Five stars:

City in the Summer by Eleanor Schick (1969) is set in New York and involves a boy, Jerry, and his elderly neighbor. After listening to countless stories about the sea, Jerry wishes he could go there someday. So his elderly neighbor takes him on the subway to Coney Island.

(Book can be read on the Internet Archive)

https://pussreboots.com/blog/2026/comments_10/city_in_the_summer.html