places/NYC
Museums
Use I heart NYC Museums to look them all up and see when they are free!
Short and probably out-of-date summary:
- MOMA is free 4-8pm on fridays
- The Met is always “suggested” donation
- Guggenheim is free Saturday 5:45-7:45pm
- Whitney is free 6-9pm Fridays
- New Museum is free 7-9pm Thursdays
- Morgan library is free 7-9pm Fridays
- Brooklyn museum street party is the first Saturday of every month.
Cinema and Outdoor Films
Generic listings for Manhattan: Google, Fandango
Good small theaters (possibly redundant with above listings):
- MOMA (Midtown)
- Anthology Film Archives (East Village)
- Film Forum (SOHO/Village)
- BAM Cinema (Brooklyn)
- Quad Cinema (W 13th)
- Film Society Lincoln Center
- Lincoln Plaza Cinema
- NiteHawk (Williamsburg; serves booze)
In the summer, try:
- Rooftop Film Series
- Films on the Green (French films in parks)
- River to River (lower manhattan; has some films)
- Bryant Park Summer Films
Music
Oh My Rockness and Brooklyn Vegan are the main listings sites.
The Stone is a great experimental music venue in the East Village.
Places
I like the Hungarian Pastry Shop up near Columbia University, very cozy.
Think Coffee is reasonable near Washington Park, open relatively late.
Kaffee 1668 (just north of WTC site) has the best brewed coffee I know of in Manhattan, and good wifi.
The “Dual Specialty” grocery store. Mostly Indian, some Middle Eastern spices and ingredients, at 1st Ave and 6th St in Manhattan.
School of Math is sort of an anarcho-math hangout.
Proteus Gowanus was nice, but defunkt.
Other Stuff
Listings of things to do:
- monkey.org’s masterplace
- nonsensenyc.com (a mailing list)
- Time Out (generic)
- Time’s Up is a bike activist group with lots of events
The Met Opera House sometimes has standing-room-only tickets, which are actually pretty reasonable (you get sort of a dedicated lecturn in the back of the audience), and frequently results in free upgrades to primo seats in the orchestra.
The State Island Ferry, Central Library (at 42nd St), High Line, and of course Central Park are all free and worth visits.