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The best things to do in NYC this week include the massive Basquiat exhibit, a new roller rink at Rockefeller Center and more!

If you're looking for the best things to do in NYC this week, or even for today, there are tons of fun options. Go experience "Jean-Michel Basquiat: King Pleasure," try out the new roller skating rink at Rockefeller Center and see the incredible Whitney Biennial! For more ideas, scroll down to see this week's best things to do in NYC.

RECOMMENDED: Full list of the best things to do in New York

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Join us on the fifth floor rooftop every Monday through Friday from 4pm–7pm for happy hour. Get $5 select draught beers, $8 specialty cocktails and $7 select wines.

If you have ever wanted to get inside an artist's head and understand where they were coming from, "Jean-Michel Basquiat: King Pleasure" will be the closest thing you'll experience to that. This major exhibition, opening Saturday, April 9, at the Starrett-Lehigh Building in Chelsea, has an advantage that many other shows do not have—it was organized and curated by Basquiat's family (with famed architect David Adjaye and design firm Pentagram), who have done a painstaking job of showing both the famous artist's intimate side and his genius. The exhibit, which features more than 200 rarely seen works, isn't merely Basquiat's work hung on walls, it immerses viewers in creatively designed spaces to give a sense of place and context. It's broken up into distinct and vibrant categories—"1960," "KINGS COUNTY," "WORLD FAMOUS," "IDEAL" "ART GALLERY,"  "PALLADIUM," and "PLACE JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT"—that viewers can float through. Basquiat's work is front and center of it all, but certain highlights make his work come alive as if it had just been painted. Visitors can take another step to fully immerse themselves by scanning a Spotify code to access a playlist of music the artist listened to.

The days of ice skating at Rockefeller Center are over—a groovy roller skating rink is opening in its place this April with live DJs, concerts and performances as well as lessons. Flipper's Roller Boogie Palace, an iconic West Hollywood roller rink that became a "mecca of uninhibited fun," will operate a new roller rink between April 15 through October, according to Rock Center's owner, Tishman Speyer. The rink, which will be designed by Bureau Betak, will be smaller than the traditional ice rink at Rockefeller Center. Instead of keeping that size, it'll have space for the public to watch the skaters at rinkside from tables and chairs and from the Esplanades and Plaza on the upper level.

Put your dancing shoes on, because you're going to want to work up an appetite at this weekly event. Canary  Club  ( 303 Broome St ), the vibrant New Orleans-inspired supper club that recently opened on the Lower East Side has added  Salsa Nights to the roster.  As part of the restaurant’s rotating entertainment offerings, each month will now focus on a different style of music.  And for this month, it's all about salsa! Every   Wednesday night in April ( 4/6, 4/13, 4/20, and 4/27),  Canary  Club  will host a  Salsa Night complete with music from the six-piece, all-female salsa band,  Lulada Club !  Doors open at 7:30pm for the weekly show, which kicks off at 8:30pm and runs for about two hours. Arrive on time, because free salsa lessons are available for guests in the hour before the band starts. Then, with the courage of a craft cocktail, you can show off your moves on the dance floor as Lulada Club plays. 

Tickets are free or $10 depending on the time booked via  Resy . To fuel your moves, fill up on Canary Club ’s menu of modern American dishes cooked in a wood-fired oven. Menu items include wood oven-roasted oysters  with canary  butter, black sesame carrot tempura and f ried chicken  with voodoo spice. The cocktail menu is inspired and named after the artists and art pieces from the Dada and Surrealist movements. If you want a head start on the booze, $10 cocktail happy hour kicks off at 5pm, and runs until 7pm Zero-proof drinks, wine and beer are also available. 

New York Public Library's World Literature Festival returns April 11 with weeks  of programs, author talks, multilingual storytimes, poetry workshops, and book recommendations that celebrate the diverse communities of New York City. Highlights include  " Poetry Across Languages" panel discussions, "Cultures in Translation" and "Japanese Crime Fiction: How It Caught The World." And don't miss talks with international writers in their native languages, including Puerto Rican poet, fiction writer, academic, and multi-award-winning author Mayra Santos-Febres, Korean author Un-su Kim, New Yorker Liu Yong and Ukrainian author Boris Palant. There will also be two signature LIVE from NYPL series, which brings together distinguished writers, artists, and scholars for conversations, including "Alien Nation: True Tales of Immigration" about immigrant lives in America and "Bernardine Evaristo and Brit Bennett: Transatlantic Conversations." For children, the festival will also feature bilingual storytimes. All of this is free, just register ahead of time here.

April is always crunch time on Broadway, as shows rush to open in time to qualify for the Tony Awards in June. But this year, the density of Broadway openings is especially crushing: When the smoke clears on April 28, the last official date for Tonys eligibility, 15 news shows will have opened in April, including 10 shows in the last 12-day stretch alone.  All of these shows are already in previews or will be starting next week. Some may turn out to be among the best shows on Broadway. Others may…not. Stay tuned for Time Out's reviews of all of them. Meanwhile, here's a guide to what's coming down the Street...

An immersive experience with massive, ultra-realistic dinosaurs that takes place on the grounds of the Bronx Zoo is back!

Dinosaur Safari asks visitors to the zoo to traverse a path filled with 52 life-sized dinos and pterosaurs through a wooded area, where they will see the largest flying animal to ever live (the Quetzalcoatlus) and, of course, the Tyrannosaurus rex and the vegetarian Omeisaurus that stretches an impressive 60 feet long. When it first opened in 2019, it was a ride that used shuttles to introduce people to the dinos. Now, it's a 1/4 mile-long walk-through experience with 52 dinos rather than 40.

To make things as realistic as possible, the Bronx Zoo teamed up with a paleontologist from the American Museum of Natural History—Don Lessem even served as an advisor on the original Jurassic Park! The experience is topped off with an ADA-accessible fossil dig area for kids to play in, plus some additional dino-themed activities around the zoo.  All ages. 

The Whitney Biennial has been a long time coming. Originally meant to open in 2021, the 80th edition combines three years of planning as well as 63 artists and collectives to present an event that has been described as both "dynamic" and timely by its curators. "Whitney Biennial 2022: Quiet as It’s Kept," which opens April 6, is broken up into two experiences on the fifth and sixth floors of the Meatpacking District building. Each one presents a completely different atmosphere—on the sixth floor is a cavernous, labyrinth-like gallery, and on the fifth floor is an open and airy room where works are displayed together. The exhibition mimics the range of emotions we felt during the past two years, from fear and pain to joy and hope, and everything in between. Artworks—even walls—will change and performance will "animate" the galleries and objects. The changing nature of the exhibition reflects these uncertain times.

There's a new place to get pierced in Brooklyn! Get your ears pierced, that is. Rowan Piercing Studio, the piercing shop that distinguishes itself by allowing only licensed nurses to work as ear piercers (as opposed to say, a local high school student at your local Claire's), is opening on Monday, April 11, at 231C Bedford Ave. in Williamsburg. Rowan currently has another New York City studio at 1227 3rd Ave (at 71st Street) on the Upper East Side. While plenty of piercing studios and tattoo shops have already claimed their stake in North Brooklyn, Rowan sets itself apart with a boutique-like space, focusing on wellness, safety and self-expression, especially helpful for those nervous to get pierced. Nurses use a hand-pressured device (never a piercing gun) with pre-sterilized 14 karat gold or stainless steel earrings to pierce. The piercing jewelry has safety backs and long posts to ensure sufficient airflow and optimal healing. Hollow needles are also available as a piercing tool and the only option for certain parts of the ear. 

JFK Airport's retro TWA Hotel is once again rolling out its Roll-A-Rama at the Runway Rink for the season! Starting April 15, the 44-by-56 outdoor roller rink made up of 2,668 checkered tiles will be open Fridays from 4 to 8pm and Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 8pm, weather permitting.  On the rink, you'll skate to retro tunes while airplanes take off nearby for 50 minutes! Each session is $20 for adults and $16 for kids under 12. Rentals of the four-wheeled quad skates are included. Advanced tickets aren't a thing so it's first-come, first-served.

Legendary record producer Clive Davis is officially the subject of an entirely new gallery aptly named the Clive Davis Gallery at New York University. The university's prestigious Tisch School of the Arts hosted the opening of the new space last week at 370 Jay Street, by NYU's downtown Brooklyn campus. The new gallery is home to a permanent exhibition on the lower level that explores the musical guru's historical career, celebrating the various artists that Davis, a Brooklyn native, has worked with throughout the years. The upper gallery, on the other hand, will host temporary exhibitions that run the gamut in both genre and execution, including works by NYU's own students, faculty and community partners. "The gallery aspires to reflect the creative community within and around 370 Jay Street and to engage critically with contemporary ideas and debates," reads the space's official website.

Rachel Green (Netflix) hosts a night of music, comedy, sluttiness and queer joy at The Comedy Show (167 Bleecker St.) on Thursday night. This month's lineup includes the amazing Myka Fox (Comedy Central), Quin Lamar (Samantha Bee), Norah Yahya (NY Comedy Festival), Maggie Lally (She Makes Me Laugh Festival) and Christina Walkinshaw (Jillin Off podcast). The 8pm show is $15 in advance or $20 at door with a two-item minimum.

Winter is coming...or at least at The Slipper Room. The performers at Hotsy Totsy Burlesque are putting on a Game of Thrones-themed show on Thursday night! Host Cherry Pitz will be Handsome Brad, and Minnie DaMoocha, Rosie Cheeks, Fortune Cookie, Rosie Tulips, Le Grand Chaton & Bessie Boutté will act as the players in Westeros (plus gogo by Luna Lee and Bimini Cricket will be stage kitten). Tickets are $25 in advance, but can be bought at the door. Doors open at 7 and the show begins at 8pm.

Artist Guadalupe Maravilla will speak about their exhibit "Tierra Blanca Joven" at the Brooklyn Museum with Pastor Juan Carlos Ruiz and drag artist Lady Quesa during a conversation on art, healing, and immigrant communities. Juan Carlos Ruiz is the pastor at Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd in Bay Ridge and, during the pandemic, collaborated frequently with Maravilla on mutual aid efforts including food distribution and sound baths. Lady Quesa is a staple of the Brooklyn drag scene, regularly hosts the Yas Mama party at C’mon Everybody, and is supervisor of arts programming at youth development organization The Door. After the conversation, you can enjoy after-hours access to the exhibit. Tickets are $16.

Times Square is obviously the ideal home for an exhibit focusing on Playbills—especially since 15 new shows are expected to open on Broadway by the end of this month. (A staggering amount!) The aptly dubbed Broadway Grand Gallery exhibit features eleven large Playbill monoliths featuring 21 currently running shows. You'll find them all on Broadway Plaza between 47th and 48th Streets and they will be on display through June 15. Each monolith is ten feet tall, six feet wide, three feet deep and features two shows on each side of it. Visitors will also notice that each portion of the giant Playbills features information about the depicted show, including a QR code that will direct those interested to a ticketing landing page. The installation includes a "Title" monolith that describes the exhibit and features a full map of theaters located in the area. 

Almost 200 beautiful artist-designed flags are flying high at Rockefeller Center!

For the third annual Flag Project, Rockefeller Center, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Climate Museum asked the public to submit art for consideration to be displayed on one of the 193 flagpoles that surround the Plaza from April 1 to May 6 to mark Earth Day and on June 5 for a special commemoration of World Environment Day (except April 14-17 during the grand opening on Flipper's Roller Boogie Palace at The Rink). This year's theme is "Only One Earth" for this year’s World Environment Day and the winning designs have been transformed into eco-friendly, biodegradable flags.

In an incredibly creative move, protest signs used by civilians in Moscow have been turned into billboards that line the streets of New York next to $2, $5 and $10 contactless donation options that can easily be gifted to the Ukrainian cause by simply tapping your credit card. The signs are real images of actual protest materials that people have been using to demonstrate against Russia's invasion of Ukraine over a month ago. They read "нет войне," which translates to "no to war" in English, and they can be found by 214 West 30th Street and 7 West 36th Street.

A new Chinese restaurant in South Williamsburg, Antidote, is offering a weekday happy hour, from 12pm–6pm, Monday–Friday. That's a good excuse for a long lunch break if we ever heard one. And yes, there's also a lunch special until 4pm on weekdays, so you can eat and drink on the cheap. At happy hour, bottles of Tsingtao go for $5. Red, white and rosé wines are available for $9 a glass and three craft cocktails from Antidote's menu are reduced to $11. Lunch menu prices range from $14 (eggplant with garlic sauce) to $21 (spicy cumin lamb), with additional options including Sichuan chili fried chicken ($15), fried rice with shredded duck or fresh shrimp ($15), salted egg yolk golden fish filet ($16) and much more. Wood ear mushroom salad, cucumber salad and tofu in chili oil is served on the side.

A new outdoors installation has just taken up residence by Greenwich Village's Ruth Wittenberg Triangle, at the intersection of Greenwich Avenue, the Avenue of the Americas and Christopher Street—and it would be very hard for you to miss it. "Faces of the Wild" features nine, six-foot-tall sculptures depicting critically endangered animals. The monuments are based on the many photographs and sketches that the artists behind the works have taken of wildlife over the past 15 years.  The depicted animals include the northern white rhino, the chimpanzee, the addax, the western lowland gorilla, the polar bear, the red wolf, the African forest elephant, the hippopotamus and the lion. "These animals come from all over the world, from the African savannahs to the rainforests of Indonesia," reads an official press release about the installation. "They are all beautiful, instantly recognizable, yet in desperate need of help."

Now that Daniel Craig has wrapped up his longtime gig as film killer James Bond, he has time to return to one of his passions: killing people on  stage.  The actor  plays the title role in this limited Broadway run of the Scottish play, in which an ambitious nobleman, egged on by witches ,  murders  his way to the crown;  the Ethiopian-Irish actor Ruth Negga,  of   Loving and  Passing,  joins him as the ruthless Lady M.  The production reunites Craig with director Sam Gold, who helmed the 2016 New York Theatre Workshop production of  Othello.

Museum of the Moving Image is hosting a 10-film series called " See It Big: Sondheim ," celebrating the composer, lyricist, author, artist, and all-around innovator. The survey offers audiences the chance to see a selection of film interpretations of Sondheim’s stage work in MoMI’s grand Redstone Theater: musicals written for the screen; unexpected dramas to which he contributed scores or screenplays; and the documentary  Original Cast Album: Company , that allows viewers access to his process. "See It Big" is a collaboration between the Museum of the Moving Image and  Reverse Shot .

The series opens on Friday, April 1, with a big-screen presentation of  West Side Story, directed by Steven Spielberg (showing again on April 3), followed by screenings of the original movie version of  West Side Story (1961) the same weekend; and continuing through May 1 with screenings of  Gypsy (1962),  A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966),  Original Cast Album: Company (1970),  Stavisky (1974),  Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007),  Into the Woods (2014),  The Last of Sheila (1973), and  Dick Tracy (1990). The full schedule is right here.

Head to Don't Tell Mama for a night of variety acts Tuesdays (April 12, May 10, September 13, October 11 & November 8). Starting at 7:30pm, the show will offer some of the best stand up comedy, storytelling, vocalists and more in NYC. There's a $20 cover and a two-drink minimum person (and it's cash only). 

See what it was like for sick and injured crew members who visited  Intrepid’s medical clinic or sick bay, from when it was in operation, at this new exhibit that features three original doors from sick bay, each featuring a medical-themed cartoon painted by sailors; objects, photographs, archives and oral histories will reveal the complexities of medical care on board an aircraft carrier at sea; and 360-degree photographs of sick bay, showing the current condition of the ship’s operating room, pharmacy, x-ray room and more.

“We are so excited to launch this sneak peek exhibit to help bring key stories of sick bay to our visitors, as well as illustrate our plans to refurbish the actual space on the aircraft carrier,” said Museum SVP, Exhibits, Education & Programs, Elaine Charnov. “As a site of living history, telling these important stories and ultimately opening the space where history happened, is vital in our efforts to illuminate the intersection of history and innovation.”

The return of Smorgasburg is upon us! Now in its twelfth year, the annual, weekly outdoor food festival will return to several New York City locations, and beyond, as of this Friday, April 1. More than a dozen new vendors are slated to join the lineup of 60+ returning food artisans. (Pandemic kitchen hobbyists should know that new vendors are still being accepted, and can apply for consideration online.)

RECOMMENDED: The ultimate guide to Smorgasburg 2022

The Force is strong with Star Wars fans at Fever's latest exhibition called "The Fans Strike Back," a showing of 600 items all made by those who love the iconic space opera. Opening March 24, the exhibit claims to be the largest Star Wars Fan exhibit with collectibles and figurines, life-size figures and famous costumes, more than 50 one-of-a-kind sculptures, armor, lightsabers, blasters, helmets, masks and more. Collectibles include the original editions of the comics of the first trilogy from 1977, 1981 and 1983, accessories made by robotic fans, vintage video games and figurines certified by the Action Figure Authority. While everything on view isn't officially licensed, visitors still get the full Star Wars experience. It is all fan-made which makes it even more impressive—fans' passion and love for the Star Wars universe is made evident through these items.

Hospitality company Gerber Group opened Daphne earlier this month as a complement to the hotel's rooftop bar, The Crown, and New Yorkers have been flocking to it ever since. Upon entering the massive 2,500-square-foot space, patrons are pleasantly surprised to find a beautiful silk pink flower installation by art studio Floratorium. Dazzling disco balls also permeate the premises, calling back to a time when the dance club you frequented was just as important as where your apartment was located. In addition to clubs' signature bottle service, the bartenders at Daphne can serve some remarkable cocktails that range from the classic to modern interpretations of the form. For every dirty martini, old fashioned and margarita there is an Aphrodite (Malfy gin, fortified wine, pomegranate and fresh lemon), Lite My Fire (Patron silver tequila, ginger liqueur, fresh lime and flamed rosemary) and Cider Car (Hennessy, apple cider and apricot liqueur), among other options. 

Serra by Birreria at Eataly Flatiron  has changed its “ winter in the Italian countryside ” theme into a primavera concept.  The bright, airy space—where natural light streams in through wide windows and a high glass roof will take on a greenhouse fashion—is intended to evoke the Italian countryside. The dining room will be festooned with faux blooms so you can swing by for a fresh spring selfie any time and save the visit to the Botanical Garden for the weekend. The installation features climbing vines and flowers among its photo ops.  Serra’s new menu items are largely sourced from the Union Square Greenmarket nearby. You’ll see local produce in plates like the scarola alla griglia, which tops its main ingredient bitter greens with parmigiano reggiano, balsamic and EVOO, and the poached carciofo, which adds housemade gremolata, pistachios, herbs and lemon zest to the gently seared artichoke. Crostata varieties are also new to the dessert menu. Flaky crusts are filled with blends of chocolate and coffee, almond and cherry and apple and apricot. Limoncello-inspired cocktails also take flavors from fresh vegetables. Billed “veggie-cellos,” they include the Carota (with carrots), Piselli (spring peas) and the Rabarbaro (rhubarb.) The bar is also harking back to cocktails of the past with cosmos and grasshoppers. 

The AKC Museum of the Dog is opening a timely exhibit of 10 life-sized, carved-wood allegorical memorials of military dogs from WWII and Afghanistan by sculptor James Mellick. Visitors will see the artist's collections "Wounded Warrior Dogs" and "Over the Rainbow Bridge," along with the museum’s permanent collection, which includes sculptures, paintings, collars, vests, photographs and more. Mellick says that the exhibit of wounded and rehabilitated dogs aims to draw attention to the service and heroism of dogs in the military. The Wounded Warrior Dog statues are carved from cedar, walnut, sycamore, cherry, poplar, maple and more, laminated and painted to showcase beautiful life-size dogs who fought alongside veterans and often aided in the completion of successful missions. The AKC Library and Archives will also feature photographs and documents of the WWII U.S. Marine Corps "Devil Dogs" during the time of the main exhibit. Throughout the installation, there will also be events and veterans invited to speak on their experiences and the history of dogs in the military. For these dates, check the events calendar at museumofthedog.org

"Double Bubble," a new exhibit at PALO Gallery on Bond Street, has to be one of the most creative ones we've seen in recent months. Displaying works by sculptor Kim Faler, the new show features 20 floating sculptures of giant wads of gum hanging from the space's 15-foot ceiling. We told you it was creative. Originally commissioned by MASS MoCA, the installation—which is free to visit—is the artist's largest gallery show to date, touching upon the multi-sensory landscape that she is known for exploring throughout all of her works. The structures are also rendered at the approximate scale of an adult human head and each one is placed at eye level on purpose, hoping to confront patrons with their message directly. "Double Bubble" will remain on display through March 31.

The Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) is hosting its first global survey exhibition dedicated to the use of clothing as a medium of visual art, March 12 to August 14. The work of 35 international contemporary artists, from established names to emerging voices, will be on display, and you'll see how they made or altered clothing for expressive purposes via sculpture, installation, and performance art to transform dress into a critical tool for exploring issues of subjectivity, identity, and difference.

Looking for a treat? Head to Ample Hills' Gowanus Scoop Shop rooftop for a comedy show hosted by Savannah DesOrmeaux (X Change Rate) and Jenny Gorelick (NY Comedy Festival) featuring a heavily female, queer, and non-binary line-up every Friday. Pizza and ice cream will be available for purchase at the show.

Standing  23 feet tall and weighing 2,300 pounds, a massive garden trowel looks like it fell from the sky and landed smack dab in the middle of Rockefeller Center. It's a sculpture by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, which was unveiled on Tuesday as somewhat of a tribute to New York City's reawakening. "Plantoir, Blue," made of painted aluminum and stainless steel, will be on view through May 6.

Featuring up-and-coming and established stand-up, character, storytelling, and musical comedy acts who are women, LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC performers, this show aims to provide a spotlight for underrepresented comedians...with a twist. (The dogs are the twist.) Anyone is welcome to bring their dog to the show as long as they get along with others. It might sound disruptive, but the ensuing performances are enhanced and even made better with furry friends around. They may not be the subject of the show, but comedians often incorporate them into their jokes and play off their barks and whines. Sometimes they sigh at the perfect time or demand pets from the performer. Comedians who have performed recently include Farooq Hussain, Jonathan Thomas, Sam Morrison, Ann Van Epps, Mariel Jimenez and Sami Schwaeber. Each show raises funds for local animal shelters like Muddy Paws Rescue.

The Orchid Show at  The New York Botanical Garden will transport visitors into a dreamy kaleidoscope of colors with designs by floral designer Jeff Leatham. The balmy and bountiful festival this year is titled The Orchid Show: Jeff Leatham’s Kaleidoscope. The display, which was cut short in 2020, will return to transform the garden's conservatory into a tunnel of hypnotic floral designs reminiscent of a look through a kaleidoscope. There will be orchid towers of orange, yellow and green with undulating fields of white and plumes of purple orchids overhead as well as a kaleidoscopic tunnel of lights, NYBG says. You can get a first glimpse of it here. And as usual, there will be special Orchid Evenings during which visitors can enjoy the attraction after dark, including a gorgeous display of lights, among the orchids. There will be alcoholic beverages and snacks for purchase, as well as live entertainment. 

New Yorkers are currently rushing to The Shed to walk through a giant, tent-like space that's actually a grounded balloon made up of colorful, recycled plastic grocery bags. The installation, dubbed "Museo Aero Solar," is part of Argentinian artist Tomás Saraceno's large-scale exhibit "Particular Matter(s)," and it's totally worth traveling to the West side of town for. The piece is meant to call out to humans' impact on the environment. It is, in fact, a project by Saraceno's own Aerocene Foundation, a global non-profit organization dedicated to the development of fuel-free flying. Just as the rest of the exhibit, "Museo Aero Solar" is a visually striking installation that—of course—makes for great Instagram fodder (although social media certainly doesn't do the piece justice). You've got until April 17 to go see it with your own eyes.

Ladies take over Route 66 Smokehouse and Comedy Club on Wednesdays. Hosted by Alia Janine, the show features a heavy female line-up featuring some of today's top and up and coming comedians! Past and upcoming comedians include Janeane Garofalo, Usama Siddiquee, Chanel Omari, Dan Soder, Francesca Fiorentini, and Chanel Ali. Food and drink specials are offered all night and there's a party afterward! Each ticket comes with one drink.

Bloom is a new piece of public art by architecture and urban design practice Habitat Workshop that has just taken up residence in the middle of Times Square (in Duffy Square, to be precise) and will be on view through March 9. The convoluted structure is actually the winner of the 14th annual Times Square Love and Design Competition, presented with the Museum of Arts and Design. A circular roof that is supported by a number of red-and-white interlocked PVC pipes, Bloom looks striking both up close and from afar, but it's its ability to quasi morph into different shapes depending on where you are gazing at it from that makes the whole thing thoroughly unique. The installation's purpose is to remind onlookers "of the fleeting moments of happiness and joy that persevere even in the shroud of darkness." In fact, those entering the structure will quite literally feel showered with rays of light that channel the brightness of Times Square. 

For a revival of musical theater’s most famous portrait of a con artist, the new Broadway production of The Music Man seems oddly lacking in confidence. Meredith Willson’s 1957 classic should sweep you up in a happy spell of suspended disbelief—much as its reformable-rascal hero, the fast-talking traveling mountebank who calls himself Professor Harold Hill, does to the easily misled citizens of a small town in 1912 Iowa. And who better to cast such magic, one might think, than Hugh Jackman, a bonafide movie star with real musical-theater chops, who has already played a charming charlatan on film as the sucker-seer P.T. Barnum in The Greatest Showman ?  Yet while this Music Man is a solid and professional piece of work, and includes many incidental pleasures, the hoped-for enchantment never arrives...

The Museum of Food and Drink, a learning center in Greenpoint telling cultural history through food, has opened “African/American:  Making the Nation’s Table,” a much-overdue survey of the black community’s immense contributions to the nation’s culinary scene. The museum show is the first-of-its kind as — shockingly—t here has yet to be as comprehensive of an exhibit focused on the subject. There are many exciting features to the upcoming exhibit, such as stories of how African-Americans played a role in staples like rice, whiskey and ice cream while seeking to recast legacies of dishes and erasures of appropriate credit due to the ripple effects of slavery and lingering racism. The Museum of Food and Drink also recently purchased the psychedelic orange and yellow kitchen (seen above) that was once used for recipe testing at Ebony Magazine  before the magazine shuttered, and its remnants were put up for auction. Many fans of the storied space were worried what would happen to the dreamy kitchen that held so much history of black home cooking, so we’re glad it’s found a new life. 

As musical comedians, Rebecca Vigil and Evan Kaufman have played just about every room in NYC, and at their beloved monthly show, they play your heartstrings. Watch as the manically inventive duo interviews a couple in the audience live about how they met, then spins their love story into an epic, totally-improvised musical extravaganza. 

If you loved the music and cool jazz scene in Disney and Pixar's movie Soul, you'll want to make a beeline to The National Jazz Museum in Harlem, which has been transformed into the film's Half Note jazz club. Showcasing incredible artifacts from major players in Harlem's jazz scene, including Duke Ellington’s white grand piano, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis' tenor saxophone, a player piano and a working 78rpm Victrola, "The Soul of Jazz: An American Adventure" highlights the many different cultures and creators who influenced this genre.

The luxurious Italian wellness spa QC NY has opened to the public, bringing the elegance and rejuvenation of a European spa to Governors Island, but with New York City flavor. It's immediately clear when you enter the spa that it was made to feel like home. From its cozy reception area decorated with custom-made furniture from Italy to its welcoming relaxation spaces with plush leather chairs and massive pillows you can sprawl out on, it feels like you're staying at a retreat with New York Harbor views. Since it's on the edge of the island, a short walk from Soissons Landing, looking out the windows offers gorgeous blue water views and glimpses of the city skyline. Because of its layout, the spa feels secluded from the rest of the island. Click through to read more about the new spa.

Once a week, after closing time, 10 people convene at the city’s oldest magic shop, Tannen’s, for a cozy evening of prestidigitation by the young and engaging Noah Levine. The shelves are crammed with quirky devices; there's a file cabinet behind the counter, a mock elephant in the corner and bins of individual trick instructions in plastic covers, like comic books or sheet music. The charm of Levine's show is in how well it fits the environment of this magic-geek chamber of secrets. As he maneuvers cards, eggs, cups and balls with aplomb, he talks shop, larding his patter with tributes to routines like the Stencel Aces and the Vernon Boat Trick—heirlooms of his trade that he gently polishes and displays for our amazement.

Head to the Museum of the City of New York to see 100 photographs selected from the more than 1,000 images recently gifted to the Museum by the Joy of Giving Something (JGS), a non-profit organization dedicated to the photographic arts. Images range from documentary-style to quirky and from architectural to atmospheric. “Celebrating the City” features works by more than 30 creators new to the MCNY collection, including multiple images from Helen Levitt’s dynamic and celebrated street photography; Sylvia Plachy’s playful and eccentric examination of the people, animals, and moments of NYC; and Michael Spano’s slice-of-life city shots spanning the 1990s and 2000s. Other key figures in 20th-century photography are incorporated into the show, including Ilse Bing, Bruce Davidson, Mitch Epstein, Elliott Erwitt, Robert Frank, William Kline, Saul Leiter, Alfred Stieglitz, Rosalind Solomon, and Paul Strand, to name a few—all capturing indelible, sometimes implausible, intimate, and often incredible moments of the city. You'll even see a llama in Times Square, fireworks over the Brooklyn Bridge, polar bears playing in a pool at the zoo as well as subways, skylines, shadows, and stolen moments.

Starting March 4, MoMA and UNIQLO are offering free admission to NYC residents on the first Friday of every month from 4 to 8pm. On these days, you'll get to explore the museum during extended hours and enjoy its second-floor café and Museum store. UNIQLO NYC Nights are part of the two organization's decade-long partnership. You won't want to miss MoMA's upcoming exhibits "Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme: May amnesia never kiss us on the mouth" (Apr 23–Jun 26) and "Henri Matisse: The Red Studio" (May 1–Sep 10).

Kinky’s Dessert Bar, at 181 Orchard Street, is decked out in very explicit decor—a ton of sexually provocative posters and magazine covers adorn the walls and an upstairs seating area—the two-floor destination will function as both a bar serving drinks and desserts and, eventually, an event space. In addition to racy waffles, patrons will revel in a menu filled with all sorts of cookies and cupcakes. Yes, the treats are just as delicious as they are visually entertaining. (We tried them!) Standouts include the oatmeal raisin cookie Lick Me, the So Anxious vanilla cupcake made with creamy vanilla buttercream, the I Like it Rough (a red velvet cupcake topped with cream cheese frosting) and the Beg for More Banana—a waffle filled with homemade banana pudding and glazed with a banana cream. In a funny gimmick, customers can choose their waffle to be a dicky or a va-jayjay.

Comedy Nite Live is a new weekly stand-up comedy showthat features new comedians every week on Thursdays at 9pm at RPM Underground. Past comedians have included Usama Siddique, Zach Zimmerman, Jocelyn Chia, Derek Gaines, Robby Slowik and  Kareem Green among others.  What's cool is that the $5 ticket price includes an hour of free private-room karaoke after the show.

Just in time for Black History Month, the New-York Historical Society is bringing Frederick Douglass’ vision of freedom, citizenship and equal rights to life in a new ongoing special installation. A range of artifacts and documents illustrate Douglass’ vision, including illustrations from the popular press of the time and scrapbooks of articles by or about Douglass compiled by his sons that also documented his work to usher in a more just country. Visitors will also see speech excerpt from his contemporary, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, who raises the question of gender in step with Douglass’ ideas about racial equality. Political cartoons and a copy of an editorial that Douglass wrote about Chinese immigrants’ right to belong in the U.S. in the Chinese American newspaper are also on view.

There's a lot to say about new Lower East Side cocktail bar Sally Can Wait—starting with the story behind the name, which is an ode to co-owner Matt Friedlander's dog, Sally. Sally Can Wait seeks to marry the culinary worlds of Latin and Jewish cuisines—a task that's rarely been attempted before. The food offerings immediately call out to both fares. Take the grilled mahi mahi Reuben, for example, which is a Cuban version  of the classic Jewish sandwich (pastrami spice, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, house Russian dressing). The classic Cubano is also worth splitting (roast pork, ham, Swiss cheese, house pickles, yellow mustard) after an order of the oh-so-Jewish latkes, served with sour cream, pickled onion and Fuji apple compote. The cocktails are outstanding as well—which doesn't surprise us considering that Friedlander used to be the general manager at Grand Banks, and co-owner Zak Snyder was the bar manager at Analogue. The two worked at a slew of other New York City nightlife staples as well.

Whether it’s because it so often intersects with golden hour , or simply because the drinks are cheap(er), happy hour is the best hour in NYC. The discounted beer, wine and cocktails are terrific, but it’s even nicer to have less-spendy snacks to match. A lot of the best bars in town offer deals between about lunch and dinner, and these outstanding few slash their food prices to $10 or less for those precious minutes, too. 

For the first time ever, a Lenape-curated exhibition featuring artifacts and masterworks from the native people of the New York Harbor region is opening in NYC. The Brooklyn Public Library and The Lenape Center are presenting "Lenapehoking," the Lenape name for the homeland, an exhibition of masterworks by Lenape artists past and present. Here, visitors will see never-before-seen beaded bandolier bags from the 1800s, a newly created turkey feather cape, three tapestries made of Purple Kingsessing for a rematriation project in the Hudson Valley. This exhibit wouldn't be what it is without its curator, Joe Baker, who is a member of the Delaware Tribe of Indians and the co-founder and executive director of the Lenape Center. He will lead a virtual exhibit opening on January 20 at 7pm. You can RSVP here.

Sands of Persia, a new dessert bar and hookah lounge, is serving up Turkish sand coffee. Traditionally, Turkish java is brewed in a pan filled with sand and heated over an open flame. The fine coffee grinds and water are then added to a small long-handled pot called cezce, traditionally made of brass, copper, silver or gold (most recently, also made with aluminum, ceramics or stainless steel) and boasting a specially designed pouring lip. The concoction is then mixed and placed in hot sand, which creates and even heat and helps the coffee foam almost immediately.  The sweets menu also includes a Fingerlime Chiffon Meringue (fingerlime yuzu cake, meringue, rosemary, orange mousse and lime gel), the Persimmon Wide (persimmon tuile with almond crumble, truffle oil, yogurt, butternut squash, creme brûlée and balsamic vinegar honey gel), the Desert Sunset (banana pudding with parle sugar jaggery) and the All is Well (brownie with soft serve), among other dishes.

Award-winning graphic novelist Peter Kuper's intricate drawings of insects—bees, ants, cicadas, butterflies, silkworms, beetles, dragonflies, and more—show them "flying, crawling, and interacting with the various rooms of the Library’s 42nd Street building, where they will be showcased. "This bug’s-eye view of the building’s Beaux-Arts architectural details illuminates the iconic spaces in a completely original way." Kuper has been working on an upcoming graphic novel, INterSECTS, and had the chance to explore the building and its rooms while they were empty during the pandemic. It was there that he realized that the building would be a perfect vehicle for his concept. Viewers of his work can access commentary by experts online and via QR codes, such as Jessica Ware on dragonflies, Gene Kritsky on cicadas, Michael Engel on bees, Barrett Klein on scarab beetles, and Mark W. Moffett on ants with Mexico’s leading poet/novelist, Homero Aridjis, reading his poem "A Una Mariposa Monarcha."  The audio talks are accompanied by the insect-inspired music of David Rothenberg. All of this plus downloadable coloring book art will be available on January 7 at nypl.org/intersects.

Every Monday evening, you can enjoy Prohibition-era cocktails and live jazz channeling the spirit and energy of the Harlem Renaissance at Sugar Monk. You'll have your pick of Prohibition and Pre-Prohibition cocktails (Sidecar, Clover Club, Bijou, French 75, The Boothby, The Bee's Knees, Hanky Panky and others) to sip on while Max Bessesen and his trio play on from 8 to 10pm. There's no cover, just make a reservation on Resy.

Sesh Comedy is the only BYOB comedy club in NYC and features comics from Comedy Central, HBO, Colbert, Netflix, Amazon, and others. It's "Comedy Cellar if the Comedy Cellar was $10 and when you arrived they handed you a free drink!" That's right, you get a free alcoholic drink with your ticket (if you're 21 or older). BYOB is also encouraged.

On Location Tours is once again offering its popular On Location Tours Sex and the City Hotspots Tour as both a public and private sightseeing experience. This bus tour highlights several famous NYC buildings and locations featured in the series Sex and the City, all from the comfort of a heated bus this winter.

On the tour, you'll see Greenwich Village, the Meatpacking District, and SoHo and its one-of-a-kind boutiques, department stores and designer shops with tour guides who are local New York City actresses excited to share facts along with fun trivia questions about the buildings and locations.

Each tour guest will also receive a free Magnolia Bakery cupcake (and those over 21 can sip discounted cosmos at the famous NYC bar ONieal’s). 

Public tours run several times a week, including Fridays and Saturdays at 3pm. Private tours are offered daily, and a limo buyout option is available.

A high-end destination has opened at the South Street Seaport, combining a love for singalongs with delicious tabletop grills. Upstairs at Ssäm Bar is Momofuku's latest restaurant, this one located at Pier 17 (89 South Street, to be precise), on the second floor of Momofuku Ssäm Bar. While overlooking the East River, you'll get to sing your heart out to your favorite karaoke songs in one of two private rooms (each one accommodates up to 10 people) where you'll also get to order from the entire Asian-influenced menu. And because there is no karaoke without cocktails, here's a bit about that: from the Psycho Beach Party (mezcal, cynar, passionfruit, pineapple and blood orange) to the Toki Hot Toddy (Suntory Toki whisky, genmaicha tea and lemon) and the Suit & Chair (chai-infused rum, rockey's liqueur, ginger, salted plum and a chinotto float), you probably never have had such high-end drinks while screaming your lungs out to Prince's "Purple Rain." 

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is literally making room for the real, lived history of Seneca Village, the once-thriving community founded by free Black New Yorkers that existed just a few hundred yards west of The Met between the 1820s and 1850s. The space, conceived and designed by Lead Curator and Designer Hannah Beachler (known for her work on Black Panther and Beyoncé’s "Lemonade" video) and Senior Exhibition Designer Fabiana Weinberg, includes a wood-framed 19th-century home that contains works from The Met’s American Wing that are reminiscent of pot shards and remnants from Seneca Village that were found in 2011. Representing the future with the past in mind, works of art and design from the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art are interspersed in the space as well as contemporary furniture, photography, and ceramics alongside from The Met’s Michael C. Rockefeller Wing.

The Public hotel (formally known as “PUBLIC”) first opened on the Lower East Side in 2017 and hasn’t stopped opening since. Its post pandemic-restriction relaunch in June included a Peruvian-inspired restaurant called Popular (POPULAR), the adjacent Cantina & Pisco Bar (CANTINA & PISCO BAR) and a rooftop (THE ROOF).  Now, the hotel adds a jazzy cocktail lounge to its cruiseship-like variety with Bar Chrystie (. . . you get the idea). Bar Chrystie, located on the hotel’s lobby level, aims to evoke “1920s Hollywood glamour,” which is rude, because NYC had the '20s, too. To ice that burn it is also “ celebrating New York City’s legendary cocktail culture,” according to press materials. But it is also, “inspired by Bar Hemingway at the Hôtel Ritz Paris and Harry’s Bar in Venice,” so I guess if there’s ever been a place than this is it.  Bar Chrystie is adorned with un-chandeliered chandeliers, bright night sky-blue banquettes, a Baccarat candelabra and “metal orbs." Its opening menu includes a robust and detailed cocktail list including classics and signature offerings, wine, beer, cider and a complement of Champagne. Snacks like truffle flatbread, croquettes and warm roasted olives are also available.

Although it might seem counterintuitive to establish a new business at the tail end (hopefully) of a global pandemic, the venture seems to be paying off for 30-year-old Adrian Rew, the founder and owner of record store Ergot. Ergot, which opened less than two months ago on East 2nd Street and Second Avenue, is the evolution of Rew's eponymous music label. Ergot is a minimally decorated, clean-looking space that fits right into the neighborhood. Countless vinyls are available for browsing, with an entire wall displaying some noteworthy picks, from Faction by Réseau D'Ombres to Bill Orcutt's A Mechanical Joey and DMX's second album Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood. Although clearly carrying a variety of genres—disco! Latin! Gospel! Pop! Experimental!—Rew reveals that New Yorkers are currently gravitating towards jazz and new wave.

A new exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum offers an intimate look at Andy Warhol's upbringing, specifically dissecting how his Catholic religion impacted his life and his art.

Although Warhol's  faith was prominently featured in his work, albeit reframed "within the context of pop art and culture," not much has been said about how he viewed his religion in light of his sexual orientation, for example. 

"Andy Warhol: Revelation" will feature over 100 objects—from rare source materials to newly discovered ones—"that provide a fresh and intimate look at Warhol's creative process." Among the roster of works on display expect to see his 1986 "Last Supper" series and his experimental film  The  Chelsea Girls, from 1966, which was commissioned by the de Menil family and funded by the Roman Catholic Church.

A new audio tour by the Brooklyn Public Library seeks to explore the lives of the characters and authors that call the borough home in fiction and in real life. From Patti Smith to Biggie Smalls, Howard Zinn to Tanwi Nandini Islam, the guide covers a total of 16 writers over eight miles of Brooklyn. You can also expect to stop at important public libraries the likes of Washington Irving and Clinton Hill, which, according to an official press release, "played an important role in the lives of the featured author[s]." Expect the entire tour, which can virtually start off from anywhere in Brooklyn, to take at least two hours to complete, depending on how many stops you wish to make along the way.

Overthrow Hospitality—the group behind New York favorites Amor y Amargo, Ladybird and Death and Co., among others—has just debuted an attention-grabbing champagne and absinthe bar in the East Village that is inspired by... hell. Café de L’Enfer, which literally translates to "hell cafe" from the French, opened earlier this month and the decor is just as striking as the cocktails, developed by mixologist Sother Teague. The destination, which calls out to the famous Victorian-era Cabaret de l'Enfer in Paris, is filled with touches of the underworld. Expect skulls, deep red booths and ogre-like statues to adorn the dark space, located directly above Amor y Amargo. Think of Café de L’Enfer as a year-round Halloween extravaganza.

Lower East Side darling Meow Parlour, the famous cat cafe where New Yorkers get to play with adoptable cats while sipping coffee and munching on sweets, has finally reopened following an 18-month-long, pandemic-fueled closure. Now in "soft relaunch mode," the space at 46 Hester Street is welcoming guests with reservations on Saturdays and Sundays from 10am through 7pm. You can schedule your visit on the official website right here.

Eataly, the massive Italian marketplace that has become a centerpiece of Flatiron, is debuting its first indoor restaurant concept since 2018 on November 5. Bar Milano, which will feature 70 seats in total, takes over Manzo's location, the meat-heavy eatery that closed over a year ago. As its name suggests, the new spot's menu will focus on foods endemic to Milano, one of the most traveled-to cities in Italy. From moneghili (crispy, Milanese-style braised beef and pork "meatballs") to risotto alla Milanese (saffron, bone marrow brodo, 18-month parmigianno Reggion), tajarin al tartufo bianco (house-made 40-yold pasta, Ferrarini butter, 36-month parmigiano Reggiano, freshly shaved urbani white truffles) and a classic Milanese cutlet (breaded, fried and served with Italian chicories, lemon and extra virgin olive oil), the list of offerings really does pay homage to one of the most multicultural (and New York-like?) towns on the other side of the Atlantic. But as exciting as the proposed food is, visitors will likely fawn over the roving wooden Negroni cart that will be on premise.

Sobre Masa, the Williamsburg pop-up tortilla factory opened in 2020 with imported Mexican heirloom corn, has turned full blown cafe, bar and restaurant is expanding to one of Brooklyn’s taco capitals, Bushwick. Sobre Masa Tortilleria opened its doors at 52 Harrison Place, selling fresh, house-made tortillas alongside Mexican groceries and goods, a morning coffee shop with Oaxacan coffee and house-made Mexican pastries, as well as a taqueria vending a variety of traditional taco styles and cocktails highlighting Mexican spirits. 

One of Texas' best exports to New York City is getting a new Manhattan location this monday. Alamo Drafthouse, the cinema known for serving restaurant-quality food and drinks during its screenings, is opening its second New York location in Manhattan. Adding to its downtown Brooklyn location, Alamo Drafthouse's second NYC locations will be at 28 Liberty St. with fourteen auditoriums that seat up to 578 guests in total. The theater chain is known for its luxury reclining seats with built-in tables and cupholders. It's like being in an elite private screening room, but anyone can buy a ticket. Movie buffs at Alamo's Lower Manhattan location will be treated to 4K digital projection and 7.1 Dolby surround sound. The opening screenings include current blockbusters like No Time to Die, and Marvel's Eternals as well as classics like 1933's original King Kong. 

Newly opened in the West Village this past June, Yuco has 65 seats and an aim “to be the single most innovative Yucateco restaurant in the world.” Already, it's doing a bit to reorient fine dining in NYC.  You can go to Yuco and spend $225 per person on its tasting menu before drinks, tax and tip. Nine courses are like a carousel of some of the best of what Yuco has to offer across its price tiers. A $95 prix-fixe lets you choose one item from first, main and mid-course sections. In a move that separates Yuco from NYC’s more antiquated institutions of higher eating, everything is available à la carte.  Chef-partner Christian Ortiz’s excellent braised oxtail en mole, for example, appears on either the prix-fixe menu or on its own for $51. Even divorced from the pageantry of Yuco’s grandest tasting and the truncated spectacle of its second, the execution is remarkable. This is a ne plus ultra oxtail, rich and satiny and offset by a deep mole unlike what any other NYC restaurant has on its menu

Comedy Nite Live is a new weekly stand-up comedy showthat features new comedians every week on Thursdays at 9pm at RPM Underground. Past comedians have included Usama Siddique, Zach Zimmerman, Jocelyn Chia, Derek Gaines, Robby Slowik and  Kareem Green among others.  What's cool is that the $5 ticket price includes an hour of free private-room karaoke after the show.

The school cafeteria has nothing on this tapas restaurant. 

Oliva, a new Spanish restaurant by chef Franklin Becker, is adjacent to Manhattanville Market, which is within Columbia University’s Jerome L. Greene Science Center, but the offerings are far from university fare. 

The lively, fun West Harlem spot serves premium products sourced directly from Spain, showcasing shareable dishes with modern interpretations to whisk you across the Atlantic in just a few small bites. 

Oliva’s menu, developed with Chef de Cuisine Chris Strelnick, highlights cured meats, Embutidos, along with a variety of queso, a frio y ambiente section and finishes with a selection of calida y caliente. For non-hispanohablantes, that’s cold and hot dishes.

Standout dishes from the Fall 2021 opening menu include a mackerel and blood orange crudo, Serrano ham croquetas, crab fideos and a Soccarat, or seafood rice, for two. For dessert, a crema Catalana presents a creamy Barcelonian twist on more familiar creme brulee. 

The beverage menu, designed by mixologist Eamon Rockey, offers beverages from regions around Spain, local New York beers, ciders and spirits, plus cocktails designed to emulate the easygoing European lifestyle. There is, of course, sangria, as well as Spanish-style gin and tonics, with fresh and dried botanicals, and plenty of fortified wines, like sherry and vermouth.   

Live music nights help fill the floor-to-ceiling glass space with joy and celebration, and the restaurant serves as a nice pitstop for a drink and cheese plate before dinner or a full-on gathering hall for group celebrations. 

Oliva offers both indoor and outdoor dining and is open Tuesday through Thursday, 5pm-10pm, Friday and Saturday from 5pm-11pm and Sundays from 5pm-10pm. Reservations are accepted through Resy or by phone, 917-522-0391.

Vintage shopping has long been a Brooklyn past time, but two major brands are teaming up to push the joy of buying (gently) used closed even further. Madewell and thredUP, an fashion resale site, have launched a "Circular Store" in Williamsburg, selling exclusively secondhand clothes. Located at 89 N. 6th Street, which is typically Madewell's Men's store, this Circular Store be the first-ever shop of its kind, thoroughly stocked with preloved Madewell styles via thredUP. Prices range from $10-40, and categories include denim, dresses, jackets and more. ThredUP continues the circular concept by offering clean out kits at the store, to help shoppers keep their previously worn clothes in use, out of landfills, and sold to earn fashionistas a little cash, to well, spend at the circular store. 

The New York Public Library has dug through its expansive and centuries-spanning archive to stage an impressive free exhibition filled with cultural artifacts. Launching this week, The Polonsky Exhibition of New York Public Library’s Treasures spans 4,000 years of history and includes a wide range of history-making pieces, including the only surviving letter from Christoper Columbus announcing his “discovery” of the Americas to King Ferdinand’s court and the first Gutenberg Bible brought over to the Americas. It opens on September 24.

On March 15, The Frick Madison opened at 945 Madison Avenue—the former home of the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Met Breuer—while Henry Clay Frick's mansion undergoes a massive renovation. This new stint will last two years, and while the Brutalist building by Marcel Breuer is a huge departure from the Gilded Age mansion, the space is offering a much different and rare look at the collection, according to museum officials. Unlike at the Frick Mansion, the Breuer building is a clean slate—stark in contrast, which actually helps to attract the viewer's attention to individual works. Eyes aren't busy looking at ornate furniture here. It's all about seeing the smaller details in the artwork that you might have overlooked at the mansion. According to Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Director  Ian Wardropper, "It's a different Frick than you’ve ever known."

Real New Yorkers are on the constant search for cool places to drink coffee — and a new Chelsea Market spot delivers. Day Drinks, a coffee and tea bar that dubs itself "a bar without alcohol" has officially opened in the food hall. Born from a conversation between the founders of artisan coffee roaster Pulley Collective and specialty coffee shop Ninth Street Espresso, which has been inside Chelsea Market for years, Day Drinks aims to redefine the coffee bar experience. Here, guests can order from extensive, locally sourced coffee and tea lists, as well as pick from kegged beverages including on-tap espressos, nitro coffees, sparkling teas, and botanicals. Everything is roasted, brewed, and carbonated on site, meaning that expert bartenders can then work directly with taps and ingredients, and tailor drinks specifically to each customer’s exact tastes, just like at a cocktail bar. By making everything on-site, Day Drinks also has an almost neutral carbon footprint.

Roosevelt Island, the storied former home to NYC's smallpox hospital and insane asylum, has its first-ever rooftop bar and lounge open to the public. Panorama Room is now open atop the newly opened Graduate Roosevelt Island hotel on the southern end of the island and the views are really unparalleled — perhaps even the best of any rooftop lounge. Located on the 18th floor of the hotel, the "jewel box" space by Med Abrous and Marc Rose, who are food and beverage partners of the hotel and co-founders of the hospitality group Call Mom, opens up to incredible views of the boroughs, the bridges and the East River, which shine like stars at night. Designed by James Beard Award-winning design firm Parts and Labor Design, Panorama Room is visually dramatic. Its palatial vibes are set by luxurious velvet vintage-inspired tubular lounge sofas, chrome and marble touches, mosaic tile columns and its giant, tubular acrylic chandeliers that hover above the massively long bar. It's not only luxe but it's somehow simultaneously futuristic and retro. 

Next stop for your cross-continental taste buds: Indian-Mexican fare by restaurateur PriaVanda Chouhan. Eight years ago, Chouhan launched the popular Indian street food concept Desi Galli in Kips Bay, and now, at her second location in Alphabet City, she is adding a full sit-down tasting menu experience with Desi Garden. Originally, Desi Galli's fast-casual concept was envisioned in order to satisfy the New York Desi community's desire for Indian soul food. During the pandemic, however, Chouhan recognized that many of her regular customers were craving more experiences that extended beyond her typical fast-casual menu. This year, she decided to pivot into a full-service restaurant to reach her clientele, and Desi Garden was born.

The Museum of Sex always has something exciting going on behind closed doors.  "Super Funland: Journey into the Erotic Carnival" is back and better than ever with its 4-D immersive “Tunnel of Love” ride, the Love & Lust Deity Derby game, an erotic fortune-telling machine (modeled as RuPaul), a kissing booth, the Glory Stall game, an immersive "Stardust Lane - the Erogenous Kaleidoscope," an erotic mechanical bull and a lit-up   climbing structure, "The Climbx," and more.  Then when it's time to take the edge off, visitors can slide down a spiral slide  into the Museum’s psychedelic carnival bar, Lollipop Lounge, for cocktails. 

One White Street spans three stories at the storied address 1 White Street, which was the theoretical site of Yoko Ono and John Lennon’s Nutopian Embassy in 1973. Each floor has its own separate dining room with its own open kitchen. The space is neutrally hued, lined in pale wood and has pops of blue throughout.  The first floor is designated for walk-ins and seats 23. The second and third floors are reservations-only. The opening menu includes chilled foie gras with peaches, plums and hazelnut, grilled monkfish, glazed gnocchi and a 60-day-aged strip loin.  Ingredients are sourced from Rigor Hill Farm in the Hudson Valley , and wine selections from small, sustainability-oriented makers reflect those locally-grown goods. The downstairs menu is  à  la carte and a $148 six-course tasting menu will be available upstairs.

Taste your way around the world at a new wine bar that offers dozens of international wines, all by the glass. Temperance Wine Bar (40 Carmine Street), which officially opened yesterday, is a new neighborhood drinking spot with a fun energy and eclectic design featuring local artists. Most importantly, there's plenty to drink. At Temperance, Ojeda-Pons has curated an extensive menu of over 100 rotating international wines by the glass, as well as a selection of eight wines on tap. The wines range from affordable to higher-end, featuring classic European producers like Foradori and Clotilde Davenne, wines from New York like Millbrook Estate in the Hudson River Valley and Osmote in the Finger Lakes, wines from across the US like Monte Rio Cellars in California and Day Wines in the Willamette Valley, as well as wines from less traditional wine regions including countries like Morocco, Lebanon and Cyprus, and more. Other wine categories featured include smaller producers, lesser-known grape varieties, natural wines, orange wines, year-round rosés, sherry, sparkling wines from Champagne, and beyond.

After Time Out first confirmed with Lucali owner Mark Iacono last month that his new slice shop was in the works, Baby Luc’s opened on Saturday with zero promotional fanfare but all the excitement we’ve come to expect for an operation by the famed pizzaiolo.  In June, Iacono told us he was “nervous” about the new spot, even though Baby Luc’s has been in the theoretical works for quite some time, being that Lucali was originally intended as a slice shop. Lucali demonstrably worked out just fine in its eventual, whole pie form, as lines still accrue night after night. And it’s already the same deal at Baby Luc’s.

The venue formerly known as Fat Cat has reemerged with a new name, new games, and custom ice cream. Cellar Dog (75 Christopher St.) is reviving the Fat Cat tradition of late-night basement gaming, with an updated concept for 2021. Cellar Dog will remain a live music and game hall, making the most of the 9,000-square-foot underground space. Games include pool tables, ping pong, shuffleboard, foosball, checkers and chess, as well as antique and novelty arcade games including Pac Man and many more. Live jazz and additional entertainment will also be booked throughout the week.

Immersive art exhibit Arcadia Earth has reopened after being closed due to the pandemic, and it looks better than ever! The exhibit aims to inspire visitors artistically and ethically, as it uses 15 rooms to spotlight the environmental challenges that our planet is facing (such as overfishing, food waste, and climate change). This exhibit will not only leave visitors in awe, but it will help support Oceanic Global, an organization devoted to raising awareness around our aquatic ecosystems. In addition, a tree will also be planted for every ticket sold, making it a perfect gift for your eco-conscious friends!

New York City is seeing its fair share of immersive exhibits with massive digital projections, from the dueling van Gogh shows to "Geometric Properties" at ARTECHOUSE. But the real O.G. is back. SuperReal has reopened at Cipriani 25 Broadway, inside the historic Cunard Building, bringing its cutting-edge projection mapping tech and multimedia art to its walls and ceiling—and it happens to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the Cunard Building, which opened in 1921. Across 45 minutes, the show places viewers in five unique and abstract sequences that are both stunning and interactive. One minute you could be daydreaming in a fairylike flower garden and the next you're caught in an epic thunderstorm or thrown into the middle of a tropical disco. During the show, people are encouraged to relax on bean bags or play with balloons that also react with the 360-degree show. The floor is a gigantic mirror that only enhances the special effects. It's the ultimate place for selfies and fun Instagram fodder.

Get ready, New York, your acceptance letter to Hogwarts is here—the most magical place in New York City, the Harry Potter Store New York, is about to open on June 3. Wizards and witches will be able to shop from the world's largest collection of Harry Potter merch across 21,000 square feet at 935 Broadway in the Flatiron District at this highly-anticipated store.  We've been waiting for a year to walk through these magical doors and on Friday, we were finally able to check it out. And Harry Potter fans? You're going to flip.  Every detail of Harry Potter Store New York has been intricately designed, from the decor sitting on the shelves above all the incredible merch (yes, there are full house robes) to the design of the store itself, which has a room full of gorgeous HP stationary by MinaLima, massive models of Fawkes the Phoenix and a moving griffin as well as a spiral staircase that descends into a space made to look like the Ministry of Magic. 

Looking for some new spots in the city to explore as the five boroughs continue to reopen? Here’s an underground spot you’ll want to add to your list.  Coby Club is a new, subterranean lounge opening on Seventh Ave that’s inspired by 1960s San Francisco nightlife. The lush space pays homage to San Francisco Chinatown nightlife in the 1960s and one woman in particular who was at the heart of it: Miss Coby Yee, the glamorous dancer and owner of the iconic club Forbidden City.  The space certainly does have a sense of mystique to it with black velvet banquettes and red, silk-shaded lighting. In one especially timely touch, the walls are adorned with gold embossed phoenix-like dragons, meant—in part—to represent the city’s nightlife dramatically rising from the ashes this year with a new sense of strength and optimism. Who doesn’t love a little metaphorical wall art? When the space opens on April 22, you can swing by for craft cocktails and small plates. Live musical performances and other forms of live entertainment are planned for the near future once current restrictions relax. The owner behind the new lounge, Bob Pontarelli, has launched other well-known past restaurant and nightlife ventures, including Crowbar, Barracuda, Leshko’s, Elmo and Industry Bar. 

Fall in NYC is everything you could hope for in a season. First, the city gets delightfully spooky for Halloween. With thrilling Halloween events and Halloween festivals happening in every borough, it’s easy to get in the spirit of things! Aside from pumpkins and funky costumes though, you can keep the autumn excitement going by leaf peeping around the city, warming up with whiskey, parades, virtual parties and so much more. Autumn in NYC is tough to match!

'Tis the season to get spooky! But beyond the best Halloween events, but there are also plenty of other awesome NYC events in October 2020. Use our events calendar to plan the quintessential month for leaf peeping and spotting fall foliage, pumpkin picking and more things to do in fall.

Kick off fall with some epic cultural events, you don't want to miss happening like Open House New York, Oktoberfest and new haunted pop-up drive throughs.

RECOMMENDED: Full NYC events calendar for 2020

2020 has been scary enough, but we're throwing the spookiness into high gear for Halloween this month. Typically, October is filled with costumed parties, jump scares at haunted houses, corn mazes and parades, but this year will be a little different. For one, the  Village Halloween Parade is canceled, and it's likely most of the city's regularly scheduled scary haunts will be as well given the current pandemic. That being said, there are still quite a few things still taking place, and with Halloween (finally) taking place on a Saturday, it'll be easier to celebrate.  Don't bother breaking out your sewing kit,  New York's greatest  Halloween stores have plenty of options to make you look really spooky.  Make sure to check out our NYC events in October too for even more activities to finish off the month in killer spirits. 

RECOMMENDED: Full guide to Halloween in NYC

Want to know what’s happening in New York today, this weekend or in the coming months? Use our NYC events calendar 2020 as your guide to find the best things to do in the fall, winter and spring. Major events to look forward to this time of year include The Village Halloween Parade, Oktoberfest and the best places to see fall foliage in the city. Ready to unleash your inner culture vulture? Peep our top picks for the best art shows and concerts this year. All you need to do is buy the tickets!

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