Things to do in New York City
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Hush Tours
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Best Halal
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Villard Houses
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Noshwalks
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Avenue Q
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Littlefield
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Dance on Camera Festival
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Bklyn Yard
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Wildman Steve Brill
New York’s best-known naturalist – betcha didn’t know there were any! – has been leading folks on foraging expeditions through city parks for more than 20 years. He’ll trek with you through Central Park, Prospect Park, Inwood Park and many more, teaching you to identify natural riches including sassafras, chickweed, ginkgo nuts, garlic and wild mushrooms along the way. It’s wild.
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Watson Adventures Scavenger Hunts
Go beyond walking and talking with Watson, which turns each tour into a game by making you hunt for things – be it answers to interesting questions or quirky items – as you go about your journey. Tours vary, but most are great for children, such as hunts in both the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Museum of Natural History, which have you scour the grounds for mummies, knights and bones.
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Tours of the City with Justin Ferate
A former educator and tour director, Ferate, who also has a background in architecture, now pours all of his knowledge into his extensive tours. He offers a free trip through Grand Central Terminal and Midtown every Friday, as well as intensive walking tours that, as part of the continuing education program of the Cooper Union college, focus on a different neighborhood each week.
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Rock Junket New York City
Join rockin’ guide Bobby Pinn each Saturday at 11am for a two-hour tour that relives the good ol’ East Village days of punk and glam rock. Learn cool tidbits about CBGB, the Ramones, the New York Dolls, the Velvet Underground, Fillmore East, Iggy Pop and others through onsite visits and in-the-know discourse. Tours sell out quickly, so buy in advance, online.
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Phototrek Tours
If the photo record of your trip is just as – if not more – important than the experience itself (you know who you are), let guide and photographer Marc Samuels (or a member of his capable staff) lead you through some of the most picturesque spots in the city, and take professional photos of you in front of each one. Choose from Central Park, Midtown and downtown; tours are for private groups or couples only.
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Opera on Tap
‘More often than not,’ say the organizers of this non-profit opera company, ‘opera is perceived in this country to be elitist, pretentious, stuffy and boring.’ And that’s a belief that Opera on Tap is working to change through its outreach program and roving opera ‘gigs,’ such as a recent eclectic production that paired singers with puppets, and a collection of new works called Opera Grows in Brooklyn. Visit its website for a calendar and performance locations.
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On Location Tours
Face it: you want to sit on Carrie Bradshaw’s apartment stoop and visit the design studio from Will & Grace. This company offers four tours – covering Sex and the City, The Sopranos, general TV and movie locations, and movie locations in Central Park – that let you live out your entertainment-obsessed fantasies. A couple of the tours are also available in German.
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NY Tour Goddess New York Tours
Quirky guide Jane Marx, who’s made careers of acting, writing and teaching, blends all of her talents for a huge range of tours that focus on providing intimate portraits of her city. ‘I’m off the wall,’ she admits. ‘But I’m so knowledgeable.’ Tours, which are not cheap, range from Wall St and Little Italy to Union Sq and Harlem. Prices are negotiable with group bookings.
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New York Public Library
The public library offers lectures and public seminars at its myriad branch locations, on topics from contemporary art to the writings of Jane Austen. You’ll find some of the best at the main branch on 42nd St. You can search all happenings at the library’s website.
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New York Philharmonic
The oldest professional orchestra in the US (dating back to 1842) holds its season every year at Avery Fisher Hall. Directed by Alan Gilbert, the son of two Philharmonic musicians, the orchestra plays a mix of classics (Tchaikovsky, Mahler, Haydn) and some contemporary works, as well as concerts geared towards children.
Tickets run in the $33 to $83 range. If you’re on a budget, check out its open rehearsals on Thursdays during the day (at the discretion of the conductor) for only $18. In addition, students with a valid school ID can pick up rush tickets for $12.50 up to 10 days before an event.
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New York City Opera
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New York City Ballet
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Museum of Modern Art
Not only a palace of visual art, MoMA hosts an incredibly well-rounded selection of celluloid gems both old and new. A recent schedule ran the gamut from the German feature A Year Ago in Winter to Academy-nominated documentary shorts and a retrospective of works from Tim Burton.
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KGB Bar
This Commie-themed bar, one flight above street level, hosts readings on most nights, with occasional appearances from local lit stars such as Rick Moody and Marissa Miley, plus popular theme nights that present lineups of journalists, Jewish novelists, poets, crime authors and fantasy writers.
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Gray Line
The most ubiquitous guided tour in the city, Gray Line is responsible for bombarding New York streets with the red double-decker buses that locals love to hate. Really, though, for a comprehensive tour of the big sights, it's a great way to go. The company offers nearly 30 different options, the best being both the popular hop-on, hop-off loops of Manhattan. Tours are available in various languages, including Japanese, French, German and Italian.
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Brooklyn Public Library
Located on the northeast edge of Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighborhood, this grand library hosts a regular series of readings, including special events geared at the tots. Check their website for a schedule.
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Bluestockings
A small and independent radical/feminist bookstore and cafe, Bluestockings hosts frequent and energizing readings, discussions and spoken-word performances, often with a focus on social or political change. Various readings series highlight new novelists, revolutionary storytellers and, on the last Tuesday of each month, women poets, with a poetry jam and open mic hosted by ‘the hardest-working guinea butch dyke poet on the Lower East Side.’
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