| Is this Maine? No … it’s the Bronx. Tess Mayer for The New York Times | | | The city’s mighty quiet these days, and it seems as if everyone’s on vacation but us. No matter. This week, we’re approximating with a city adventure that feels like an escape. | | | One quick reminder: We’ve outlined all our Summer recs on this Google Map to save you searching time. If we haven’t hit your favorite spot yet, tell us about it at summer@nytimes.com, and we might feature it in our next newsletter. | | | Boats parked along the main drag. Tess Mayer for The New York Times | | | Maine is far away. Conveniently, the Bronx is closer. | | | On City Island, a 1.5-mile-long seaport community floating just off Pelham Bay Park, boats abound, lobster rolls make most menus, and small-town charm wins out. It’s the type of impossibly quaint seaside scene you might expect to find in New England, only within New York City limits. | | | While there are plenty of aquatic activities to anchor a trip to City Island — fishing, scuba diving and cruises, to name a few — we recommend spending a day as a land lubber, wandering the island and getting to know its past, local treasures and a few of the characters who call it home. | | | These aren't for sale, but you can buy a model boat at the museum store. Tess Mayer for The New York Times | | | Your visit, even one on land, should begin nautically, at the City Island Nautical Museum. Run by volunteers and housed in a landmark school building, this museum uses photos, models, pieces of boats and voice-over from a docent to demonstrate how the island’s yacht- and boat-building industries evolved over the years, at times producing U.S. military vessels for the world wars and later crafting champion racing sloops for the America’s Cups. | | | While boats are everywhere on the island — seriously, they appear on local menus, in architecture and off practically every inch of coastline — shipbuilding isn’t the only type of skilled handiwork that happens here. Of City Island’s roughly 4,500 residents, over 100 are artists and craftsmen, and a cluster of galleries populate the midsection of City Island Avenue. | | | At Focal Point Gallery, Ron Terner, a resident of 45 years, connects the community through art, showing works by locals, gathered via monthly open calls. He’s also made a project of memorializing deceased City Islanders; his portraits of the community are plastered on a wall outside a marina across from JJ Burck Hardware on City Island Avenue. | | | Ron Terner's portraits of the community. Tess Mayer for The New York Times | | | Surveying the views on City Island, it’s easy to see where the artists derive their inspiration. At the Harlem Yacht Club, where you can carry a drink or snack to an Adirondack chair on the dock, moored boats stretch west toward Pelham Bay Park through a shimmering Long Island Sound. From a bench at Belden Point, a pocket park at the island’s southern tip, wide expanses of sea are on display under a distant suggestion of Queens. And in the Pelham Cemetery on the island’s east side, Pells and other notable New Yorkers rest beneath a panorama of Hart Island. | | | Striking views aren’t only found looking to sea, though. Keep your eyes peeled on land for interesting architecture, including the Samuel Pell House on City Island Avenue, a well-preserved example of the frame houses that dotted 19th-century New York City; the William H. Schofield House, at 65 Schofield Street, which dates back to the 1860s; and, from “The Royal Tenenbaums,” the family’s turreted summer home at 21 Tier Street. Also worth scoping: the waterfront mansions on King Avenue, the sweet bungalows on Minnieford Avenue and the historic cottages on Belden and Horton Streets. | | | But wherever you find yourself on the island, shed your city armor. It’s a small town in our big city, and here’s a surprise: The locals are friendly. | | | Pro tip: Clipper Coffee on City Island Avenue sells used books in the back for under $4; buy a title, and bring it to read in one of those Adirondack chairs. | | | Come hungry, or bring a family. Tess Mayer for The New York Times | | | Sammy’s Fish Box on the southern end of the island leans heavily into nautical kitsch. Our advice: Embrace the theme, and come hungry. Order a lobster roll the length and girth of a weightlifter’s forearm, or, better yet, one of the mixed shellfish platters for two that could, in reality, feed a family. This is quantity over quality, but sometimes there’s a hole in your heart that only fried jumbo shrimp and onion rings can fill; Sammy’s is here for you during those times. | | | Augies Deli is the place to go if you’re seeking a quick sandwich. The shrimp parm hero is plentiful enough to split, or go off-menu for a simple, but well-constructed deli sandwich. | | | Braeden and Kendall demonstrate how it's done. Tess Mayer for The New York Times | | | Lickety Split sits, pulled back from the street, inside an adorable colonial cottage, and nowhere in New York captures the scoop shop vibe of Jersey Shore and New England ice cream parlors quite like it. With its goofy stuffed cows for décor and sweaty teenage employees frantically scooping to keep up with the summer crowd, this ice cream shop is a hell of a nostalgia trip, and it sells a solid sundae to boot. | | | Tony’s Pier can remedy any lingering hunger pangs you might have, but the No. 1 reason to visit this indoor/outdoor cafeteria is for an impressive view of the boats and bridges along the bay. (The No. 2 reason: its frozen drinks, which include a slushy blueberry situation dyed a shade of electric blue found nowhere in nature.) This blue beverage and some fries and a flock of hungry sea gulls overhead is what summer is all about. | | | Does summer have you in a dancing mood? Head to Pier 45 in Greenwich Village for Sunset Salsa. At 6:30 p.m. every Tuesday through August 27, the instructor Talia Castro-Pozo leads a free, hourlong beginner lesson, followed by open dance from 7:30 to 9 p.m. Bring a friend or a date, or just look on gleefully from the sidelines; salsa is almost as much fun to watch as it is to dance. | | | Spend an afternoon — O.K., and some cash — in the Flatiron district. Christina K., a Summer reader, student at The School of The New York Times and a “thrift-shopping junkie,” recommends grabbing a friend and heading to the local Goodwill store for a good rummage. After finding some quality pieces, “bask in the sun and admire your secondhand finds” at Madison Square Park and recharge with a burger and a shake from Shake Shack. “There may be a line when you go, but it’s worth it,” Christina writes. | | | Share your favorite seasonal thing to do at summer@nytimes.com, and your idea might be featured in our next newsletter. | | | Saturday: If you’re on City Island, attend the opening reception for the August exhibition at Focal Point Gallery. | | | Saturday – Thursday: Head to Bushwick for “region(es): SUD,” a free series of contemporary performance art by South American artists. | | | Monday: “Anchorman” plays for free in Bryant Park. | | | Through August 16: It’s NYC Restaurant Week! Make reservations at participating restaurants for a two-course lunch for $26 or three-course dinner for $42. | | | Through August 17: Grab a ticket to “Maze,” a socially conscious street dance show at The Shed. | | | Don't keep Summer to yourself. | | |
