A barking booty magnet.   (Photo: Gandee Vassan/Getty Images)

• McCarren Park

  Driggs Ave. at N. 12th St., Williamsburg

  There are bigger and better-looking dog parks in the city, but if you’re looking to expand your own social circle and not just your canine’s, McCarren is rife with opportunities. The run’s small size works to your advantage, separating big-dog people from small-dog people (the better action is in the big-dog section, we’re told) and turning the triangular dirt field into a compact, if dusty, pickup place. “Let’s just say I’ve never gone there in my sweatpants,” says one patron. The logical next step after making a connection is a coffee date, which can be arranged right across the street at Urban Rustic.

From the 2009 Best of New York issue of New York Magazine