How to spend a night on the Rockaways

You have reached your destination just before the end of the line when the train pulls into Playland. This should be your first sign you are about to begin a magical journey.

Rockaway does not disappoint in its ability to play. You can find it all here. Perfect small town love, amazing beach vibes, sand, surf, and great night life. When you are living out on the Rockaways, the days easily blend into nights and as much as I love the beach and surfing, the night life almost has it beat. 

There are a few great bars within walking distance from the beach and each night is a bar hop, meeting up with friends or making new ones as you go. Start your evening at  Rockaway Beach Surf Club, an outside space under the tracks of the A train that will serve as the meeting place after the beach. 

Go in your bathing suit and store your board in their lockers in the back. When the train passes above, it is the perfect juxtaposition of surf and city that perfect describes life in the Rockaways and it is easy to see how my best friend got stuck here. 

If you are needing a dinner break, their food truck, "The Cookout" is new this season and parked in the surf shack's backyard. They serve incredible seafood - try the Shrimp Po' Boy and thank me later.  

In the backyard you can sip cocktails on the family style benches with friends and watch old surf movies playing on the screen outside. I want this place to be my home bar - I wish I could start every night here under the A train with tan skin and surf scars. I even saw Nolan Funk here of Awkward. fame. And yes, I am too old to know MTV actors anymore.


The crowds will begin here and dwindle as the sun sets and the nightly bar crawl begins. There are a few stops along the way but the only other you must not miss is the Playland Motel. The only place you can rent a room on the Rockaways, this stop has a full sand, beach backyard and a ground level bar where you go to late night and be seen.

The vibe here is perfection, dancing is non-stop, and this is the happy smile you will leave with.

Andrew VanWyngarden, the lead vocalist of MGMT is known to frequent the bar when local. He currently purchased a home in the area, packed it with his friends, and heads to Playland in the evenings to DJ - for fun. 

It is incredible but that is how night's happen in Playland.

P.S. Andrew, you're dreamy.

In a place called "Playland" my dreams of being a wannabe beach bum seem plausible. I want to ride my bike on the sandy streets with no shoes on my feet and a deep crisp tan on my Native American skin. I want to surf all day and play all night. I want out of the grind, and it probably wasn't the best idea for my current mindset to visit my best friend in a place called Playland. It is perfection and exactly what your soul needs.

This is what I have been missing. Can I come back yet?

How to spend a day on Rockaway Beach

When you dream of New York, an urban sprawl of speeding taxicabs and concrete skyscrapers probably floods your mind.But you might not guess that there is a surfing mecca a short train ride from the city.

Rockaway Beach is one of the best surfing spots on the East Coast; a welcoming and ultra hip surf town that is growing in popularity as heat tempts everyone to the beach. Each year my friends take a hiatus from the city and spend the summer working from the shore and surfing between company e-mails or seasonal bartending gigs. I swear I am not jealous... but this sure beats my usual lunch break.

If you can't make the temporary move from the city to your surf pad, head out on weekends when the beaches and boardwalk are packed but the waves never discriminate. To get there, grab your board (or rent one when you arrive from the boardwalk) and take the A train out to Rockaway Beach where you will be blessed with delicious food, an amazing energy and some of the best people of anywhere I have traveled, as well as surfing that will entertain those with advanced skills and build confidence for beginners.

Start your day at with coffee at Surfside Bagels where you pay on the honor system and stop to chat to with your neighbors that congregate for morning coffee and a recap of the previous night's shenanigans. If you are well-rested take a run or attend "Yoga on the Rocks". If you cannot, then you are hungover so grab a beer, tend to your garden, and wake your housemates - and your cute pup.

Collect your board, rash guard, and head to the beach to check out the surf for the day. The beach at Rockaway is a surf beach and you will not be allowed in the water without a board - if you can't surf, grab a boogie so you can play too - or at least to have so you can get in and cool off. You don't want to be the lone guy on the shore. 

Spend the day laying on the beach with a new book, toasting in the sun, and enjoy too many cocktails between surfing sessions (or in my case, falling sessions). 

Stop for eats at Santa Salsa, where you will experience the perfect burger oozing in deliciousness. Located at the boardwalk at 97th, Santa Salsa is a Brooklyn food truck that relocates to the beach on summer weekends. It is served out of a Venezuelan street food cart that serves hot dogs, a grilled asparagus burger, and pepitos or steak sandwich. 

The burger is cooked as ordered and well worth the wait because it comes stuffed with avocados, fried egg, onions, and cheese on a perfectly toasted bun. Plus, these guys are ridiculously cheap, it is $6 for a burger with all of the fix-ins you want. I didn't even take a picture I ruined it so fast - a surfing girl has got to eat! 

To find the cart, head to the cornhole sets facing the beach, directly across from Low-Tide Bar. If you can't get out to the beach (shame on you) or start craving these burgers during the week, their food truck is at 594 Union Avenue in Brooklyn. 

Rockaway was one of the hardest hit areas during Sandy which left the beach destroyed. Currently, there is a project rebuilding the beach. A ship dredges the sand from the ocean floor that was once our shoreline and redeposits it on the beach through pipes. Once the sand is dispersed in the area, the section of pipe is removed and the next section is built up. It isn't the most beautiful project, but worth it to bring back the beach.

Beachcomers and surfers alike have rallied behind the town for its waves and atmosphere. A perfect surf town is is always a place to defend. 

End the day with frozen sangaritas at Caracas - a delicious concoction of sangria and margarita that sounds horrible. Trust me, its not. 

Stroll back to the house to watch the sun dip below the New York skyline from the rooftop.

Rooftop hammocks are now my favorite of things. 

And this skylight that you crawl through has already been added to my list of projects.

In the evenings, grill out with your housemates or walk to the corner for some of the most delicious tacos in all of the world. Rockaway Taco is located on Beach 96th but be warned that the line will start queuing at 2pm and go until close.

Yes, it really is THAT good.

If pizza is more your thing, check out Roberta's. They have a permanent post in Bushwick that draws pizza lovers from miles around. For the summer they are serving personal pies on an empty property on beach 96th out of a cargo container.  It needs a paint job but the food is fresh and inventive with ingredients from sopresa to honey toppings.

After cocktails and dinner, throw on your sundresses and jean shorts and head out for the night. This town is small so you won't have too much trouble finding friends for the evening - and everyone is ready for a good time.

But there's no wrong way to spend in the Rockaways so as my grandmother says, " Give my regards to Rockaway!"

My 100th (!) post: My favorite journal entry

My knees are sore from caving under the Danube River in Hungary.

My heart is hurt from one of my traveling mates and I hate the way it lingers on me and the way I make up that everything is fine. But, I am passing a sea of sunflowers on the train, acres of yellow reaching tall into the sky.

The warm breeze is blowing in our car, saving us from the August humidity soaking into my skin.

 We slept on a concrete bench at the train station last night and washed clothes in the sink. I think I am really traveling now.

At this point we have been on the road a month and we have trained, trammed, bussed...

 flown, ferried, walked...

run, and swam our way to get here in this moment.

 We are leaving Hungary where we have relaxed in the baths in the city park,

danced until dawn on Margot Island,

and made some of the best traveling companions of our time away.

And it came at the perfect moment because after being in Prague,

and stranded in Poland questioning our path,

we found our motivation and our fantasy world by continuing on.

 We may have been three bored little girls looking for an adventure but what an adventure it has been.

 I love gyros, and tea, and ciaos.

I have cheered on the World Cup with new friends and travel companions,

I know the places and the people. I have stood in the train windows watching the coast and the Adriatic Sea blow by.

I have 8 types of currency in my wallet, was detained at the border in Slovakia, I have celebrated Spain's birthday on their beaches.

I leave each hostel with names and e-mails written down my arm of the countless best friends I have made. My feet are throbbing from walking and I couldn't fit into heels if you paid me; but my legs are strong and I believe I am capable of anything.

I love hoisting my pack high on my shoulders and strapping it on with less wobbles each time. I love where it is worn away where my hips ride against it. My pack is my home; it gives me a strange feeling of comfort and I can feel a smile creep along my face as I throw it on my back. It is my pillow in airports, my seat on trains, my bed in train stations.

It has been hoisted up mountains, it has walked streets of the world, it has been soaked in rain storms of Monteverde, laid on the beach in Croatia. It has been thrown in shuttles, under buses and holds my experiences, my souvenirs, my locks. It is the one constant in this nomadic lifestyle.

My books have been swapped from El Salvador to Istanbul and each opens releasing sand from beaches around the world falling out of the pages that have flown with me from Ibiza to Croatia.

I have seen Auschwitz and sat in a gas chamber.

I have fallen in love with Budapest.

I have drank from the aqueducts of Italy.

And bike through the streets of Amsterdam.

 I wear two outfits - one to spend my days and a second for nightly dinners and dancing and pub crawls. I have had drunken kisses, rambling conversation, and made great memories.

I have felt like family at Carpe Noctem and contemplating staying forever. I have woken up to coffee waiting and sitting with my best friends who were strangers the day before.

I live off free breakfasts and only the items that fit in my pack. We never know what country we will be in tomorrow but survive by the kindness and directions of strangers and for every place I have been, I have added three more to explore next.

I honestly don’t know how were going to stop.