Events &amp; Things To Do

An art installation from internationally acclaimed artist-activist, Ai Weiwei, will be displayed at the same time as the Christmas tree underneath the Washington Square Arch this year, displacing the tree, which has been a holiday tradition since 1924. The exhibit serves as one part of the famed Chinese artist’s larger project, “Good Fences Make Good Neighbors,” which will feature ten large fence-themed works and more than 90 smaller installations across the five boroughs. As Bedford + Bowery learned, the plan is moving forward, despite objections from the Washington Square Association, who sought an appeal to have the project withdrawn because it will disrupt the usual holiday celebration, the second oldest tree lighting ceremony in New York City.
More this way

September 22, 2017

Top 10 can’t-miss events for NYC’s Archtober 2017

Archtober is New York City’s annual month-long architecture and design festival of tours, lectures, films, and exhibitions taking place during October when a full calendar of events turns a focus on the importance of architecture and design throughout our city in everyday life. Organized by the Center for Architecture, in collaboration with over 60 partner organizations across the city, the festival raises awareness of the important role of design and the richness of New York’s built environment. Now in its seventh year, Archtober offers something for everyone—from the arch-intellectual who wants to talk Jane Jacobs to the armchair architect with a thing for skyscrapers, parks or historic buildings—in the 100+ event roster. Ahead, 6sqft has hand-picked 10 don't-miss highlights in this year’s program.
Learn about the architecture of NYC at these cool events

September 21, 2017

15 best spots to celebrate Oktoberfest in and around New York City

As the weather cools and the fall foliage blooms, there is no better way to welcome autumn than listening to live music, drinking authentic German beer, and eating bratwurst and giant pretzels. Munich comes to New York City with tons of Oktoberfest events starting this month throughout the five boroughs, including some just a little further out of town. Celebrate Bavarian culture this year with events like traditional pig roasts, ceremonial keg tappings, "oompah" bands, stein-holding competitions and much more. Ahead, revel in the tradition of Oktoberfest and find the 15 best spots to grab authentic brews and brats this season with 6sqft's guide.
Beers and Brats this way

Events & Things To Do

VIDEO: The story behind Port Authority’s secret public piano

Adrian Untermyer plaing the piano, via Sing for Hope

September 20, 2017

VIDEO: The story behind Port Authority’s secret public piano

Smack in the middle of the busiest bus terminal in the world is a funky, rainbow piano. Located on a platform that was once the terminal's operations control center but is now the Port Authority Bus Terminal Performing Arts Stage, the piano arrived last year via a collaboration with the nonprofit Sing for Hope. But the idea for this public performance opportunity is thanks to pianist and preservationist Adrian Untermyer, who originally saw pianos in train stations in Paris and thought it would be a great way to bring "light and joy and music to a space that we all know but may not particularly love." In the video ahead, Adrian tells us how his proposal became a reality and why Port Authority deserved a piano.
Watch 6sqft's video here

Over 1,000 museums nationwide will offer free admission this Saturday

The Bartlow-Pell Mansion Museum in the Bronx, photo courtesy of Richard Warren via NYC & Company

September 19, 2017

Over 1,000 museums nationwide will offer free admission this Saturday

It’s that time of the year again! Smithsonian Magazine is hosting its annual “Museum Day Live!” event which provides free admission to over one thousand museums, art galleries and historic homes across the country on one day only: Saturday, Sept. 23. In New York City alone, 25 institutions and educational spaces are open to the public at no charge.
More details here

September 19, 2017

The best day trips this fall, from cemetery tours to historic mansions to corn mazes

These pretty-much-perfect months are a great time to escape the city, and with so many fun, scenic, and informative offerings nearby, you can go for the day and not have to worry about spending money on lodging. To help plan your autumn itinerary, 6sqft has put together a list of the best day trips outside of New York. From touring the Rockefeller estate in Tarrytown to a lantern-lit cemetery tour in Sleepy Hollow, we've got you history buffs covered. And for those looking for some more traditional fall fun, there's fall foliage at Bear Mountain's Oktoberfest, apple and pumpkin picking in New Jersey, and artistically carved jack o' lanterns on Long Island.
Click here for 6sqft's full list of fall day trips

September 13, 2017

First look at the 2017 Open House New York sites!

If you love architecture and urban design from historic to contemporary, there has never been a better time to join Open House New York for a rare weekend of access to typically off limits sites. Celebrating its 15th anniversary, this year’s OHNY will take place on Saturday, October 14 and Sunday, October 15, opening up more than 200 buildings and projects across the five boroughs for tours and talks with architects, urban planners, preservationists, and city leaders. OHNY has just released a sneak preview of the program, which includes a tour of SHoP Architects' American Copper Buildings and their iconic skybridge, a peek inside the artifacts and archival gems at the New York Transit Museum Archives, the Bridge at Cornell Tech at the university's new Roosevelt Island Campus, and the new global headquarters of West Elm.
This way for a sneak peak at what’s in store this year for OHNY

September 11, 2017

NYC fall 2017 art guide: 20 exhibits, events, and installations not to miss

By Lori Zimmer

Now that summer's over, galleries, museums, and arts organizations are readying for a robust season of offerings. To help navigate NYC's rich arts and cultural scene, 6sqft has put together a list of the 20 best exhibits, events, and installations, from public murals in the Bronx and a miniature Redwood forest in Brooklyn to an immersive photography village and a city-wide collection of fences by Ai Weiwei to exhibits on never-built New York and public art itself, there's something for everyone going on this fall.
Our top-20 picks right this way

Events & Things To Do

6sqft Guide: Everything parents need to know about renting for college-age kids in NYC

Image: Dov Harrington / flickr CC

September 7, 2017

6sqft Guide: Everything parents need to know about renting for college-age kids in NYC

By Cait Etherington

Living in a college residence might be fun for a year or two, but most college-age kids eventually want to move out. And who can blame them? After all, who wants to show ID to a security guard every time they arrive home, share a room with a stranger, or eat in a cafeteria night after night? In many smaller college towns, sending your kid first and last month’s rent is more than enough to get them out of residence and into their first apartment. In New York City, it’s a bit more complicated. In most cases, parents need to be directly involved in the housing search and rental process and prepared to come up with a substantial deposit, which can meet or even exceed the money needed to purchase a starter home in many U.S. cities. In order to rent an apartment in New York City, renters typically must come up with first and last month’s rent, a security deposit, and a broker’s fee (the fee is either one month’s rent or anywhere from 10 to 15 percent of the first year’s rent). Also, as a rule, owners and management companies require lease holders to have an established credit history, to make more than 40 times the monthly rent on an annual basis, or to have a guarantor who exceeds these criteria. This 6sqft guide outlines everything parents need to know before going on the market to rent an apartment for a college-age child, including advice on where to find listings and how to decode them.
the full scoop here

September 6, 2017

100 free things to do in New York City

Despite being one of the most expensive cities to live in, New York City offers many free activities, events, and attractions all year round, letting you pinch pennies when the rent check is due. From free lectures at the Met to free group meditation classes, there are tons of activities that don't cost a dime. To help New York visitors and natives alike, we've put together a guide of the 100 best wallet-friendly things to do in the Big Apple.
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Foodies! Enter to win two VIP tickets to ‘Taste of the Village’ (worth $250)

By 6sqft

Animation © WooJin Chung for 6sqft Now in its 15th year, Taste of the Village returns next month with a delicious fundraiser for Washington Square Park. Hosted by the Washington Square Park Conservancy, more than 30 local purveyors will set up under the historic Arch, offering samples of their tasty food and drinks accompanied by performances by Park musicians. This […]

Events & Things To Do

September 5, 2017

EVENT: Explore the art and architecture of the Second Avenue Subway with a 6sqft editor

By 6sqft

As we approach the one-year anniversary of the Second Avenue Subway's long-awaited opening, it's the perfect time to step back and marvel at the $4 billion infrastructure project. Join 6sqft senior editor Dana Schulz for a tour with the Municipal Art Society about the history, art, and architecture of the Second Avenue Subway. Taking place on Saturday, September 16th, the two-hour event will explore why it took nearly 100 years for the train's wheels to get rolling, how it was designed, and what engineering feats set it apart. Guests will also view the impressive collection of public art from Chuck Close, Sarah Sze, Vik Muniz, and Jean Shin, learning about these contemporary artists and the significance of their work.
All the event details right this way

August 30, 2017

MAP: Find out when fall foliage will hit its peak in your area

By Diane Pham

The temperature is falling, the air is brisk, and the kids are heading back to school. This can only mean one thing: Autumn is upon us. While you may lament the end of days spent sunning beachside, don't forget that sweater weather brings with it a bounty of fiery colors. If you're hoping to catch the changing season in all its beauty, there's no better tool to plan your leaf peeping expedition than SmokeyMountains.com's Fall Foliage Map. This handy interactive cartograph will tell you when and where foliage is expected to appear, and more importantly, when it will peak in your area.
try the map out

Events & Things To Do

EVENT: Attend free movie screenings at Central Park and Marcus Garvey Park this week

Photo of the Central Park Conservancy Film Festival via Shinya Suzuki’s Flickr

August 21, 2017

EVENT: Attend free movie screenings at Central Park and Marcus Garvey Park this week

Celebrate the end of summer with the 2017 Central Park Conservancy Film Festival, which kicks off Monday night with the showing of the 2014 remake of “Annie.” In addition to Central Park screenings, the film festival will include free outdoor screenings in Harlem’s Marcus Garvey Park and Jacob Riis Park in the Rockaways. This year’s lineup features movies filmed in New York, including “The Wiz,” The Great Gatsby,” and “The Godfather.” All of the movie screenings are free to attend and tickets are not necessary.
More details here

Events & Things To Do

The top 12 websites and resources for no-fee NYC rentals

Lead image © Daxiao Productions – Fotolio

August 21, 2017

The top 12 websites and resources for no-fee NYC rentals

6sqft's ongoing series Apartment Living 101 is aimed at helping New Yorkers navigate the challenges of creating a happy home in the big city. This week, now that the city is in high renting season, we’ve researched the best resources for finding a no-fee apartment. More than half of New Yorkers spend 30 percent or more of their income on rent. Tack on a broker's fee that could be as high as 15 percent of an apartment's annual rent, and that burden becomes even worse. Thankfully, there are more and more resources popping up to find no-fee rentals. Aside from the go-to listing aggregators, there's now roommate-share options, lease break sites, artist-centric search engines, and good old fashioned networking. 6sqft has put together our 12 favorite options, along with the basics of each so you can figure out what will work best for you and how to prioritize your search.
Check out the full list here

Postmaster General Harry Stewart New watches the solar eclipse of January 24, 1925, shielding his eyes with a photographic plate. Image: Wikimedia commons

August 21, 2017

How researchers used NYC buildings to measure the 1925 solar eclipse

During a total solar eclipse that occurred in 1925 in Manhattan, according to Space.com, "the streetlights turned on, three women fainted, vendors sold smoked glass while exhorting passersby to 'save your eyes for 10 cents' and seagulls landed in the water, assuming it was night." Though today's eclipse will be only a partial version for New Yorkers, we know enough about the moon's orbit to accurately predict an eclipse's timing as narrowly as a city block's distance. At the time, though–long before anyone had landed on the moon, observing and measuring the shadow as it moved over the Earth provided important information on the moon's size, shape, and path.
Find out what happened next

Take a free tour of City Island, Bronx with the ‘land ferry’

City Island Diner, courtesy of cisc1970 via photopin

August 18, 2017

Take a free tour of City Island, Bronx with the ‘land ferry’

A small town in the northeastern part of the Bronx, City Island sits about 1.5 miles long by half of a mile wide. While its quaint nautical-vibe seems out of place in New York City, City Island is very much a part of the Bronx’s history. Thanks to the City Island Chamber of Commerce, New Yorkers who want to learn about the island can ride the “land ferry,” or a decorated minibus, on the island for a free tour of the neighborhood’s artistic and musical sites, as amNY reported. The blue painted bus with wood paneling picks up riders, from April to December, at the end of the No. 6 train in Pelham Bay Park on the first Friday of every month.
Find out more

Events & Things To Do

How to kayak or canoe across a NYC water reservoir (GUIDE)

Image via Pexels

August 18, 2017

How to kayak or canoe across a NYC water reservoir (GUIDE)

By Cait Etherington

On average, New Yorkers use a staggering 1 billion gallons of water per day, but unlike people in many other U.S. cities, they don’t need to worry about their taps running dry. Over a century ago, city engineers devised a plan to ensure the city would have ample water and that the supply would meet the growing needs of the city over time. Today, the city’s century-old reservoir system continues to supply New Yorkers with clean water year round. For outdoorsy residents, the city’s water supply also serves another surprising purpose. Located just over two hours north of the city limits, the reservoirs are also an increasingly popular place to canoe and kayak without the distraction of motorized water vehicles and cottagers.
our complete guide here

INTERVIEW: Author Ed Hamilton on how the Chelsea Hotel inspired personal stories of gentrification

Background image via Andrew Malone/Flickr

August 15, 2017

INTERVIEW: Author Ed Hamilton on how the Chelsea Hotel inspired personal stories of gentrification

By Emily Nonko

When it comes to the Chelsea Hotel, Ed Hamilton has seen it all. He and his wife moved to the iconic property in 1995, living among artists and musicians in a 220-square-foot, single-room-occupancy unit. The storied, artistic community nurtured inside the hotel came to an end a decade ago when the building sold for the first time and evictions followed. Since then, the property has traded hands a number of times with talks of boutique hotel development, luxury condos, or some combination of the two. Hamilton started tracking the saga at his blog Living With Legends and published a book, "Legends of the Chelsea Hotel," in 2007. After the book's success, Hamilton wrote a short story collection titled "The Chintz Age: Stories of Love and Loss for a new New York." Each piece offers a different take on New York's "hyper gentrification," as he calls it: a mother unable to afford her lofty East Village apartment, giving it up to a daughter she shares a strained relationship with; a book store owner who confronts his failed writing career as a landlord forces him out of now highly valuable commercial space. Ultimately, many of the stories were inspired by the characters he met inside the Chelsea Hotel. And his tales offer a new perspective on a changing city, one that focuses on "the personal, day-to-day struggles about the people who are trying to hang onto their place in New York." With 6sqft, he shares what it's like writing in the under-construction Chelsea Hotel, what the Chintz Age title means, and the unchanged spots of the city he still treasures.
READ MORE

Camping in Central Park, photo via Downtown Traveler

August 10, 2017

Camp out in Central Park for free next weekend

Connect with nature under a Manhattan starry night with a camping trip in Central Park next Saturday, August 19th. This usually illegal activity is totally lawful through a free event hosted by the city’s Urban Park Rangers. The family camping program happens every summer at select venues, like Central Park in Manhattan, Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, Mccarren Park in Brooklyn and Fort Totten Park in Queens.
Find out more

Events & Things To Do

Image via The Met

August 10, 2017

EVENT: Enjoy live jazz in the stunning medieval gardens of The Met Cloisters

By Diane Pham

If checking out The Cloisters has long been on your to-do list, there's no better time to head north than for the museum's MetFridays. On Friday, August 11th (that's tomorrow!) and Friday, August 25th, The Met will host two hours of live 1930s jazz at sunset in their stunning medieval gardens. Performances will feature trumpeter Alex Nguyen, winner of the International Trumpet Guild Jazz Competition, and his quartet as they perform the same ditties that topped the charts when the museum was first constructed between 1934 and 1939.
more details here

An insider’s guide for first-time homebuyers in NYC

Photo via New York Law School/Flickr

August 7, 2017

An insider’s guide for first-time homebuyers in NYC

By Alison McQueen

6sqft’s ongoing series Apartment Living 101 is aimed at helping New Yorkers navigate the challenges of creating a happy home in the big city. This week, Corcoran realtor Alison McQueen shares her personal guide for first-time homebuyers in NYC. Many first-time homebuyers in NYC are doubtful they'll find a great place within their budget, but every single client I've worked with has closed on a home, and they say buying was one of the best decisions they ever made. To make this dream a reality, you'll want a clear understanding of your finances and how much you'd like to spend; the top five things you want in a home; and a sense of your preferred neighborhoods based on potential commute, area amenities; and ideal budget. Sound overwhelming? That's where a team of professionals comes in, including a real estate agent, real estate attorney, and home inspector. The best way to enter the purchase process is as an informed consumer, as you’ll have an easier time targeting and getting what you want. To make the process a bit easier, I've put together a handy list of the key things to consider when embarking on the purchase path in New York City.
All the tricks of the trade

Celebrate Coney Island’s history with free events at Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park this Saturday

Deno’s Wonder Wheel courtesy of kzoop’s Flickr

August 3, 2017

Celebrate Coney Island’s history with free events at Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park this Saturday

While New Yorkers have been celebrating the historic seaside resort all summer long, this weekend the Coney Island History Project is hosting its seventh annual history day. On Saturday, August 5, from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m., attendees can learn about all of the classic rides and attractions of Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park, take a self-guided tour, and listen to free folksy music. Since it was built in 1920, more than 40 million people have experienced the park’s iconic Wonder Wheel.
Details ahead

Events & Things To Do

Donald Trump’s sketch of the Manhattan skyline sells for $29,184 at auction

Donald Trump’s 2005 Manhattan skyline sketch with Trump Tower in the center. (Nate D. Sanders Auctions)

July 28, 2017

Donald Trump’s sketch of the Manhattan skyline sells for $29,184 at auction

Update 7/28/17: Artnet reports that Trump's doodle has sold at auction for $29,184. “It’s a piece of art from a U.S. President, so it’s attracted interest from not just Trump followers, but also presidential memorabilia collectors,” Michael Kirk of Nate D. Sanders auctioneers told the art site. “It’s received a lot of global press, so the interest level has been high. The piece has received some five times more than our normal auction traffic." A charity auction sketch made by future president Donald Trump in 2005 will be headed for the auction block once again, according to the Washington Post. The drawing shows the artist's rendition of the Manhattan skyline with Trump Tower anchoring the center spot in a crowd of anonymous buildings.
What's the starting bid?

July 25, 2017

Manhattan’s first-ever water park is coming to the Upper East Side—and it looks like a giant dishwasher!