Your Week Untapped: Best Events for January 14-20

Our curated events picks for this week: Restaurant Week, The Future of Staten Island at MCNY, Beat Memories: The Photographs of Allen Ginsberg, and exclusive Untapped New York + No Longer Empty Tour.

MONDAY, JANUARY 14:  Restaurant Week  (or rather, 3 weeks) starts today and lasts until February 8. This is your chance to try all those expensive restaurants you can’t normally afford with a 3 course lunch for $25 or dinner for $38. Check out the list of participating restaurants here  and make reservations before they all book up!

Also on Monday: Book talk: Grand Central’s Engineer: William J. Wilgus and the Planning of Modern Manhattan. In the centennial year of New York’s great Grand Central Terminal, we celebrate the chief engineer of the New York Central Railroad, William J. Wilgus. Few people have had as profound an impact on the history of New York City. Professor Kurt C. Schlicting will discuss the remarkable career of this innovator, revealing how his tireless work moving people and goods over and under Manhattan Island and its surrounding waterways forever changed New York’s bustling transportation system. 6:30-8pm at  The Skyscraper Museum, 39 Battery Place. FREE, RSVP to programs@skyscraper.org or call (212)945-6324.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 15:   The future of Staten Island’s waterfront now stands at the center of public attention in the aftermath of hurricane Sandy. Join us for a panel of experts who will examine crucial post-Sandy questions: What has been the impact of past land-use decisions on the Island, such as paving over wetlands and failing to invest in storm-securing infrastructure? How important is it that low-lying areas be redeveloped, and should they be redeveloped at all? Mary Rowe, Vice President, Managing Director for the Municipal Art Society of New York, will moderate. 6:30pm at Museum of the City of New York, 1220 5th Avenue. $6 Museum members; $8 seniors and students; $12 general public. Buy tickets here.

Also on Tuesday: Beat Memories: The Photographs of Allen Ginsberg. Beat Memories presents an in-depth look at the Beat Generation as seen through the lens of Allen Ginsberg (1926—1997). Although well known for his poetry, Ginsberg was also an avid photographer, capturing the people and places around him in spontaneous, often intimate snapshots. His black-and-white photographs include portraits of William S. Burroughs, Neal Cassady, Gregory Corso, Jack Kerouac, and others, along with self-portraits. The images not only are revealing portrayals of celebrated personalities, but also convey the unique lifestyle and spirit of the Beats. Grey Art Gallery, NYU, 100 Washington Square East.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 16: From Roof to Table, a solo exhibition by 2012 Camera Club NY Darkroom Resident Rob Stephenson, presents a portrait of the varied ways that New Yorkers have adapted their high-density urban environment to growing food. This exhibition marks the first of four solo exhibitions from the recipients of the 2012 CCNY Darkroom Residency Program. 12-6pm at The Camera Club of NY, 336 West 37th Street, Suite 206. FREE.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 17: Join Trivia Masters Stuart Post and Chris Kelley for the first-ever underground trivia battle! Maximize your brain power on teams of 2 to 6 people — form your team ahead of time, or come down and meet new straphangers! Don’t worry if you can’t tell an R-9 from an Arnine, this trivia includes transit in pop culture, history, music and more. 7-9pm at the New York Transit Museum, Boerum Place & Schermerhorn Street, Brooklyn. $10 Museum members; $15 general public; includes one drink courtesy of Brooklyn Brewery.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 18: Shoppers rarely consider a fragrance’s olfactory evolution””the science behind the smell””despite the level of skill involved in its development. But in conjunction with the exhibition The Art of Scent 1889—2012, the Museum of Arts and Design offers the public the chance to trace the construction of Spicebomb, a cologne from Viktor&Rolf (whose very memorable bottle is shaped like a grenade). The cologne was developed by perfumer Olivier Polge, who has also designed scents for Balenciaga, Dior Homme and Burberry. 7:30pm at the Theater at MAD, 2 Columbus Circle. $10 members & students; $15 general admission. Buy tickets here. The museum also features pay-what-you-wish at 6-9pm on Fridays.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 19: We are offering an exclusive tour led by No Longer Empty and Untapped New York to a select number of lucky readers to the abandoned  Bank of Manhattan  in the Clock Tower during the exhibition “How Much Do I Owe You?“. No Longer Empty’s Lucy Lydon will be walking us through the exhibition’s art installations and the history of the bank. Become a fan of Untapped Cities on our social media platforms to get extra chances to win. 11 am at the Clock Tower, 29-27 41st Avenue, Long Island City, Queens. Register here.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 20:  Last chance to catch the Under the Radar Festival. This annual festival, produced by The Public Theater, offers up a variety of new theater from the United States and around the world. With a lineup that includes emerging talents and masters in the field, Under the Radar offers a crash course in exciting, independent and experimental theater, created by some of the most dynamic artists working today. This year’s program features Hamlet, Prince of Grief, which uses household objects and children’s toys to retell the story of the neurotic prince, and Ganesh Versus the Third Reich, which imagines the Hindu deity on a quest to reclaim the meaning of the swastika from Nazi Germany. Times vary; The Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street. Check out the full program here.