How to choose from the city's myriad cultural and recreation options when you are socked in most of the day at a trade show and watching your expenses? As most New Yorkers will tell you, there is plenty to do in the city to relax, and it won't cost you an arm and a leg. The editors of that arts and entertainment bible, Time Out New York, were happy to pass along a few of their ideas.
Friday Night at the Museum
Many of New York's premier art institutions stay open late on Friday nights—and offer free or pay-what-you-wish admission into the bargain. It's the perfect opportunity to check out the following shows.
American Folk Art Museum
45 W. 53rd St., between Fifth and Sixth Avenues (212-265-1040; www.folkartmuseum.org). 5:30—7:30 p.m. Free. “Up Close: Henry Darger”: a selection of eight of Darger's nearly 300 watercolors made for illustrating of The Story of the Vivian Girls, as well as the sixth volume of that same children's epic, are on view.
Museum of Modern Art
11 W. 53rd St., between Fifth and Sixth Avenues (212-708-9400; moma.org). 4—8 p.m. Free. “Into the Sunset: Photography's Image of the American West”: in this show, it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that the West could not have developed without the presence of the camera, and photography could not have grown into the field of dreams it is today without the existence of the American West.
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
1071 Fifth Ave., at 89th Street (212-423-3587; guggenheim.org). 5:45—8 p.m., pay what you wish. “Intervals”: : the museum kicks off its new contemporary-art series with an installation, Partially untitled (tell me if I am wrong) by Mexican artist Julieta Aranda, who advocates subjective measuring of time.
Whitney Museum of American Art
945 Madison Ave., at 75th Street (212-570-3600; whitney.org). 6—9 p.m., pay what you wish. “Jenny Holzer, PROTECT PROTECT”: Holzer grabs viewers by the eyeballs from the very first installation and refuses to let go.
Art Walkabout
It's a common dilemma: You want to take in a bit of culture, but a beautiful day beckons. Even if you only have a couple of hours free, these outdoor displays make it possible to appreciate both. As part of an initiative that rejuvenated once derelict Madison Square Park (madisonsquarepark.org), the Madison Square Park Conservancy runs Mad. Sq. Art, a “gallery without walls,” featuring four exhibitions a year by internationally known artists—currently on view is a large, multimedia installation incorporating steel, fiberglass and artificial flowers by Jessica Stockholder. If you want to combine the viewing with lunch, stop by Danny Meyer's Shake Shack, a modernist take on a park concession stand dispensing burgers and super-thick shakes—but expect long lines at peak times.
The Public Art Fund (publicartfund.org) works with established and up-and-coming artists to bring new commissions and exhibitions to various public spaces around town. Trapdoor, on view in Downtown Brooklyn's MetroTech Center, comprises new large-scale pieces by four New York artists that express the theme of transformation through the manipulation of everyday objects. Ethan Breckenridge's I'm OK—You're OK is a 16-foot tower built from 100 furniture trollies, while Martha Friedman has created a seven-foot waffle from metal, foam and resin.
Greenwich Village is a must-see for any visitor, and the Washington Square Outdoor Art Exhibit (May 30, 31) makes a trip doubly rewarding. Carrying on a tradition started in the 1930s by Pollock and DeKooning, then struggling local artists who sold works outside their studios, the exhibitors are selected by a jury of their peers.
Broadway's Free Light Show
People usually come to the Theater District to see two things: a Broadway show and the dazzling electronic spectacle that is TimesSquare. The Theatre Development Fund's new TKTS discount-ticket booth, which has returned to its original position in Father Duffy Square, facilitates both. The word booth doesn't do the new structure justice: its 12 ticket windows are encased in a dramatic glass structure that was almost a decade in the making. The brainchild of Australians John Choi and Tai Ropiha, it was finally unveiled in October 2008.
A striking red staircase, illuminated from below with LED technology, rises to the roof, creating an innovative platform from which to view the surrounding display of lights. Not only is the “stairway to nowhere,” as the wags in the press have dubbed it, a fittingly razzle-dazzle feature (a New York Times writer compared it to “the set of some fizzy Busby Berkeley extravaganza”), it helps to solve the practical problem of slow-moving gawkers clogging the streets. Part of a $19 million project in partnership with the Times Square Alliance to rebuild the square, the stairs are classified as city parkland and offer a place to relax, admire the view and nosh on your own snacks; there is seating at street level and 27 handy stoops.
The summit, 16 feet above street level, commands an uninterrupted view of the sweep of the Great White Way, lined with winking billboards for the latest shows and culminating in the jumbo screens and massive ticker wrapping around 1 Times Square, home of the New Year's Eve mirrored ball. Oh, yes, and you can pick up cheap theater tickets while you're there.
Psst: If you're staying in Brooklyn or downtown, there are two branches that are much less busy, open earlier so you can secure your tickets in the morning and, unlike the Broadway location, sell matinee tickets the day before a show.
TKTS, Father Duffy Square, Broadway and 47th Street (www.tdf.org). For evening tickets, Mon., Wed.—Sat., 3—8 p.m.; Tue., 2—8 p.m.; Sun., 3—7 p.m. For same-day matinee tickets: Wed., Sat., 10 a.m.—2 p.m.; Sun., 11 a.m.—3 p.m. Other locations: TKTS South Street Seaport, corner of Front and John Streets. Mon.—Sat., 11 a.m.—6 p.m.; Sun., 11 a.m.—4 p.m. TKTS Downtown Brooklyn, 1 MetroTech Center, corner of Jay Street and Myrtle Avenue. Tue.—Sat., 11 a.m.—6 p.m.
Drink in the View
Forget the Empire State Building—admire the midtown panorama cocktail in hand at these conveniently situated, sky-high watering holes. Top of the heap is 230 Fifth (230 Fifth Ave., between 26th and 27th Streets, 212-725-4300). The 14,000-square-foot roof garden dazzles with truly spectacular views, including a closeup of the Empire State Building, but the glitzy indoor lounge—with its ceiling-height windows, wraparound sofas and bold lighting—shouldn't be overlooked. Perfect for literary types, Bookmarks Rooftop Lounge & Terrace crowns the tome-themed Library Hotel (299 Madison Ave., at 41st Street; 212-204-5498). The enclosed greenhouse and outdoor terrace are both ideal perches for sipping luxurious cocktails—such as the Hemingway, made with rum, mint and champagne. With a more hedonistic air, Highbar (251 W. 48th St., at Eighth Avenue; 212-956-1300) is decked out with canopied daybeds, striped couches and alabaster candles; on cool nights heated tents and two levels of indoor rooms keep out the chill. Dream Hotel's bi-level penthouse bar, Ava Lounge (210 W. 55th St. between Seventh Ave. and Broadway, 212-956-7020) has a slick, sexy vibe fostered by mod banquettes and erotic art. If the dizzying views of Times Square from the rooftop garden don't weaken your knees, cocktails like the Gin & Sin—a potent mix of gin, Chambord and fresh lemon and lime juices—might.
For more great sights and things to do, pick up a copy of Time Out New York or visit timeoutnewyork.com.
