Events & Things To Do

Stanley Kubrick, from “Faye Emerson: Young Lady in a Hurry,” 1950. © Museum of the City of New York/SK Film Archive, LLC

April 27, 2018

The Urban Lens: How Stanley Kubrick’s early photography led to his iconic film career

By Dana Schulz

6sqft’s series The Urban Lens invites photographers to share work exploring a theme or a place within New York City. This week’s installment comes courtesy of a new exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York, “Through a Different Lens: Stanley Kubrick Photographs.” Are you a photographer who’d like to see your work featured on The Urban Lens? Get in touch with us at [email protected]. Before he directed films like "A Clockwork Orange," "2001: A Space Odyssey," and "Dr. Strangelove" Stanley Kubrick worked as a staff photographer at LOOK magazine, where he developed a knack at storytelling through street photography. Kubrick "found inspiration in New York's characters and settings, sometimes glamorous, sometimes gritty," all of which is the subject of a new exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York. “Through a Different Lens: Stanley Kubrick Photographs,” tells the story of how a 17-year-old amateur photographer from the Bronx went on to become one of the most revered directors of the 20th century. The exhibit, on view from May 3rd through October, will display more than 120 photos taken between 1945 and 1950, during Kubrick's time at LOOK, and examine the connections between his photography and film work. Ahead, the exhibit curators share with 6sqft a sneak preview of the photographs and discuss their experience working on the show.
READ MORE

April 26, 2018

Where I Work: Inside Stephen Powers’ colorful world of studio art and sign making in Boerum Hill

By James and Karla Murray

6sqft’s series “Where I Work” takes us into the studios, offices, and off-beat workspaces of New Yorkers across the city. In this installment, we’re touring artist Stephen Powers' Boerum Hill studio and sign shop. Want to see your business featured here? Get in touch! Walking along Fourth Avenue in Boerum Hill, the storefronts all look pretty similar--pizza shops, laundromats, cute cafes--until you come to the corner of Bergen Street and see the large, colorful collage of signs gracing the side of the little brick building. This is ESPO's Art World, artist Stephen Powers' sign shop. But as you can imagine, this space is much more than that. Powers, who painted graffiti under the name ESPO for much of the '80s and '90s in NYC and Philadelphia, also uses his shop as a retail store and informal gallery where passersby can walk in and peruse his graphic, pop-art-esque, text-heavy work. Stephen recently gave 6sqft a guided tour of his shop and chatted with us about his transition from graffiti to studio art, why he dislikes the term "street art," his love for Brooklyn, and where he sees the art scene heading.
Get a look around and hear from Stephen

Uncover secrets of the World’s Fair with free, monthly walking tours of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park

Photo via Wikimedia

April 25, 2018

Uncover secrets of the World’s Fair with free, monthly walking tours of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park

By Devin Gannon

For two six-month seasons in 1964, the World's Fair came to Queens, with exhibits featured from over 80 nations spread across 646 acres. The fair came at a time of mid-20th-century innovation and culture, at the height of the Space Age. It served as a moment of peace before the start of the Vietnam War, with its motto "Peace Through Understanding." And while many New Yorkers attended the historic event, or have heard stories recounted by parents and grandparents, it's hard to imagine what it was truly like to experience. Making it easier to understand what the World's Fair was really like, the city's parks department is offering free, monthly tours of the park, allowing visitors to hear the stories behind the Unisphere, the New York State Pavilion and many more landmarks.
Details here

Governors Island will stay open late on Fridays this season

Photo by Timothy Schenck

April 24, 2018

Governors Island will stay open late on Fridays this season

By Devin Gannon

Get ready to party on Governors Island this summer. The Trust for Governors Island on Tuesday announced extended hours for the 2018 season from 6 pm to 10 pm, allowing visitors to explore the park, drink cocktails and enjoy beautiful sunsets every Friday beginning May 25. During "Late Friday" nights, guests will be able to traverse the entire Island, including the promenade and Nolan Park and Colonels Row homes in the park's historic district.
Get the scoop

Swale in 2017, photo via Subhram Reddy.

April 23, 2018

A public floating food forest will come to the Brooklyn Army Terminal this summer

By Devin Gannon

A 5,000-square-foot edible perennial garden will travel to the Brooklyn Army Terminal this summer, offering up New Yorkers the chance to harvest fruits and vegetables on top of a barge. The floating food forest, Swale, docked in Manhattan last year and featured an apple orchard surrounded by garden beds. This year, the 130x40 foot barge will set up along the Sunset Park waterfront between May 5 and July 1, and be free and open to the public on the weekends.
Details here

April 23, 2018

NYC’s 10 best art exhibits and events this spring

By Michelle Sinclair Colman

The flowers are finally blooming, spring is in the air, and there are tons of awesome art exhibits popping up all over the city. Although we recently highlighted some amazing art day trips from New York City, there is always art at our doorstep that we should take advantage of, so we've rounded up 10 terrific exhibits and events that will not last long. So take an extra long lunch break or sneak out of work early to catch these temporary shows that are all worth a visit.
Check out the list

Events & Things To Do

Bjarke Ingels reveals new renderings of twisting High Line condo ahead of May sales launch

Renderings via Dbox for HFZ Capital Group

April 20, 2018

Bjarke Ingels reveals new renderings of twisting High Line condo ahead of May sales launch

By Dana Schulz

Ahead of the just-announced May 7th sales launch, Bjarke Ingels and developer HFZ Capital have released to the Times several new renderings of the Eleventh, or the XI as it's been branded. The West Chelsea hotel/condo project is notable not only for being Ingels' first NYC condo project but for its asymmetrical, twisting silhouette. And in the new renderings, we're able to get a better look at the pair of towers and their skybridge, along with, for the first time, the central courtyard and an apartment interior.
All the renderings and details right this way

City to move ‘Fearless Girl’ to new home across from New York Stock Exchange

Fearless Girl and Charging Bull statues on Wall Street; via Anthony Quintano’s Flickr

April 20, 2018

City to move ‘Fearless Girl’ to new home across from New York Stock Exchange

By Michelle Cohen

Mayor Bill De Blasio announced today that the “Fearless Girl” statue currently staring down the iconic Wall Street "Charging Bull" will be getting a permanent home in front of the New York Stock Exchange in the Financial District. Since the diminutive statue's temporary installation more than a year ago a day before International Women’s Day, sending a message to Wall Street for the need of gender equality in the financial world, the statue has become a major attraction, drawing millions of tourists and locals.
What about the bull?

Events & Things To Do

150 years ago, Delmonico’s became the first restaurant to serve women unaccompanied by men

Photo of Delmonico’s in 1903; photo via Wikimedia

April 18, 2018

150 years ago, Delmonico’s became the first restaurant to serve women unaccompanied by men

By Devin Gannon

Photo of Delmonico's in 1903; photo via Wikimedia Nearly five decades before women were granted the right to vote in New York State, a group of fed-up ladies decided to protest a symbolic law that prohibited them from dining in restaurants without men present. After journalist Jane Cunningham Croly was barred from entering a dinner held at the New York Press Club, she and a group of women founded Sorosis, the first professional women's club in the United States. On April 20, 1868, Croly and her crew held a luncheon at the historic Delmonico's Restaurant in the Financial District, which became the first to serve women independently of men. Following the groundbreaking meal, clubs for only women formed all over the country.
The full history ahead

April 18, 2018

The world’s first public outdoor squash court opens on the Lower East Side

By Michelle Sinclair Colman

Squash is often considered the sport of prep schools and Ivy League colleges, but four squash enthusiasts are changing that, one court at a time. The NYC Parks Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver officially opened the first-of-its-kind in the world outdoor squash court at Hamilton Fish Park on the Lower East Side. This amazingly cool court looks more like an Apple Store glass cube than a fitness facility. Even cooler, it's funded by the nonprofit Public Squash and is free to the public and will offer free clinics throughout the summer.
Get all the details!

6sqft Guide: How to rent as a foreign national in New York City

By Cait Etherington

Foreign nationals from around the world are recruited to work in New York City, but when they arrive, they often realize that not everyone is eager to welcome them with open arms nor open doors. Indeed, while many employers from banks and tech companies to museums and universities are eager to recruit top global talent, most of the city’s rental management companies would prefer to rent to a pack of college students than a fully employed foreign national with a six-figure income. So, what is an adult with a great credit history, full-time job, and in many cases, a family to do when they arrive in New York City? While foreign nationals likely can’t change the perception that renting to foreigners is a bad idea, there are a few ways to troubleshoot the housing market in New York City whether you were born in Toronto, Paris, or Tokyo.
Everything you need to know, here

First look at the glamorous, sixties-inspired guest rooms at the TWA Hotel

Image via David Mitchell

April 17, 2018

First look at the glamorous, sixties-inspired guest rooms at the TWA Hotel

By Devin Gannon

Guests staying at the TWA Flight Center Hotel will be transported back to 1962 through rooms decorated with Eero Saarinen-designed Knoll furnishings, martini bars and terrazzo-tiled bathrooms with Hollywood-style vanities. MCR and MORSE Development unveiled on Tuesday a model of the guest rooms at the hotel, located at the John F. Kennedy Airport, part of the landmark flight center's restoration and repurposing. Scheduled to open in 2019, the 512-room hotel is found in two low-rise, wing-shaped buildings behind the flight center, an homage to Saarinen's iconic design. The center will serve as the hotel's lobby, measuring 200,000 square feet, the largest hotel lobby in the world. The buildings, which officially topped out last month, will have a seven-layer, soundproofed-glass facade to provide the ultimate quiet retreat.
Check it out

Car Free Day will celebrate Earth Day by closing 30 blocks of Broadway

Photo courtesy of NYC DOT/Flickr

April 12, 2018

Car Free Day will celebrate Earth Day by closing 30 blocks of Broadway

By Michelle Sinclair Colman

The day before Earth Day, on Saturday April 21st, 30 blocks of Broadway will be closed to vehicular traffic, from Times Square to Union Square, from 9am to 3pm. This third annual Car Free Day aims to promote sustainability and protecting the environment by promoting walking and eco-friendly modes of transportation, like cycling and mass transit. Citi Bike will be offering free day passes for their bikes, in partnership with Mastercard, and the Department of Transportation will host a slew of free events along the route.
Event details this way

6sqft won an award! Help us celebrate at the Historic District Council’s grassroots preservation awards

Photo via Wally Gobetz on Flickr

April 10, 2018

6sqft won an award! Help us celebrate at the Historic District Council’s grassroots preservation awards

By Devin Gannon

The Historic Districts Council this month will present six organizations and individuals with "Grassroots Preservation Awards" during its annual event. And 6sqft is one of the lucky winners! Help celebrate us, as well as the rest of the awardees, who will be honored for their work preserving New York City's historic neighborhoods. The event takes place on Tuesday, April 24 at the Saint Mark's Church-In-The-Bowery, located at 131 East 10th Street.
Details here

Events & Things To Do

A 40-year sketching project pays homage to the subway’s historic mosaics

Times Square. July 16, 1979.

April 6, 2018

A 40-year sketching project pays homage to the subway’s historic mosaics

By Hannah Frishberg

6sqft’s series The Urban Lens invites artists to share work exploring a theme or a place within New York City. In this installment, Philip Ashforth Coppola shares some of the sketches from his life-long "Silver Connections” subway drawings. Are you an artist who’d like to see your work featured on The Urban Lens? Get in touch with us at [email protected]. Despite its functional woes, the subway is absolutely teeming with historic art, from tile mosaics of station names to ornamental ceiling wreaths and wrought iron handrails. Philip Ashforth Coppola has committed himself to paying homage to these details often looked over by rushed straphangers, drawing the designs with meticulous care and attention. For the past 40 years, he's been on a mission to draw every subway station in New York City. Though he's not there quite yet, his amazing work has been compiled into a series of volumes called "Silver Connections." Ahead, Philip shares some of his drawings and discusses why he started the project, how he goes about his work, and his thoughts on the subway past and present.
Step into Coppola's world

Events & Things To Do

Travel uptown on a WWI-era subway to mark the 100th anniversary of Woodlawn station

Via NY Transit Museum

April 6, 2018

Travel uptown on a WWI-era subway to mark the 100th anniversary of Woodlawn station

By Devin Gannon

Before the Woodlawn station opened a century ago, the surrounding area of Norwood in the Bronx was mostly rural with lots of farmland. While residential development began with the opening of the Woodlawn Cemetery, the neighborhood's transformation really took off when the subway was extended to reach this part of the city. To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first train pulling into the northern terminal of the IRT Jerome Avenue Line, the New York Transit Museum is giving guests the chance to travel on World War I-era cars to relive this important part of subway history.
Find out more

April 5, 2018

Renderings revealed for Annabelle Selldorf’s $160M Frick Collection expansion

By Hannah Frishberg

The Frick Collection has unveiled its $160 million Selldorf Architects-designed upgrade and expansion, which will open up the private living quarters of Henry Clay Frick's original 1914 home to the public for the first time. As the New York Times explained, the renderings illustrate a plan to expand the existing building's second level, add two set-back stories above the music room, and an addition behind the library that will match its seven-story height. These will house a 220-seat underground auditorium, an education center with classrooms, in addition to a renovated lobby and larger museum shop.
More details and renderings ahead

April 4, 2018

Take a tour of artist Cj Hendry’s ‘MONOCHROME’ rooms in a Brooklyn warehouse

By Michelle Sinclair Colman

Australian-born, New York-based hyperrealist artist Cj Hendry--whose past work, which is often sold out through Instagram and has been quite dominated by blacks, whites and grays--created an amazing color exploration in a 22,000-square-foot Brooklyn warehouse. In each of the seven single-colored rooms, the self-described “fashion fangirl” Hendry’s MONOCHROME exhibit creates a color sensory experience centered around her new images of crumpled Pantone swatches. Everything from the walls to floors to clothes hanging to plants are the same color. It looks as if she was inspired by the 2018 Pantone color of the year, ultraviolet, for the bathroom. The rooms are built with lego-like Everblocks, creating somewhat prison-like walls in the most colorful jail ever.
Take a tour

April 4, 2018

ODA’s proposed Chinatown ‘Dragon Gate’ pavilion interweaves tradition and modernity

By Michelle Sinclair Colman

As many other New York City ethnic neighborhoods have diminished or disappeared over the years, Chinatown continues to grow and prosper. Roughly bound by borders at Hester and Worth Streets to the north and south, and Essex and Broadway to the east and west, Chinatown is home to largest ethnic Chinese population outside of Asia. With this in mind, architecture firm ODA New York, known for prioritizing people over architecture, has proposed a unique and beautiful new gateway to the neighborhood at the Canal Street Triangle. ODA’s typical designs can be a bit boxy, constructed with heavier materials, but there is always a lightness to them, whether through the infusion of glass, archways, or greenery. Combining new technology with traditional Chinese symbolism, “Dragon Gate” will delicately weave the duality of Chinatown’s old and new into a strong structure, both in symbolism and material.
More renderings and details ahead

April 3, 2018

15 art museums outside NYC worth the trip

By Michelle Sinclair Colman

New York City is filled with amazing art so why go any further? Because there are some spectacular museums with extraordinary collections set in nearby locales that demand attention. Art can be appreciated for the work itself but taken within its context and history, it can be so much more. 6sqft found a variety of incredibly interesting art destinations in the tri-state area that are worth a trip. Perhaps when planning your next staycation or day-trip, choose one of these museums to set your itinerary.
Check out our list of the top 15

Events & Things To Do

Hear MLK’s final speech replayed under the Washington Square arch tonight

Photo from an event test run last night, courtesy of Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photo Office

April 3, 2018

Hear MLK’s final speech replayed under the Washington Square arch tonight

By Dana Schulz

Today, April 3rd, marks the 50th anniversary of when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his final speech, "I've Been to the Mountaintop," in Memphis, Tennessee. In response to the Memphis Sanitation Strike, he called for unity, economic action, and nonviolent protests. He also, eerily, alluded to an untimely death. The following day, April 4, 1968, he was assassinated. To commemorate this final speech, the city will tonight replay it in its entirety throughout Washington Square Park while Mayor de Blasio and First Lady McCray light the arch in MLK's honor.
Event details ahead

Events & Things To Do

March 30, 2018

Celebrate Prospect Park’s opening weekend with an 1860s-style ballgame, a scavenger hunt and more

By Devin Gannon

Image by Elizabeth Keegin Colley for the Prospect Park Alliance Spring has officially sprung. And what better way to welcome the season than celebrating with a weekend full of activities at Prospect Park? To kick off the park's opening weekend on April 7th and 8th, the Prospect Park Alliance will bring events like free yoga, a baseball parade and 1860s exhibition baseball game, a fair, history tour and much more. Although most events are free, a few require advance reservation and some cost a couple of bucks. Ahead, check out the full schedule of events.
More details here

Events & Things To Do

Over the next three years, city will spend over $1B to house homeless New Yorkers in hotels

Photo via Public Domain

March 28, 2018

Over the next three years, city will spend over $1B to house homeless New Yorkers in hotels

By Devin Gannon

Officials on Tuesday said the city will spend $384 million annually over the next three years to house homeless New Yorkers in commercial hotels, despite promises to phase out the once emergency-only measure. The costs, which will total more than $1 billion, will also include creating supportive services for families, as well as amenities hotel rooms lack, like refrigerators and microwaves, according to the New York Post. Department of Homeless Services told City Council members at a hearing Tuesday that the three-year contract is temporary, but needed as the city continues to open new shelters that will eventually replace cluster sites and other underperforming shelters.
Find out more

For $6,500 you can buy your very own ‘Fearless Girl’ statue

The statues available for sale. Photo Credit: Jafe Parsons.

March 28, 2018

For $6,500 you can buy your very own ‘Fearless Girl’ statue

By Michelle Cohen

It was bound to happen. Two-foot-high replicas of the popular, controversial "Fearless Girl" statue of a young girl standing up to Wall Street’s “Charging Bull” are now for sale, Huffington Post reports. The statue's creator, artist Kristen Visbal, is selling reproductions of the infamous statue for $6,500; the statues will be part of a limited edition with only 1,000 made in total.
How can I get one?

Events & Things To Do

March 27, 2018

An art auction in Jersey City is selling a fake ‘Naked Trump’ statue for up to $30K

By Michelle Sinclair Colman

One of the original statues on display in San Francisco via torbakhopper's Flickr Fake news is always surrounding President Donald Trump and so is Stormy Daniels. Put those two together (fake & naked) and you’ve got the most recent news: an auction house based in California is selling a fake “Naked Trump” statue, unbeknownst to them. Reports out today claim one of the five original “Naked Trump” statues is going up for auction on May 2 at Julien’s Auctions at Mana Contemporary in Jersey City. But a representative from INDECLINE, the West Coast “Activist Art Collective” that created the artwork, adamantly denies that this is an original.
Get the inside scoop