Remember the televised post-Sandy segments? Burly guys are chopping up Coney Island's ruined boardwalk, flinging planks onto unruly wood piles? "Oh well, it's over a hundred years old, needed replacement anyway, hope to get it done by spring, etc."
It's enough to worry people who were born in this town, and as children, spent some weekends during the War in Coney Island's then-new, now-vanished Nautilus Hotel.
So out we drove, and to our relief, at least part of the historic boardwalk is not only in good condition, but being generally enjoyed by walkers, bench-sitters and gull-watchers, even though it's mid-January. We walked along till we were assured that whatever damage was done didn't apply to the central areas, which had signs that amusement parks would open March 24th.
Most stores and restaurants--including Nathan's--were closed, so parking was easy. There was a good diner on the boardwalk, Tom's, that we'd never heard of even though it said Est. 1936, and had a current 22 rating in Zagat's. Between us, we had a good burger deluxe and a breakfast-all-day short stack, coke, hot chocolate with whipped cream (they were out of seltzer or I'd've had an egg cream) and free coffee, which may have been an accident.
Then we drove back to Manhattan, passing blue ocean views, islands, bridges, and finally when we arrived the Triboro Bridge (which we found ourselves on having missed the Brooklyn turn), an intensely red-orange sunset, powering dimensional clouds.