Travel

Queens

Establishment neighborhood
TWA Hotel
One Idlewild Dr., Queens
The TWA Hotel at JFK is the kind of spot you stay at for the experience. In this case, the experience of sleeping in an airport hotel that was once a real-life terminal. Finnish industrial designer Eero Saarinen was responsible for the original mid-century modern structure that operated as a terminal until 2002, and the whole space still smacks of golden-age-of-air-travel novelty. While TWA functions fine as an airport hotel, it’s the details like the bar (designed to mimic a ’60s cocktail lounge inside an airplane cabin), guest rooms that would look at home on the set of Mad Men, mid-century terrazzo bathrooms, and Paris Café—helmed by Jean-Georges Vongerichten—that has curious travelers flocking in.
Manhattan Beach Park
Ocean Ave & Mackenzie St., Manhattan Beach
Significantly less hectic than nearby Coney Island (though both the beach and the boardwalk are worth a visit), Manhattan Beach is an excellent option if you want the sand-and-ocean experience without having to go too far outside the city, to say, Fire Island or Asbury. There are basketball courts and lots of space for picnicking and barbecuing—plus, there’s usually a Mr. Softee ice-cream truck parked at the entrance. Keep in mind that it’s a bit of a walk from the Sheepshead Bay Q-train station, so pack as light as possible.
L&B Spumoni Gardens
2725 86th St., Bensonhurst
This South Brooklyn institution has been slinging their Sicilian-style "squares”—red sauce-smothered pizza with the Mozzarella cheese baked right into the fluffy, crust-y dough and sliced into, you guessed it, squares—since 1938. The only menu item that eclipses the pizza is the spumoni: a rainbow of vanilla, chocolate, and pistachio ice cream served old school, in a paper cup, and best enjoyed on the bustling outdoor patio. The L&B Italian ices (the lemon is a summertime essential) are slightly lighter than the spumoni and definitely worth sampling.
Bark Frameworks
21-24 44th Ave., Long Island City
This 40-year-old business founded by Jared Bark has made frames for some of the greatest artists of all time, including Jasper Johns, Ellsworth Kelly, and Robert Rauschenberg, to name a few. At Bark, the framers are more than happy to collaborate with the client to make exactly what you’re looking for. With so many years in the business, they have a vast catalog of styles, but can also create something completely unique for particular specifications.
MoMA PS1
22-25 Jackson Ave., Long Island City
Housed in a renovated public school, PS1 has been a beacon for contemporary art lovers since the 60s, though it officially only became part of MoMA in 2000. With the unerringly avant-garde Klaus Biesenbach as its director, PS1 has presented many groundbreaking shows including Francis Alÿs, Ari Marcopoulos, and Confetti System, a timely Mike Kelley retrospective shortly after his death, and the “Greater New York” series. In the summer, the Warm Up series—where great DJs play in the museum’s courtyard—draws a fun crowd. There's also an on-site cafeteria, M. Wells Dinette.