A local guide to creative, queer and culinary New York.Drag wrestling meets roller skating meets Big Freedia at this queer Halloween spectacular. Choke Hole and Function bring the ring, Makadsi and Dangerous Rose handle the decks, and New Orleans bounce royalty Big Freedia performs live. Costumes required, chaos guaranteed.
Xanadu · bushwickNine hours of rock'n'roll Halloween mayhem with 35+ acts including The Lemon Twigs, Swamp Dogg, Sheer Mag, and Jacuzzi Boys. The city's wildest Halloween music party, now on Devil's Night.
Knockdown Center · ridgewoodTaryn Simon's first major museum survey in NYC. Fills the entire rotunda with photography, video, and sculpture.
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum · Upper East SideThe Dope Jams crew takes over Public Records' Sound Room for a Halloween ball with Turtle Bugg, 4AM NYC, GE-OLOGY, and Paul Nickerson. Costumes and dancing in a room built around a proper sound system.
Public Records · gowanusTwo weeks of independent theater and performance about death, the afterlife, and Halloween. The lineup skews spooky and the tickets stay low enough to try more than one show.
Under St. Marks Theatre · East Village · 7-25 sliding scaleA fully staged 360-degree production of the cult classic with a live shadow cast. Post-show DJ sets and dance parties follow the Oct 23, 24, 30, and 31 performances. Time warp your way through Halloween season.
Brooklyn Art Haus · williamsburgChef Eyal Shani's first Brooklyn outpost brings his acclaimed vegetable-forward Mediterranean cooking to the Williamsburg waterfront. The namesake dish is a peeled tomato sliced into rounds. With a chef's counter and mezcal-based cocktails.
476 Kent Ave · williamsburgA cozy new home-cooked Armenian cafe from chef Ararat El-Rawi, who turned a pandemic pop-up into a permanent Greenpoint fixture. Expect stuffed grape leaves, lamb dishes, and the kind of hospitality that makes a neighborhood feel like home.
1035 Manhattan Ave · greenpointThe acclaimed filmmaker and cinematographer behind "Love Is the Message, the Message Is Death" presents a new immersive video installation exploring Black identity, transformation, and self-creation through the figure of a young Black man.
New Museum · boweryA fresh take on the Pop Art icon, pairing his iconic comic-strip paintings with rarely seen experimental works from the Whitney's collection. Benday dots, brushstrokes, and the artist you thought you knew, reconsidered.
Whitney Museum · MeatpackingA riot of color, pattern, and political punch from the Senegalese-born, Brooklyn-based artist. Her first major museum survey fills the Whitney's fifth floor with bold, graphic works that merge pop culture, African textiles, and American iconography.
Whitney Museum · MeatpackingNew Mexican-Asian fusion from chef Jaime Sanchez, dumplings and bao finished with salsa macha. Open late, closed Mondays.
185 Grand St · WilliamsburgA Chinese restaurant where the whole menu is gluten-free, more than 15 years into doing it. Open daily till 9:30 with lunch specials on weekdays and room for a mixed-diet group.
198 9th Ave · ChelseaChef Hiroki Odo's new kaiseki izakaya, kaiseki precision with the warmth of a neighborhood pub. The menu is fully gluten-free and built around rice; book a table on Resy.
536 E 5th St · East VillageNathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim follow Elizabeth Holmes through the 34 days before she reports to prison. It runs 175 minutes and plays like a thriller, so give it an evening.
BAM · Fort GreeneRachel Kaly's one-woman show about more than 300 hospital visits, after sold-out runs in London and Edinburgh. Go with someone who likes it dark; the laughs and the sad parts land in the same hour.
The Culture Club · ChelseaItalian sandwich shop that transforms into an osteria at night. The Greenpoint local's new dinner option.
614 Manhattan Ave · GreenpointFirst major New York presentation devoted to either artist in more than 20 years. Over 120 works, tracing the full arc of their intertwined careers.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art · Upper East SideNew cocktail bar from the team behind Five Leaves and Goldie's. Sleek black banquettes, private karaoke room, small bites til midnight.
632 Manhattan Ave · GreenpointNarrow Spanish seafood bar by the waterfront built around martinis, sherry, raw bar, and conservas.
25 Greenpoint Ave · GreenpointA reexamination of a visionary self-taught artist. Radiant drawings and collages of flowers, birds, angels, and faces inspired by dreams and spiritual revelation. Dense, colorful, transportive.
Whitney Museum of American Art · Meatpacking · freeRed-sauce Italian American institution since 1930, reopened by former Long Island Bar alum Georgia Fulton. Same pizza oven.
238 Court St · Cobble HillNY debut of a theatrical comedy from one of the 50 funniest comedians of the 21st century. A bonkers show about love and a broken engagement blending stand-up, opera, character work, and bouncy castles.
SoHo Playhouse · SohoSecret wine bar and cafe hidden behind an old-timey photo booth. "Ice cream you wouldn't have ordered anywhere else."
Behind the Booth · Lower East SideGreenpoint's best curated shop. Covetable, well-designed, actually buyable.
Alter · GreenpointHistoric queer bar, one of New York's oldest. A martini here is a rite of passage.
Julius' · West VillageMexican coastal seafood: aguachile, ceviche, tostadas. Big flavors, patio out back.
Submarino Mariscos · GreenpointLegit Texas barbecue from two award-winning Lone Star pitmasters. Brisket, green spaghetti, dollar lone stars.
Kirbee's BBQ · Greenpoint