Looking for what to do in New York? We've got the latest on all the goings-on in NYC, from concerts to museum exhibitions to comedy to the best in city sightseeing. This week, remember Dad this Father's Day, June 18th! Click here for last-minute gift ideas, and explore our suggestions for Where to Dine for Fathers Day in NYC.

THE BIG EVENT 

(6/18) To find a view with your Father’s Day dining, get out on the water with one of the city’s great cruises. Spirit Cruises leaves from Chelsea Piers with noon brunch and 7pm dinner buffet departures. The skylines don’t come any more spectacular. For an elegant plated brunch or Father’s Day dinner, cruise on Bateaux, with live music on top of more of those breathtaking city views.

PLUS

(6/14-6/16) Join Marine Corps Band New Orleans, conducted by New York native Gunnery Sergeant Justin Hauser, for a series of three free multimedia concerts to celebrate the centennial anniversary of the Marine Corps Reserve. The show will musically visit the Marine Corps Reserve's impact in protecting our nation from World War I to current overseas operations. Wednesday's concert is at Washington Square Park; Thursday's at Kaye Theater at Hunter College; Friday's is at the FDR Four Freedoms State Park on Roosevelt Island.

(6/15) Head to the Bergino Baseball Clubhouse for an evening with author Greg Prince, author of a new book on Met star Mike Piazza.

(6/17) Former military base Governors Island is just a quick ferry trip from Manhattan and Brooklyn. In addition to park space, city views, and historic sites, on Saturday you can check out the Porch Stomp Festival, which brings over 60 performers of everything from traditional folk to old-time, blues, roots, bluegrass, and Americana music to a set of historic porches.

(6/18) For a different slant on New York history and culture, spend Father's Day at the Egg Rolls, Egg Creams & Empanadas Festival, hosted by the Museum at Eldridge Street. Jewish, Chinese, and Puerto Rican tastes, traditions, sights, and sounds all come together in an afternoon-long street fair.

(6/20) Don't miss the annual Night at the Museums, when 15 dynamic Lower Manhattan tours and institutions open their doors for free. Catch music, talks, special exhibition tours, and much more at the likes of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, the Museum of Jewish Heritage, and China Institute. The evening runs from 4pm to 8pm. nightatthemuseums.com

EXHIBITION OF THE WEEK

Dale Chihuly's Sapphire Star at New York Botanical Garden.

(Now-10/29) CHIHULY at the New York Botanical Garden features nearly two dozen breathtaking works of art by world-renowned artist Dale Chihuly at NYBG in his first major garden exhibition in more than ten years in New York. On June 16, it's Jazz & CHIHULY: A special evening concert series in conjunction with New York Botanical Garden's CHIHULY exhibit. Tonight: The French Connection, with an ensemble led by trumpeter Alphonso Horne and Parisian chanteuse Camille Bertault. $45pp. 6:30-10:30pm. 

PLUS

John Singer Sargent (1856–1925). Gassed, 1919. Courtesy of IWM (Imperial War Museums), London. Photo: ©IWM Imperial War Museums, Art.IWM ART 1460 (detail).

(New! Now-9/3) WWI Beyond the Trenches at New-York Historical Society. World War I Beyond the Trenches features powerful works by artists like John Singer Sargent, George Bellows, and Georgia O’Keeffe, joined by artifacts from the museum’s collection (propaganda posters, letters, sheet music, uniforms, and military gear) that provide insightful context. 

(New! Now-10/29 ) Drones: Is the Sky the Limit? opens at The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum. It's the first major museum exhibition on pilotless aircraft to open in the U.S. The large-scale exhibition, which will be located in a 6,000-square-foot, custom-designed pavilion on the Museum's Pier 86, will reveal the history of drone technology, from its modern-day origins in World War I and its military development to its current applications in solving complex humanitarian challenges. Take $5 off admission with this coupon now! 

(Now-7/23) Georgia O'Keeffe: Living Modern provides a new look at an iconic American artist at the very institution that hosted her first solo museum exhibition in 1927—the Brooklyn Museum. Presenting O’Keeffe’s remarkable wardrobe in dialogue with iconic paintings and photographs, this singular exhibition focuses in on the modernist persona O’Keeffe crafted for herself. With photographs by luminaries like Alfred Stieglitz, Ansel Adams, and Annie Leibovitz, the show reflects O’Keeffe’s radical rethinking of female identity, and the artist’s commitment to elements of modernism—minimalism, seriality, simplification—not only in her art, but also in her distinctive style of dress. 

(New) The New-York Historical Society's Fourth Floor Renovation, now complete, includes a brand new Tiffany Lamps Gallery, in addition to the opening of its Women's History Center.

Image courtesy of BIG Team/Rebuild by Design competition

(Ongoing) The Museum of the City of New York presents NY at Its Core. Ten years in the making, New York at Its Core tells the compelling story of New York’s rise from a striving Dutch village to today’s “Capital of the World.” The exhibition captures the human energy that drove New York to become a city like no other and a subject of fascination the world over. Entertaining, inspiring, important, and at times bemusing, New York City “big personalities,” including Alexander Hamilton, Walt Whitman, Boss Tweed, Emma Goldman, JP Morgan, Fiorello La Guardia, Jane Jacobs, Jay-Z, and dozens more, parade through the exhibition. Visitors will also learn the stories of lesser-known New York personalities, like Lenape chieftain Penhawitz and Italian immigrant Susie Rocco. Even animals like the horse, the pig, the beaver, and the oyster, which played pivotal roles in the economy and daily life of New York, get their moment in the historical spotlight. Occupying the entire first floor in three interactive galleries (Port City, 1609-1898, World City, 1898-2012, and Future City Lab) New York at Its Core is shaped by four themes: money, density, diversity, and creativity. Together, they provide a lens for examining the character of the city, and underlie the modern global metropolis we know today. mcny.org

(New) Chocolate aficionado Jacques Torres opens up his brand-new Choco Story New York, the city's first chocolate museum, in SoHo. Admission includes nine premium chocolate tastings of white, milk and dark varieties; original Mayan hot chocolate freshly ground by hand; and handmade chocolate truffles. There's a kids corner, too. $10-$15. 350 Hudson St. mrchocolate.com/museum 

(Now-7/30) Muslims in NY at the Museum of the City of New York features 34 images by four photographers who have documented Muslim New Yorkers from the mid-20th to the early 21st century. Works by Alexander Alland date to ca. 1940, a time when New York’s diverse Muslim community included Arabs, Turks, Afghans, East Indians, Albanians, Malayans, African Americans, and others. Photographs by Ed Grazda come from his 1990s project “New York Masjid: The Mosques of New York City,” and cover both immigrant populations and native New York Muslims, including converts, the long-standing African-American community, and a growing Latino Muslim community. Mel Rosenthal’s photographs of Arab New York Muslims from the early 2000s were commissioned for the Museum of the City of New York’s exhibition A Community of Many Worlds: Arab Americans in New York (2002). Robert Gerhardt’s images, a promised gift to the museum’s collections, document Muslim New Yorkers in the early 2010s. 

(Now-9/6) The newest show at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Visionaries: Creating a Modern Guggenheim, provides a chance to explore in-depth some of the key artists of this essential New York institution. Framed by the interests of six leading patrons, Visionaries brings together canvases from masters like Max Ernst, René Magritte, and Yves Tanguy, and sculptures by Joseph Cornell and Alberto Giacometti. In addition, Jackson Pollock’s Alchemy (1947) is being shown in the U.S. for the first time in nearly 50 years. More than a dozen works on paper by Picasso and Van Gogh, rarely on view to the public, can be seen in the Thannhauser Gallery, and paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Paul Gauguin, and Édouard Manet are displayed on the museum’s legendary ramps.

(Ongoing) The legendary aircraft carrier that’s now the Intrepid, Sea, Air & Space Museum served three tours of duty in Vietnam between 1966 and 1969. Learn more about its experiences in the Gulf of Tonkin, launching aircraft for missions over mainland Vietnam, at the exhibit On the Line: Intrepid and the Vietnam War, featuring many artifacts displayed for the very first time.

COMEDY

(6/15-6/17) Jay Chandrasekhar at Gotham Comedy Club.

KIDS

(Now-9/5) NY Water Taxi's The Shark returns! This heart-pounding, white-knuckle 30-minute speedboat adventure captures the excitement and energy of the city as it roars around the harbor in a shower of waves! Take $5 off your next ride with this coupon! *Must be 40" tall to ride.

PLUS 

(Ongoing) Blue Man Group at Astor Place Theatre. Best known for their wildly popular theatrical shows, Blue Man Group combines music, comedy, and multimedia theatrics to produce a unique form of entertainment. The hour and forty five minute show is fun for the whole family. The show recently celebrated its 25th anniversary.

(Ongoing) Explore the beautiful interactive exhibit Connected Worlds at the New York Hall of Science in Queens. 

For more kids activities, check out our sister site nymetroparents.com!

SIGHTSEEING

(New!) Take a ride through time and learn about Downtown New York City's rich heritage with THE DOWNTOWN EXPERIENCE Powered by THE RIDE. Enhanced with virtual reality technology (thanks to Timelooper), experience highlight moments in NYC's history like never before! 

PLUS

(6/17) The Mermaid Parade at Coney Island is the nation's largest art parade and one of New York City's greatest summer events.

(now-7/26) Summer on the Plaza at Arts Brookfield. Soak up the sun and enjoy a lunchtime concert every Wednesday at One New York Plaza. Curated by New Song Music, Summer on the Plaza features music by the next wave of up-and-coming singer-songwriters. 11am-2pm. 

(Ongoing) No trip to New York City is complete without visiting the home of the 27-time World Champion New York Yankees. Game tickets may be scarce, but it’s easy to get the full experience with Yankee Stadium Tours, which offers exclusive access to the stadium. The tours also bring fans close to historic baseball artifacts like Babe Ruth’s bat, Lou Gehrig’s jersey, and rings and trophies. The Yankee Stadium Pregame Tour is a great option for fans who want early access to the stadium with a valid game ticket—fans can enjoy a guided tour through the New York Yankees Museum Presented by Bank of America, private access to legendary Monument Park before it opens to the public, and exclusive access to batting practice in Section 105. 

(Ongoing) Day or night, the Manhattan skyline is a sight to behold. Circle Line Sightseeing sails year-round and has cruises of varying interests and lengths, including a 3-hour Best of NYC Cruise, a 2-hour Landmark Cruise, and a Harbor Lights Cruise for a romantic spring evening. Last year, Circle Line added its popular Landmark + Brooklyn Cruise. Guests can purchase food and drink from Brooklyn’s famed artisanal vendors, including Brooklyn Brewery, Brooklyn Gin, Brooklyn Cupcake, Blue Marble Ice Cream, and cheesecakes from Junior’s. circleline42.com

(Ongoing) Sweets for the sweet! Grab your honey or friend for a cozy ride aboard A Slice of Brooklyn's Chocolate Tour. TripAdvisor's top-rated NYC tour company A Slice of Brooklyn Bus Tours has launched a tour that visits artisanal chocolate sites Jacques Torres Chocolate in DUMBO, The Chocolate Room in Cobble Hill, Raaka in Red Hook, and Li-Lac Chocolates in Industry City, Sunset Park. Offered every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Here you can read more about NYC for Chocolate Lovers.

(Ongoing) Read here for more about the Best NYC Hop On Hop Off Bus Tours!

(Ongoing) King Kong has made his way back to New York, the city he once terrorized (at least in the movies!), but this time, it's in wax form. The famed Madame Tussauds New York in Times Square welcomes a wax replica of King Kong’s head to its collection, providing visitors not only with a perfect photo op with the notorious gorilla, but an entire KONG: Skull Island experience.

(New) Every year, at 11:59pm on December 31st, people from all over the world are focused on the Times Square New Year’s Eve Ball. Millions of voices unite to count down the final seconds of the old year and celebrate the beginning of the new. Now you can get up close and personal with the Times Square New Year’s Eve Ball at Ripley’s Believe It or Not—Times Square! Press the button yourself and ring in the New Year every day of the year. A home to rare artifacts and thrilling interactive exhibits, Ripley’s is for anyone who wants to immerse themselves in the unexpected and the unbelievable. Here is a coupon. 

(Ongoing) Grab a date or friend and enjoy the most incredible views of NYC at Top of the Rock.

(Ongoing) Take a one-hour tour of one of the world's most important buildings, the United Nations, now celebrating 71 years. (Tours offered weekdays only.)

Check out  When Harry Met Seinfeld with On Location Tours. They've also got tours for Sex in the City and Sopranos fans, Central Park, NYC TV & Movie, and much more!  

Explore NYC's Financial District with Wall Street Walks.

(Now-6/30) If you're looking for great New York souvenirs, the FDNYShop at FDNY Fire Zone has special discounts for City Guide readers. At the FDNY Fire Zone, guests meet official members of New York City’s Fire Department and learn all about the special equipment and gear they use daily to battle fires and rescue people from danger. Visitors can also take part in the action as they try on gear and climb aboard a real fire truck. FDNY Fire Zone is offering 15% off with code HERODAD-CG, both online at fdnyshop.com and in the store. Great ideas for Father's Day! (Requires full-priced items and code entered prior to checkout; select items including Job Shirts, Code 3 Models, and sale items are excluded. Cannot be combined with other promotions.)

NIGHTLIFE

(6/16) Double Bill! Hall and Oates and Tears For Fears at Forest Hills Stadium, just minutes from NYC via the LIRR.  

PLUS

(Sundays-Tuesdays, 5pm-10pm) China Grill Pop-Up at Asia de Cuba. Expect to see many familiar faces from the China Grill staff, many of whom have been with the restaurant for its nearly 30-year run. On offer will be a full à la carte menu, plus a special Classics Prix-Fixe, priced at $52 per person, that includes revivals of a few lost favorites.

(Ongoing) Every Sunday at noon and 2pm don’t miss Broadway “Boozy” Brunch, with a cabaret show and the option for bottomless bellinis, Bloody Marys, and mimosas. Don't Tell Mama.

Click here for more information on on NYC's Best Jazz Clubs. 

SNEAK PEEK, NEXT WEEK

(6/24-6/25) Pinknic Festival at Governors Island. Following the runaway success of Pinknic’s 2016 debut, New York City’s largest rosé picnic and music festival returns to Governors Island this June for a two-day summer fête. 2017’s Pinknic is going to be full to the brim with delectable food, lively entertainment, and, of course, everyone’s favorite pink drink. 

(6/21) Chanteuse Diana Krall performs at the Beacon Theatre.

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