Summer is officially over and school is in session, but there is still fun to be had in New York City! Here are our Untapped Picks for what to do this week:
Friday, September 7th
Have a free tasting of Ragtime Straight Rye Whiskey, aged for four years and one day, from a hand-picked barrel at The Green Grape with The New York Distilling Company. The tasting will be followed by an event at the neighboring Annex where free cheese pairings and cocktails will be flowing until 9pm.
Saturday, September 8th
Grab an instrument and kick off the fall season of performances at the Harlem Stage with a community sing and drum circle at their 2nd Annual Open House. Harlem Stage is a performing arts center housed in what was once an abandoned pumping station that provided water to New York City in the late 1800s. At the open house, guests can participate in the drum circle led by master drummer King Salim Ajanku, enjoy fun activities like face painting and instrument making, dance to the sounds of Harlem’s own DJ Ness Digital, tour the Gatehouse and see an excerpted performance of Antigone in Ferguson.
Explore the abandoned and off-limits hospital complex on the south side of Ellis Island on Untapped Cities’ Behind-the-Scenes Hard Hat Tour. This hospital, once the standard of American medical care, has been left to decay for over 60 years. On this tour, gain exclusive access to rooms like the laundry facility, morgue, and contagious disease wards and more while learning about America’s immigration history and the role of the hospital.
Celebrate Book Week in Brooklyn with the Brooklyn Antiquarian Book Fair (BABF). This 2-day fair features 100 exhibitors inside the Brooklyn Expo Center in Greenpoint. This year’s fair will celebrate the 200th anniversary of Frankenstein with a preview of the Morgan Library’s Frankenstein exhibit. There will also art exhibits in the fair-within-a-fair section called the “Brooklyn Print & Photo Fair.”
Mustachioed men will hit the boardwalk this Saturday for the 11th Annual Coney Island Beard and Mustache Competition. A panel of judges will decide who’s facial hair is the best in varioous categories such as The Brass Ring (Best in Show), Coney Island Curl (Best Moustache Styled), Moustachio Marvel (Best Moustache Natural),
and the Ballyhoo Beard (Best Beard Styled).
Sunday, September 9th
Watch over twelve tugboats and crew members compete races, nose-to-nose pushing contests, and a line-throwing competition at the 26th annual Great North River Tugboat Race and Competition. There will even be a spinach-eating contest and a tattoo competition on Pier 84 in Manhattan after the tugboat activities! You can watch the festivities from the pier or aboard the Working Harbor Committee spectator boat which will follow the tugboat racers up the river from 42nd to 72nd street and then down to the finish line on 44th.
Discover what is left of the massive McKim, Mead, and White designed Beaux-Arts structure that was the original Pennsylvania Station on Untapped Cities’ Remnants of Penn Station Tour. Take note of the historic architectural details and works of art scattered throughout the station that you may walk by everyday on your hurried commute.
See our full list of public tours here!
Learn how to make a human tower on the Great Lawn in Central Park! Building human towers is a Catalan tradition called “castells” and is considered one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. This free workshop is open to children and adults and will be led by trained professionals. Following the workshop guests are encouraged to stay for a picnic. Water and drinks will be provided but guests must bring their own food.
Wednesday, September 12th
Go behind-the-scenes inside the Brooklyn Army Terminal. Explore multiple areas of the 4-million square foot complex with John Hong, Assistant Vice President in Asset Management at the NYCEDC, the organization that manages the Terminal. This tour will lead you through the stunning atrium where freight trains once pulled in to directly unload supplies, new raw spaces in Building A, the food manufacturing hub in the annex, an enclosed bridge-way that has lain untouched for 40 years, and a rooftop. In addition, this visit will include stops at some of the manufacturing and art studios inside the Brooklyn Army Terminal.
If you are or become an Untapped Cities Insider, you can join this tour for free!
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See our full list of Insider events here!
View an exhibition of Italian postwar photography at the opening reception for the new Howard Greenberg Gallery exhibition The New Beginning for Italian Photography: 1945-1965. This exhibit explores how photographers documented daily realities during the two decades after World War II. Among the photographers featured are Carlo Bavagnoli, who photographed in working-class neighborhoods in Rome, Mario de Biasi, who began taking pictures in 1944 with a camera found in the rubble of Nuremberg and Sante Vittorio Malli, who dedicated himself to portraits and landscapes.
Thursday, September 13th
Photograph Courtesy of United Photo Industries / Alan Winslow
Explore a sprawling pop-up photography exhibit at Brooklyn Bridge Park. Photoville is made up of repurposed shipping containers transformed outdoor photography galleries. This “village” exhibits work by over 500 artists in 85 exhibitions. Last year, Photoville debuted an exhibition of photos that celebrated the NYC Ferry. Find out what other outdoor art installations you can visit this month in New York City here.
