It’s August. August is the Sunday of months. It’s the month where the endless possibilities have started to crystallize into not-quite distant memories. You either did all the things you wanted, or you have weeks of regrets that have piled up. The good news is that even though you can smell Fall in the air (if you wake up early enough), it is not too late to cross a few things off your Summer Bucket List. I have one thing left, before the summer ends, and that’s going to Playland Motel in Rockaway.
For the last three years, The New York Times, and every other news source has waxed rhapsodically about the Rockaway area as if there is a StarGate to the 1950′s there. There isn’t. But the Rockaways do have a pretty sweet, albeit, small beach, and some really cool food and drink options. It’s a great day-trip. Anyway, capitalizing on the chill-wave vibe of Rockaway, Playland Motel is a new boutique-styled hotel that opened right off of the beach a few months ago. It has a bar and grill, as well as a beachy outdoor patio, complete with requisite beach umbrellas. According to everything I’ve read, the clientele appears to be mid-to-late 20′s and early 30 year olds. So I should fit right in. I do typically hate the idea of a boutique anything because you are often paying more to say you went, more than you are paying for a nice experience. Playland is a bit different in the sense that rooms cost anywhere from $175 to $250 a night (which is typical for NY standards), and their drinks run from about $5 a beer, to $10 for a cocktail. Again that ends up being a deal.
In paying for the experience, I think Playland will win out. Check out a few of their room designs and you can see what they are going for:
They only have about a dozen or so rooms, but with each one so creatively adorned, you’ll definitely want to check it out. Each room was designed with a concept though up by an artist or interior designer, so each one has a completely different vibe that together, sum up what Playland looks to be all about. It’s an escape from the norm that you don’t have to pay through the nose for. To me, the ability to go to the beach for a day, have dinner and a few drinks in a cool restaurant, and then crash locally, is a huge plus for me. I love the Rockaways, but I hate leaving. This place makes it so you can worry about going home tomorrow. I’m down for that. I’ll try to check this place out before Labor Day, so I can cross it off my Summer Bucket List.
About Russ Stevens
Russ Stevens is an editor and writer at Rookerville and a guidance counselor at Nyack HS. He mostly writes about either loving or hating things. In his spare time, he performs Improv comedy with his troupe Priest and The Beekeeper and is a co-producer of their monthly variety show Pig Pile. He loves all the New York sports teams that are historically bad, and he hates lateness more than anything in the world.