Hilary Larson

 I really liked Hilary Larson’s article about the Jewish baby boom on the Upper West Side (Neighborhoods, June 11). However she neglected to mention the Upper West Side’s fastest growing community — and New York City’s only Jewish Renewal community — Romemu, whose most recent program addition is all about babies.

If you prefer the strains of Mozart and the strokes of Picasso to the feeling of sand between your toes, head to the Berkshires this summer.

New England’s most storied arts retreat is nestled into the deceptively rural swath along the New York-Massachusetts border, a region named for its lush green mountains. I say deceptive because the bucolic setting, with its fresh breezes and homespun clapboard buildings, has a low-key vibe that belies the intensity of its fine-arts scene. 

Summer in and summer out, the fabled sandy beaches and cocktail crowds of Long Island’s East End draw a reliable mix of celebrities, high flyers and city folk escaping the urban grind. 

But in recent years, an increasing number of Jewish families — parents of young children, retirees and a growing crowd of dedicated weekenders of all ages — have been calling the Hamptons home for all four seasons. 

If you enjoy mystery novels, you’ll love planning a trip this summer.

Prices are on a rollercoaster, the euro is diving and the Icelandic volcano periodically throws a little entertainment into the mundane business of flying. There are terrific bargains out there, but the rapidly shifting travel scene is a bit disorienting.

When Stuart Katz moved into North Woodmere 18 years ago, his neighbors in Long Island’s Five Towns area were mostly Jewish families with children, and a lot of them commuted to Manhattan every day from this peaceful waterfront enclave.

According to Dava Schub, the Upper West Side of Manhattan “is a neighborhood full of baby carriages, dogs, families of two and three and five.”

Schub should know: as associate executive director for programming at the Jewish Community Center in Manhattan, she sees 2,000 locals of all ages stream daily in and out of the building at Amsterdam Avenue and 76th Street.

I remember my first visit to San Francisco’s Mission District.

It was in the mid-1990s, and while the commercial boulevards teemed with shoppers and families by day, much of the area felt run-down and seedy.

Palm Beach in May? Why not? New Yorkers tend to regard Florida as the ultimate winter destination — a balmy, palm-shaded escape from frigid wind chills around Chanukah time.

But May and June are my favorite Florida months, with more reliable weather and a deliciously warm ocean. When the official high season ends as snowbirds fly north for Passover, all of a sudden Palm Beach takes on the feel of a friendly small town, with locals making small talk at the deli and fishing off the beach. And this year the deals are as sweet as the temperatures.

The Deep South is astonishingly lovely in the heady days of mid-spring. In the quiet corners of rural Mississippi, the droning hum of tractors and bees provides a lazy soundtrack for a lush green landscape of flower-dotted fields and gently swishing trees in full blossom.
 

The Deep South is astonishingly lovely in the heady days of mid-spring. In the quiet corners of rural Mississippi, the droning hum of tractors and bees provides a lazy soundtrack for a lush green landscape of flower-dotted fields and gently swishing trees in full blossom.