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!
From comedy festivals and pizza eating challenges to street fairs and cemetery trolley tours, there’s something to do everyday this week in New York City. Check out our Untapped picks of the week:
Photograph by Rafe Baron, Courtesy of the Brooklyn Comedy Festival
Start the weekend laughing at the Brooklyn Comedy Festival. The Brooklyn Comedy Festival was created in 2013 to give every level of performer a chance to shine on Brooklyn’s many stages. Each year, the festival showcases both established and up-and-coming performers from every realm of comedy. Single day passes are available for the closing weekend which will include appearances by Brett Davis, Chris Gethard, Colin Burgess and writers from The Daily Show plus many others.
Discover the connections between beer and botany while listening to some blues at the New York Botanical Garden’s Blues, Brews and Botany event. There will be music, tastings, and botanical-inspired fun on the Conservatory Lawn. Each ticket includes a commemorative sampling mug to enjoy unlimited tastings of a variety of palate pleasing brews from New York State and beyond.
Register for the third annual 5 Boro Pizza Challenge and eat your way through New York City slice by slice! Each participating team or individual receives a list of five pizzerias, one in each borough, and must plot a strategic course to be the first to get to each pizzeria and eat a slice at each.The 5 Boro Pizza Challenge is a fundraiser for Transportation Alternatives, New York City’s leading advocate for walking, biking and public transportation, so participants are not permitted to use cars, taxis, or e-hail/ride-share services.
It’s Smithsonian Magazine Museum Day, a one-day event in which participating museums and cultural institutions across the country provide free entry to anyone presenting a Museum Day ticket. Participants are allowed to download one ticket per email address that will provide general admission for two people on Saturday. There are 53 participating museums in New York including The Van Cortlandt House Museum in the Bronx, The Rubin Museum of Art, and the New York City Fire Museum.
Go behind-the-scenes for a unique exploration of the abandoned Ellis Island hospital on Untapped Cities’ hard hat tour. The 22-building compound was once the standard for United States medical care and later transformed into an FBI headquarters when the island served as a detention center. Over the past 60 years it has been left to decay and guests on this tour will enjoy exclusive access to spaces that are off-limits to the public.
Behind-the-Scenes Hard Hat Tour of the Abandoned Ellis Island Hospital
Discover the many hidden Dutch relics south of Wall Street, as you trace the streets of Manhattan in 1667 on Untapped Cities Remnants of Dutch New Amsterdam Walking Tour. You’ll hear about New York’s founding myths and facts while standing in the very spots they all happened. Touch a 18th century stone wall and an ancient European cannon, see the foundation of a 17th century tavern and more relics of colonial New York hidden in plain sight.
Tour of The Remnants of Dutch New Amsterdam
See our full list of public tours!
Catch up on the latest Victorian fads on a themed trolley tour of Green-Wood Cemetery. Discover the complex and compelling characters behind crazy trends like arsenic complexion cream and electric corsets, learn about the curious lengths to which Victorian women went to achieve ultra-white skin and the dangerous obsession with green dye in the fashions of the day.
Photograph Courtesy of Atlantic Avenue Local Development Corporation
Celebrate Brooklyn at the borough’s oldest and largest street festival, the Annual Atlantic Antic. Presented by the Atlantic Avenue Local Development Corporation (AALDC), this event spans four neighborhoods: Boerum Hill, Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill and Downtown Brooklyn. On Atlantic Avenue, between Hicks Street to Fourth Avenue, the streets will be filled with local vendor booths, music stages, pony rides, and other fun activities for the whole family!
Kick off ART 2030 New York, a new weeklong initiative uniting the contemporary art world in support of the United Nations’ 17 Global Goals. Coinciding with the 73rd session of the United Nations’ General Assembly, the program brings together some of the most important and diverse voices in visual art to participate in urgent discussions on how best to create and contribute to a shared and sustainable future. Throughout the week, partnering galleries and arts organizations will participate by hosting after-hours openings, panel discussions and special events.
Learn about microbes in the metropolis at the Museum of the City of New York’s new exhibition “Germ City.” In this hybrid gallery and library, visitors can view historical artifacts alongside contemporary artworks created for the exhibition and delve into the exhibition’s themes with a curated selection of books. If you are or become an Untapped Cities Insider, you can join on a curator led walkthrough of the exhibition!
See the full list of our Insider events!
Test your wits at an al frecso game of trivia in Bryant Park. Tuesday Night Trivia, hosted by TriviaNYC and made possible by Southwest Airlines takes place on the Southwest Porch. Prizes go to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place teams!
Enjoy a 5-course meal and wine pairing at Grape and Grain to celebrate the release of Brooklyn Oneology’s latest vintage of orange wine called Broken Land. Brooklyn Oneology is a locally focused, all female run winery based in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
Photograph by Marina McClure
Attend a staged reading of Act 1 from Tear a Root from the Earth at BRIC in Downtown Brooklyn. The reading will be followed by a conversation with the creators. This new musical traces the legacy of America’s involvement in Afghanistan over the last 35 years through the story of a single Afghan family.
Check out our full lists of Untapped Cities public tours and Insider events!
Subscribe to our newsletter
