Your Week Untapped: Best Events for April 15-21

Our curated events picks for this week: LES Then & Now at the Tenement Museum, Prohibition NYC, Parisians vs. New Yorkers: an Interactive Illustration Session.

MONDAY, APRIL 15: To mark the release of his new book, Classic Hikes of North America, author Peter Potterfield will share his favorite treks and adventures from around the planet in words and images. Join Explorers Club members for Potterfield’s riveting digital presentation featuring routes such as the Shackleton Crossing on South Georgia Island, the remote Long Range Traverse in Newfoundland, his 100-mile journey across the Swedish Arctic, and his Alaska odyssey across the tundra to McGonagall Pass, among many others. 6pm reception, 7pm lecture at the Explorers Club, 46 East 70th Street. FREE for members / $5 for student members / $20 general public.

TUESDAY, APRIL 16: Lower East Side: Then & Now at the Tenement Museum. The LES is one of America’s oldest and most historically significant neighborhoods. Though gentrification displaced many multigenerational immigrant families and businesses, the district retains unique character. Kevin Baker leads author David Bellel and historian and Lower East Side advocate Joyce Mendelsohn in conversation about Eric Ferrara and David Bellel’s new book Lower East Side: Then and Now. The event includes a curated series of photographs documenting the neighborhood throughout its history. 6pm at the Tenement Museum, 103 Orchard Street. FREE.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17: Museum Director Carol Willis will give a gallery tour of the Woolworth @ 100 exhibit at the Skyscraper Museum. A masterpiece of early 20th-century art and technology, the Woolworth Building celebrates its centennial year in the process of conversion, with office space remaining below and luxury residences planned for the upper tower. Still radiant on the lower Manhattan skyline, the landmark heralds both the past and future of New York. 3pm at the Skyscraper Museum, 39 Battery Place. $5 general admission / $2.50 students.

THURSDAY, APRIL 18: Butter and Egg Road is hosting a private tour of Brooklyn galleries for members. Butter and Egg Road is a new private traveling dining club for the curious class. Bringing travelers and locals together in intimate culinary and cultural experiences on the road and in the cities we love, Butter and Egg Road inspires members to be a local anywhere. For more information about a Butter and Egg Road membership, click here. The time and location of the tour is accessible to members.

FRIDAY, APRIL 19: The Regional Plan Association’s 23rd Annual Assembly. The New York metropolitan region has thrived in recent years even as it has been buffeted by economic and environmental pressures. Yet three urgent challenges – climate change, declining economic opportunity and fiscal uncertainty in the public sector – threaten to derail the region’s continued progress. RPA’s 23rd annual Assembly, “A Resilient Region,” will examine these pressing problems and shed light on the best strategies to overcome them and ensure the region’s continued success. 8:30am-4pm followed by a reception at the Waldorf-Astoria, 301 Park Avenue. $350 / $300 members. Register here.

SATURDAY, APRIL 20: Bravo chefts Rob McCue and Adam Banks are taking us back to a decadent era of New York City history in Prohibition NYC, a speakeasy event for 160 revelers. The location is still under wraps, but the entry level ticket gives you access to the “Main Parlor,” while the VIP ticket gives you additional access to the area “Behind the Bookcase.” Evolving the traditional 1920s cocktail menus, McCue and Banks have designed a unique tasting menu for us 21st-century folks to enjoy at Prohibition NYC, along with period cocktails and a modern twist on the roaring ’20s. 1pm at a Secret Location. $125. Buy tickets here.

Also on Saturday: Untapped Cities presents Parisians vs. New Yorkers: an Interactive Illustration Session at the inaugural New York Travel Festival. Cartoonist David Cessac, illustrator Kit Mills and The Downtown Doodler will run an interactive drawing session, pitting New Yorkers vs. Parisians. Audience members will be invited to share their ideas of Parisian and New York street scenes by writing them onto Post-Its and placing them onto a digital map of both cities. Submissions will also be taken via the Twitter hashtag #untappedcities. The illustrators will choose scenes from the collection to live draw, showing that a city is defined by its people and their stories. Travel Festival 8am-5:30pm, Parisians vs. New Yorkers 4:45pm at Bohemian National Hall, 321 East 73rd Street. $40 for all day tickets, $20 single session tickets. Buy tickets here.

SUNDAY, APRIL 21: MAS Tour: the Landmark Battles of Midtown. Midtown Manhattan has seen more than its fair share of landmark battles. On this walk with architectural historian Anthony W. Robins, we consider the landmark rationale and battle history of the Villard Houses/Palace Hotel, one of the earliest battles; St. Bartholomew’s Church concerning issues of church/state conflict; Lever House, an example of a new breed of modern landmark; and Grand Central Terminal, whose landmark status was finally upheld by the Supreme Court. 2pm. Ticket locations are released after purchase. $20 / $15 Members. Buy tickets here.