs and thong Speedos.” He taught me the social circuit. I ended up staying through October, and now everyone thinks I’m the unofficial mayor there. Things start on Friday in the Pines, first with a breakfast burrito and iced coffee at the Pines Pantry and then we walk the promenade to see who’s in town. Then we get our beach look on and walk around to make sure everyone sees us. “Low tea” — cocktails at the Blue Whale — is at 6 p.m. I get a tequila-soda and watch the sunset on the dock. At 8 p.m., we go to “middle tea” at Sip ’n Twirl. Drink another tequila-soda, dance, vape weed, maybe do a light hallucinogenic. Then “high tea” at Pavilion. Dance until ten, and then eat pizza downstairs. Then we change into jockstraps for the Underwear Party. We either hike through the Meat Rack — this magical forest where people go to have sex — or take the ferry to the Ice Palace in Cherry Grove. There’s a back room, anonymous sex — meow meow meow — you see your ex with someone else, get upset, then they open the pool and everyone jumps in.
Saturday: Wake up, sit on the dock, process whatever happened the night before. Saturday we’ll float around and drink rosé at pool parties. I never carry a wallet — I just put $20 and a bank card inside my cowboy hat. We feel out where the parties are just by wandering. My friend Todd always says, “Babe, just come by for some Champagne and sausages.” At night, it’s fun to head to Cherry Grove, where they have great, intentionally shabby drag shows and bingo at Cherry’s. I love this one drag queen called Busted. She has these funny, grumpy tricks, like she’ll sit onstage with a bad wig and a fan.
Sunday: Check out the architecture. Houses on the Pines are all built for seduction, like sexy theaters. Calvin Klein’s former house is by Horace Gifford, and Scott Bromley’s is an octagon with a tented ceiling. There’s tours, but you can see the houses from the boardwalks. On Sunday nights, I love going back to Pavilion for show tunes — it’s like karaoke with the entire room singing along. I’m not a Broadway queen, but I love to watch.
Gargoyle Hunting and Taxidermy Zebras With the Kids in Brooklyn
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Torah Animal World in Borough Park.
(Photo: Andres Kudacki) |
Raul Gutierrez, founder of Tinybop, Inc.
Friday: For dinner, when it’s warm out, me, my wife, and my two kids wander on this block in Sunset Park, around 54th Street and Eighth Avenue, that has worlds within worlds: Vietnamese restaurants like Gia Lam, Taiwanese popcorn chicken at Chi Chen, Hong Kong–style dim sum at Pacificana. We let the kids pick. For dessert, we’ll get tropical fruits from the street stands.�
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(Photo: @Brooklyncyclones/Instagram) |
Saturday: In the morning, we’ll walk along the Brooklyn Bridge Park promenade and play a game I call Find the Gargoyle. My kids and I count how many gargoyles we see on the buildings. At 58 Joralemon Street, there’s a fake brownstone that’s an emergency subway exit. It’s a total James Bond kind of place. Kids love it. Later, we’ll go to Park Slope, maybe to Taro’s Origami Studio, this beautiful little studio for kids to learn origami. Taro has a billion kinds of paper. Then we’ll head to Prospect Park and go straight to this hidden Quaker cemetery that my kids love. Sometimes it’s hard to imagine that the city wasn’t always the city we know. The cemetery is a good reminder that Brooklyn was once a collection of rural farm communities. The park was actually designed and built around the grave site. We’ll approach the park as an adventure with the burial ground as part of a scavenger hunt. Afterward, if we’re ready to be inside, we’ll go nearby to Torah Animal World in Borough Park. It’s run by this Hasidic guy out of his apartment. He has taxidermied versions of every animal mentioned in the Torah. It’s like going into the Museum of Natural History, but smaller, and you can touch everything. At night, we may go to a Brooklyn Cyclones or Staten Island Yankees baseball game. They’re old-timey baseball experiences, and sometimes they have fireworks at the end. For dinner, Little Odessa in Brighton Beach. We like Kashkar Cafe for lamb noodles.
Sunday: To stay cool, I’ll go to the Brooklyn Art Library in Williamsburg. It’s filled with thousands of artists’ journals that you can browse, and it’s really inspiring for a kid who loves to draw. The Boathouse in Prospect Park has kayaking lessons in the summer. They have two-person kayaks, so you can go with your kid. We’ll stay in the park until the evening and go to the Bargemusic’s short classical concerts in Brooklyn Bridge Park. If the music is accessible, like Bach or Mozart, it’s a great way to introduce your kid to classical music. And you get an amazing view of lower Manhattan.
Bone Marrow and Inner Tubes in the Western Catskills
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Tubing along the Delaware River.
(Photo: @manolo.jpeg/Instagram) |
Christina Salway, interior designer
Stay: 9 River Road (from $169) in Callicoon has a wood-burning fire and bikes. And I should mention, we rent our farmhouse on Airbnb (from $250). It’s on 43 acres and has a giant treehouse.
Friday: The Heron in Narrowsburg is supplied by local farms — I love their bone marrow and strip steak with fries. Then see a movie in Callicoon, at an old-timey cinema built in 1948. It still has the red waterfall curtains.
Saturday: I love Dancing Dog Antiques, in Lakewood, Pennsylvania. It’s dense; the owner will have bowls and bowls of rulers, or 200 miniature plastic airplanes. Later, I rent inner tubes at a place on Route 97, near Long Eddy, to float down the Delaware River. The rental people will pick you up and bring you back to your car. For dinner, the North Branch Inn has a changing menu — last time I had a farro salad with a sweet-pea ravioli — and an actual Victorian bowling alley. Then, a drink at this place in Callicoon that’s weird as hell: the Villa Roma, a Catskills resort that’s like Bay Ridge upstate. Everybody is tan, smoking, and has a lot of hair gel.�
Sunday: At the farmers’ market in Callicoon, Willow Wisp Farm has massive boxes of baby kale that are exceptional, and Beach Lake Bakery has a phenomenal giant country loaf of bread. For dinner, pizza at the Laundrette in Narrowsburg. It’s in an old Laundromat, and the huge glass windows look over the river.
Cold Salmon and Secret Gardens on the Upper West Side
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(Photo: @westsidecommunitygarden/Facebook) |
Marcia Young Cantarella, educator
Friday: For dinner, Gabriela’s on Columbus at 93rd. My niece and I have a standing menu — Yucatán chicken, black beans, red rice, guacamole, and plantains — and we sit outside, where there’s lots of little lights and plants. Then I like a cappuccino at French Roast, where you can sit on the sidewalk. It evokes the French café experience.��
Saturday: Brunch at La Mirabelle has been a go-to in our family for decades. In the summer, they switch to a menu of cold salmon with amazing French vichyssoise sauce and gelato. There are huge paintings on the walls of French floral landscapes, all by a waitress named Danielle. She has a voice exactly like Édith Piaf’s. After breakfast, I’ll visit a community garden on 89th Street between Columbus and Amsterdam. It’s mostly seasonal florals — spring into summer is tulips, and in the summer they have candlelit concerts; this year, they had an opera in the center of the flowers.
Sunday: My favorite place in Central Park is a hill near 85th Street and Central Park West. There’s all sorts of flowers — you’ll see loads of daffodils. When my son was little, we’d go to the park and start at the playground on 81st. I’d walk behind him with a towel, and he’d hit every sprinkler — the park has tons.
1950s Motels and Astronomy Clubs in the North Fork
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A yard sale in Greenport.
(Photo: Andres Kudacki) |
Ian Wile, chef at Little Creek Oysters
Stay: The suites at American Beech (from $295) are modern and foxy. For something old-school, Silver Sands Motel (from $175) in Greenport West looks like time stopped in the 1950s.
Friday: For a late-night meal in Greenport, 1943 Pizza Bar. I like the bacon-mashed-potato pie. In the speakeasy downstairs, Evan, the bartender, is always crafting something new, but I get the Northside Collins: a tall gin drink muddled with mint and cucumber. It goes down slightly too easily.
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(Photo: Jeff Pulver) |
Saturday: Dan’s Bikes will bring bicycles to you, along with baskets and locks. I’d head to Orient Point County Park for a quiet swim — the water is crystal-clear and never crowded. Like Dan the bike guy, One Love Beach will bring paddleboards to wherever you are. Hallock Bay at Orient Beach is a good place to use them — it’s shallow and protected. Later, I would head to the Custer observatory in Southold, which was built in the 1930s, to stargaze. It opens to the public on Saturday nights, and the local astronomy club will point the telescope and tell you what you’re looking at. Sometimes they play silent movies downstairs with a piano player.
Sunday: Get a hangover breakfast at Sterlington Deli in Greenport: eggs, pancakes, and Italian heros on paper plates. It’s really local — a bunch of old guys solving the world’s problems in a booth. Then I’d do some winery visits, like Croteaux, a rosé vineyard in Southold. For lunch, eat at the Southold Fish Market. Most people go to Claudio’s, this restaurant on the pier in Greenport that’s sort of a crazy show. For my money, you can get the same kind of lobster and shrimp from a fisherman himself, without the party. Leaving town on Route 25, I wouldn’t miss Sang Lee Farms for Asian-influenced produce like Korean Mu radishes. A bison burger at Tweed’s, a restaurant on a buffalo farm in Riverhead that feels like it’s from the 1880s, is the perfect way to get a last dinner in.
Dockside Jazz and Dollhouse Collections in Bellport
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Paddleboarding in the bay off Bellport.
(Photo: Courtesy of Get Up Stand Up NY) |
The founders of the Auto Body artist collective Bellport, Long Island
Stay: Georgia Read: Our friend Joyce Hanly rents rooms in this beautiful Victorian home (call for prices; 516-318-3976). There’s also a campground called Watch Hill, which is especially good when there’s a full moon.
Friday: Claire Read: Varney’s Restaurant has the best no-frills mussels in red sauce, garlic bread, and Cajun flounder sandwiches. Afterward, the Bandshell Summer Concerts put on summer outdoor jazz shows, on the local town dock. We usually pack dessert.
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(Photo: Courtesy of Seilenna) |
Saturday: Georgia Read: Seilenna is a new spot on Main Street that’s good for early-morning espresso and fresh pretzel croissants. The space used to be the town’s five-and-dime store and was vacant for a few years before the owner Annelies moved in.
Aria McManus: Rent a paddleboard from Get Up Stand Up and go to the Great South Bay. You can try to paddle from the mainland side of the bay over to the Fire Island side — but that’s pretty ambitious.
Georgia Read: If it’s rainy, I’ll stop by the Bellport-Brookhaven Historical Society’s dollhouse and duck-decoy collections. This July, they’re having a show with memorabilia from historically significant fires in Bellport. And we curated a show for August of large-scale aerial landscape paintings by Ida Badal, a young artist who visits town.
Sunday: Charlie Stravinsky: Rent a bike at Kreb Cycle and ride the loop around Bellport dock. There are a lot of crabbers down by the bay. Maybe you’ll catch a regatta.
Johnny Knapp: The Bellport Restaurant for dinner. Everything — the ice cream, the bread — is made in-house. My favorites are the country pâté and the Bellport pizza with a corn crust. Or book a private cruise on Johnny Everitt’s vintage ferryboat, called Salt Talk. It’s a 55-foot-long boat with a walk-around wheelhouse.
Fried Croissants and Bruce Springsteen’s Fortune Teller in Asbury Park
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Farmer Meg at the Asbury Fresh farmers’ market.
(Photo: Courtesy of Asbury Fresh) |
Shanti Mignogna, Owner at Talula’s Pizza
Stay: The Asbury Hotel (from $225) is the obvious choice. There’s a younger vibe, and a pool, and food trucks outside in the summer. They have a record room in the lobby where you can get a drink and then play any album from their library.
Friday: There’s two great breweries: Kane Brewing Company serves go-to beers; Carton Brewing Company experiments. They have this flavor called Regular Coffee — New Jerseyians order “regular coffee,” which means milk and two sugars — that’s supposed to taste just like that, and it always sells out. And Asbury Park Distilling, our first distillery, just opened. They’re making gin.
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(Photo: @powpowchica/Instagram) |
Saturday: For breakfast, Cardinal Provisions makes this Catalan pastry called xuixo — a fried croissant stuffed with lemon curd. Rent a bike from Asbury Park Cyclery to get to the beach. It’s always really busy in front of the boardwalk; I’d lay out north of the Convention Hall. The pinball museum is right there, too. They have restored retro pinball machines. You could spend hours in there — my mother-in-law goes there and turns into a kid. Plus there’s Madame Marie’s, the fortune-teller Bruce Springsteen made famous. For drinks and dinner, Barrio Costero is a coastal-Mexican place. They serve specialty mezcals and tequilas and fish tacos and pork tamales. My husband and I love sitting at the bar. Or we’ll go to Bonney Read, for the 40 North oysters — they’re from my friend’s farm nearby. Then head to Little Buddy Hideaway for late-night fishbowl tiki drinks. There’s no sign, but you enter in through the back of Brick Wall Tavern.
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(Photo: Josh Koll/@gojoshgo) |
Sunday: I’d bike downtown. First stop is Cafe Volan; they just started roasting coffee under their own label, Maiden Coffee. At the Asbury Fresh farmers’ market, my friend Farmer Meg has great eggs and homemade goat’s-milk soap. She used to be a beekeeper in Brooklyn. Patriae just opened, and it has antique candles and hemp and linen textiles. Everything is ivory and pretty and feminine. That shop owner’s brother, Joey, has a rock-and-roll vintage shop down the street called Sweet Joey’s that he runs with his dad, who makes custom denim jeans and aprons. The record store in town, Hold Fast Records, has everything — a lot of rock and roll, a lot of stuff from bands that have come through Asbury Park.
Mini-Golf and L. Ron Hubbard’s House in Bay Head, N.J.
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(Photo: @jenksboardwalk/Facebook) |
Alex Ronan, writer
Stay: The pastel-pink Grenville Hotel (from $179) has been here for over 125 years. Or there’s the Point Pleasant Manor motel (from $169), within walking distance from the train. Bonus points for its big pool.
Friday: Bay Head is the last stop on the North Jersey Coast Line. I’m the third generation to spend summers here. Bay Head dates back to the 1880s, and the small-town feel remains. There are an exorbitant number of American flags. Fridays we do a simple barbecue: burgers or beer-can chicken plus local Jersey corn and tomatoes. Then Jenkinson’s Boardwalk in Point Pleasant is good for a post-dinner game of mini-golf. On the way home, we stop at Hoffman’s for the best ice cream in the world. I get mint chip.
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(Photo: Courtesy of the vendor) |
Saturday: Mueller’s Bakery has been here for 127 years. It opens at 6:30 a.m., and hopefully someone I know is there picking up crumb cake before it sells out. I spend most of the day on the beach, by the Bayhead Beach entrance, attempting to avoid a sunburn. The candy store my brothers and I grew up going to is gone, so the best marker of time is Tom the ice-cream man, who drives down East Avenue in his truck and rings a bell at the beach entrances to alert the masses that he’s arrived. In the evening, I’ll bike down East Avenue and admire all the old shingled houses. L. Ron Hubbard wrote Dianetics at 666 East Avenue, so I always slow down to take a peek.
Sunday: We might play tennis on the town courts, or take an aerial yoga class at Integrated Healing and Wellness. Crabbing on the river between Twilight Lake and the bay is a great way to pass an afternoon. All you need are traps and bait; chicken innards work best. For dinner, Theresa’s South, with its generous portions of pasta, is popular. It’s BYOB, but there’s a wine store across the street.
Farmers’ Markets and Jet Skis in the Rockaways
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A Saturday at the Rockaways.
(Photo: Andres Kudacki) |
Matt Blance-Stephany, food entrepreneur
Friday: If I didn’t live here, I’d take the new ferry from Wall Street or Sunset Park. It costs $2.75 — same as the subway. And I hear they have a bar on the ferry, so you might drink a glass of rosé on your way. For dinner, pizza at Whit’s End up at Riis Park. I like the classic margherita. They only make 12-inch pies. Do not ask for slices or substitutions. You’ll be abused. The chef, Whitney, does things his way.
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(Photo: Courtesy of the vendor) |
Saturday: I help out at Edgemere Farm, and we’ll be open for breakfast on weekends this summer, making homemade waffles with local honey, and farmer’s hash — that’s kale, rainbow chard, potatoes, eggs — and fresh-baked bread from one of the bakers here. In the afternoon, I’d ride a bike — you can rent from Boarders near 92nd Street — and go all the way down the boardwalk to the bungalows around 20th Street, which are really cool. It doesn’t feel like New York City, but more like Venice Beach. Or, and I only do this once a year, a restaurant on the bay side called Thai Rock rents Jet Skis. You can rent one for an hour and just speed around the restaurant, or even go with a guide all the way to the Gil Hodges bridge. For dinner, I like Venezuelan food at the Caracas Arepas Bar. My favorite is the shredded beef Pabellon arepa. They have an outdoor space for dancing at sunset while drinking frozen sangria, with Latin bands on weekend nights.
Sunday: Rockaway Beach Bakery just opened a few months ago, and they do amazing croissants. Then I’ll maybe check out the surf beach, at Beach 90. They call it the Jetty. It’s the most popular surf break out here. For lunch, lots of people go to Rockaway Beach Surf Club, the bar that houses Tacoway Beach. They have lines out the door for the fried fish tacos. People in New York City love waiting in line and getting a fish taco to Instagram it. I am not one of those people. I’ll go on a weekday instead. On a Saturday when it’s 90 degrees out? Good luck. The beach at 97th Street has the most food vendors. My favorite is Breezy’s BBQ. The pulled-pork sandwich with pickles and coleslaw is delicious. The Castle on 117th Street is a special place to see. It’s this big white-stone family house that now has food workshops held by New York chefs. This summer, Sarah Owens, who owns BK17 Bakery, is teaching bread-baking classes. If you book a weekend workshop, you can stay in the Castle’s really nice rooms. And they have saunas in the basement.
Steal Their
Friday Night
“My husband and I have a house in the Rockaways, and we love Pico on 129th Street. It’s a really good Mexican restaurant owned by this guy who I love — he always says hello, no matter how long it’s been. Taco Flight is what I order — you get one of each taco — and always the elote. The bartenders come for the summer to surf; you’ll see them on the beach.” —Benjamin Noriega-Ortiz, interior designer
Saturday Morning
“I run from Harlem across the bridge to the old Yankee Stadium, which is now a public track. I love that run because I see what New York used to be. Everyone from the Bronx and Harlem is doing push-ups, sit-ups, calisthenics, sprints, soccer. Everybody is out.” —Lizzy Okpo, fashion designer
Saturday Afternoon
“I’m not a beach person. I haven’t taken my shirt off in public since, like, 1994, so I’m always looking for air-conditioned places in the summer. Like: Get stoned and go to Prada in Soho. It obviously happened by accident the first time, but I’ve since done it on purpose. They have a different display for each perfume, and you will feel like Dorothy in the Emerald City. If you think the salespeople are watching you like a hawk, you are correct. It’s not just the weed. But you have every right to be in Prada.” —John Early, actor
Saturday Late Afternoon
“I love hitting some balls at the driving range at Chelsea Piers, especially on Saturday at dusk, for the view of the Hudson — if you can, get a spot up on the third or fourth tier. It’s a nice place to chat with friends and catch up while cheering each other on. Last time we brought a bottle of wine and some plastic cups and tried to be discreet about it.” —Angela Dimayuga, chef
Saturday Night
“I go to this new bar in Hudson called Governor’s Tavern. I like that it’s not just urbanites and Brooklyn transplants. You’ll see a plumber and an antiques dealer in the same place. There’s all these parallel economies in Hudson, and I like that there’s a mix in that place. And they make a good hamburger.” —Paula Greif, ceramist
Sunday Morning
“I have a place in Litchfield County, Connecticut, and the best shops are 15 minutes away in New Preston on the main drag. One of my favorite things to do is to stop by this store, Pergola. The gentleman who owns it lived in Japan for a while so he stocks refined Japanese things: teapots in cast bronze, garden books, and orchids. And they have these rare insects — extremely weird with huge legs and wings and things — in glass boxes. Insects you’d think were a bit scary if they were alive.” —Robert Couturier, interior designer
Sunday Afternoon
“I’ll pick up groceries at Cromer’s County Market. It’s been around for who knows how many years and is the epitome of Sag Harbor. They make the best banana cream pie. We get our meats there: a rib eye, a rack of lamb, sausages.” —Lizzie Grubman, publicist
Sunday Afternoon
“The Lot is a radio station operating out of a shipping container that’s on this lot in Greenpoint with benches and chairs. There’s great music, always — disco, house, funk, and everything in between — so when it’s nice out, people gather there in the afternoon or evening. The Lot is close with the church across the street, and the friars will usually be hanging out, too.” —Barbie Bertisch, DJ
Or Be the First to …
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Eat at …
Island Oyster
A massive waterfront beer garden on Governors Island, from the Grand Banks team, where you can slurp oysters, drink cocktails, and gaze at the East River. Governors Island Ferry Landing
Pilot
Also from the Grand Banks team: A bar and restaurant aboard a 142-foot wooden racing schooner will be docked at Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 6. The head staff’s the same, so expect a similar drink menu to Grand Banks and food like soft-shell-crab po’boys. Pier 6, Brooklyn Bridge Park
VHH Foods by Vinegar Hill House
One of the first restaurants to open in the Dumbo mega-development Empire Stores is an outpost of local favorite Vinegar Hill House. 53-83 Water St.
Eleven Madison Park Summer House
While Daniel Humm’s temple of fine dining gets renovated, the kitchen will relocate for the summer to a space in East Hampton, complete with picnic tables and yard games. The setting’s more casual, but you can still expect stunner dishes like a $95 bouillabaisse for two. 341 Pantigo Rd.
Public
Sit alfresco on the roof of Ian Schrager’s new hotel, with food by Jean-Georges Vongerichten, or on the Bowery Garden terrace, inspired by the Tuileries in Paris. 215 Chrystie St.
Miss Ada
This new Fort Greene Mediterranean restaurant comes with a shady patio that seats 30 within its mural-covered walls. 184 DeKalb Ave.
Diamond Reef
Leave town in spirit, if not in body, at Diamond Reef: The string-lantern-lit backyard at this bar from the Attaboy crew evokes Miami more than Bed-Stuy. 1057 Atlantic Ave.
Flora Bar
The sunken Brutalist patio at the Estela team’s uptown venture in the Met Breuer has finally opened. 945 Madison Ave.
Sally Roots
This Bushwick restaurant opened last fall, but the weather is finally right to sip frozen cocktails on its patio. 195 Wyckoff Ave.
The Amsterdam
Rhinebeck’s new neighborhood restaurant is helmed by James Beard nominee and Momofuku alum Sara Lukasiewicz. 6380 Mill St.�
—Mary Jane Weedman
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Party at …
Good Roof by Good Room
Every other Sunday, the Greenpoint danceteria will bring electronic acts like The Juan MacLean and Nicky Siano to the rooftop of Dobbin St, while Roberta’s slings pizza in the courtyard below. 64 Dobbin St.
Hudson’s
Drink, dine, and dance on a three-story yacht as it takes nightly dinnertime sails along the Hudson River. Pier 81, W. 41st St.
Nightcall
On the last Thursday of each month in Miss Wong’s, Dale Talde’s amber-lit basement speakeasy in Jersey City, DJ Kevlove will spin a global mix of R&B, soul, and house. 8 Erie St.
Summer of Love
House of Yes is taking over the Onderdonk farmhouse in Ridgewood for a series of day-to-night parties. Think Burning Man in Brooklyn: backyard circus performers and DJs alongside food trucks and a beer garden. 1820 Flushing Ave.
Surf Shack
The beachy scene at the Arlo Soho hotel’s newest rooftop pop-up bar will include an oysters-and-rosé station, baby pools filled with beer, and tropical cocktails like frozen Rum Runners (spiced rum, blackberry liqueur, crème de banana, orange juice). 231 Hudson St.
The Campbell
Historic Grand Central bar the Campbell Apartment has reopened, with three rooms: the indoor bar, featuring the original hand-painted ceiling; a rattan-accented nook called the Campbell Palm Court; and an outdoor veranda with a full bar. 15 Vanderbilt Ave.
Boat That Life
The Boat That Life guys throw marina parties, host a podcast, and run basketball camps. This summer they add a roving day-rager series in the Rockaways to their repertoire. Expect disco, early dance hall, and Top 40s at locales like Rippers and Low Tide Bar. Address varies.
The Crown at 50 Bowery
Head to the top of this hotel for spectacular downtown-skyline views, ceviche and guac from Dale Talde, and drinks like the Black Dragon Tea. 50 Bowery
—Abby Schreiber
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Play at …
Adventures at Governors Island
The bucolic isle has a new destination for families: an alfresco fun zone with a nearly 3,600-square-foot wooden maze, three different 25-foot-tall climbing walls, and a pair of side-by-side zip lines. Governors Island, nr. Liggett Terr.
Bronx Zoo Treetop Adventure
The Bronx Zoo will unveil two airborne attractions this summer: an aerial-ropes course with wobbly bridges, tightrope walks, and ladders, and a pair of zip lines that can whoosh riders on a trip 50 feet above the Bronx River. Bronx River Pkwy., nr. Boston Rd.
Kalahari Resorts
The Poconos water park recently grew by 220,000 square feet. There’s a new wave pool, and visitors can slide down thrill rides like the Screaming Hyena. 250 Kalahari Blvd., Pocono Manor, Pa.
Casino Pier
The Jersey Shore mainstay has a new roller coaster, the Hydrus, a 45-mph ride that starts with a 97-degree drop; for a calmer time, ride the new Ferris wheel, which has views of the ocean. 800 Ocean Terr., Seaside Heights, N.J.
The Jim Henson Exhibition
The Museum of the Moving Image’s new exhibit spotlights Muppet master Jim Henson. Visitors can look through Henson’s sketches, scripts, and costumes; watch clips on one of 27 screens; and even design their own puppets. Opens July 22; 36-01 35th Ave., Astoria.
—Raven Snook
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Escape to …
MASS MoCA
The Berkshires contemporary-art mecca doubles in size this summer with the opening of Building 6, a factory turned gallery, showcasing large-scale works from the likes of James Turrell and Louise Bourgeois. 1040 MASS MoCA Way, North Adams, Mass.
Gurney’s in Rhode Island
The Montauk hotel opens its second location — complete with a Scarpetta outpost — on Newport’s waterfront (from $495). A boat will shuttle guests the 90 minutes between the Hamptons flagship and the new Rhode Island property. 1 Goat Rd., Newport, R.I.
Beacon’s Main Street
Two new hotels grace Beacon’s main drag: the Inn and Spa (from $219; 151 Main St.), a 12-room retreat with private yoga and hydrotherapy, and the recently renovated 140-year-old Beacon Hotel (from $199; 424 Main St.).
Magazzino
A 20,000-square-foot warehouse showcasing Arte Povera work from the late 1960s and early ’70s opens in June in Cold Spring. Make an appointment to see pieces by genre masters like Mario Merz and Michelangelo Pistoletto. 2700 Rt. 9, Cold Spring, N.Y.
Collective Hudson Valley
Come August, you can stay in a fully loaded luxury tent (each with names inspired by local authors like Edna St. Vincent Millay; from $500) on the grounds of the organic Liberty Farms in Ghent. 114 Ostrander Rd., Ghent, N.Y.
—Fiorella Valdesolo