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These days, blissfully stress-free journeys are hard to come by. Between long lines, late departures and expensive tickets, travel from New York to other east coast cities is often a hassle, despite the geographic proximity. This past March, Greyhound and Peter Pan Bus Lines partnered to launch BoltBus, a cheap and refreshing addition to the travel industry.
Off the West Side Highway, beyond the zip line of roller bladers, runners, bikers and dog walkers, rows of crisscrossed wood trusses mark the entrance to the Frying Pan. Since early July, many New Yorkers and foreigners have flocked to this Chelsea retreat, taking a small journey through the life of an old, retired and recently reincarnated ship on their way to cold beers and blue cheese-topped burgers. After a year’s hiatus, Manhattan’s much beloved bateaux is open for business again on the Hudson River. The docked vessel and historical haunt is a popular summer place to escape, mingle with friends, and enjoy one of the best closeups of the city skyline.
In Cobble Hill, on any given Friday or Saturday after 8p.m., if you give a customer a cookie, he’s going to ask for a glass of wine.
On such a hot summer night after work, I take the F train out of Manhattan and head to Brooklyn to meet Dave Crofton at his bake shop. Within 35 minutes, I’m at the Bergen stop. My sweet tooth starts acting up, and suddenly the one block north to Dean Street could not be any farther. Once I have One Girl Cookies in sight, with its welcoming, open-air storefront and light buttery smells drifting down the street, I know that I am within the compass of sugary satisfaction.
I enter the store and a bell dings. I’m greeted by a wall of aged photos; they are sepia toned reprints of the chef-owner’s family members including co-owner Dawn Cassle’s aunt Tina, a major inspiration for her cookie enterprise. After a short wait in line the counter comes into clear view and with it all the tantalizing goodies. Dave appears, a tall, affable-looking man, and we sit for a chat on a wooden bench underneath a large chalkboard menu scribbled with the day’s specials.
What: Warm Up
Where: P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City
Why: These sweltering summer days, the last thing one wants to hear are the words “warm up.” But P.S.1’s music series is so hot it’s cool. On the museum’s massive courtyard, groove to international DJs and stellar live music, amidst the talent (and winner of the annual P.S.1 and MoMA organized Young Architects Program) of WORK Architecture Company. Their project, Public Farm One, is an angled construction of several hundred cardboard tubes that serve the dual purpose of being a working farm while resembling what P.S.1 calls “a flying carpet.” WORK experiments with the idea of a new leisure revolution and presents a refreshing alternative (with a pool and unique shade) to any other rooftop in Manhattan. This summer, ponder your environmental impact, buy some local farm products, and dance the night away at P.S.1.
A restaurant that serves organic ice cream and cleans the kitchen with eco-friendly products is not out to green-wash you because saving the planet is so in right now. Applewood, the wholesome home-style restaurant that has left a large, non-carbon footprint in Park Slope, has a very real, down to earth mantra.
“We’re conscious, not militant,” says Chicago-born owner Laura Shea, who opened the restaurant with husband and native New Yorker David in September 2004. “Our message is that what we’re doing is important.” In the intimate, butter-yellow restaurant, the Sheas are creating low-impact agricultural menus that feature humanely raised livestock and support nearby farms like Red Hook Community Farm. It’s “going green” without needing to pour wheatgrass shots and plate raw veggies. With an emphasis on procuring local organic food, the Sheas have successfully managed to design a setting that is welcoming to fastidious foodies and the ecologically industrious. “We are so far from vegan,” Laura quips. “This is the house that Pork built.”
In Manhattan, we are never far from the three rivers that surround the island. Yet we are missing the feel and aesthetics of a sea-side or waterfront community. I was delivered by train and bus in less than a half hour recently, to a town where I inhaled fresh, unadulterated sea air and lingered in front of Victorian-style homes, the winding side streets stretching down to the water in what warmed me like an old New England seaport. City Island, a prime ship building turf back in the day, is the place for day escapes.
Taking a recommendation from a well-traveled friend, I set my sights on the Bronx’s City Island. I started my trip like Jennifer Lopez “on the 6.” Getting off at Pelham Bay Park, I headed south on Bruckner Blvd. towards Wilkinson Ave. I grabbed the Bx29 toward City Island Ave. and hopped off at the intersection of City Island Ave. and Fordham St.
What: City Parks Foundation presents a free concert featuring 80’s hip hop group Brand Nubian.
Where: Brower Park, a 7-acre park in the center of Crown Heights, Brooklyn.
When: Wednesday, July 9th at 7 p.m.
Why: You’ve survived hump day. Live in the mid-week moment by treating yourself to the sounds of an old-school hip-hop group that’ll take you back with popular classics like “Word is Bond” in addition to songs from their latest albums: Fire in the Hole and Time’s Runnin’ Out. If you miss this event, upcoming concerts include reggae artist Richie Spice on July 16th and hip-hop artist Bahamedia on July 23rd. For more info on future Brower Park summer listings and City Park Foundation events (including dance and theater performances) visit their website.
There is a thriving immigrant enclave not too far from here that has survived a century. With a steadfast following, this New York relic is one of the last of its kind. Kept hidden by the contours of the Triborough (soon-to-be RFK) Bridge, Astoria’s Bohemian Hall & Beer Garden is not just anywhere you come to throw back a beer and slowly digest a sausage on a hot summer day; it’s a focal point for a whole community of Czech Americans.
In this sprightly place of old and new New Yorkers, I sat on one of the garden’s numerous picnic tables savoring a grilled kielbasa and a pitcher of Krusovice Dark. Out from behind, a figure appeared over my shoulder—a seventy-plus year old German decked out in his favorite leisure suit.
What: The New York Philharmonic will play Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture and four other classical favorites.
Where: Governors Island, once called “Pagganck” by the Indians, then “Nutten Eylandt” by the Dutch in the 1500’s because of the abundance of oak, hickory, and chestnut trees.
When: Saturday, July 5th at 6:30 pm
Why: After a Friday full of fireworks and debauchery, don’t pass up a picnic in front of a free NY Philharmonic concert. It will be music to your ears.
The thick fog had not yet lifted at Robert Moses Beach, about an hour and a half east of Manhattan past Queens and high rises. Outside the Suffolk Bus, the seascape was a blur, almost dreamlike; with no horizon in sight, the crashing waves and lifeguard whistles led us on in the direction towards Field 3. As the concrete path softened into sand, the ocean’s surf grew louder, a pack of seagulls appeared near the dunes, and soon beyond that, signs of human life.
On the western end of the Fire Island National Seashore, there lies five miles of beach, multiple picnic areas, an 18-hole pitch-and-putt golf course, a reasonably priced food shack, shops, four bathhouses, a boat basin and top-notch surfing when the right swell rolls in. The journey to Robert Moses Beach—named after an urban planning mastermind of the mid-20th century—begins at Penn Station aboard the LIRR (see instructions below or here for the Robert Moses Package) and before you have finished an iPod mix or the Dining & Wine section, the giant pencil-like water tower will have come into view, and with it, Long Island’s oldest state park.