David Furst: It's All Of It on WNYC. I'm David Furst in for Alison Stewart. This week was a scorcher in our area with a heat wave that put the feels-like temperature up around 100 degrees. There's only so much air conditioning we can blast ourselves with before we decide we have to endure the heat and get back outside. One of the best ways to do that is to avail ourselves of some of the many beaches in our area. Whether you're looking for something family-friendly or if you're looking for good surfing or maybe a well-apportioned boardwalk, you can find plenty of sunny and sandy options in New York and New Jersey.

Here now to help us pick the best beaches for our own particular wants and needs, let's welcome Rossilynne Culgan, the Things To Do Editor at Time Out New York.

Rossilynne Culgan: Glad to be here.

David Furst: It's great to have you here. For the New Jersey side of things, we have Jersey journalist Brian Donohue. Good to good to see you again.

Brian Donohue: Good to be here.

David Furst: Listeners, what are your favorite beaches and why? What do you look for in a good beach? The lines are open. 212-433-WNYC. You can also hit up our socials, @allofitwnyc. We want to hear about your go-to spots, maybe how you prep for a fantastic time at the beach, and maybe you have questions for our guests today who are both wearing their local beach expert hats. The number, again, for your beach day calls is 212-433-9692.

Rossilynne, let's start with you. What are some of the things you look for in a good beach?

Rossilynne Culgan: Good question. Well, it's got to have a nice spot to lay out your towel, not too, too crowded. Then I love a nice boardwalk. I also love a beach where there's a little bit of culture as well, not just the beach. For example, I love going to Coney Island and checking out some of the history exhibits and the museum, getting a little break from the sun every once in a while.

David Furst: There is a plan B lurking somewhere.

Rossilynne Culgan: That's right. In case of rain or in case you just get too hot. [chuckles]

David Furst: Yes. Brian, what about you? What makes a good beach?

Brian Donohue: Similar to that mix. I have sort of a calculus in my brain of the three things that Jersey Shore towns could or should have or some combination. One is great nature, ocean swimming, bird watching, whatever your thing is. The other is that funky boardwalk culture that I really love. Then the third is kind of more bougie creature comforts, like good restaurants. You can find a place that has all three. It's almost impossible to find one that has all three, but you can mix and match and build a day or a weekend or a vacation around those three things. That's, I think, the sweet spot in trying to find a place to go.

Then the other thing I really look for in a beach is good swimming. Not a beach that drops off right into the water where you have little kids or older people and they're going to just, all of a sudden, be pummeled and be pile driven into the sand where you have a nice slope, the bisymmetry, they call it.

David Furst: You can get some kind of body surfing in there before wading.

Brian Donohue: Yes. People overlook that. That's a huge factor in my book.

David Furst: Good swimming is key. How do we find that sweet spot? If you're going to each nominate a New York beach, maybe to go up a New Jersey beach for the gold medal here, what would you pick in New York?

Rossilynne Culgan: Well, it's probably one of the most iconic, and I mentioned it before, but I'll tell you a little bit more about why I think Coney Island is worth it. It's worth braving the crowds. I mentioned you need a spot to spread your towel out, and sometimes that can be tough at Coney, but it's worth going. As I said, it's iconic, it's vintage, it has the energy of an earlier era. Of course, when I'm there, I'm laying out in the sun, I'm swimming.

As I mentioned, I'm also going to some exhibits. There's a great one right now at the Coney Island History Project, which is free to visit. They're doing a photography exhibit. These photos are from 1965 to 1975 of Coney Island going through a pretty difficult time. You really can learn about the history of the area. Well, then you get to go out and enjoy it. Of course, if you're visiting with family, there's a lot of amusement rides to check out as well.

David Furst: Do you brave the rides?

Rossilynne Culgan: I have to say, I am not a fan of braving the rides. Going in the ocean is the most for me.

Brian Donohue: The cyclonic Coney Island is great. I mean, it is. It's harrowing because it really-

Rossilynne Culgan: I know.

Brian Donohue: -feels like you could come flying out of that thing in a second. The rattling around and the shaking. It's not like these modern roller coasters, which are all on these-- They're smooth. They don't feel like it's perilous.

Rossilynne Culgan: Maybe this will be my year. We'll see.

Brian Donohue: Got to do it, got to do it.

David Furst: The rattle adds to the thrill. If you're going to nominate a New Jersey beach, Brian, where are you going?

Brian Donohue: Again, it's this sort of mixing and matching because the towns and the beaches in New Jersey are all very distinctive, one to the next. If you've gone to the shore maybe once and you didn't like it, you've just gone to the wrong place. Each place is so distinct, and that's what makes the shore great. You maybe want to mix and match.

My perfect beach day would be Island Beach State Park, which is just complete nature. It's just miles and miles of protected land of state park, and it's just phenomenal. The ocean is beautiful there. There's dolphins almost every time I go out in the morning. Then a couple of miles away, you have the Seaside Heights Boardwalk. That is, like Coney Island, that funky boardwalk culture.

You should get there because I feel like it's disappearing. A lot of these places are being gentrified, Seaside Heights included. A lot of the old motels are being replaced with condos, but it's still there. The boardwalk still can feel like it did 50, 60, 80 years ago. If you do a day on the beach in Island Beach State Park and then roll over to the boardwalk and do some people-watching and have a beer in one of the boardwalk bars and go on the Ferris wheel, that's perfection.

David Furst: Those two worlds are very close to each other, as you're saying.

Brian Donohue: Right.

David Furst: Island Beach State Park in New Jersey, seven miles of uninterrupted beach and state park land on that barrier island leading down to the Barnegat Inlet. It's just amazing.

Brian Donohue: Yes. All times a year, too.

David Furst: All times of year. If you want to join this conversation, if you want to nominate your own beach and talk about your favorite New York, New Jersey beach experiences, 212-433-9692. That's 212-433-WNYC. Let's hear from Craig in Morganville, New Jersey. Welcome to All Of It.

Craig: Hey, guys. One is Sandy Hook Beach Park. There's lots of little inlets and private areas. You can go fishing. You can go in the water. I'm also with the Hamptons Kid. I love Flying Point Beach in Southampton and Seven Presidents Beach in Long Branch, New Jersey. Thanks.

Brian Donohue: Yes, Seven Presidents is great. Long Branch, I call this sort of Jekyll and Hyde beach because the old funky boardwalk there is gone. The amusement pier was burned down in the '80s and it's been replaced by some really upscale apartments. It's not the same, but you do have Seven Presidents Park, which is a county-run park, which is just parking and beach and bathrooms and some amenities there and a great playground for little kids. I love that spot. I learned to surf there in the '80s, right at the white wall there just north of Long Branch. Actually, there's a white concrete wall.

Sandy Hook as well is maybe one of my favorite places on the planet. It's such a great mix of nature and old crumbling history. It was a military base from the Revolutionary War right through the Cold War. I never go out there without seeing something amazing. It's phenomenal. Fishing, the bird watching is incredible, and the history. The military history out there is incredible.

David Furst: If you want to join the conversation, 212-433-9692. Steve from Lynbrook writing in to say, "My favorite beach is Fire Island Beach by the lighthouse. Not only is the water beautiful, but it's also a great area for fishing."

Rossilynne Culgan: I have heard that. I have not personally been there, but I've heard Fire Island is a great spot for fishing in the summer. Of course, it also has this reputation as being a really popular spot for the city's LGBT crowd with Pride Weekend. I imagine Fire Island is going to be very popular this weekend. As long as we get some sun, that is.

David Furst: Right. It's not 100 degrees outside.

Rossilynne Culgan: That's right. We have that going for us.

David Furst: That's a big plus. Now, we've been talking about a lot of beach communities that have bustling towns around them, which can add a lot of sense of fun and community. Sometimes it can be overwhelming in the summer as you're fighting big crowds and maybe looking for parking that doesn't exist. Are there some beaches in the area that you can point out where you can really feel like you've gotten away from it all? You're both looking at me with a blank stare.

[laughter]

Rossilynne Culgan: Well, I can start. This does have a little bit of a-- depending on the part you go to, but I also have to recommend the Rockaways. I try to get out there as often as I can in the summertime. If you are looking for a little bit of a quieter experience, you can find that out there. You also can find some amenities nearby as well.

My ideal weekend situation is I actually would recommend staying at the Rockaway Hotel. I'll stay there overnight and then be able to get to the beach in the morning. I was just there a few weeks ago and there was only two other people on the beach. Being able to have the beach to myself felt amazing. Then I could go back to the pool at the hotel anytime I wanted to and relax there as well.

Brian Donohue: Yes, you mentioned that's the absolute key is, in July and August at the Jersey Shore, weekends you're not going to avoid crowds. If there's one thing I would tell people, it's avoid the peak times, try to avoid the weekends. If you can get there really early or stay late on the beach, that is the ideal time. I would get my kids up when they were little. I bribe them with Dunkin Donuts on the way to the beach and say-

David Furst: [laughs]

Rossilynne Culgan: That works.

Brian Donohue: -"If you get up by 7:00, we get to the beach by 7:30. Now you have three, four hours at the beach and it's by yourself. I'm not advocating swimming when the lifeguards are not there. That is definitely a no-no. If you can get there a couple hours before they go on duty, get your swim in when they first come on duty and then haul out of there when the crowds are arriving," or vice versa.

My family, a lot of times, we'd go to the beach around five o'clock, maybe like in Sea Bright. We'd get some good pizza from Sea Bright Pizza. Then we would get an evening swim in and then just chill on the beach as the sun went down and it's not crowded. That's the way to do it.

David Furst: I used to love getting to the beach first thing in the morning in Cape May when the family was still asleep and going down to the water. There would be a guy out there practicing the trumpet, playing into the wind at the edge of the water. Just beautiful in the morning.

Brian Donohue: Those mornings are spectacular, yes.

David Furst: Let's take another phone call. 212-433-WNYC. We're talking about the best local beaches. Carolina in New Jersey, welcome.

Carolina: Hello.

David Furst: Do I have your name right?

Carolina: Carolina.

David Furst: Oh, thank you. Carolina, welcome.

Carolina: Thank you so much. I think Brigantine, New Jersey is the best beach. It is on an island, and there's a bridge. On the other side is Atlantic City. You can go escape. There's a boardwalk that doesn't have anything on it, and a little nature place, and a beach that is a little bit more quiet. Then if you really want to, you can go to Atlantic City. If it's raining, you can go shopping. There's casinos. I don't support gambling, but it's a good mix of both. [crosstalk]

David Furst: You don't support gambling, but you support that beach?

Carolina: I support the beach. If it rains, there's things to do nearby.

Brian Donohue: I do love Brigantine. That is a beautiful beach. You have the inlet there and then Atlantic City itself, too, right across the causeway there. I really feel like Atlantic City's beaches get short shrift. A lot of people just turn their noses up at them. Brigantine really is beautiful. You know what's crazy about Brigantine? There's the bait shop in Brigantine, and every year, that guy publishes a calendar with photos of people who got stuck in the sand in their cars. It's hilarious because the locals all laugh at the bennies and the shoobies as they derisively recall the [crosstalk]-

David Furst: The bennies. That's terminology for--

Brian Donohue: -and who come down in their cars and pull their Lexus right into the sand and get stuck, and somebody goes out, takes a picture, and this calendar sells out every year.

David Furst: Wow.

Brian Donohue: The bait shop there in Brigantine, and they're all in Brigantine.

David Furst: Bennies is New Jersey terminology for people who are not from--

Brian Donohue: Shore tourists.

David Furst: Shore tourists.

Brian Donohue: The origin of that term can be debated forever. No one knows where it came from. If you're in Brigantine, beautiful beach, and try to get an order in for the calendar.

David Furst: [laughs] Brian Donohue, New Jersey reporter. We're also speaking with Rossilynne Culgan, Things To Do Editor at Time Out New York. Let's take another one of your calls. Oh, let's see here. Let's hear from Jason in Brooklyn. Welcome to All Of It.

Jason: Hi, hi, hi. How are you? I'm so excited about talking about my local beach. PS, by the way. If you're interested, I wrote a poem about it.

David Furst: Okay. Well, first of all, what's the beach?

Jason: The beach is the Brighton Coney Island Beach here in Brooklyn, New York. It's accessible through the trains, fast transportation. It's easy to get to. It's about-- Gosh. Well, the wonderful things about the boardwalk and the beach there is that when they built the boardwalk, they also put in place these rest areas from the sun where they have benches and they're covered. You get to see the boats. You get to see everything. You get to see the beach, but you're out of the sun. They place it like every quarter mile. Coney Island is wonderful.

David Furst: Well, let's hear a little taste of the poem that you've written about the beach.

Jason: Hey, sure. One second.

Can we fly?

Can we hold on to our elbows and fly,

Being careful of not searing our faces with speed and wind?

Are you still there?

David Furst: Yes, we're here. It sounds great.

Jason: Thank you. I received another call, so I didn't know if I lost you or not.

David Furst: [laughs]

Jason: I'll start again. It's the Seagulls Flying.

Can we fly?

Can we hold onto our elbows and fly,

Being careful of not searing our face with speed and wind.

Soothing.

Can we lightly hold our hands as a warm embrace,

Then dance at the edge of air?

Let's sing like birds do.

Let's sing like flowers do

When they open up the very first time.

David Furst: Rossilynne, does that bring some of the imagery to mind of this beach?

Rossilynne Culgan: Absolutely. What a beautiful poem. Thank you so much for sharing that. I'm so glad that you mentioned Brighton Beach. I was hoping we'd get an opportunity to talk about it. It's, of course, a neighbor to Coney Island, but less frills, a little quieter, a little more of a chill energy, I would say. I'm so glad that the caller mentioned the boardwalk, too. There's a really big rush community in that area. You're going to find some cool shops. I have not found this, but I've heard you can find hard-to-find vodkas in this area, as well as you can get pierogies. That's pretty cool.

Brian Donohue: Pierogies by the beach is a-

Rossilynne Culgan: Who doesn't love that?

Brian Donohue: -huge thumbs up.

Rossilynne Culgan: Yes, absolutely.

Brian Donohue: In my book--

David Furst: We're going to continue this conversation in just a moment talking about your favorite beaches in New York and New Jersey. To join the conversation, 212-433-9692. We're speaking with Brian Donohue and Rossilynne Culgan. All Of It here on WNYC.

[MUSIC - Luscious Jackson: Citysong]

David Furst: This is All Of It on WNYC I'm David Furst in for Alison Stewart. We are talking about beaches in New York and New Jersey. If you'd like to join the conversation, perhaps you have a question for one of our guests, Brian Donohue, New Jersey reporter, and Rossilynne Culgan, Things To Do Editor at Time Out New York. We have a lot of calls coming through right now. Let's hear right now from Rupa, talking about Asbury Park or in Asbury Park. Oh, I'm sorry, I think we just lost Rupa. Let's hear Danielle from Leonardo, New Jersey.

Danielle: Hi. I just wanted to build upon what your guest said about Island Beach State Park and Sandy Hook is that you can't discount the Bayside, which is in walking distance. It's just across the way. You can launch a kayak on Island Beach State Park and go clamming and crabbing and fishing. Then up in Sandy Hook, the same thing. You go over to the Bayside, full of wildlife in nature, and you can crab, you can fish, you can swim, and it's also quite easy if you have small children or older people.

Then just across the river is Highlands, New Jersey, which has some of the best restaurants on the Jersey Shore. There's a ferry boat that goes from Manhattan to Sandy Hook on the weekends. It's beautiful.

David Furst: Brian, we're hearing a lot of good advice right there. A lot of these places we're talking about are barrier islands, so it's very easy to walk to the bayside of the island or the ocean side.

Brian Donohue: Right. Sandy Hook has that really great when the tide goes out, too, tide pools for kids to play in. There's kayak rentals out there now. There's bike rentals at Sandy Hook. If I lived in New York City, the ferry to Sandy Hook would be, for me, the way to go. Because then you get off the ferry, you can rent a bike, you can tool around.

There's some food trucks out there. There was one eatery out there called Seagull's Nest that got destroyed in Sandy, so there really was not a restaurant or a place to get drinks. In the past year or two, a place has opened up on Sandy Hook called the Mule Barn, in an old mule barn that was actually used to house mules back when it was an old military base. That is a fully operating outdoor seating. You can not only do all that, but you can have a place to eat at the end of the day and get a drink as well, which is kind of a new, old thing for Sandy Hook, but that Bayside is fantastic.

David Furst: Fantastic. Rossilynne, this is going to be a question for you, or maybe for both of you. This is a text. "I have no car. I can get to Coney by subway, Rockaway on the ferry. Any other good options for someone without a car?"

Rossilynne Culgan: I also don't have a car, so I totally endorse Coney and Rockaway as well. Ferry and subway are super easy. The other one I want to recommend, and I haven't been there either, so maybe this caller and I should go there together this summer. Orchard Beach in the Bronx, I have heard it described as The Riviera of New York. I don't know if either of you have been there, but we can debate whether that's true. It's a mile long, 115 acres. It doesn't have as huge of a waterfront as some of the other beaches that we've talked about, but it does have some cool restaurants and bars, concession stands. That one being in the Bronx, I think that would be another good option to look into for this year.

David Furst: Let's hear from Margaret from the Bronx. Welcome to All Of It.

Margaret: Oh, hi. I had to start driving again, so I don't think I could take the call. I wanted to say Orchard Beach on Sunday, salsa dancing is incredible.

Rossilynne Culgan: Fabulous. Sundays.

David Furst: Let's not keep that going with driving. Yes, you endorse?

Rossilynne Culgan: That sounds like something we all need to add to our checklist for this summer. Salsa dancing on Sundays at Orchard Beach. Let's go.

David Furst: Let's go. All right, Brian, how about this? Any good resources or particular places that are good for learning to surf?

Brian Donohue: There's surf schools that have popped up all over the place. Just go on the web and look and find one that's for you. Learning to surf as an adult is a tough thing to do, but I would definitely hire somebody who knows what they're doing, feel it out, get some recommendations. These places have cropped up all over the place. Some of them might be better than others.

Also, kids group setting is probably great. There's camps that have been set up, but for an adult, you probably want a little more attention. There's one-on-one people you can hire. There's a guy in Monmouth County, prosurfcoaches.com. He's a guy that I see out there all the time who has-- I have seen him actually turn adults into surfers. It's a tough thing to learn when you're not young, unemployed, and stupid.

David Furst: Are you allowed to tell us the best beach for surfing in New Jersey? I understand you may have signed on to a surfer's code.

Brian Donohue: The two parts of my brain, the journalist part of my brain, which is you're here to disseminate information for the public's benefit, really conflicts with the surfer side of my brain, which is sworn to secrecy when you have a good spot to surf.

David Furst: Maybe a popular spot. How about that?

Brian Donohue: You can DM me, people.

[laughter]

Brian Donohue: You can find me on social media and maybe I'll tell you. Honestly, July and August are the two worst months of the year for surfing in New Jersey. You really want to go off-season. If you're learning, you want to go when the weather is warmer and the water is warmer. Really, any place is fine to learn. You want small waves that we have in the summer and you want a good teacher.

Rossilynne Culgan: I just wanted to shout out briefly. Rockaway has a pretty cool surf culture. I love that within an hour, hour and a half of Midtown Manhattan, you can find that surf culture. I believe they have a couple surfing schools. I've never tried it, but maybe I should be inspired by you. It really does have kind of a surf energy there, which is cool that it's right within the city limits.

Brian Donohue: Long Branch, Asbury Park, Lavallette. There are surf schools all up at Sea Bright. There's surf schools popping up all over the place.

David Furst: Now let's take another call. If you want to join the conversation, we have a lot of questions and heads up about different beaches right now, 212-433-9692. Oh, we can hear from Rupa in Asbury Park. Welcome to All Of It.

Rupa: Hello. Thanks for giving me another chance.

David Furst: Sure.

Rupa: Greetings from Asbury Park. We have so many things that were mentioned. We do have surf schools. We're easily accessible from public transit. You can take a train down to Asbury Park, but it also has one of the most unique ways to beat the heat. There's something called the Asbury Art Club where you can come in off the hot sand and you can do art projects. You can sign up to do watercolor, mosaic, jelly prints, all kinds of stuff like that. Asbury is also home to the Wooden Walls Project, which is a series of amazing murals that rotate every now and then. It's got everything you could want and great art to do.

David Furst: Some really cool pinball, too.

Brian Donohue: Oh, the Silverball Pinball Museum. One of the greatest places. Just a whole bunch of pinball machines. You pay one price. That's a great place to go in winter, too, because it's right on the boardwalk and you're playing pinball. God, I love Asbury Park. I had a magical night there Tuesday night. Friends were in from out of town. We had a drink at the bar around the boardwalk. Halfway through my smoky Paloma mojito or cocktail, I jumped in the ocean. It was 100 degrees. I came back and finished it.

One of my favorite things with the Asbury Park boardwalk is when there's a stone pony summer stage. The stage is right there, not far off the boardwalk. If you're a cheapskate like me, you can just hear it from the boardwalk. A lot of people do set up chairs. Sunday night is George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic playing there. It's going to be magical. I get a couple of tacos from Mogo. Korean tacos right there. Hang out and listen to the music for free.

David Furst: You're advocating for the free beach, listen there?

Brian Donohue: Yes, or buy a ticket and go in. Either way.

David Furst: Buy a ticket and go in. Let's take another call. Bo in New Jersey. Oh, we mentioned Lavallette. Bo, you're also pro-Lavallette.

Bo: I am. I'm very much so pro-Lavallette. I'm actually in Lavallette right now at the beach.

David Furst: Oh, you're at the beach. What's going on?

Bo: It's a little nasty here. The town of Lavallette, I cannot say enough good things about it. I love it here. The lifeguards are always super kind to you. The surfing is great. I know you guys mentioned the surf school here. It's Sam Hammer Surf School. They run out of here, and they're fantastic down there. They really help out a lot.

David Furst: That's great. Thank you. Let's go straight to another phone call. Matt in Blue Point, you wanted to call out some beaches?

Matt: Yes, hi. I wanted to call out the Fire Island National Seashore. I know a caller earlier mentioned the Robert Moses State Park, which is a great accessible beach via a car. I also wanted to point out the Sunken Forest and Watch Hill, which are part of the National Seashore. They're a little further east and they're accessible via ferries, but they're really nice day trips.

David Furst: Great. Thank you for that heads-up.

Rossilynne Culgan: Wow. You stumped me on that one. I haven't heard about that. I've got to add that to my list this year. The one I was going to recommend on Fire Island was Cherry Grove Beach, which has kind of the same beachfront as a lot of the other Fire Island spots, of course, but it's more laid back, a little bit more affordable. Thank you for that recommendation. That's amazing.

David Furst: We have a question here for both of you. Rossilynne, I'll start with you. This is a text. "Can either of your guests recommend a clean beach, one that is not littered with plastic bottles, bits of styrofoam, cooler? Signed, traumatized New York City, Jersey shore visitor."

Rossilynne Culgan: [chuckles] Gosh. What a sign of the times. I wish I could answer that question better, but I do feel that I, unfortunately, often find little bits of plastic and garbage on the beach. What do you think?

Brian Donohue: The ocean is full of plastic, and the ocean is full of garbage, and it washes up on the beaches. Jersey Shore, especially the northern part of the Jersey Shore, I spent a lot of time on those bay beaches in Sandy Hook fishing. It's a giant funnel. Anything that goes down a sewer grate anywhere north of Lower Manhattan is going to flow out past that point. It lands up on the beaches. It is distressing. It's upsetting.

Balloons. I go out in the morning and I'll walk in with-- If there's a northeast wind, I'll come in with 5, 10 balloons every time. They do rake the beaches in the morning, and it's really nice. They have these big sand rake machines and a lot of the towns will do that and get stuff up. When you get there in the morning, it's clean. I think people are mistaken in thinking that a lot of the stuff that's on the beaches is left there by beachgoers, but a lot of it just washes up in the ocean. It is upsetting to no end.

David Furst: Upsetting to no end. You don't have a real magical answer to that question?

Brian Donohue: No. Let's all get active and get the plastics out of the ocean. That's the answer. Cleaning it up with a surf break is kind of like just covering up the problem. I think we should all face it and try to do something about it.

David Furst: Join this conversation right now. 212-433-9692. Let's hear from Joe in Manhasset. Welcome to All Of It.

Joe: Hello there. I love the show. I had to call because I do love the beach.

David Furst: What do you have?

Joe: I wanted to highlight the wonders of-- I think you might have mentioned Jones Beach already. I wanted to mention how we love being with family and friends. We love the entire scene on the south shore of Long Island, particularly Jones Beach and all those different fields. Especially in the summer when there are concerts. There's nothing like a late afternoon dip in the beach, in the ocean and then going to a show and you're not getting burnt and you can smell the water and see boats. It's just fantastic.

David Furst: Joe, I think you're speaking our language.

Joe: [laughs]

Rossilynne Culgan: Yes, that sounds like a perfect day. I have to agree with you. Perfect summer day. Yes, Jones Beach is great. Six miles. It's really an expansive beach. Despite what we were saying earlier about beaches having plastic, Jones Beach is typically pretty well-manicured and they have a lot of cool amenities: mini golf, ball court, shuffleboard. If you've got a family that you want to entertain, it's a good spot for that. Absolutely. The live music, as you mentioned, great as well.

David Furst: We're talking New York and New Jersey beaches. Let's hear from Howard in Jersey City. Welcome.

Howard: Hello. Hi. Thank you for taking my call. I grew up on Long Island in Bay Shore, which is the town where you get the ferry to Fire Island. I spent all my youth at Fire Island, at Robert Moses State Park, et cetera. We always put down the Jersey City beaches. They're awful. They're nothing like New York beaches. Well, now I live in New Jersey. Even though I still like Fire Island, we rent a house there in the summer, I do spend time at Island Beach State Park, at Asbury Park, et cetera, because it's closer. It's an hour, an hour and a half away. I have to say the Long Island beaches for when I have more time. It's taken some time to get used to the Jersey Shore beaches because of our attitude when we were young.

[laughter]

Howard: The New York beaches were so superior. So superior.

David Furst: It's hard to get over.

Howard: I still think they are.

David Furst: Oh, how the tables have turned. It's hard to get over those attitudes, though, right? Those ones that are burned in young.

Brian Donohue: Oh, yes. I've been a surfer for 40 years and I rarely go out to Long Island. I mean, I've spent so little time. You have to drive around New York City and you have to go do all these bridges. You mentioned something, too, about it taking time. That's one thing about the Jersey Shore is I know people have come and maybe visited once or twice and they didn't have a great experience, but you have to do a little homework and find your spot. Each place is so different from the next.

I had a friend visiting from out of town a couple years ago. We were on the beach, and her brother-in-law was from Florida, and he's kind of a hunting, fishing guy. He was in the middle of the packed Asbury Park beach on a summer day and music was blaring and he was just completely out of his element. I was like, "Man, there's other spots I wish I could take you to." He goes, "You would love the shore, I swear. We could dig clams." There's spots. You got to find your spots. Like you said, it does take some time to figure it all out.

David Furst: That's exactly right. I want to get to some texts, too. This is Mike in Union, New Jersey. Second is a caller's recommendation for Sandy Hook, but specifically Gunnison Beach. Lot G says it is the only official nude beach in New Jersey. Super cool, super friendly. What about that?

Brian Donohue: Yes, there used to be two. There used to be another one way down in South Jersey, but former governor Christine Whitman wiped that out a couple years ago. Gunnison Beach is-- there's signs, beware. You may encounter nude sunbathers beyond this point, and that is a big scene. It's big in the summer. Even early in the spring, people are going out there. It's very rare, right? Because it's federal. It's a federal park, so the state laws did not apply. Gunnison lives on. Longe live Gunnison Beach.

David Furst: What about in New York?

Rossilynne Culgan: I don't know of any. If any callers know, you can tell me. All I know is Gunnison, which I've heard used to be a military base, and the soldiers were known to skinny dip there. Everyone can continue that tradition, I suppose.

Brian Donohue: There is a giant gun battery when you walk in there, these protected New York Harbor. You go into a nude beach, but you have to walk past giant guns.

David Furst: A threatening welcome.

Brian Donohue: It's amazing. The place is fascinating.

David Furst: We have a text question here. "Do you know of any pet-friendly beaches?"

Rossilynne Culgan: Pet-friendly is tough. The only one I know of, and this is in New Jersey, I believe Bayshore Waterfront Park allows pets on leashes at certain times. That's the only one I've heard of, though.

Brian Donohue: Asbury Park. Now, I could be wrong. Things change. Like rules and laws change from year to year. I think they had a dog beach on the north end of town. Yes, I'm pretty sure. Now, Sandy Hook has restrictions, especially during the summer because there's birds nesting on the ocean side, but dogs can go on the bayside. They don't want the dogs going and messing with the birds that nest on the oceanside. Look at those rules. There are a couple dog beaches. I think there's a bay beach in Manasquan that people refer to as dog beach. Do some homework on that. I know there's a few of them out there.

David Furst: While we're talking about animals, this question is for All Of It's senior producer, Kate Hinds, although she probably already has dozens of answers for this one. Can you tell us about a great beach birding?

Brian Donohue: Oh, of course, Kate would have that.

David Furst: [laughs]

Brian Donohue: Cape May is one of the bird-watching capitals of the world. It's right on the Atlantic Flyway. It's incredible the diversity of species you can see there, especially in the spring and the fall migrations. One of the locals once down there told me that they love to watch the bird watchers. If you'd like to watch the bird watchers, that's also a great spot.

Corson's Inlet State Park is another one that's really, really cool in Southern Jersey. There's no swimming allowed there, which I always never understood that, a beach state park with no swimming. That makes it all the more better for bird watching. Also, Sandy Hook for bird watching. I have seen incredible stuff out there. I once saw a bald eagle take down a ring billed gull on a pathway there.

David Furst: Rossilynne?

Rossilynne Culgan: I've got one more. We just talked about Gunnison as a spot where people can go skinny dipping, but it's also a great spot for bird-watching. You can add that to another mark in Gunnison's corner.

David Furst: While we're talking about birds, what about those gulls?

[laughing gulls calling]

David Furst: There it is, the laughing gull. It's one of the absolute signature sounds of being at the beach. These birds are known for their aggressive nature.

Brian Donohue: Hide your french fries.

[laughter]

Rossilynne Culgan: Yes.

David Furst: Their next level food stealing skills. Are there any particular beaches that are known to be especially under the sway of the local gull population?

Brian Donohue: Yes. I actually did a story, my TV segment a couple years ago explaining why-- People, when they go to the shore in New Jersey, they often comment about how much more aggressive the gulls are in South Jersey versus the beaches in North Jersey. It's always been just something like Wildwood and Ocean City particular. If you go to Wildwood, all of the seating areas, when the food outlets, they're covered with this netting and screening to keep the gulls away. There's a pizzeria on the boardwalk there that says there are no refunds if a gull steals your pizza.

In Ocean City, they had to hire a falconer a couple years ago and the falconer is still there. I think they paid like $50,000 for the summer to keep the-- The falcon flies around and keeps the gulls away. I feel like I explained this. The laughing gull is the most aggressive species of gull. They're smaller, they're spunkier, they have that sound that you just played. One of the largest breeding colonies of laughing gulls is just in the marshes kind of west of Wildwood in Ocean City in the marshes.

David Furst: Wow.

Brian Donohue: You have the biggest breeding colony in the world of the most aggressive species of gull a couple of miles away from an orgy of pizza and french fries. It's disaster. It's a recipe for disaster.

David Furst: Eat quickly.

[laughter]

David Furst: I think we have time for one more call. Rachel in Tarrytown, welcome to All Of It. Do you have a beach you want to mention?

Rachel: Hi. Hey, everybody. Thank you for taking my call. I didn't hear anyone mention Rye Playland. Has an awesome beach just to camp out. It's really unique, historic, beautiful buildings. That's in Westchester County in Rye, New York. The second one, right after Rye, is Glen Island Park. There's a drawbridge that was built in 1920. It's in New Rochelle and it's one of Westchester's unique jewels. It was initially developed as a summer resort, and the original design exhibited five cultures of the Western world. Anyway, now it's all filled in. It's a big crescent-shaped beach and has stunning views of the Long Island Sound.

David Furst: Rachel, thank you for adding to our conversation today. Thank all of you for all of the calls. The lines have been packed throughout this discussion. So many calls and texts. We could only get to some of them. I'm seeing people talking about gulls stealing their french fries right now just as we wrap up. Do either of you have beach plans this weekend? Brian?

Brian Donohue: I will be at aforementioned Sandy Hook probably setting the alarm for 4:30 tomorrow morning. I'll be probably, hopefully, in the water by six o'clock, and then that George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic concert on Sunday night.

David Furst: Oh, that's right.

Brian Donohue: It's a perfect weekend.

David Furst: That's a perfect weekend. Rossilynne?

Rossilynne Culgan: That sounds fabulous. I'm planning another trip to the Rockaways for July, so I'm counting the days to get back there.

David Furst: Counting the days. Well, it is time for the flip flops. New Jersey journalist Brian Donohue and Time Out New York's Things to Do Editor Rossilynne Culgan. Thank you so much for the tips, and thanks for joining us.

Rossilynne Culgan: Thank you. Happy summer. Be safe out there.

Brian Donohue: Thanks.