A local guide to creative, queer and culinary New York.A massive Halloween arts and music festival taking over 150,000 square feet across two warehouses at Industry City. Eight stages, interactive art installations, secret experiences from Burning Man camps, and a secret music lineup spanning house to techno. Costumes required.
Industry City · sunset parkUCB's signature all-star improv show. The cast changes every night, the level does not.
UCB Theatre, 14th St · East VillageBurlesque and variety at an Orchard Street institution since 1999, with Wilfredo and Lydia Vengeance in a rotating Friday lineup. Shows at 8:30, 9:45, and 11.
The Slipper Room, 167 Orchard St · Lower East SideTen Burchfield watercolors from the Whitney's own collection, 1916 to 1960, tracing his lifelong obsession with the force of nature. They are light-sensitive and rarely shown together, so it is a small, quiet show worth a weekday visit.
Whitney Museum · Meatpacking · (pay-what-you-wish Fridays)A new NYC-set film following the strange career of a location scout who moonlights as a pickpocket. Part documentary, part heist film, all New York.
BAM · Fort GreeneBrancusi's rarely lent sculptures come to New York for the first time in decades, shown with his films, photographs, and hand-carved furniture. Seen through his Paris studio, the show is about how he worked, not just what he made.
MoMA · Midtown · (pay-what-you-wish at MoMA)Taryn Simon's first major museum survey in NYC. Fills the entire rotunda with photography, video, and sculpture.
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum · Upper East SideNew York debut of the young New Zealand painter. Lush, abstract, bodily paintings.
David Zwirner, 52 Walker St · Tribeca · freeBosco celebrates 20 years of My Chemical Romance's The Black Parade with an all-star drag and burlesque lineup. Dress black, or don't, just get there early.
Saint Vitus · GreenpointNYC's biggest weekly market goes spooky for Halloween weekend, with vintage, antiques, and local makers. Free to get in and right by Central Park.
Grand Bazaar NYC, W 76th St & Columbus Ave · Upper West Side · FreeTwo 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 · williamsburgNew York's biggest LGBTQ+ film festival, screening in venues across the city. The closing weekend is the easy way to catch more than one.
Various locations · Manhattan And Brooklyn · 17+A new after-hours series that opens the galleries for rising electronic acts, starting with Isabella Lovestory, b0yg1rl, and Ali Rq. First edition, and the presale price beats the door.
MoMA PS1 · Long Island City · 15 adv, 20 doorA free outdoor screening of Ryan Coogler's Sinners. Bring a blanket and a jacket and get there early for a spot.
McCarren Park · Williamsburg · FreeBeck brings the Ride Lonesome tour to a newly restored Brooklyn landmark, with Ioanna Gika along. The room just reopened and this is one of the first big shows in it.
Brooklyn Paramount · Downtown BrooklynA drag tribute to Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth for its 20th anniversary. Costumes encouraged, fantasy creatures guaranteed.
C'mon Everybody · Bed-Stuy · 13.39Cheetah Quila hosts an all-Monster High drag party. Get your ghouls together and dress like your favorite character.
C'mon Everybody · Bed-Stuy · 13.39Robert Glasper, Questlove, and Bilal share one stage for a night, sets at 8 and 10:30. Bilal's voice over those two rhythm sections is the draw.
Blue Note · West VillageChef 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