So The Fella is going to Long Island for a week in about a week and I’m going with. He’ll be working the whole time.
I’ve been to NYC and New York State a couple of times and where we are staying is right on the LIRR. We Texan carfolk are ok at navigating mass transit. But I’ve never been to Long Island. Also one night (long story–we are staying in CT, and then going right back to our hotel.)
I’ll be on foot and mass transit for almost everything.
Places to eat (cheap, local, fun)? cool things to do that seem neat? I would like ideas from locals or people that have traveled there.
Yes, I’ve googled it and looked at the tourism sites. And I’ve gotten some ideas, but I’m curious what locals know.
I’m looking for things like: Well, I wouldn’t go there for that, but while you’re there…
Even if you do have a car, the first thing you need to understand as a Texan is that Long Island miles are very very different from Texas miles. In Texas, something that is 20 miles away is still essentially where you are. You hop in, crank the engine, and drive there in 15-20 minutes. On Long Island, something 20 miles away can be 30 minutes, 45 minutes, 2 hrs 30 minutes away. I’m a transplanted New Mexican myself. This place continues to astonish me, not just with how many cars can manage to occupy the roads even at 3 in the damn morning, but also how so many highways and major roads passing through flat land can bend and twist like a snake, and how the fastest path to a point well east of southeast of you can be to drive due north and then take a westbound expressway.
If you like natural scenery, the north shore has some hills and little hidden shady valleys, with pockets of land (necks) interspersing with little bays of the Long Island sound, all sprinkled with cute little villages and towns. The south shore is flatter with low sandy (sometimes muddy) pancake-island archipelagos but most of the latter are hard to get to without a boat; the ocean beaches are nice (albeit often crowded). The east end, especially the north fork, is good wine country and the vinyards are closely packed, so you can see many of them (and sample their offerings) in the space of a few miles.
Vast swaths of the place is taken up with fairly cookie-cutter mainstream suburbian subdivision that mostly only differs from the rest of the country in the smaller lawn sizes. But like little bubbles, there are enclaves of wealthy estate areas sprinkled hither and yon (more on the north half of the island until you get far out east).
If you’ve never eaten Portuguese barbecue (rodizio) in a town where immigrants from Portugal constitute a major chunk of the citizenry, which I presume is the case for most folks living in the US, you may wish to come through Mineola, which has 4 or 5 (or perhaps more) Portuguese all-you-can-eat barbecue places. I’m particularly fond of Churrasqueira Bairrada myself.
As has been stated, it does depend on where you plan to stay.
Great Neck vs. Rockville Centre vs. Bethpage vs. Huntington vs. Riverhead vs. Montauk. and everything in between.
The general rule for Long Islanders is: everyplace from our youth that was inexpensive, fun, and cool has been closed and replaced by CVS, TD Bank, & Home Depots…
Actually, I figured I should add a bit more, having lived on Long Island for all my life and such.
For major plays, museums, concerts, sporting events…pretty much everyone goes to Manhattan (or Brooklyn, Queens or the Bronx - few go to Staten Island without a reason :p), normally taking the LIRR in (particular if you plan to get a bit intoxicated)
For minor plays, museums, concerts and sporting events…well, again, pretty much everyone goes to NYC.
We have some special interest museums, some second line concerts, some theatre. The Ducks are now our biggest sports team, since the Islanders left for Brooklyn.
We have some nice walkable parts and preserves - normally weekend walks, although it could be done during the weekday. Clark Gardens, for example, is nice little botanical garden - good place to meet up with some friends and take a walk before going on to your next planned event.
There are many other such places, Bayard Cuttings, Planting Fields, Sands Point Preserve, Old Westbury Gardens, and so on.
If you want wild nightlife…well, you’re two decades too late, I’m afraid (and Hurricane Sandy simply pulled the plug on places like Barnums Island (Island Park) - the half-dozen clubs and grills down there where I spent a lot of my youth reduced to ruins and some sort of catering hall. :eek:
There are plenty of Bars (and Bar bands) around, especially hopping on the weekend. No, you can’t hear the person next to you talking.
We won’t touch upon night clubs and dance clubs - it’s a bit depressing.
The Nautical Mile in Freeport during the summer (even in it’s somewhat abbreviated post-hurricane form - we all miss the famed Schooner) is a good bet, stuff to look at, mini-golf, and outdoor bands in the evening (Hudson on the Mile may well be Long Islands last true “meat-market” for middle ages singles).
Otherwise…Long Islanders eat a lot of Popeyes and Taco bell, and complain on Facebook a lot
If you want to see what the local Media thinks we like (and some of it was true!) here you go: Best of Long Island Winners
Yeah, there are a lot of LIRR stops, it’s not like the NYC subway where you can just walk from one to the next. Several lines only intersect at certain hubs so you might have to go way west just to get further east. Saying you’ll be staying near a LIRR stop doesn’t really help. You really really will need a car to get around. It’s the longest & largest island in the US.
Here is a map of the LIRR. If you’re in Port Jefferson and want to get to Montauk, for example, you’re gonna have to backtrack half the island if you only use the train.
As stated above, what LIRR station will you be staying near? Makes all the difference, and really can’t help much beyond take the train into the city without that info. General info: LIRR is more like hub lines into NYC and there is not much coordination between switching lines, actually there is effectively none unless it is a needed part of the hub system. So where you stay will determine what places you will have direct access too.
With the exception of a few very wealthy areas, and the easternmost part which is still somewhat rural, Long Island is a for the most part a fairly generic suburb of NYC. In fact, the original generic suburban subdivision, Levittown, is located in Long Island. LIRR takes you into Manhattan or Brooklyn, but if you want to go somewhere other than into NYC, the public transit is absolute shit.
So do what the Lon Guylanders do, and take the LIRR into Manhattan and do stuff.
I grew up on the North Fork of LI, in Southold (my brother still runs the family store). It’s become upscale (but not as bad as a Hamptons), but there are very few chain restaurants or stores east of Riverhead. Lots of wineries (which is why it’s become upscale), but you need a car to get to them.
Probably your best destination by train is Greenport. It’s a former fishing town (originally whalers and later bunkers*). When I was growing up, it was a dump, but they revitalized it, so there are plenty of shops and restaurants, plus the waterfront. Mitchell’s Park has a carousel and concerts. Everything is within walking distance of the train station. Places to see include the docks, Claudio’s (supposedly the oldest family-owned restaurant in the US.), Preston’s (boating gear – originally a ship’s chandlery) and a lot of small shops and art galleries. Some nice restaurants, but nothing really inexpensive (except for the Coronet, right downtown, which is more of a diner and isn’t open for dinner). Claudio’s has several different restaurants that specialize in seafood.
There’s also a ferry to Shelter Island right by the train station. It’s a nice ride, plus there are a few nightspots and restaurants at the top of the hill.
*Also called menhaden. It’s an oily, bony fish that goes bad very quickly, but which was used for fertilizer and fish oil.
Thank ya’ll for all the suggestions. (Sorry, I’ve been away from the keyboard!) We will be staying in Stonybrook. I figured that I would mostly go into NYC, but wanted to check on stuff to do in Long Island as well. I’m more of a museum person (not much for nightlife).
OK that is something to work with. You have a museum in Stonybrook and also a historical society and children’s museum in Port Jefferson (1 stop on the LIRR away). Port Jefferson is a great town to tour, I believe it is a former whaling town, now it has a connecting ferry service to Bridgeport CT which has more museums and attractions and the ferry ride itself is nice, however from what I recall Bridgeport CT is not the nicest area to visit.
You’re not far from wine country out on the North Fork. The beaches on Fire Island National Seashore are lovely. But neither will be easy to reach without a car.
I grew up in Port Jefferson (the next train station from Stony Brook, as has been said) and knew Stony Brook well. Haven’t been out there for over a decade however.
The Long Island Museum is not far from the train station in Stony Brook and should be worth doing. I’m sure it’s changed a lot since I was a kid and it was just the Carriage House, but it’s got a good reputation.
Just north of the museums is the Mill Pond and the old Grist Mill, which I think they have working again. Doubt it’s the kind of thing you see in Texas.
Continuing north on the same road brings you to the (small) Stony Brook Village Center, a quaintish shopping center around the village green. Across the street from that is the Three Village Inn, one of the few restaurants that are still around from when I knew the area. It’s mildly upscale, and gets mixed reviews, probably overpriced for what it is. Past that is a small harbor and beach.
All of the above is probably within 3/4 of a mile from one another, about a half a mile from the Stony Brook train station.
As mentioned, Port Jeff has a walkable downtown with a lot of shops. It’s VERY touristy however, which is OK if you like that kind of thing. Nice harbor, lots of boats, including the ferry to Bridgeport. On a nice day, a round trip on the ferry is a decent way to spend three hours if you like the water.
The train station is a good 30 minute walk from downtown, however.
Other museums nearby - the only one that comes to mind is The Vanderbilt, which has a mansion, museum and planeterium. It’s about 15 miles away, but not easily accessibly by public transport.
New York City has a couple of museums in it, I think.
There’s a picturesque old mill there in Stony Brook, I think they even do tours and show the old equipment grinding corn.
Stony Brook is the home to my graduate alma mater, SUNY @ Stony Brook, one of the buttugliest campuses in the northeast and an example of how not to mix different architectural styles willy-nilly.
There are some wildlife cruises down the tiny protected waterways of the north shore that depart from points not far from where you’ll be. They’re kinda fun.
I want to thank everyone that gave me info about Long Island. All of you were right. Stonybrook is in the middle of nowhere. I did take the LIRR to a nearby town one day but I also almost got heatstroke trying to get to the trainstation across the campus.
I want to go back, but I will make sure I have a car this time. It was very suburban, but NY style suburbs not TX style.
Fun factoid–I’ve now slept on the floor of three airports. Two were on this trip. La Guardia and Charlotte, you have nice carpets.
