Hear from an author and map designer who has been creating maps of the NYC subway, officially and unofficially, for over forty years!
A new street art hotspot has some unconventional holiday decorations!
From giant menorah lightings to New Year's Day hikes, check out our picks for how to spend the holidays in NYC!
This week is full of festivals celebrating everything from burlesque to comics and architecture to psychedelic films! There are also many ways to experience new art, learn about the city, and see a show. Check out our Untapped picks for things to do this week in New York City:
Explore notions of the future through the lenses of technology, politics, and art at the Guggenheim museum’s all-day symposium, “Technology is History.” The event culminates with the Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Chinese Art Initiative, which aims to expand the discourse on contemporary Chinese art and supports the acquisition of commission-based works by contemporary artists born in Greater China. Featured speakers include Dawn Chan, Ho Rui An, Reza Negarestani, and Gala Porras-Kim. The day is punctuated with films and performances. Yuk Hui, a contributor to the exhibition catalogue for One Hand Clapping, will deliver the keynote presentation.
Angie Pontani, Photo Courtesy of the New York Burlesque Festival
The New York Burlesque Festival captures the best of what New York City Nightlife has to offer, featuring over 100 award winning artists from across the globe, all bringing their unique performance styles to big apple stages. Expect the unexpected with burlesque, boylesque, variety, live music, DJ’s and more. The Premier Party at the Brooklyn Bowl is a sexy and wild mélange of the weird and captivating that will include over 25 acts. In addition to enjoying the show and shopping vendors, you can bowl! Tickets are also still available for the next day’s
Saturday Spectacular!
Take a ride through the living history of the world’s largest rapid transit system (in area) by weaving in and out of the past and present transit hubs of lower Manhattan on Untapped Cities Underground Tour of the New York City subway. Using the 6 train as your own ten-car time machine, guests will ride through and see three abandoned ghost stations that 4, 5, and 6 riders unknowingly pass through everyday: Worth Street and the famed City Hall Station.
Underground Tour of the NYC Subway
Take part in the second annual East Coast rum extravaganza – New York Rum Fest at SOB’s in SoHo. General admission tickets to the Grand Tasting Session grant access to a 3 hour program, admittance to two seminars and one premium rum tasting.
Explore the Ellis Island’s abandoned hospital complex on Untapped Cities behind-the-scenes hard hat tour. Once the standard for United States medical care, the 22-building hospital compound has been left to decay for nearly 60 years. On this experience, guests will visit the contagious disease wards, the autopsy rooms and other spaces usually closed to the public. Guests will also see pieces of an exhibition by the world-renowned artist JR, who has placed life-sized historic photographs of Ellis Island immigrants on interior walls, windows and doors.
Behind-the-Scenes Hard Hat Tour of the Abandoned Ellis Island Hospital
In conjunction with the Mount Vernon Hotel Museum’s new exhibit “Style, Myth and Modernity in Greek Revival New York,” visitors are invited to a hands-on art and craft ceramic workshop centered on the motifs of ancient Greece. First enjoy a curator-led Museum-wide tour to see and be inspired by objects from the museum’s collection of Greek Revival décor in New York City. Then, make Greek-influenced pendants and objects of your own. Tickets can be purchased here!
Hear the bizarre history of New York City’s 36-year tattoo ban, which lasted from 1961-1997, as told by five New York historians and tattoo artists at Caveat’s “Illegal Ink: The bizarre story of NYC’s Tattoo Ban.” Speakers will include local tattoo shop owners like Mehai Bakaty, owner of Fineline Tattoo, and author Efrain John Gonzalez. “Illegal Ink” is part of Caveat’s ever changing line-up of “intelligent nightlife” presented at the Lower East Side speakeasy. If you are or become an Untapped Cities Insider, you can attend this event for free!
[mepr-show if=”rule: 518547″][uc_booking_button title=’Book Now’][/mepr-show][mepr-hide if=”rule: 518545″][uc_insider_button title=’BECOME A MEMBER TO JOIN THIS EVENT FOR FREE!’ url=’/plans/insiders/’][/mepr-hide][mepr-show if=”rule: 518546″][uc_insider_button title=’UPGRADE YOUR MEMBERSHIP TO ATTEND THIS EVENT FOR FREE!’ url=’/plans/insiders’][/mepr-show]
Celebrate the first day of Archtober at the exhibition opening of “Close to the Edge: The Birth of Hip-Hop Architecture” at the Center for Architecture. Archtober, is a month-long celebration of design and architecture in New York City. The month will be full of building tours, book talks, panel discussions and exhibitions presented by various organizations. If you are or become an Untapped Cities Insider, you can attend this and other select Archtober events for free!
[mepr-show if=”rule: 518547″][uc_booking_button title=’Book Now’][/mepr-show][mepr-hide if=”rule: 518545″][uc_insider_button title=’BECOME A MEMBER TO JOIN THIS EVENT FOR FREE!’ url=’/plans/insiders/’][/mepr-hide][mepr-show if=”rule: 518546″][uc_insider_button title=’UPGRADE YOUR MEMBERSHIP TO EVENT THIS TOUR FOR FREE!’ url=’/plans/insiders’][/mepr-show]
Travel back to October 1, 1998 to celebrate the rededication of Grand Central Terminal. On this day twenty years ago Grand Central re-opened to the public as a shopping, dining, and travel destination after several years and a $200 million renovation. To commemorate this major milestone, shops and restaurants, including The Campbell, Grand Central Oyster Bar and Doughnut Plant, are offering 1998 pricing on a number of products and menu items all day. This represents about a 35% discount! There will also be a give aways of Grand Central-themed Rubik’s Cubes, a popular toy in the 1980s and 1990s, and a photo installation, “Details & Light: Historical Photographs of Grand Central Terminal,” on display at Café Grumpy through October 15.
Explore the medicinal and therapeutic uses of psychedelics through cinema and sound at the inaugural Psychedelic Film and Music Festival. Every day between October 1st and October 7th there will be film screenings, live music performances, panels and more taking place all over New York City at locations like the Museum of the Moving Image, the Producer’s Club, and the Bell House.
What are the political, social, and economic forces shaping the future of housing in New York City and globally?Economist Edward Glaeser, author of Triumph of the City and sociologist Miriam Greenberg wil tackle this question, among others, in a discussion moderated by WNYC reporter Matt Katz at the Museum of the City of New York. New York’s Housing Crisis: Which Way Forward? is the opening event in MCNY’s new series, Housing Tomorrow’s City. An exhibition viewing of the Museum’s Future City Lab will follow.
Don your best superhero costume and head to the Javits Center for the first day of New York Comic-Con. Tickets are sold out for all days of the event except Thursday! Panels and events on Thursday include appearances by the cast of the Tony Award-winning play Cursed Child, David Boreanaz and Shawn Levi.
Subscribe to our newsletter
