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Yeah, yeah, LA has beautiful weather all year round, but that just means we here in New York really know how to jam-pack our warm months with amazing fun. Whether we’re swimming at the beach, hanging out on rooftops, or dancing at a summer concert, we’re confident that our city is better than LA and here are just some of the reasons why.
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1. Our rooftop bars, parties and restaurants have the world’s most iconic skyline as their view and it never stops being breath taking-beautiful. LA has a lovely vista of urban sprawl.
2. LA’s beaches have pretty people sunbathing. Coney Island is home to Nathan’s Hotdog Eating contest, the Mermaid Parade, a totally weird and phenomenal sideshow and two famous antique rides—the Cyclone and the Wonder Wheel—that very few people have died on.
3. SummerStage: free, awesome concerts of all genres in Central frickin’ Park. Central Park is not in LA.
4. With the end of August comes the US Open when all of the best pros descend upon our fair city. Even if you aren’t a sports fan, we can assure you that Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, and Andy Murray are just as good looking in person as they are on TV.
5. When we do free outdoor screenings of Ghostbusters we’re right by the streets being destroyed which makes our heroes’ eventual victory sweeter than a roasted Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.
6. While we’re at it, there are free outdoor screenings everywhere. New York is home to 1,700 parks and beaches, and it seems as though half of them show a movie at some point during the warm months, meaning we hardly ever have to pony up cash for our Hollywood entertainment.
7. We can take in amazing public art, chow down on delicious grub from food trucks and frolic to our heart’s content at the beautiful Governor’s Island, only a short (and cheap!) ferry ride away. Even better, the entire island is completely car-free—where in LA can you say that?
8. We travel by subways, trains, ferries and busses to our nearby beaches, so we feel free to party—and drink—the day away, without having to worry about a designated driver.
9. The ubiquitous summer stench of urine and boiling garbage only makes us walk more briskly (did we mention that we walk everywhere?), while LA’s smog is likely to invoke an asthma attack.
10. Music festivals. Honestly, we’re a bit overwhelmed with how many we have: Governors Ball, Electric Daisy Carnival, Northside Festival, Celebrate Brooklyn!, Afropunk Fest, Full Moon Festival, Gigawatts and Electric Zoo, just to name a few. Beats driving to Coachella.
11. Award-winning actors clamor at the chance to be cast in the Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park productions, and we get to see them for free. In LA, you get to see award-winning actors out shopping for free.
12. Los Angeles is scheduled to get its own bike share program next spring, but in NYC we’ve been riding around the city with the summer breeze in our hair on our thousands of Citi Bikes for a while now.
13. The overwhelming humidity just means we get to pull off the wild-and-frizzy hair styles without even trying—we swear it’s all the rage.
14. No matter what neighborhood we live in, chances are we got some awesome Seamless delivery options which means more time in the A.C. and not stuck in traffic.
15. Oh hello there, Montauk, East Hampton and Fire Island, we only remember you every single Summer Friday when we hop on a train and head out for an impromptu three-day mini-vaycay. A train you can drink on.