27 Places for 27 Years

I turned 27 last week. In honor of these 27 years, I present a list of 27 places — specifics, not cities or countries — that have made me who I am today.

I’m talking buildings. Beaches. Restaurants. Shops. Theaters. To each a varying degree, but nonetheless, a part of me. 

As someone who resists the idea of defining myself in any singular way, I think this paints a beautiful picture.

NEW YORK

1. Long Lake Camp for the Arts - Long Lake, NY

Five summers of sleepaway theatre camp does something to a person. In my case, it did something incredible. Words cannot describe.

Never have I felt more confident, more proud, more comfortable, more in my element than at Long Lake. 

 Most importantly, it’s where I met my best friend.

2. Joe’s Pizza - 14th Street, New York, NY

Always and forever, objectively speaking, one of the best slice shops in the city. That aside, this was home base throughout my sophomore year of college. I spent many nights waiting in line, so as to line my boozy stomach with cheese and the thinnest crust in the village, before dragging myself directly upstairs to the dorm room I shared with my best friends.

The epitome of college in New York, and my favorite food.

3. 721 Broadway, New York, NY

I spent a dramatic majority (pun intended) of the years 2015-2019 in this building, otherwise known as the Tisch School of the Arts. To say the events which transpired under this roof changed the course of my life and the way I navigate the world would be the understatement of the century.

3a. First floor on the right past the front desk. First bathroom. First stall.

4. The Grill, Midtown, New York

Birth of my birthday meal: lobster and fresh truffle tagliatelle.

I love beautiful restaurants.

5. Newark Airport, Terminal B Departures

My home airport. My gateway to the rest of the world.

And, home to wildest wine hack in New York. Just before the end of the terminal, on the left, there is a wine bar. The name? No idea. They sell flights, and some overpriced cheese pairings. They also sell liters of boxed wine — for takeaway. Meaning, yes, you can bring the full box on the plane, for $20.

You’re welcome.

6. Horseshoe Bay, Bermuda

Known colloquially as ”Maggie’s Bay”. I spent many hours and many stages of toddlerhood floating happily in a naturally-formed, jacuzzi-sized pool of water on the far end of this beautiful beach, to which I traveled with my parents for many years.

In Maggie Lore, this represents the beginning of my love affair with the sea.

7. Cafe Savoy - Prague, Czech Republic

One of the highlights of my first ever solo trip. One of the first moments I truly relished dining alone. Home to the best ovocné knedlíky — fruit dumplings — one of my all-time favorite meals.

8. The Bar at the Stayokay Vondelpark, Amsterdam

My first ever night in Amsterdam. My first ever hostel. And five years later, the kick-off point for a very, very pivotal period.

Nostalgia central — a place I’ve kept coming back to… even though it’s technically for guests only, and I would now never pay to stay at this hostel for the life of me.

9. Kimpton de Witt, Amsterdam

2017: discovered “social hour” — free wine hour — on my last weekend in town.

2019: enjoyed social hour during my return to Amsterdam.

2022: enjoyed social hour — at last, as a hotel guest. Endured a fateful night alone in their cocktail bar. And soon after, a few more fateful nights on the plush blue velvet couch in the lobby.

2024: sent clients here as a travel advisor — and enjoyed social hour.

I’m sitting in the lobby right now.

10. The Bench on Brouwersgracht, Amsterdam

In The Fault in Our Stars, Hazel & Augustus have their bench.

This is my bench.

On this piece of graffitied wood like any other, I have cried both sad and happy tears, and have laughed just as deeply.

It is a place I find myself, every so often, when I want to reflect. And feel the passage of time.

11. Centraal Station, Amsterdam

My first adventure on the European rail network. I remember being so, so thrilled, pouring an entire bottle of chilled Albert Heijn white wine into my 750ml Swell bottle.

It’s where I bought lunch nearly every day that first year, summer 2017.

Today, dozens of visits and train rides and bottles of wine later, Centraal still manages stirs that sense of excitement and wonder I felt while cycling through the tunnel to the ferry every morning for class.

Summer 2017.

12. De School, Amsterdam

Impossible to explain, but for an idea: recently, I got a tattoo of their logo, also their stamp, on the inside of my right wrist.

Permanent re-entry for a club that no longer exists. 

13. Ocean Beach, San Diego, California

Ocean Beach awoke the part of me that craved — maybe needed — slow surf town life.

Each time I’ve spent a day or night in OB, something magical has happened.

Can’t wait for the next one.

14. Mellow Hostel, El Paredon, Guatemala

Where I learned to surf, where I began to appreciate electronic music, and where I drank more than I ever have or ever will again. 

I refer to my time at Mellow (and within a 5-minute radius) as the period of most unadulterated fun I’ve ever had in my life… and am likely to ever have again.

This fun is crystallized in a beautiful, hazy memory. For this reason, I don’t think I can ever go back.

More here.

15. Sayulita’s Right Break, Sayulita, Mexico

You probably remember the Sayulita Shit Show. Even a place I never care to return to is special enough for this list — for that exact reason. 

It’s important to remember that not everything in life is going to work out perfectly. No shit.

Sayu was also the shit show which reaffirmed that people make the place. People are everything.

16. Pastificio da Paola e Sandro - Chianni, Tuscany, Italy

The backdrop for one of the most depressing weekends of my life. In a severely down and out mental state, I could have skipped this town all together, but I chose to go anyway. The act of my being there was in itself an act of self love and resistance.

Over the course of two nights, I marathoned all of my favorite movies accompanied by the fresh noodles from this unremarkable pasta shop in this unnoticeably small Tuscan town.

17. Sisyphos, Berlin, Germany

Alternate universe of choice. 

18. Wat Pa Tam Wua Monastery, Mae Hong Son, Thailand

Give me desire and attachment. Give me the pain that comes with. 

In the middle of the mountainous nowhere that is northern Thailand, this place taught me just how much I love life… and that Buddhism is good on paper, but not in practice.

More here.

19. Khao Soi Maesai, Chiang Mai, Thailand

The embodiment of the glory of street food and the core of culture it represents. 

My favorite soup in the world.

20. Brix City Brewing - Little Ferry, New Jersey

Oh, my beloved Brix. The only job I’ve ever missed.

Yesterday, a chilly, foggy, slightly hungover Friday morning, I sat on the metro and wished I was headed for a Friday afternoon shift at Brix.

21. Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen - Beersel, Belgium

The second best brewery in the world, after the above. Say the word and I’d take the two hour day trip from Amsterdam to Brussels just to sit in that beautiful tap room all day long and drown myself in Lambic.

22. Shakespeare & Company (Upstairs), Paris, France

Throughout what was otherwise a lonely and gray semester abroad in Paris, the first floor of this famous bookshop was my refuge. 

Accompanied by their upstairs tenant, Aggie the Cat, I read papers (playing the academic), read plays and poetry, read the notes on the post-it wall written by travelers from near and far. 

While in Shakes, that loneliness? Gone.

23. Captain Keno’s - Encinitas, California

I’ve been here three times and still. One of the best bars to ever bar.

In a posh, pretty town (which I adore for other reasons), Keno’s should not exist. It has been continually on the brink of foreclosure for some time now, and somehow, survives.

From their $18 cash-only pitchers of beer that manage to exist amid the most expensive real estate in the US, I raise a toast:

To Captain Keno’s: a tavern out of time.

24. Kanli Kula - Herceg Novi, Montenegro

I’ve been here one time, and I doubt if I’ll ever be back. Yet…

In a period of time and travel that was, in general, not so groundbreaking, I idly waltzed into Kanli Kula, an ancient fortress, and cried.

What stood before me was the most magnificent amphitheater I have ever seen. The bay of Kotor as a theatrical backdrop. The mountains behind the arena.

In a period of time and travel where my feelings about theatre were more removed than ever, I was moved to record several takes of the only monologue that I will always have memorized.

“Thou knowest the mask of night is on my face, else would a maiden blush bepaint my cheek for that which thou hast heard me speak tonight.”

It’s wonderful to know that some things never leave you.

25. Gorditas "Las Güeras" - Guanajuato City, Mexico

Outside my hostel in Guanajuato (top spot in Mexico, thus far) was the most memorable street food stand in the country of memorable street food stands.

Each morning before 7 am, locals lined up the hill for fresh gorditas and quesadillas. Tortillas handmade by the hardest working team of women. The food was incredible, obviously. Something about the atmosphere was even more so.

For me, it represented routine and community in a time when I was missing it most.

26. Playa Hermosa, Uvita, Costa Rica

The most beautiful beach. The most perfect waves. Home of Envision, my first proper music festival, which has since opened my eyes to a world I did not know existed.

27. The Holy Donut, Portland, Maine

Five years ago, in a small donut shop on a cold morning at 8:18 AM, I turned 22. 

I was alone. Eating a salted dark chocolate donut, made with mashed potato, as Holy Donut is known for.

Here, I experienced a level of contentment that I had never felt before. Me, myself, and the simplicity of a freshly fried, warm donut on a cold October morning.

The older I get, and the more I see and do, the more I get the sense that it is an accumulation of these quiet moments that make me, me.

And you, you.

I am made of bowls of Khao Soi. Waves surfed — and wiped out. Beers drank. Plays read. Trains taken. Dances in the dark.

And yourself?

ONWARDS,

Mag

Maggie PecorinoComment