New York City (Fodor's, 2012) - Fodor's [111]
Symphony Space (2537 Broadway, at W. 95th St., Upper West Side | 10025 | 212/864–5400 | www.symphonyspace.org | Subway: 1, 2, 3 to 96th St.) presents an energetic roster of music (including its famed Wall to Wall composer programs), from world to classical. On the literary front, its two halls—the Peter Jay Sharpe Theatre and the Leonard Nimoy Thalia host a celebrated roster of literary events, including Bloomsday and the famed Selected Shorts series of stories read by prominent actors and broadcast live on National Public Radio. Opera on film and Thalia Film Sundays (usually a true-to-its-roots art-house screening) round out the adult programming.
For the family, turn to their hugely popular Just Kidding lineup for a nonstop parade of zany plays, sing-alongs, midday Saturday (and sometimes Sunday) movies, and animations, like the Gustafer Yellowgold Show.
HARLEM
Music
Apollo Theater.
If the Apollo’s famed Amateur Night doesn’t get you off the couch, keep in mind its more intimate Apollo Music Cafe events on Friday, Saturday, and Monday nights, featuring some of the finest artists in jazz and other music traditions—and some right on the edge of fame.
The Apollo’s notable weeklong Harlem Jazz Shrines festival in May is held in venerable nearby venues Lenox Lounge, Minton’s Playhouse, and Showman’s Cafe. | 253 W. 125th St., at 8th Ave./Frederick Douglass Blvd., Harlem | 10027 | 212/531–5300, 800/745–3000 tickets (Ticketmaster) | www.apollotheater.org | Subway: A, B, C, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 to 125th St.
The Gatehouse (Harlem Stage,150 Convent Ave.at W. 135th St., Hamilton Heights | 10031 | 212/281–9240 | www.harlemstage.org | Subway: 1 to 137th St.) is a cozy 196-seat uptown venue—in a perfectly restored 1890 Croton Aqueduct facility—for jazz, world music, and dance.
St. Ann’s Warehouse (38 Water St., between Main and Dock Sts., DUMBO | 11201 | 718/254–8779, 866/911–4111 tickets | stannswarehouse.org | Subway: A, C to High St.; F to York St.) has hosted everything from the boundary-stretching 2009 opera La Didone to award-winning performances from the famous Edinburgh Fringe Festival, all in a onetime spice-milling factory.
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Main Table of Contents
THE SCENE
NIGHTLIFE BY NEIGHBORHOOD
Lower Manhattan
TriBeCa
SoHo
East Village
Lower East Side
Greenwich Village
West Village
The Meatpacking District
Chelsea
Gramercy
Murray Hill
Midtown East
Midtown West
Upper East Side
Upper West Side
Harlem
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Updated by Alexander Basek
New York is fond of the “work hard, play hard” maxim, but the truth is that Gothamites don’t need much of an excuse to gather together when the sun goes down (or before it goes down, sometimes). Monday is the new Thursday, which replaced Friday and Saturday, but it doesn’t matter. The bottom line is that there’s always plenty to do at night in this 24-hour city, and visitors will quickly see that whether it’s going to a divey 1930s saloon, a gay sports bar, or a swanky rooftop hotel lounge, it isn’t hard to get a piece of the action.
The nightlife scene still resides largely downtown—in dives in the East Village and Lower East Side, classic jazz joints in the West Village, and the Meatpacking District’s and Chelsea’s see-and-be-seen clubs. Midtown, especially around Hell’s Kitchen, has developed quite the vibrant scene, too, and plenty of preppy hangouts dot the Upper East and Upper West sides.
Keep in mind that when you go is just as important as where you go. A spot sizzles only when it’s hopping—a club that is packed at 11 might empty out by midnight, and a bar that raged last night may be completely empty tonight. These days, night prowlers are more loyal to floating parties, DJs, and club promoters than to any specific addresses.
For those of