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Rays of hope: Where to forget it is winter in Brooklyn

Rays of hope: Where to forget it is winter in Brooklyn
Photo by Stefano Giovannini

Break out the coconut oil and give winter the middle finger! Here are five ways to pretend it’s not winter in Brooklyn:

Catch a buzz

There’s only one place in Brooklyn where you can feel the sand between your toes as you sip a Rumrunner in the middle of a February Nor’Easter, and that’s Williamsburg’s Surf Bar — the seafood shack’s floor is literally covered in beach sand, and bartenders specialize in drinks of the tiki and the frozen persuasion. Plus the owners have recently re-jiggered the menu with Polynesian- and Caribbean-inspired dishes.

Surf boards and tropical photos line the walls and ceilings, and the conspicuous lack of windows makes it very easy to forget you are a stone’s throw from the frigid East River. It’s just like a June afternoon in Coney Island — but with fewer discarded fishing hooks and whitefish!

Brooklyn Surf Bar [139 N 6th St. between Bedford and Berry avenues in Williamsburg, (718) 302–4441, www.brooklynsurfbar.com]

Get a new coat

The only coat you’ll need at Cobble Hill Hawaiian-themed mani-pedi salon Pau Hana is made of nail polish. Paintings of hula dancers and Hawaiian shirts worthy of Marty Markowitz himself hang on the walls, and sun-kissed ukulele music will help you forget snow plows are grinding up and down Court Street just a few feet away.

The salon regularly gets love from Yelp reviewers for its chill Aloha-State vibes, and fashion blog Man Repeller listed it among the best “ethical” nail salons in the city.

Pau Hana [235 Court St, between Warren and Baltic streets in Cobble Hill, (347) 223–4224]

Brooklyn Hot-anic Garden

Take refuge in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s temperature-controlled plant sanctuaries. Let the Aquatic House and the Tropical and Desert pavilions — where winter temperatures can hit the low 80s — be your oases amid an increasingly brown and barren Prospect Park.

Hot enough for ya?: It’s always summer in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s Tropical Pavilion.
Antonio M. Rosario

Brooklyn Botanic Garden [990 Washington Ave. between Empire Boulevard and Montgomery Street in Crown Heights, (718) 623–7200, www.bbg.org].

Spin around the world

Make good on that New Year’s Resolution to shave off you Junior’s Cheesecake-induced spare tire while you take a trip across the globe at Imax Shift, which combines spin classes with a monster movie screen that makes you feel like you are pedaling through a Caribbean island, our reporter said.

“The visuals tricked me into thinking I was somehow defying gravity and riding across a tropical oasis,” said scribe Lauren Gill, who gave the gym a spin last year.

Imax Shift [127 Plymouth St. at Adams Street in Dumbo, (718) 858–1200, www.imaxshift.com] Classes start at $31.

Bonus: Swim with sharks

Go see local surf songsters Shark? reunite at Shea Stadium on Jan. 14. Sure, the venue’s plywood-icicle decor might remind you that it’s five below outside, but Shark?’s anti-Beach Boys brand of garage-surf should melt your concerns away. Joining them are Staten Island post-punks Bueno, dream-poppers Holy Tunics, and sludge crooners Haybaby.

Shark? reunion show at Shea Stadium [20 Meadow St. between Waterbury and Bogart streets in East Williamsburg, www.liveatsheastadium.com] Jan. 14 at 8 pm. $8–$10.

For more hot tips, check out part one of this series.

Aloha, winter: Pua Hana nail salon is a Hawaiian bastion in Cobble Hill.
Community News Group / Max Jaeger

Reach deputy editor Max Jaeger at mjaeger@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260–8303. Follow him on Twitter @JustTheMax.