Water Taxi Beach

After Warm Up last Saturday, my ever-intrepid daughters and I hiked it over to Water Taxi Beach, on the fabled riverbanks of Long Island City, about 15 minutes away from PS1. It's called "Water Taxi" because the Water Taxi docks right nearby after its run up and down the Manhattan shoreline; and "Beach" because they've trucked in tons and tons of so-so sand, apparently from New Jersey, to fill this impressively large (20,000 square feet) outdoor space.

Anyway, Scoboco arrived looking for dinner, and we were a little dismayed to see none of the web-site-promised cheeseburgers or pizzas on the menu... which, in fact, consisted entirely of 1. hot dogs 2. french fries. Thankfully, they did a credible job with both: the dogs were well-done, crunchy and beefy, the buns soft and fresh, the fries crispy and hot and nicely-seasoned.



Obviously this is really more of a bar scene—and, at 6:30 on this Saturday evening, sort of a fratty bar scene at that. But the view of the Manhattan skyline is terrific, the atmosphere festive but reasonably low-key, the water-misters appropriately cooling, the sand a little pebbly but definitely still sand, the volleyball games well-spectated, and most everyone appeared to be having a good time.

Water Taxi Beach is located in Long Island City, within easy walking distance of PS1, and even easier walking distance from the Vernon Blvd/Jackson Avenue stop on the 7 train. You can find detailed directions here. Of course, you can also take the Water Taxi there, or back to Manhattan, which Bo, Co and I were tempted to do, but the cost ($36 for the three of us) and the length of the ride to the West Village (about 45 minutes) dissuaded us in the end.