This week in New York City, join a math march, hear music from a historic piano, uncover the secrets of the Brooklyn Bridge and so much more. Our Untapped Picks for things to do will take outdoors and inside some of the city’s most exciting institutions. Check out what’s going on:
Friday, August 9th
Hear pianist Simon Mulligan play Cole Porter’s piano at the New-York Historical Society. This concert is free with your Pay-as-You-Wish Friday Night admission. Seating is available in the gallery but limited to 40 guests and available on a first-come, first-served basis. Standing is welcome along with strolling around the gallery and admiring the art on display as you listen to Mulligan play on High Society (the restored piano’s nickname).
Saturday, August 10th
Summer Streets will take over Park Ave once again this Saturday. The route from Brooklyn Bridge up to 72nd street will be closed to cars and open to pedestrians, runners, bikers and all kinds of outdoor activities as well as entertainment. This Saturday, at the Astor Place Rest Stop stage (Astor Place and Lafayette Street) you can see Ballets with a Twist’s Cocktail Hour: The Show at 12pm. The performance is part of the first ever Summer Streets Dance Festival. Brooklyn’s L Train Brass Band will also be on the scene, providing live music for several dance cocktail selections.
Enjoy a free jazz performance inside Central Park as part of Great Jazz on the Great Hill. Featuring performances by Harlem Renaissance Orchestra, trombonist Wycliffe Gordon, the all-women jazz, blues, and contemporary ensemble Sage and singer Alyson Williams, this event encourages guests to picnic in the park and swing dance to the music all afternoon from 4:00 to 7:00pm.
Explore the abandoned rooms of Ellis Island’s more than 100 year old hospital complex on a behind-the-scenes hard hat tour. On this urban exploration you will gain access to spaces that have been off-limits to the public for over sixty years including the former morgue, contagious disease wards, and laundry facilities!
Behind-the-Scenes Hard Hat Tour of the Abandoned Ellis Island Hospital
Sunday, August 11th
Celebrate the Giglio Di Sant’ Antonio of East Harlem with the lift and dancing of roughly 70 foot tell tower topped with a statue of St. Anthony and surrounded at the base by a live band. The tower, which is made new each year, can be weigh anywhere between three to four tons and is lifted by eighty to one hundred people! This tradition was started in East Harlem in 1908.
Spend a sunny Sunday afternoon outside as you reveal the secrets Central Park. Hear how this stretch of swampy and rocky terrain in the heart of Manhattan was turned into one of the most beautiful and famous in the world, uncover the hidden stories behind the park’s iconic sculptures, learn about the glitzy casino that was torn down by Robert Moses and more!
Secrets of Central Park Walking Tour
Monday, August 12th
Discover the treasures hidden in plain sight at one of the most travelled train stations in the world on Untapped Cities’ Secrets of Grand Central Terminal Walking Tour. On this tour you will learn about the tumultuous history of this station which was a glowing symbol of the Gilded Age then faced near destruction in the 20th century. See where you can find the world’s largest Tiffany clock, a former office which is now a bar, a design flaw in the main atrium and more!
Tour of the Secrets of Grand Central Terminal
Tuesday, August 13th
Explore the Panorama of the City of New York inside the Queens Museum with the museum’s resident World’s Fair expert Louise Weinberg. Weinberg’s talk will explore the history of the museum as a remnant from the 1939 World’s Fair and the role it played in the subsequent 1964 fair. After a brief Q&A you will get to tour the panorama gallery. At this special event guests will also get to meet the Queens Museum’s new director, Sally Tallant! You can join this free tour if you are an Untapped Cities Insider. Not a member yet? Become and Insider today to gain access to free behind-the-scenes tours and special events all year long!
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Wednesday, August 14th
Join the Million Millimeter March at the National Museum of Mathematics! This number-filled walk through the neighborhood includes stops near the iconic Flatiron building and within Madison Square Park. Guests will learn interesting and amazing numerical facts at special points along the way. Tickets are on sale, online now for 4pm and 6pm walks.
Photograph Courtesy of Boroughs of the Dead
Meet the ghosts of the West Village on a walking tour with Boroughs of the Dead. Stroll through the labyrinthine streets of one of New York City’s oldest and most charming neighborhoods as you discover the mystical symbolism hidden in everyday architecture and the subterranean histories lurking below. Hear tales of phantoms, occultists, restless spirits, body snatchers, horror writers including Edgar Allan Poe, and spectral founding fathers Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr. If you are an Untapped Cities Insider, you can attend this tour for free!
Join the Museum of the City of New York and El Museo del Barrio for a free summer block party celebrating East Harlem at the top of Museum Mile. This Uptown Bounce will be an ode to classic summertime activities like baseball and bike riding – and the countless hits from the ‘90s and beyond that have provided the soundtrack. The free party with feature throwback hits played by DJ Misbehaviour and Boogie Blind of the Heavy Hitters, a dance performance by Haus of Sweat and a free art activity where you can decorate your own baseball pennant for your favorite team. Inside the museum you can check out select exhibitions after hours with guided tours.
Thursday, August 15th
Attend a documentary screening and talkback at the Brooklyn Historical Society with former Brooklyn College student Rabia Ahsin, Distinguished Professor of Political Science at Brooklyn College Jeanne Theoharis, journalist Aviva Stahl, and BHS Oral Historian and Muslims in Brooklyn Project Director Zaheer Ali. The event will be centered around documentarian Katie Mitchell’s film Watched: Coming of Age Under Surveillance which examines the impact of surveillance on a group of young women at Brooklyn College who discovered they were the target of an NYPD undercover officer.