Portraits of Brooklynites beating the late summer heat

Scenes from Coney Island and Bushwick as the season comes to its sweaty end

From June through August New Yorkers with second homes or money to spend bounce for the Hamptons or head upstate to wait out the sweltering season. But the city is kind of a paradise for those who stay. It feels empty. Slower-paced. Easier to get a parking spot. Easier to get a reservation.

And those of us who stick it out have no shortage of hacks for beating the heat.

Photojournalist Alina Fresquez Patrick explored the spaces Brooklyn communities create in order to make it through the heat waves. Families descend on Coney Island (sometimes with their dogs in tow) for the icy blast of the Atlantic. Vendors patrol the boardwalk and beaches, selling cold beer, nutcrackers, ice cream, and cotton candy to dehydrated beach-goers.

Back in Bushwick, musicians tired of sweating in un-air-conditioned bars make their own jam sessions in community gardens. They start to play as the sun goes down and neighbors share snacks and drinks and hop on the mic to sing back up.

As summer comes to an end, we all will be thankful for the day the heat drops enough for us to stick our AC units back in the closet. But come autumn, without a doubt, there will be a bit of nostalgia for this season of sweet, sweaty joy.

Here are a few scenes of Brooklynites doing what they do best: Staying cool.

(Alina Fresquez Patrick)

Father and daughter get ready to charge the water in Coney Island.

(Alina Fresquez Patrick)

With the lifeguards gone for the day, their stand is fair game: Donna, Octavius and Laman grabbed this perch for themselves.

(Alina Fresquez Patrick)

Every Tuesday evening, musicians flow into the People’s Garden in Bushwick to have jazz style jam sessions, share food, and relax.

(Alina Fresquez)

Waiting for the J: In the dog days of summer, everyone is grateful for an above-ground train.

(Alina Fresquez Patrick)

Even (especially?) Brooklyn’s four-legged residents need to beat the heat.

(Alina Fresquez Patrick)

As the sun starts to go down at Coney Island, kids are still testing the water (and the limits of their bravery.)

(Alina Fresquez Patrick)

Rocío appears over a sunbather looking like an angel as she sells $5 ice cold cervezas.

(Alina Fresquez Patrick)

Cotton candy may not help us cool down, but we’ll take some.

(Alina Fresquez Patrick)

Luckier locals have a rooftop to escape to.

(Alina Fresquez Patrick)

Mecca Shabazz and Gurleen Kaur Ahuja take a minute to laugh and grab some free snacks before they hop on the mic at the People’s Community Garden jam session in Bushwick.