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Things to Do in NYC This Weekend (Feb 21-23)


(2/21-2/23) If you’re looking for the best of NYC this weekend, we’ve got great picks like the Orchid Show at The New York Botanical Garden, the last chance to check out ARTECHOUSE’s Submerge installation, Bill Graham and the Rock & Roll Revolution at New-York Historical Society, and a giant Oreo slide in Herald Square!

THIS WEEKEND IN NYC

Oreo

(2/21) Oreo takes over Herald Square Friday with a gigantic five-lane slide, part of the brand’s What’s Your Stuf campaign. New Yorkers will vote for their ideal level of stuf between an Oreo by sliding down one of the five lanes representing Oreo Thins, Oreo Originals, Oreo Double Stuf, Oreo Mega Stuf, or Oreo Most Stuf. FREE. Open from 8am-4pm. 

PLUS

Havana Central Bulldog Margarita

(2/22) Friday is National Margarita Day and New York City knows how to celebrate. Whether you prefer rocks, a salted rim, a traditional, or today’s mod flavors, New York will do you right. Check out our picks for the best margaritas in New York City and specials to mark National Margarita Day (Havana Central’s Bulldog Margarita, a festive, color-splashed Don Julio Margarita for two, pictured above.)

King’s Hawaiian Breakfast Bungalow Brings Aloha Spirit to NYC at King's Hawaiian Breakfast Bungalow

(Opens 2/22!) King’s Hawaiian is bringing the Aloha Spirit to NYC with the opening of the King’s Hawaiian Breakfast Bungalow, an interactive breakfast restaurant in midtown Manhattan. This special pop up will transport guests to the warm shores of Hawaii with Instagrammable experiences like an ocean-inspired ball pit and a mountaintop swing in the clouds. Guests will also enjoy a Hawaiian-infused menu curated by breakfast connoisseur Chef Jaime Young, featuring King’s Hawaiian’s iconic breads. Choose between a custom breakfast creation and Chef Young’s signature Coconut S’mores French Toast, Spam-Egg-and-Shoestring-Potatoes Sandwich, or Hawaiian Chicken Fried Steak Katsu Sandwich.

(2/23) Every Sunday on the Upper West Side you can check out Grand Bazaar NYC, the city’s largest curated market—and most distinctive! This Sunday you’ll also find the “NYC Vintage Pop-Up.” Browse the racks of everything old-that’s-new again, from silky-smooth 1920s lingerie to funky ’70s faux fur and all the styles you love (and love to hate!) from the ’80s and ’90s, too. Come hungry: artisanal food entrepreneurs are here as well. 10am-5:30pm.

EXHIBITS

Jimi Hendrix

Baron Wolman. Jimi Hendrix performs at Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco, February 1, 1968. Gelatin silver print. Iconic Images/Baron Wolman.

New! Bill Graham and the Rock & Roll Revolution at the New-York Historical Society. Delve into the world of Bill Graham (1931–1991), one of the most influential concert promoters of all time. Bill Graham and the Rock & Roll Revolution explores the life and work of the legendary music impresario who worked with the biggest names in rock music—including the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, Santana, Led Zeppelin, and the Rolling Stones—and launched the careers of countless music luminaries at his famed Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco and the Fillmore East in New York City. Unique to New-York Historical is a special, immersive audio experience, providing a musical tour through the exhibition with songs by rock superstars Aerosmith, Blondie, David Bowie, Cream, the Doors, Janis Joplin, Tom Petty, and Neil Young, among others.

PLUS

New York Botanical Garden Jeff Leatham Kaleidoscope

(Now-4/19/20) The Orchid Show: Jeff Leatham’s KaleidoscopeThe orchids return to The New York Botanical Garden for the 18th year! This year’s Orchid Show features the dazzling floral creations of Jeff Leatham, the famed artistic director of the Four Seasons Hotel George V, Paris, and floral designer to the stars. Leatham’s bold and colorful vision unfolds through captivating installations and designs that transform each gallery of the exhibition in the historic Enid A. Haupt Conservatory into a different color experience, like a turn of a kaleidoscope. See dramatically arranged orchids in arches of deliberate hues delivering a tunnel effect, along with other design surprises featuring thousands of orchids—both rare and iconic—from the Garden’s renowned collections and the finest growers in the world. nybg.org

(Now-4/26) See It Big! Outer Space at the Museum of the Moving Image (MoMI). Cinema is all about space and time. This is why movies about outer space—where time does not have the same meaning as it does here on Earth—make for particularly cinematic voyages. The development of special photographic effects have made depictions of our mysterious galaxy all the more vivid and authentic as the years have passed, but even the most rudimentary representations of outer space, which have existed since the form’s beginnings, have always inspired awe. No cinematic images of the mysteries of our solar system have ever been more mind-expanding than Stanley Kubrick’s groundbreaking 1968 masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey (a separate exhibit, Envisioning 2001: A Space Odyssey, is open now-7/19), perhaps the most awesome film ever made—a scientifically accurate yet utterly abstract journey into the far reaches of human consciousness. Yet there have been countless other films about outer space that deserve to be seen—and to be seen big. This edition of the Museum’s signature screening series See It Big! will feature some of the century’s greatest depictions of outer space, from documentaries to sci-fi spectaculars to camp satires. Upcoming films in series will include Ad Astra (2019), Solaris (1972), Barbarella (1968), Aelita, Queen of Mars (1924), Flash Gordon (1980), Dark Star (1974), Alien (1979), Gravity (2013), Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), Spaceballs (1987), Wall-E (2008), The Right Stuff (1983), For All Mankind (1989), Apollo 11 (2019), Interstellar (2014), and Space Is the Place (1974).

pantone submerge artechouse nyc

(Now-2/23) Final weekend! Submerge. The latest exhibition at new immersive gallery ARTECHOUSE is a celebration of Pantone 19-4052 Classic Blue, 2020’s “color of the year.” Head to the historic boiler room of Chelsea Market to experience waves of a color through artistic interpretations “Moon,” “Water,” “Textures and Materials,” “Space,” “Earth,” “Meditate,” “Smoke,” “Mountains,” and “Life.” Sound, light, and color come together for a very Instagrammable experience. (You can pause for a drink at the augmented reality “AR bar,” which is stocked with multi-sensory mocktails.) Coupon here

jr chronicles brooklyn museum

JR (French, born 1983). The Chronicles of New York City, 2018–19 (detail). © JR-ART.NET.

(Through 5/3/2020) JR is a consummate 21st-century artist. As a young man, he began taking pictures of his fellow street-artist friends and posting them around his native France. Later, his photography projects expanded in scope and deepened in tone without losing their populist flair. Now, this celebrated artist has received the first major North American retrospective with JR: Chronicles at the Brooklyn Museum. What makes JR such a distinct voice is the way he displays his photographs, often wheat-pasting large-scale versions of his portraits, in public spaces as if they were advertisements. The exhibition is named for the artist’s new mural of New York City, which appears in the Great Hall of the museum. The image is the result of scores of interviews and photography sessions with New Yorkers during the summer of 2018, recruiting from all five of the city’s boroughs. The resulting mural features more than 1,000 New Yorkers. What better introduction to the city could you ask for? brooklynmuseum.org 

Dorothea Lange Migrant Mother

(Now-5/9) Many of us know Dorothea Lange’s iconic photograph, Migrant Mother (above). The Museum of Modern Art delves deeper into Lange’s body of photographs, particularly her book An American Exodus, in its new retrospective, Dorothea Lange: Words and Pictures. moma.org

Notorious B.I.G.

Image: Barron Claiborne, Biggie Smalls, King of New York, Wall Street, New York, 1997

(Now-5/18) The International Center of Photography recently moved into LES’s Essex Crossing at 79 Essex Street. There are four new exhibits running at the same time-Tyler Mitchell: I Can Make You Feel Good, which explores ways to interpret Black identity in a positive light; Contact High: A Visual History of Hip-Hop, featuring a collection of portraits of some of the biggest names in hip-hop back from past to present including Notorious B.I.G., and others; Lower East Side: Selections form the ICP Collection, and finally James Coupe: Warriors, using the cult classic 1979 film, to explore contested notions of community, race, gender, and class in the twenty-first century.

Looking for refuge from the cold? Inspiration? Check out 10 NYC Libraries for Special Interests.

COMEDY

Yannis Pappas

(2/21-2/22) Yannis Pappas at Gotham Comedy Club, with Daniel Tirado and Sergio Chicon.

PLUS

(Ongoing) Check out new comedy every night at LOL Times Square Comedy Club!

Click here for more Comedy Shows in NYC This Weekend.

KIDS

(2/15-2/22) Kids Week. The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum hosts its annual Kids Week, inspiring a new generation to develop their skills in the full STEAM curriculum of Science, Tech, Engineering, Art, and Math. Thursday through Saturday the focus will be on “Exploring Space & Science.” Among the highlights will be a show about physics; NASA flight director Allison Bolinger on “From Swimming Pools to Vacuum Chambers: How We Teach Astronauts to Spacewalk”; a presentation by Planetary Geologist Natalie Curren of NASA Goddard, showing lunar samples from Apollo missions; and the chance to learn all about life in space from an actual NASA astronaut. All Kids Week activities are free with museum admission.

PLUS

Sesame Street Live


(Now-2/23) Final weekend! Sesame Street Live! Let’s Party at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden.

virtual rush empire outlets staten island

(Ongoing) Empire Outlets is New York’s newest destination for shopping, dining, and fun. This unique outlet center, located on Staten Island just a short ferry ride away, offers visitors their favorite brands for less. Now Empire Outlets will transport you and your family to a new world with Virtual Rush: New York, a new virtual reality experience. The state-of-the-art ride takes you underwater, through the air, and into outer space. You can even ride with the crew of Apollo 11 astronauts who first landed on the moon! Virtual Rush: New York is located on Level 3 of Empire Outlets at Royal Square. Nearby you’ll find the Gap Factory Store, Nike Factory Store, and Banana Republic Factory Store. Get two free tickets! Just present this offer at admissions for up to two free tickets per party through March 15, 2020. empireoutletsnyc.com

Color Factory

(Now-4/30/20) Just extended! Color Factory, a massive interactive art space, began in August 2017 in San Francisco. Wildly popular, the project has set up shop in SoHo and is sure to inspire lines as long as the cronut did at nearby Dominique Ansel Bakery. Designed by a wide spectrum of artists, Color Factory walks visitors through 16 rooms devoted to the wonder of color. You’re invited to compliment someone using color words, discover your signature color, and read wishes for the world written by NYC school children on varicolored balloons. Each room is equipped with a camera that can take a picture of you and send it to your phone: the better to post with!  251 Spring St., 
support@colorfactory.co,colorfactory.co@colorfactoryco

(Ongoing) “Here Be Dragons,” a new interactive scavenger hunt in the American Museum of Natural History offered by Fable & Lark: Storied Adventures, draws from the menageries of creatures in both Fantastic Beasts and Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindelwald. Participants will explore galleries throughout the museum as they answer questions, solve clues, engage in creative activities, and track down the origins of some of the creatures from both the Fantastic Beasts stories as well as other classic myths and tales. Grab your nifflers and join! Advance registration required. fableandlark.com

Updated! Read about more Instagrammable pop-up exhibits in NYC here.(Ongoing) Exhilarating Family Fun at Stomp NYC. Special discount packages available!

Click here for more Things to Do with Kids in NYC This Weekend.

For more kids activities, check out our sister site nymetroparents.com!

FOOD, MUSIC, NIGHTLIFE

big city songbook birdland

BCS Birdland with Klea Blackhurst, Nicolas King, and LaTanya Hall. Photo by Bruce Cohen.

(2/23) You can take the A Train to this musical guidebook through New York City. From Billy Joel to Rodgers & Hart and Mary Chapin Carpenter, why have so many songwriters been compelled to write about life in Gotham? Whether you’re a Boy From New York City or you just Happen to Like New York, join host Deborah Grace Winer and see why Big City Songbook is packing ‘em in to Birdland’s hottest monthly revue.

PLUS

(2/21) A Drinking Game NYC Presents Mrs. Doubtfire at The Bell House.

Cosi fan Tutte Metropolitan Opera

(2/21, 2/23) Così fan Tutte at the Metropolitan Opera. The Metropolitan Opera is in mid-stride of its inspiring 2019-20 season, packed with opera’s most talented stars, performing across a wide range of repertoire. This week, Coney Island returns to the Met with the first revival of Phelim McDermott’s popular staging of Mozart’s Così fan tutte, inspired by boardwalk sideshows.

(2/22) Loston Harris presents The Great American Songbook at The Iridium.

(2/22) Bag Raiders at The Music Hall of Williamsburg, with Argonaut & Wasp.

(2/23) Burlesque The Sweet Spot at The Bell House. Get ready to experience the world’s best performance poets, sultry burlesque dancers, live music, comedy, and the most electrified host you have ever seen. Brilliantly weaving satire, artistry, and current top 40 hits, this is 21st century burlesque at its best. Leave your rules, restrictions, and expectations at the door.

pier a oyster house

(Now-2/29) Head over to The Oyster House at Pier A for your choice of East Coast and West Coast oysters, both served on the half shell and shucked to order. Not only is the food here worth coming back for, but the location itself is iconic, nearly a century old and loaded with nautical ephemera. The pier is over a century old, and the Pier A house is composed of 28,000 square feet, all of which deserves to be explored. For the month of February, The Oyster House will be launching $1 oysters all day Sunday! piera.com

Greta Gerwig's Little Women

(Now-2/23) Final weekend! Museum of the Moving Image presents screenings of Greta Gerwig’s Little Women in Queens.

(Ongoing) Rosé Mansion, everyone’s favorite excuse to sample rosé, continues its fabulous run. You get tastings of 8 different pink wines as you travel through a champagne ball pit, a mini-theme park called Roséland, and a tree house. There are also two rosé wine bars where you can hang out, plus grub from Taco Dumbo. 
rosewinemansion.com@rosewinemansion

Smorgasburg & Flea Winter
(Ongoing) Brooklyn Flea’s Winter Flea +Smorgasburg is held indoors every Saturday and Sunday at 25 Kent Ave. in Williamsburg, Saturdays-Sundays, 10am-6pm. You’ll find dozens of vintage/antique/other vendors. City Guide Insider Tip: food trends are always emerging at Smorgasburg, and today’s pop-ups will blow up into tomorrow’s successful restaurants. Get in on the ground floor!

Click here for more Nightlife in NYC This Weekend.

SIGHTSEEING

Winterland at Pier 17

(Now-3/15/20) Grab a friend and skate your cares away downtown with rooftop views at Winterland at Pier 17.

Read here for more information on Ice Skating NYC.

New! Learn How to Strut the Runway with Victoria’s Secret Angel Alessandra D’Ambrosio at Madame Tussauds New York! In The Fashion Experience,” Ambrosio offers her tips, tricks, and guidance on how to slay the runway—Ambrosio herself is represented in a lifelike figure in the gallery, wearing the iconic Julien Macdonald gown that wowed the red carpet at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. All participants receive a video copy of their runway walk and are encouraged to share their videos with the hashtag #slaytherunway.

(Ongoing) A Slice of Brooklyn‘s Brooklyn Chocolate Tour visits artisanal chocolate sites Jacques Torres Chocolate in DUMBO, The Chocolate Room in Cobble Hill, Raaka in Red Hook, and Li-Lac Chocolates in Industry City, Sunset Park. Offered every Monday, Wednesday, Friday. All tours depart and return to Union Square. 

Yankee Stadium Tours

Get up close to the glory of the Yankees with Yankee Stadium Tours!

Click here for more information on The Best Things to Do in February. We’ve got March covered, too! 


EVERYTHING TO DO NYC

everything to do nyc

Want free advice on what to do and see in New York? Join our Facebook group Everything to Do NYC, a place for people to ask questions and get tips on how to make the most of the city.





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