Gantry Plaza State Park

Two black steel gantries — hulking float-bridge cranes that once lifted rail cars onto barges — anchor this stretch of Long Island City waterfront, their riveted frames restored and lit like monuments, with 'LONG ISLAND' spelled across their crowns. Beside them stands the giant red Pepsi-Cola sign, a 1940 relic of the bottling plant that stood here, now landmarked and glowing over the river every night.

The park threads four very different piers between these relics, and the reason to come is the view: the United Nations and the full midtown rise of Manhattan directly across the narrow channel, closer than any other park gets you. The sunset here drops behind the Empire State and Chrysler Buildings in turn through the year — then the city switches on, doubled in the river.

Locals treat the long wooden lounge chairs on the piers as reserved seating for that nightly show. Arrive forty minutes before sundown and claim one.