Fun things to do in NYC
What are some off the beaten path, lesser known, fun things to do in NYC? Not touristy shit like the statue of liberty or times Square or empire state building, I want to know more obscure places/events to go to that only locals would know.
Also what's a good place to get bagels in Brooklyn?
Not in Brooklyn, but if you can make the trip to Chelsea or Greenwich Village, Brooklyn Bagels is more than worth it.
This is ridiculous, as I read the sentence in OP asking about bagels I thought the same thing.
Bagelsmith on Lorimer is pretty good.
Bodega
I guess I'll just go to YELP.COM :(
Yelp.com and Amazon reviews rule the world
Or just go outside and walk
If you can
if you are willing to goto brooklyn, there is a great indoor shuffleboard place, with a bar, and a food truck that parks inside www.royalpalmsbrooklyn.com. The place is huge, and is a lot of fun. There is also a korean bbq restaurant nearby, with karaoke rooms in the back that is a lot of fun at www.insabrooklyn.com
Chelsea Piers is always good if you like the activities there (golf driving range, bowling, etc...)
Summer Concerts in central park always draw a huge crown and are fun way to picnic (remember to bring a picnic blanket and a cooler with ice/drinks/food in this heat)
I personally really like Fairway Bagels...and they have a large selection of smoked salmon to choose from at the deli counter.
Do not go to Mr Purple
While not the best rooftop bar, it's not the worst either. At least the view is really good. I wasn't a fan of ARLO rooftop.
Arlo you get a lot of big groups, it's well lit and there's just a general weird vibe so agreed
I enjoy Last Light - it's a pretty new rooftop spot on bowery, not as clubby
following
I'll JUMP OFF the rooftop because no one else is chiming in with anything good
you need to be mor specific in your question...are you looking for places to pickup chicks? Places to play sports? Museums? Watch a show? Take a cooking or painting class?
NY has so many activities to choose from...keeping your question open ended is a surefir way to get no responses. A study was done where people are given 3 choices, or 20. When given more choices, many people make no choice at all and juts leave...analysis by paralysis is a real thing.
go eat breakfast in tokyo mart (near chinatown / canal st) and then go rock climbing at The Cliffs in DUMBO.
There are a couple shops in NYC that sell the coveted FLEX SEAL. The buying experience is a lot of fun!
Phil Swift is that you?!?!
Never figured you for a quant guy.
I'm not a quant at all lol. The username is completely troll. Had to find something to fit in a finance community :)
It's pretty sad there are people who will throw MS on this and never now how fun it is to buy and use FLEX SEAL.
Most of the fun stuff in NYC is just experiencing it all. Meaning, going to the different parts of the city and getting a feel for everything, nothing specific. Even going to Bronx/Queens/Brooklyn to see stuff there is good.
I usually recommend breweries or the highline; if you go to the highline I recommend the HBO documentary "Class Divide" gives great insight.
my all-time favorite thing i've ever done in new york is the interactive theater experience 'Sleep No More'. it's difficult to describe exactly what it is, but just google it and read up on it yourself. super cool experience and i think it's things like this that make new york so amazing, i've never come across anything like this in any other city
Brooklyn Heights is one of my favorite places. There are beautiful brick townhouses and it's about literally 5 minutes from the station to the promenade where you can see the New York Skyline and Statue of Liberty. There is a lot of different food options too and bars you can visit also . I loved the time I spent there.
Anything someone is naming here is almost by definition not "off the beaten path". If you want a truly off the beaten path experience, pick a random subway stop in the outer boroughs and go wander around. Find a local restaurant, experience a local ethnic enclave, whatever. Hotel bars or Sleep No More or some of this other stuff being named - they're all awesome and fun and worth going to but those are also all places that you'll find huge crowds and tourists and all that, because those places are highlights so everyone knows them.
Would that be safe to just wander around in the outer boroughs?
If I was a 25 year old girl I wouldn't wander Brownsville in my underwear at midnight, but for the most part anyone with a little bit of common sense is perfectly safe.
The idea that the outer boroughs are infested with criminals and make the Mos Eisley Cantina look like a Christian book club meeting is very outdated. You are far, far more likely to be robbed or the victim of other non-violent crime in Midtown Manhattan than in the Bronx or eastern Queens/Brooklyn, and the odds of being the victim of a violent crime are essentially nil.
Go to the Bronx Botanical Gardens and then get canoli's on Arthur Avenue. Large parts of the Bronx are really, really nice.
Lol did you grow up on a farm or something?
Agreed. Take the 7 train and get off around Jackson Heights. Try a few restaurants and you will not be disappointed.
Go to Central Park and watch the rollerbladers fall. Sometimes you need to toss a stick on the path to make that happen.
For starters, check out www.theskint.com for quick and last minute cheap/free things to do in NY.
Depending on how "out there" you are, there can be quite a few other things
There's much more I could list but in general, if you have a specific interest or hobby you'd want to pursue further, I HIGHLY suggest you make time for it in NYC. The biggest thing though is that you have to plan it ahead. It's so easy in NYC to not plan for something and have it be completely washed out.
Grab some Greek food in Astoria, ride a Citi bike from the Bronx to Lower East Side, hit up a boxing match in Brooklyn, day drink at some Irish pubs in midtown - there is a ton to do bro.
Did someone say day drink in Midtown? It's Tuesday, but I'm in.
Look for the 85 Broads.
To be slightly more adult: Head up to the Cloisters. It's the best midevil European collection in the hemisphere. They even bought and shipped 5 abbeys in from Europe to build the building. The Whitney and the Met are good too. Brooklyn Brewery and Fette Sau in Billyburg are a nice trip to hipster-land. Walk Central Park, I like to go north to south. For some more lowbrow entertainment, consider Coney Island, it's almost a permanent state fair.
Cool tidbit near the Cloisters. They’re located in Fort Tryon Park and originally this was the location of a gilded age mansion. The mansion is gone, but the entrance archways remain in the park and you can walk under them and actually on top of them. Great view of the Hudson. Check it out in fall for great foliage.
*medieval pls fix
MoMA, The Whitney, Guggenheim Museum, and Storm King Arts Center are all really cool to check out even if you're not the biggest art snob. Great date spots too.
yankees.com
Wholesome: Get the Lyft app, find a citibike station, pay $3/half an hour to bike along the west side bike path or central park
Clubs, ratchet (note, these are all in K-town): Maru Ichi Crush
Clubs, less ratchet: Marquee Lavo Up&Down Space Ibiza Slate
Event spaces: Brooklyn Mirage Pier 94 Terminal 5
Other/Food: Museum of Illusions Izakaya Mew Ippudo Gaonnuri Fish Market (restaurant on South st)
When I first moved to London and New York, mostly I just drank and ate a lot. I hit up a few museums and shows from time to time, but I don't need 'activities' to entertain me in that sense. In all honesty, I find a lot of shows boring. I've been to museums enough for anyone's lifetime. I could probably go the whole rest of my life without ever returning to a club. As a rule, if you're more charming than you are good at dancing, clubs aren't for you anyway. That's doubly true if you're above 30.
This is why moving outside the city in your mid-30s isn't so bad. There are things you miss, and the city constantly evolves so you'll never do everything, but once you've done enough to satiate your wanderlust, settling down doesn't seem so bad. For me, it's mostly about the food. I still live in the city, but if I were to move, that's what I'd miss. I go on little food excursions around the city. I do it in any city I go to. I do it by myself a lot since convincing other people to eat one dish at 4 different restaurants in a night is not generally worth the effort. Sometimes, I meet different people at different restaurants, but I don't like to keep to a schedule, so I just go with the flow.
Instead of looking for structured activities for adults to do in their free time, why don't you make your own fun? Go up to Columbia and pretend to be a professor. When the real professor comes, insist that THEY are the crazy one and walk out before they call security. See how long you can get away with bullshitting a bunch of undergrads about poli sci. Fuck, I'm pretty sure that's how people become professors in the first place.
Go do joke yoga. When you see a bunch of yuppies doing yoga in the park, set up shop in their midst. Bring an 80s-style boom box, sweatbands and a small oriental rug instead of a yoga mat, blast 'I need a Hero' by Bonnie Tyler and do your own routine as loudly and disruptively as possible. Then, try to sell lessons after insulting their yogi and her amateurish instruction.
Print out a set of small signs that read "Taken" and walk around someone else's residential block documenting everywhere people let their dogs shit. Then, when a dog walker attempts to claim one of the 'taken' spaces, let them know that spot had already been claimed by another dog. Don't follow up with any other conversation. Just inform them that they're violating another dog's territory and that you're trying to maintain a peaceful neighborhood as the block's 'Poo Warden'.
Or go hit some golf balls off Chelsea Pier if you want to be 'normal' and 'not get the cops called on you', but who wants to be normal anyway?
One generally has more fun this way, SB'd!
Doing things in a costume (and a group) tends to make things... interesting.
There's a newish visual show in the city that seems in line with Tokyo's digital museum: https://zerospace.co/
Nitehawk Cinema in Brooklyn
Upright Citizens Brigade Improv
Rockwood Music Hall to see up-and-coming music acts
Comedy Cellar
The Whitney
Aire Ancient Baths
Peter Luger - cause it's a fucking institution
+1 for Comedy Cellar and the ancient baths
Old Homestead is another great, old old steakhouse, esp. beautiful decor at Xmas time
There is this sick Bar called FlexBar founded by Phil Swift, The polymath behind Flex Seal's incredible adhesive bonding product. Essentially they serve all their drinks in cups and shot glasses made out of Flex Seal! Only downside to this place is the rubbery taste to all the drinks, but a fun spot to chill nonetheless.
P.S. Try the Flex Shot
Stop trying to make Flex Seal happen, it's not gonna happen
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