3 Best Living Bets
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COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL Not NYC’s most famous freebie, but with a jaw-dropping view and great flicks, the Brooklyn Bridge Movies With a View film series is one of the city’s treasures. See p. 258. 005_643747-ch01.indd5_643747-ch01.indd 4 110/29/100/29/10 112:312:31 AAMM BEST OF THE FREE & DIRT CHEAP APPLE lot of great bargains in this world don’t withstand close Ascrutiny. Anyone who’s ever “won” a free weekend at a North Carolina timeshare can attest to that. New Yorkers are lucky, however, in having a menu of freebies and cheapies that aren’t just discards or traps. From Shakespeare in the Park to car-less drive-in movies to kayaking along the Hudson, there’s a host of remarkable activities here that can’t be had in other cities at any price. Sleeping for cheap may be notoriously difficult in NYC, but there are some great exceptions. When it comes to stocking up, the Big Apple’s big volumes make for unexpectedly great bargain-hunting. Add in cheap 005_643747-ch01.indd5_643747-ch01.indd 5 110/29/100/29/10 112:312:31 AAMM 6 CHAPTER 1 BEST OF THE FREE & DIRT CHEAP APPLE ethnic food and giveaway avant-garde theater, and an urban adven- turer can go very far on very little. What follows is the best of the best. 1 Best Entertainment Bets ● Best Manhattan Parade: watch some aging monsters of New Yorkers are pros at assem- rock, when the Lower East Side bling en masse. My favorite offers up the same three chords pageant is one of the city’s for free? Arlene’s Grocery (95 most inclusive, the Greenwich Stanton St.; & 212/358-1633) Village Halloween Parade, is the tri-state’s best place to with elaborate costumes and a play rock star, with a real-live healthy dose of gallows humor rock band standing in for soul- making the festive spirit infec- less laser discs. See p. 276. tious. See p. 21. ● Best Cultural Center with ● Best Outer-Borough Beer: Pete’s Candy Store (709 Parade: As New York events Lorimer St.; & 718/302-3770) become more and more com- does its part to keep Williams- mercialized, it’s nice to have burg elevated and enlightened, one occasion that’s defiantly bringing in a bushel of live do-it-yourself. Coney Island’s music and readings. Quiz, Mermaid Parade brings low- spelling, and Scrabble nights budget finery to the Atlantic round out a full schedule of shore. Classic cars serve as the free diversions. See p. 280. chariots for a procession of ● Best New York Studio-Sized mermaids and Neptunes who Music Venue: The stage is tiny will never stand accused of and the seats are few, but the being overdressed. See p. 18. back room of The Lakeside ● Best Festival: Harlem Week Lounge (162 Ave. B; & 212/ began as a single day 30 years 529-8463) brings in improba- ago and now stretches across bly big acts. Rock and rock the month of August. Film, tributaries can be found on jazz, and food festivals are most nights, and there’s never a among the highlights to be cover. See p. 225. found along lovely brownstone ● Best Jazzy Venue: Low-pre- blocks Uptown. See p. 19. tense Brooklyn meets Euro ● Best DIY Rock Show: Why trek sophistication over pints of out to the Nassau Coliseum to Hoegaarden at Williamsburg’s 005_643747-ch01.indd5_643747-ch01.indd 6 110/29/100/29/10 112:312:31 AAMM BEST ENTERTAINMENT BETS 7 Zebulon (258 Wythe Ave.; Doors (70 Lincoln Center & 718/218-6934). Afrobeat, Plaza; & 212/546-2656) festi- funk, and improv jazz can be val presents hundreds of acts heard here for no cover. See every August. The range is stag- p. 236. gering, covering jazz and dance and opera and everything in ● Best Concerts for Skipping Out between. See p. 247. on the Office: The worker bees of the Financial District have ● Best Movie Screenings with a long taken advantage of the Roof: Spring for a membership great classical performances at MoMA (11 W. 53rd St.; heard during the “Concerts at & 212/708-9400) and not only One” series at Trinity Church will you get free museum (74 Trinity Place; & 212/602- admission, you’ll also have the 0747) and St. Paul’s Chapel run of the institution’s three (Broadway and Fulton St.). St. theaters. The fare tends to be Paul’s hosts lunchtime Mon- arty, but the range of offerings days, and Trinity handles is stunning, and $75 is a great Thursdays. The acoustics are price for a year’s worth of flicks. great in both churches and the See p. 252. $2 suggested donation doesn’t ● Best Movie Screenings With- begin to reflect the caliber of out a Roof: Forty-Second Street talent. See p. 316. welcomes movie fans with an ● Best Summer Music Festival: eclectic selection of classics Every year SummerStage (Cen- during the HBO Bryant Park tral Park; & 212/360-2777) Summer Film Festival (& 212/ seems to get better organized, 512-5700). The lawn crowds channeling music fans by the up quickly, but that only truckload into a small arena in enhances the festive atmo- the middle of Central Park. sphere. See p. 257. Though several shows a year ● Best Movie Screenings on a are benefit performances with Roof: Come summer nights, steep ticket prices, the calendar God dims the overheads, and is still littered with huge names indie films play on rooftops (and playing for free. See p. 250. in parks and schoolyards) across ● Best Summer Music Festival Brooklyn, Manhattan, and That’s Not SummerStage: The Queens. Rooftop Films (& 718/ massive Lincoln Center Out of 417-7362) has fast become a 005_643747-ch01.indd5_643747-ch01.indd 7 110/29/100/29/10 112:312:31 AAMM 8 CHAPTER 1 BEST OF THE FREE & DIRT CHEAP APPLE local institution, with original, less formal, but somehow the well-selected fare. See p. 255. troupe manages to cast its spell. See p. 264. ● Best Movie Date Night: Friday nights the Rubin Museum of ● Best Free Dance: Modern and Art (150 W. 17th St.; & 212/ experimental dance has a home 620-5000) throws open its during Movement Research at doors. You can tour intriguing the Judson Church (55 Wash- Himalayan art for free, and for ington Sq. S.; & 212/539-2611). $7 you can treat yourself to a Dancers and choreographers martini and a movie. The Caba- vary from week to week, but the ret Cinema series brings an talent level stays consistently eclectic selection of films, high. The series only seems to along with the occasional be getting better, especially now related celebrity, for just the that the Judson Church has price of a tipple or a snack at installed its lovely new dance the bar. See p. 251. floor. See p. 274. ● Best Outdoor Summer The- ● Best Comedy Troupe: The ater: Forsooth, New York’s founders of The Upright Citi- greatest summer asset is no zens Brigade (307 W. 26th St.; secret. Shakespeare in the Park & 212/366-9176) have gone (& 212/539-8750) hooks up on to movie and television for- tens of thousands of bard tune and fame, but the institu- hounds with the best in Eliza- tion’s classes continue to crank bethan drama (using some of out rapier wits. Improv nights today’s best actors and direc- here are cheap when they’re tors). The Delacorte Theater’s not free, and the legendary site in the middle of Central ASSSSCAT 3000 is not to be Park is well nigh enchanted. missed. See p. 279. See p. 263. ● Best Readings: The great writ- ● Best Outdoor Summer Theater erly look of KGB Bar (85 E. 4th That Isn’t Shakespeare in the St.; & 212/505-3360) is well Park: Energetic performances matched by the great writers substitute for big names and big who come through almost every budgets in downtown’s alterna- night of the week. Enough qual- tive Shakespeare in the ity words have been spilled Park(ing) Lot (& 212/877- beneath the Soviet-kitsch fur- 0099). The setting couldn’t be nishings to justify the publishing 005_643747-ch01.indd5_643747-ch01.indd 8 110/29/100/29/10 112:312:31 AAMM BEST CHEAP EATS 9 of KGB anthologies, in addition time. The Union Square branch to a journal. See p. 288. of Barnes & Noble (33 E. 17th St.; & 212/253-0810) has no ● Best Readings in a Bookstore: difficulty booking the literati New York has many great liter- glitterati—check out their cal- ary events at its mom-and-pop endar for a steady stream of shops, but the little players famous scribes. See p. 285. don’t have quite the juice to bring in huge names every 2 Best Cheap Eats ● Best Investment of $1 (Bagel): Sullivan St. Bakery (533 W. New York exported the bagel to 47th St.; & 212/265-5580) is the four corners of America, but closer to a piece of bread than after the indignities that have a Noo Yawk slice, but it’s long been performed (piña colada on old-world charm. Subtly fla- bagels?) we should ask for them vored with rosemary and olive back. Fortunately, New York oil (no tomato or cheese), the still has the best, and a single dough manages to be simulta- bill will let you sample one at neously fluffy and chewy. See Absolute Bagel (2788 Broad- p. 72. way; & 212/932-2052). With ● Best Investment of $2.25 (Ses- flavor and texture honed to per- ame Pancake): The dumplings fection, you can’t make a better at Vanessa’s Dumpling House carb investment.