New_York_City_2012_-_Fodor_39_s

Gallery talks provide richer understanding of the masterpieces in front of you.

The museum offers tours at a terrific price: free! Eat before trekking over to 5th Avenue; restaurants on Lexington offer more varied fare than the museum’s cafeteria.

The museum is pay-what-you-wish on Saturday from 5:45 to 7:45. Lines can be long, so go early. The last tickets are handed out at 7:15.

1071 5th Ave., between E. 88th and E. 89th Sts., Upper East Side | 212/423–3500 | www.guggenheim.org | $18 | Sun.–Wed. 10–5:45, Fri. 10–5:45, Sat. 10–7:45. Closed Thurs. | Subway: 4, 5, 6 to 86th St.

Fodor’s Choice | Whitney Museum of American Art.

With its bold collection of 20thand 21st-century and contemporary American art, this museum presents an eclectic mix drawn from more than 18,000 works in its permanent collection. The museum was originally a gallery in the studio of sculptor and collector Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, whose talent and taste were accompanied by the money of two wealthy families. In 1930, after the Met turned down Whitney’s offer to donate her collection of 20thcentury American art, she established an independent museum in Greenwich Village. Now uptown, the minimalist gray-granite building opened in 1966 and was designed by Marcel Breuer and Hamilton Smith.

Whitney Highlights

Start your visit on the fifth floor, where the galleries house rotating exhibitions of postwar and contemporary works from the permanent collection by artists such as Jackson Pollock, Jim Dine, Jasper Johns, Mark Rothko, Chuck Close, Cindy Sherman, and Roy Lichtenstein.

Although the collection on display constantly changes, notable pieces often on view include Hopper’s Early Sunday Morning (1930), Bellows’s Dempsey and Firpo

(1924), Alexander Calder’s beloved Circus, and several of Georgia O’Keeffe’s dazzling flower paintings.

The lower floors feature exhibitions of contemporary artists such as Kara Walker and Gordon Matta-Clark as well as retrospective exhibitions that focus on movements and themes in American art.

The often-controversial Whitney Biennial, which showcases the most important developments in American art over the previous two years, takes place in the spring of evennumbered years.

Whitney Tips

After 6 pm on Friday the price of admission is pay-what-you-wish. On some of those nights the Whitney Live series presents new artists and reinterpretations of American classics. Be forewarned that this combination may result in long lines.

945 Madison Ave., at E. 75th St., Upper East Side | 800/944-8639 | www.whitney.org | $18 | Wed., Thurs., and weekends 11–6; Fri. 1–9 | Subway: 6 to 77th St.

UPPER WEST SIDE

American Folk Art Museum: Eva and Morris Feld Gallery.

Across from Lincoln Center, this branch of the American Folk Art Museum on West 53rd Street has a small selection of art and decorative objects culled from all over the Americas. You might see painted store signs, outsider art, weather vanes, or carousel mounts. On permanent display is the National Tribute Quilt, made up of 3,466 blocks for each person who died on 9/11, and Girl in Red Dress with Cat and Dog by Ammi Phillips. The gift shop is worth a browse. | 2 Lincoln Sq., Columbus Ave. between W. 65th and W. 66th Sts., Upper West Side | 10023 | 212/595– 9533 | www.folkartmuseum.org | $3 suggested admission | Tues.–Sat. noon–7:30, Sun. noon–6 | Subway: 1 to 66th St./Lincoln Center.

Fodor’s Choice | American Museum of Natural History.

The largest natural history museum in the world is also one of the most impressive sights in New York. Four city blocks make up its 45 exhibition halls, which hold more than 32 million artifacts and wonders from the land, the sea, and outer space. With all those wonders, you won’t be able to see everything on a single visit, but you can easily hit the highlights in half a day. The Rose Center for Earth and Space should not be missed. | Central Park W. at W. 79 St., Upper West Side | 10024 | 212/769–5200 | www.amnh.org | $16 suggested donation, includes admission to Rose Center for Earth and Space | Daily 10–5:45, Rose Center until 8:45 on Fri. | Subway: B, C to 81st St./Museum of Natural History.

Children’s Museum of Manhattan.

In this five-story exploratorium children ages one to seven

are invited to paint their own masterpieces, float boats down a “stream,” and climb in a Trojan horse. Art workshops, science programs, and storytelling sessions are held daily. | 212 W. 83rd St., between Broadway and Amsterdam Ave., Upper West Side | 10024 | 212/721– 1223 | www.cmom.org | $10 | Tues.–Sun. 10–5, Sat. 10–7 | Subway: 1 to 86th St.

Museum of Arts and Design.

In a whimsical building right next door to the Time-Warner Center, the Museum of Arts and Design celebrates joyful quirkiness and personal, sometimes even obsessive, artistic visions. The art is human-scale here, much of it neatly housed in display cases rather than on the walls, with a strong focus on contemporary jewelry, glass, ceramic, fiber, wood, and mixed-media works.

Recent exhibits included Slash: Paper Under the Knife, which showcased contemporary artworks entirely made from cut paper, and Read My Pins, which displayed the brooch collection of former secretary of state Madeline Albright. Thursday is a good time to drop by; the admission is pay-what-you-wish. | 2 Columbus Circle, 59th St. at 8th Ave., Upper West Side | 10019 | 212/299–7777 | www.madmuseum.org | $15 | Tues.–Sun. 11–6, Thurs. 11– 9 | Subway: A, B, C, D, 1 to Columbus Circle/59th St.; N, Q, R to 57th St./7th Ave.; F to 57th St./6th Ave.

New-York Historical Society.

Manhattan’s oldest museum, founded in 1804, has one of the city’s finest research libraries and a collection of 6 million pieces of art, literature, and memorabilia. Special exhibitions shed light on New York’s—and America’s— history, art, and architecture. Major exhibits have included Hudson River School landscapes and an examination of New York City’s role in the slavery debate and the Civil War.

Unlike other museums that keep much of their collections in storage, virtually all of the museum’s huge and eclectic permanent collection—ranging from 19th-century cockroach traps to the armchair that George Washington sat in during his inaugural ceremony—are displayed in glass shelves in the museum’s Henry Luce III Center for the Study of American Culture. It’s a bit of a jumble, but you’re bound to stumble across many wonderful things.

The recently completed $65-million renovation has snatched this museum from the purview of history buffs and placed it center stage for all New York visitors. The already spectacular block-long neoclassical building has been enhanced with long overdue features offering a more contemporary experience on a par with its large cousins across Central Park.

History and grandeur have now been made personal and tangible. Visitors enter through the Great Hall where they use kiosks and view original objects tied to key themes of American history such as commerce and immigration.

Every year one major history exhibit demonstrates how the past is anything but dead. Currently, Revolution uses the common winds of liberty and freedom to connect the American, French, and Haitian Revolutions.

Foodies are encouraged to explore small plates at the latest Starr (of Buddakan and Morimoto) restaurant on the first floor. Families rejoice in what might just be one of the few museums showing historical figures as they were when they were young themselves in the relatively huge 2,300 square foot DiMenna Children’s History Museum and Barbara K. Lipman Children’s History Library. | 2 W. 77th St., at Central Park W, Upper West Side | 10023 | 212/873–3400 | www.nyhistory.org | $12 | Tues.–Thurs. and weekends 10–6, Fri. 10–8 | Subway: B, C to 81st St.

OFF THE BEATEN PATH: The Cloisters Museum and Gardens.

Perched on a wooded hill in Fort Tryon Park, near Manhattan’s northwestern tip, the Cloisters Museum and Gardens, which shelters the medieval collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is a scenic destination on its own. Colonnaded walks connect authentic French and Spanish monastic cloisters, a French Romanesque chapel, a 12th-century chapter house, and a Romanesque apse. One room is devoted to the 15thand 16th-century Unicorn Tapestries from around 1500—a must-see masterpiece of medieval mythology. The tomb effigies are another highlight. Two of the three enclosed gardens shelter more than 250 species of plants similar to those grown during the Middle Ages, including flowers, herbs, and medicinals; the third is an ornamental garden planted with both modern and medieval plants, providing color and fragrance from early spring until late fall. Concerts of medieval music are held here regularly (concert tickets include same-day admission to the museum), and an outdoor café decorated with 15thcentury carvings serves biscotti and espresso from May through October. | 99 Margaret Corbin Dr., Upper West Side | 10040 | 212/923–3700 | www.metmuseum.org | $20 suggested donation | Mar.–Oct., Tues.–Sun. 9:30–5:15; Nov.–Feb., Tues.–Sun. 9:30–4:45 | Subway: A to 190th St.

Nicholas Roerich Museum.

An 1898 Upper West Side town house contains this small, eccentric museum dedicated to the work of Russian artist

Nicholas Roerich, who immigrated to New York in the 1920s and quickly developed an ardent following. Some 200 of his paintings hang here—notably some vast canvases of the Himalayas. Free chamber music concerts are held here most Sunday afternoons at 5, except in summer. | 319 W. 107th St., between Broadway and Riverside Dr., Morningside Heights | 10025 | 212/864– 7752 | www.roerich.org | By donation | Tues.–Sun. 2–5 | Subway: 1 to 110th St./Cathedral Pkwy.

HARLEM

Hispanic Society of America.

This is the best collection of Spanish art outside the Prado in Madrid, with (primarily 15thand 16th-century) paintings, sculptures, textiles, and decorative arts from Spain, Portugal, Italy, and South America. There are notable pieces by Goya, El Greco, and Velázquez. An entire room is filled with a collection of antique brass knockers. |

Audubon Terr., Broadway, between W. 155th and W. 156th Sts., entrance up steps to left, Harlem | 10032 | 212/926–2234 | www.hispanicsociety.org | Free | Sept.– July, Tues.–Sat. 10–4:30, Sun. 1–4 | Subway: 1 to 157th St.

Studio Museum in Harlem.

Contemporary art by African-American, Caribbean, and African artists is the focus of this small museum with a lightfilled sculpture garden. Its changing exhibits have included

Black Artists and Abstraction and Africa Comics. Three artists in residence present their works each year. | 144 W. 125th St., between Lenox Ave. and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd., Harlem | 10027 | 212/864–4500 | www.studiomuseum.org | $7 suggested donation | Thurs. and Fri. noon–9, Sat. 10–6, Sun. noon–6 | Subway: 2, 3 to 125th St.

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Main Table of Contents

THE SCENE

Planner

THE PERFORMING ARTS BY NEIGHBORHOOD

Lower Manhattan

Tribeca

SoHo

The East Village

Lower East Side

Greenwich Village

West Village

Chelsea

Midtown

Upper East Side

Central Park

Upper West Side

Harlem

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Planner

Updated by Lynne Arany

“Where do you wait tables?” is the not-so-ironic question New York performers get when they say they’re in the arts. But even more telling is that most of these toughened artists won’t miss a beat when they respond with the restaurant’s name. Fact is, if you’re an aspiring performer here, you’d better be tough and competitive. There is a constant influx of artists from around the globe, and all these actors, singers, dancers, and musicians striving for their big break infuse the city with a crackling creative energy.

Just as tough are the audiences, many out-of-towners, many discerning local patrons, who help drive the arts scene as they thrive on keeping up with the latest—flocking to a concert hall to hear a world-class soprano deliver a flawless performance, then crowding into a cramped café to support young writers floundering through their own prose.

New York has somewhere between 200 and 250 legitimate theaters (meaning those with theatrical performances, not movies or strip shows), and many more ad hoc venues— parks, churches, lofts, galleries, rooftops, even parking lots.

The city is also a revolving door of special events: summer jazz, one-act-play marathons, film festivals, and music and dance celebrations from the classical to the avant-garde, to name just a few. It’s this unrivaled wealth of culture and art that many New Yorkers cite as the reason why they’re here, and the reason why many millions more say they’re visiting here.

PLANNER

BUYING TICKETS AT FULL PRICE

What do tickets sell for, anyway? Not counting the limited “premium seat” category (or discount deals), the top ticket price for Broadway musicals is now hovering at $136; the low end for musicals is in the $50 range. Nonmusical comedies and dramas start at about $70 and top out at about $120. Off Broadway show tickets average $50–$90,

and Off Off Broadway shows can run as low as $15–$25.

Tickets to an opera start at about $25 for nosebleed seats and can soar close to $400 for prime locations. Classical music concerts go for $25 to $100 or more, depending on the venue. Dance performances are usually in the $15 to $60 range, but expect seats for the ballet in choice spots to cost more.

Scoring tickets is fairly easy, especially if you have some flexibility. But if timing or cost is critical, the only way to ensure you’ll get the seats you want is to make your purchase in advance—and that might be months ahead for a hit show. In general, tickets for Saturday evening and for weekend matinees are the toughest to secure.

For opera, classical music, and dance performances, go to the box office or order tickets through the venue’s Web site.

For smaller performing-arts companies, and especially for Off Broadway shows, try Ticket Central (416 W. 42nd St., between 9th and 10th Aves., Midtown West | 212/279– 4200 | www.ticketcentral.com | Daily noon–8 | Subway: A, C, E to 42nd St.), which is right in the center of Theater Row; service charges are nominal here. SmartTix (212/868–4444 | www.smarttix.com) is a reliable resource for (usually) smaller performing-arts companies, including dance and music; their service charges are nominal as well.

Inside the Times Square Information Center is the

Broadway Concierge and Ticket Center (1560 Broadway, between W. 46th and W. 47th Sts., Midtown West | 888/BROADWAY | www.broadwayleague.com | Tickets: Mon.–Sat. 9–7, Sun. 10–6 | Subway: 1, 2, 3, 7, N, Q, R, S to 42nd St./Times Sq.; N, R to 49th St.), where you can purchase fulland premium-price tickets for most Broadway (and some Off Broadway) shows.

Sure bets for Broadway (and some other big-hall events) are the box office or either Telecharge (212/239–6200, 800/432–7250 outside N.Y.C. | www.telecharge.com) or Ticketmaster (212/307–4100, 866/448–7849 automated service, 212/220–0500 premium tickets | www.ticketmaster.com). Virtually all larger shows are listed with one service or the other, but never both; specifying “premium” will help you get elusive—and expensive (upward of $200–$350)—seats. A broker or your hotel concierge should be able to procure last-minute tickets, but prices may even exceed “premium” rates. Be prepared to pay steep add-on fees (per ticket and per order) for all ticketing services.

TIP Although most online ticket services provide seating maps to help you choose, the advantage of going to the box office is twofold: there are no add-on service fees, and a ticket seller can personally advise you about sight lines—and knee room—for the seat location you are considering. Broadway box offices do not usually have direct phone lines; their walk-in hours are generally 10 am until curtain.

BUYING DISCOUNT TICKETS

The cheapest—though chanciest—ticket opportunities are found at participating theater box offices on the day of the performance. These rush tickets, usually about $25, may be distributed by lottery and are usually for front-row (possibly neck-craning) seats. Check the comprehensive planner on | www.nytix.com or go to the box office of the show you are interested in to find out whether they have such an offer and how to pursue it. Obstructed-view seats or those in the very rear balcony are sometimes available for advance purchase; the price point on these is usually in the $35–$40 range.

But for advanced discount purchases, the best seating is likely available by using a discount “code”—procure these codes, good for 20% to 50% off, online. (You will need to register on each Web site.) The excellent no-subscription- required | www.broadwaybox.com site is comprehensive and posts all discount codes currently available for Broadway shows. As with all discount codes offered through online subscriber services—TheaterMania

(www.theatermania.com), Playbill (www.playbill.com), and Best of Off Broadway (bestofoffbroadway.com) among them—to avoid service charges, you must bring a printout of the offer to the box office, and make your purchase there.

For seats at 25%–50% off the usual price, go to one of the

TKTS booths (Father Duffy Sq., W. 47th St. and Broadway, Midtown West | Subway: 1, 2, 3, 7, N, Q, R, S, W to 42nd St./Times Sq.; N, R, W to 49th St.; 1 to 50th St. | South St. Seaport, Front and John Sts., Lower Manhattan | Subway: 2, 3, 4, 5, A, C, E, J, M, Z to Fulton St./Broadway–Nassau | Downtown Brooklyn, at the Myrtle St. Promenade and Jay St., Brooklyn | Subway: A, C, F to Jay St.–Borough Hall; R, 2, 3, 4, 5 to Court St.–Borough Hall | www.tdf.org). Although they do tack on a $4 per ticket service charge, and not all shows are predictably available, the broad choices and ease of selection—and of course, the solid discount—make TKTS the go-to source for the flexible theatergoer.

Check the electronic listings board near the ticket windows to mull over your options while you’re in line. At the spiffedup Duffy Square location (look for the red glass staircase), there is a separate “Play Express” window (for nonmusical events) to further simplify—and speed—things.

Duffy hours are Monday and Wednesday–Saturday 3–8, and Tuesday 2–8 (for evening performances); for Wednesday and Saturday matinees 10–2; for Sunday matinees 11–3; Sunday evening shows, from 3 until a half hour before curtain. Seaport hours are Monday–Saturday 11–6, Sunday 11–4.

Brooklyn hours are Tuesday–Saturday 11–6. With the exception of matinee tickets at the Seaport and Brooklyn locations, which sell these for next-day performances only, all shows offered are for that same day. Credit cards, cash, or traveler’s checks are accepted at all locations. TIP

Planning ahead? The TKTS Web site lists what was available at the booths in the previous week to give you an idea of what shows you’ll find. Note: Ticket booth hours may vary over holiday periods.

THE BEST TIPS FOR BROADWAY

Whether you’re handing over a hundred bucks for a top ticket or shoestringing it in a nosebleed seat, seeing one show or seven, you’ll have better Broadway experiences to brag about if you take our advice.

Do your homework. Remember—your friends’ “mustsee” may not be yours. If you’re new to theater, or not a regular, try to discover Broadway for yourself. Subscribe to online services ahead of your trip; you’ll get access to show synopses, special ticket offers, and more. If it’s a classic play, try to read it before you go; for a musical, listen to the score.

Reserve ahead. The TKTS booth is great when you’re up for what the fates make available, but for must-sees, we recommend booking early. While you’re at it, don’t forget to ask whether the regular cast is expected. (An in-person stop at the box office is the most reliable way to score this information ahead of time, but don’t hold them to it unless it’s the day of performance. If there is a change then—and the replacement cast is not acceptable to you—you may get a refund.) For musicals, live music will always add a special zing; confirm when ticketing to avoid surprises on the rare occasion when recorded music is used.

Check theater seating charts. Front mezzanine is a great option; with seats that overhang the stage, they can be better (though not always less expensive) than many orchestra locations. Always book with a seating chart at hand (available online and at the box office); although even the priciest seats might be tight, it is always worth splurging for the best sight lines. Check accessibility, especially at older theaters with multiple flights of stairs and scarce elevators.

Know when to go. Surprisingly, Friday evening is a good option; Saturday night and weekday matinees are the most difficult. Do as the locals do and go on weeknights.

Tuesday is especially promising, and typically an earlier curtain—7 or 7:30 instead of the usual 8 pm—helps ensure that you’ll get a good night’s sleep for your next day of touring.

Dress right. You can easily throw on jeans to go to the theater these days, but personally we feel Bermuda shorts have no place on Broadway. Bring binoculars if your seats are up high, leave behind the heavy coat (coat checks are not the norm), and drop packages off at your hotel room in advance.

Travel smart. Trying to get to the show in time? Unless you don’t mind watching the meter run up while you’re stuck in traffic, avoid cabs into or out of Times Square. The preand post-theater crush will render Broadway virtually unwalkable, but that said, walk, especially if you’re within 10 blocks of the theater. Otherwise, take the subway.

Dine off Broadway. Dining well on a budget and doing Broadway right are not mutually exclusive notions. Key is avoiding the temptation to eat in Times Square proper— even the national chains are overpriced. Consider instead supping in whatever neighborhood you’re touring that day. Or, if you’re already in Midtown, head west of the district to 9th Avenue. That’s where many actors and other theater folk actually live, and you never know who you’ll see on the street or at the next table. Prix-fixe deals and ethnic eateries are plentiful.

NEW YORK’S FILM FESTIVALS

New York’s extreme diversity is also what makes it a cinephile’s heaven: dozens of festivals for both niche interests and for those just wanting to be at the front end of what’s out there. New releases and premieres dominate the festival scene, but the city has its share of retrospective events, especially in summer.

The city’s preeminent film event is the annual New York Film Festival (www.filmlinc.com); sponsored by the Film

Society of Lincoln Center, it runs annually from late September into October. Its screenings feature many U.S. premieres and are announced more than a month in advance to often-rapid sell-out. Film venues are usually Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall and Walter Reade Theater. In January, the Film Society joins forces with the Jewish Museum to produce the New York Jewish Film Festival, in March it joins with MoMA to present New Directors/New Films, and June brings its collaboration with the Human Rights Watch Film Festival.

Another popular festival, the TriBeCa Film Festival

(www.tribecafilmfestival.org)—was an immediate success when it launched in 2002 as a Robert De Niro– spearheaded community response to the events of 9/11. It takes place in mostly downtown venues for about two weeks starting in late April, and features mainstream premieres along with indie treasures, as well as a Family Festival, which attracts big crowds for its street fair and movies for ages eight and up.

Summer in New York sees a bonanza of alfresco film. Even better, it’s usually free (but arrive early to secure a space; screenings begin at dusk).

You’ll want to check out lovely Bryant Park (212/512–5700 | www.bryantpark.org) for the classic films—and the scene —at its Monday night HBO Bryant Park Summer Film Festival, June–August.

Hudson River Park (www.hudsonriverpark.org) runs its RiverFlicks series in July and August. Movies for “grownups” screen on Wednesday evening on Pier 54; RiverFlicks for kids are shown on Pier 46, on Friday.

Riverside Park South’s Summer on the Hudson (www.nycgovparks.org) offers Wednesday-night screenings on Pier 1, in this park along the Hudson on the Upper West Side.

Rooftop Films’ (www.rooftopfilms.com) Underground Movies Outdoors is N.Y.C.’s most eclectic film series, with shows outdoors in summer on rooftops in all five boroughs. Check their schedule for off-season screenings as well.

On Thursday night in summer, make your way over the Brooklyn Bridge to Movies with a View in Brooklyn Bridge Park (www.brooklynbridgepark.org). There’s a bike valet, and of course that competing waterfront view; this one has a lineup that alternates kid-pleasing shows with more strictly adult fare.

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Lower Manhattan | TriBeCa | SoHo | The East Village | Lower East Side | Greenwich Village | West Village | Chelsea | Midtown | Upper East Side | Central Park | Upper West Side | Harlem

LOWER MANHATTAN

Music

Count on the WFC Winter Garden (World Financial Center, West St., between Vesey and Liberty Sts., Lower Manhattan | 10281 | 212/945–0505 | www.artsworldfinancialcenter.com | Subway: E to World Trade Center; 1 to Rector St.) for an inspired array of musical events from gospel to site-specific sonic installations—and a little theater, dance, and film as well— all presented within its spectacular crystal-encased atrium or on its outdoor plaza. It’s all free, and all befitting the incomparable setting overlooking the Hudson.

Readings and Lectures

Having settled into a new home hard by the Hudson in 2009, Poets House (10 River Terr., at Murray St., Battery Park City | 10282 | 212/431–7920 | www.poetshouse.org | Subway: E to World Trade Center; 1, 2, 3 to Chambers St.) finally has a setting that rises to its theme: it is an open resource for all ages, one that offers a huge library and readings and events that exalt the art of poetry.

TRIBECA

Film

The film programs at 92YTribeca (200 Hudson St., at Canal St., TriBeCa | 10013 | 212/601–1000 | www.92y.org/92yTribeca | Subway: 1, E to Canal St.), a branch of the 92nd Street Y, emphasize participation, with directors often on hand, and a Q&A afterward is the norm. View a fresh and eclectic take on series concepts, with the likes of Closely Watched Films (classics revisited) and a late-night sing-along series.

Music

The Tribeca Performing Arts Center (199 Chambers St.,

at Greenwich St., TriBeCa | 10013 | 212/220–1460 | www.tribecapac.org | Subway: 1, 2, 3 to Chambers St.) celebrates theater (with a clever children’s series) and dance, but more so, jazz in all its forms. Highlights in Jazz and Lost Jazz Shrines are two of its special series.

Readings and Lectures

Local favorite WNYC Radio invites the public into its intimate (125 seats), technologically forward-thinking digs, the Jerome L. Greene Performance Space (the Greene Space) (44 Charlton St., at Varick St. Tribeca | 10014 | 646/829–4400 | www.thegreenespace.org | Subway: C, E to Spring St.; 1 to Houston St. or Canal St.). Live shows— music, audio theater, interviews—match its renowned, and equally forward-thinking, on-air programming.

The intent at 92YTribeca (200 Hudson St., at Canal St., Tribeca | 10013 | 212/601–1000 | www.92y.org | Subway: 1, E to Canal St.) is to appeal to a twentyto thirty-ish set, but just about anyone should find something to his or her liking in their extensive daytime and evening lineups. Try talks on American Media & the Green Movement to JewBu: Exploring Jewish Dharma, and themes from the arts, food, and technology.

SOHO

Film

Foreign, independent, and, some mainstream films are screened at the Angelika Film Center (18 W. Houston St., at Mercer St., Greenwich Village | 10012 | 212/995– 2570 | www.angelikafilmcenter.com | Subway: B, D, F, M to Broadway–Lafayette St.; 6 to Bleecker St.). Despite its (six) tunnel-like theaters, small screens, and the occasionally audible subway rumble below, it’s usually packed; get a snack at their café while you wait for your movie to be called.

Readings and Lectures

Amid its collection of 45,000 titles for sale, the Housing Works Used Book Café (126 Crosby St., between E. Houston and Prince Sts., SoHo | 10012 | 212/334–3324 | www.housingworksbookstore.com| Subway: R, W to Prince St.; B, D, F, M to Broadway–Lafayette St.; 6 to Bleecker St.) sponsors readings—often by breakout local authors or from books on social issues—and a monthly acoustic music series. Events at this cozy nonprofit benefit homeless people with HIV/AIDS.

Theater

HERE Arts Center (145 6th Ave., between Spring and Broome Sts., SoHo | 10013 | 212/352–3101 tickets | www.here.org | Subway: C, E to Spring St.), the original home of Eve Ensler’s 1997 Obie winner The Vagina Monologues, 2007’s lauded Removable Parts, and all manner of genre-bending productions, also has an art gallery and café.

THE EAST VILLAGE

Danspace Project (St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery,131 E. 10th St., at 2nd Ave., East Village | 10003 | 212/674– 8112, 866/811–4111 tickets | www.danspaceproject.org |

Subway: 6 to Astor Pl.), founded to foster the work of independent choreographers such as Lucinda Childs and David Gordon, sponsors performances that are as fresh—and idiosyncratic—as this space.

Film

Dedicated to preserving and exhibiting independent and avant-garde film, Anthology Film Archives (32 2nd Ave., at E. 2nd St., East Village | 10003 | 212/505–5181 | anthologyfilmarchives.org | Subway: F, V to 2nd Ave.) comprises a film repository and two gemlike screening rooms in a renovated redbrick courthouse. Committed cinephiles make their way here for hard-to-find films and videos. The Essential Cinema series delves into the works of filmmakers from Stan Brakhage and Charles Ludlam to Robert Bresson and Jean Cocteau.

The Village East Cinema (181–189 2nd Ave., at E. 12th St., East Village | 10013 | 212/529–6799 | www.villageeastcinema.com | Subway: 6 to Astor Pl.; L to 1st Ave.), with programming more on the indie side than that of its SoHo sister the Angelika, is housed in a former Yiddish theater that was restored and converted to a sixscreen multiplex. Catch a film that’s screening in the original theater space upstairs (you can call ahead to find out); its Moorish Revival–style decor, domed ceiling, and grand chandelier are best appreciated from the balcony.

Theater

At the cozy 178-seat theater belonging to the Classic Stage Company (136 E. 13th St., between 3rd and 4th Aves., East Village | 10003 | 212/677–4210; 212/352– 3101 or 866/811–4111 tickets | www.classicstage.org | Subway: 4, 5, 6, L, N, Q, R to Union Sq.) you can see