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Every year, we look for all the other possible Valentine’s Day activities we can suggest to our readers. This year’s lineup looks particularly “untapped” with activities ranging from a seal cruise of New York City harbor, off-limits at the New Yorker Hotel (above), a sideshow performance with fire breathers on Coney Island, and more.
At Sideshows by the Seashore, take in Valentine’s Day with death defying acts like snake charming, fire eating, jumping on glass, exotic burlesque, and more at the Valentine’s Day for Lovers and Losers. You can also get married at this event for $100, officiated by the “Unofficial Mayor of Coney Island,” Dick Zigun.
We’ve added a special date for the New Yorker Hotel tour on Friday, February 17th that takes you off-limits onto the rooftop (where the famous New Yorker Hotel sign is located), the award-winning original power plant of the building (now abandoned), and a decommissioned tunnel that once connected the hotel to the New York City subway system.
Behind the Scenes Tour of the New Yorker Hotel!
If you have yet to experience the McKittrick Hotel for Sleep No More, you can take it all in at the Valentine’s Day Masquerade Party on Saturday, February 11th. This masked soiree will feature dancing and specially created one-night-only performances, as well as full open bar, live entertainment and special guest DJs. Experience the mysteries of the hotel and uncover the secrets of its residents as never before with drinking, dancing and costumed revelry.
Lou the Seal in NYC’s East River. Photo courtesy Gina Pollara.
On Sunday, February 12th, take an eco-tour of the New York City harbor with the NYC Audubon Society aboard a Water Taxi and look for harbor seals and learn about the surprisingly diverse winter birds of New York City, including long-tailed ducks, geese, common loons, and sandpipers.
Everyone knows that love ain’t easy; that in fact, it can be quite messy. The Brooklyn Society will begin begin Valentine’s Weekend 2017 with a look at the more complicated side of love, from vengeful poisons to demonic lovesick raving, plus a special tasting of the deepest, darkest chocolate brownies from Baked!
Heroes of the Knish: Making a Living and Making a Life opens at the City Reliquary on February 12th, telling the story of courageous women and men who churned out potato pies and paved lives for themselves and their families. The exhibit is curated by Laura Silver, award-winning author of Knish: In Search of the Jewish Soul Food.
New York At its Core Exhibition opens at Museum of the City of New York. Photo by Filip Wolak courtesy MCNY
On February 14th, take an after-hours tour through New York at Its Core to discover the weird, the cool, the famous, and the infamous sites of romance in this fabled city. There is a $100 fee – $85 for Museum members – for two tickets that includes Museum admission, guided tour, and a champagne toast in the Museum’s rotunda, under Starlight.
And starting Saturday, February 11th through Valentine’s Day, take part in a museum-wide scavenger hunt. Participants who tag posts #MCNYVDay will be entered to win a free family-level membership!
On Sunday, February 13th, join King Manor’s curator Kelsey Brow in the historic kitchen of the King Manor Museum as she discusses objects in the museum’s collection related to drinks from the 1800s. Learn the history of our Beebe range stove, view a Mary Schenck mug, see other items from the house’s time period, and end the day by sampling a beverage that Founding Father Rufus King might have imbibed. Read more about the King Manor Museum in Jamaica here.
The fantastic record shop, Rough Trade, in Brooklyn (replete with shipping containers) will host a ’90s Dance Party. You ask “What is love?” and Music Video Time Machine answers “Baby don’t hurt me – no more!” Join their Valentine’s Day dance party, full of boy bands, funky bunches, dance divas and more, with 90s music video hits sure to unbreak your heart and help you move-it move-it.
What’s more romantic than sludge and wastewater treatment? This annual tour at the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant Digester Eggs is extremely popular and always a hoot. We took it last year, and you get a great overview of the process by NYC Department of Environmental Protection staff that work at the plant and get to head up to the glass walkways of the award winning eggs to get a great view of Brooklyn and Manhattan.
Times Square Valentine Heart Design Competition. Image courtesy of Urban Design Forum
Celebrating the Heart of New York, the Times Square Valentine Heart Design Competition presents the winning proposal from The Office for Creative Research, and their installation entitled We Were Strangers Once Too. This installation highlights the role that immigrants have played in the founding, development and continued vibrancy of New York City. It consists of data from the 2015 American Census Survey, placed in sculptural form in 33 metal poles, inscribed and hued to represent the national origins of foreign-born New York City residents. As viewers walk around the sculpture, perspective changes, and the sculpture comes together in an iconic heart. This year’s heart is not only a visual object, but also invites dialogue and conversation as it explores and champions the value of diversity, specifically the city’s immigrant populations, new and old.
Also check out 11 outdoor art installations to discover this month in NYC. And for more inspiration, check out last year’s selection for some recurring alternative Valentine’s Day events in NYC.
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