Wish List: City Island

Usually when I’m in an airport first thing in the morning on Monday, it’s because I’m heading out early for a day trip somewhere. Today, however, I’m still in transit, connecting from a red eye out of Southern California to Philadelphia. Thinking about my recent visit to the LA metro area, I want to go somewhere where I don’t have to drive at all.

The traffic in all throughout the region was hellish. Even my beloved US 101 Songline was more like a parking lot than a freeway. It reinforces why I love cities with great public transportation.

City Island Nautical Museum, image courtesy of Wikipedia

When I turn the phrase “city with great public transportation” I immediately think of New York, our most populated city in the US. While the traffic can be as nightmarish as Los Angeles (have you ever tried to get into the city through the Lincoln Tunnel at 4:30 in the afternoon?) the subway and bus system as well as the taxis of NYC eliminate my stress of needing to drive.

New York is a megapolis – a super city. However just off to the side of this almost unmanageable mass of humanity and skyscrapers lies a relative peaceful, New-England-like oasis: City Island. In Long Island Sound, this charming island with only one way in and out redefines living in the city.

Sea Shore Restaurant & Marina

If you have heard of City Island, it may because of the movie starring Andy García, Julianna Margulies and Alan Arkin. However my love affair started when I had noticed it on a map many years ago. It seems to be in my DNA to appreciate and gravitate toward all of the quirky or superlative places on the earth: the most Western point in Ireland, the most Southern point in California, the most unlike New York City in New York. This simply named island stood out to me and I have been curious about it since.

About 2 years ago, I had seen an article on one of the travel sites that I follow about the charm of New England without leaving New York. When I finally read the name of the location, I was excited to see there were others who wanted to explore the off-the-beaten-path places in the word and that someone penned an article about the spot. City Island isn’t a tourist destination. It’s nowhere near as densely population as Manhattan and it’s sparse with famous attractions. There was only one place for lodging on the island, Le Refuge Inn Bed and Breakfast, which, according to latest google search, is closed.

A house on City Island

City Island provides a slice of life that’s more in tune with the rest of America than NYC; City Island Avenue serves as the island’s Main Street. While the subway doesn’t go to City Island, a bus does. However, bus schedule is limited since the island is a residential area of the city and not a destination like Ellis Island. For me, though, that’s the adventure – just being reliant on public transportation and exploring an area on foot makes the island alluring. It’s like exploring Astoria, Park Slope or Washington Heights for the first time.

It’s a wish of mine to get there next year, and I hope to share my visit with you. However, there is a certain irony that, in the getaway destination where I want to go, most of the residents use and need cars to get along. Yet this is the place I think when the traffic in LA got to me and I needed a place to get away from the automobile.

Images, excepted where noted, are courtesy of Nabe Wise.