City Island: Part Two
Lately I've been thinking a lot about our trip to City Island nearly a year ago. I recently revisited the photos I took and have since brought it up multiple times in conversation—I can't seem to get it out of my mind. I posted about the wonderful signage on the island last year, but never followed up with a full recap. Before I go again—real soon, hopefully—I wanted to make sure I fully documented my first trip.
City Island is an island on the western edge of the Long Island Sound, and is part of the Bronx. It's a weird and wonderful place that feels part New England seaside village, part New York City and part like nowhere I had ever been or have been since. The main industry on City Island used to be sail-making, but now its probably tourism, and most of the operating businesses we came across were seafood restaurants. There's also a diner, several bars, a Nautical museum, seaside cemetery and adorable New England-style houses alongside a lot of run-down, abandoned-looking places.
The City Island Diner is completely adorable, and was our first real destination after walking from the northern tip of the island. The food was excellent, although they do close in the middle of the day so go early. Right down the street from the diner is the Nautical Museum, which was a complete delight. The museum guides were all incredibly friendly and adorable—and if I'm remembering correctly, three out of the four people we encountered were named Barbara.
Down the street and around the corner from the museum is the Pelham Cemetery, which has a wonderful, arching iron gate that was—much to my disappointment—closed and locked. The cemetery is pretty small, though, so you can see a lot just by walking the perimeter. It looked very well-maintained and has beautiful views of the water.
We spent the rest of the day exploring the island—dreaming of owning a cedar-shingled home, drooling over vintage signage, trying to catch a glimpse of the water over the fences that line the shore and peeking into cluttered junk shops. We creeped on a house that appeared in the Royal Tenenbaums, and found out that City Island is a pretty popular filming location for television and movies (A Bronx Tale, Butterfield 8, Margot at the Wedding, Law & Order).
I saw a few adorable (stray?) cats wandering around, ate fried shrimp for the first time at Johnny's Reef, drank at a bar for free with true City Island locals, visited a diner, museum and a cemetery (the holy trinity)—it's no wonder that I want to go back so badly.