Tomorrow kicks off Memorial Day weekend, and the city is likely to fill up with tourists while New York locals try to skip town anyway—and anywhere—they can. Bwog's doing our part to help you out by suggesting a few public transportation-friendly, relatively close beaches.

Beach: Belmar Beach, NJ
How to Get There: Take the NJ Transit New Jersey North Jersey Coast Line from Penn Station. The train stops at Belmar, but it's about a fifteen to twenty minute walk through Victorian-style neighborhoods to the beach from the train station.
Duration of Transit: 1.5 - 2 hours
Dining Options: Ice cream, hot dogs, chicken fingers and the like are available right on the beach. For dinner, go to Klein's Seafood Market. It's right on the water, and though the live music features mostly poorly-performed reggae-influenced classic rock covers, it's bearable when you sit outside by the wharf. The seafood is fresh and delicious, and priced fairly reasonably.
What's To Do: There's not too much to do in the way of boardwalk activities, so bring a book and an iPod. There's a gift shop or two that sell clothing, sunblock, and waterproof cameras, but that's about it. In terms of swimming, the water's still fairly cold, so bring accessories for non-aquatic fun like Frisbees or cigarettes/flasks.
Fellow Beach Patron Hook-Up Potential: The crowd was mostly older (40-year-olds with their children) and native Jersey high-schoolers. So, not very high, unless that's your bag.
Unofficial Bruce Springsteen Song: "Kitty's Back"

A week ago, bwogger Armin Rosen traveled to the ends of the earth--at least for a New Yorker.

You're a long way from Manhattan by the time the A train finally reaches the most scenic stretch of track in the entire New York subway system. Once it finishes plodding 25 miles of subterranean darkness, the A speeds through a national wildlife refuge, and passes scenery more suited to New England or tidal Virginia than New York's largest and second most populous borough. But people don't travel to the Rockaways looking for a typical New York experience--while The L Magazine once deemed the Nassau Avenue G station (not far from the Rockaways, relatively speaking) one of the foulest-smelling places in New York, the Broad Channel station treats passengers waiting for Rockaway Beach-bound shuttle trains to a scent they probably never imagined encountering within the MTA system: salt air.

Hey you, with the pallid skin! You could wait for Columbia to bring the sunshine to you with a cheesy Coney Island-themed event. Or you could go hang out at the real thing, as Bwog did one lovely Friday afternoon. Brighton Beach welcomes thousands of urban refugees every summer with miles of umbrella-freckled sand and a calm surf that washes away stress and the sweat of the city.

Of course, Brooklyn's south shore offers much more than a place to tan your hide. Coney Island itself is worth at least look-see during your time at Columbia, offering a bunch of free concerts and a touch of the bizarre. Plus, the neighborhood Brighton Beach contains possibly the best little Russia this side of the Ural mountains--you really owe it to yourself to throw down a towel and soak in the rich confluence of Slavic and Brooklyn accents as you slurp a fudgsicle.

If you go: Pack your sunscreen and take the 1 downtown to 42nd street, where you'll transfer to the Brooklyn-bound (not Queens-bound) Q. Get off at Brighton Beach and follow signs to the boardwalk. Coney Island is farther west.