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Things to Do in NYC (10/26-11/2)

(10/26-11/2) Each week City Guide's Things to Do in NYC brings you the best in special NYC events, exhibits, sightseeing activities, fun for kids, concerts, and nightlife. This week, check out a wide selection of spooky-good Halloween events, new exhibits, tours, Late Night's Conan O'Brien at the Apollo, cruises to Sleepy Hollow, the opening of Bryant Park Winter Village, more!

Check out City Guide's video roundup of the 10 best things to do in NYC this week.

THIS WEEK IN NEW YORK: THE BIG EVENT 

NYC Halloween Village Parade

At Halloween in New York there’s something for everyone, from jack-o’-lanterns to haunted houses to canine parades. A major highlight is NYC’s 43rd Annual Village Halloween Parade, which goes off at 7pm in Greenwich Village. All those in costume are welcome to join a parade of hundreds of puppets, bands, dancers, artists, and thousands of other New Yorkers in outfits of their own creation—it’s the country’s most wildly creative public participatory event. This year’s theme is Reverie, inviting paraders to be inspired by their own waking dreams. And there are plenty of fun filled activities taking place beforehand. Click here for much more information on Halloween NYC 2016: Scary Good Times.

PLUS

(10/28-10/31) New York City Jewelry & Watch Show at the Metropolitan Pavilion. nycjaws.com

Serendipity 3 Election Sundaes

(now-11/8) Cast a Vote for Deliciousness: Get Your Election Sundae! Iconic restaurant Serendipity 3 takes a bipartisan stand on the 2016 Presidential election by creating an ice cream concoction for each candidate. The restaurant, known for creating the famous Frrrozen Hot Chocolate and the Guinness World Record-holder Golden Opulence Sundae, is bringing both parties together for a battle of the ice cream sundaes.

(ongoing) Halloween Shopping at Grand Central Terminal. Catching a train is only the beginning at Grand Central Terminal, a New York landmark that’s also great for dining, architecture, history, and shopping. All October long, you can find great gifts and general Halloween supplies: think candy from Li-Lac Chocolates, Metro-North Railroad Costumes from the New York Transit Museum Gallery Annex & Store, or a Magic Pumpkin from Jacques Torres Chocolate. When you're done shopping, catch a break with a Candy Corn Cosmo at Michael Jordan's The Steak House N.Y.C.

maniac pumpkin carvings hell's kitchen flea

(10/29) Don't miss the Maniac Pumpkin Carvers, a duo of artists who will ensure you never look at a jack-o'-lantern the same way again. Founded by Marc Evan (@marcmaniac) and Chris Soria (@chrissoria), the collaboration goes back over 20 years, and now includes a full creative studio of talented artists and pumpkin carvers. They'll be at the Hell’s Kitchen Flea Market from 11am-2pm, free to the public. 

THIS WEEK IN NEW YORK: EXHIBITION OF THE WEEK

Intrepid Star Trek Starfleet Academy

(now-10/31) Final weekend!! In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the beloved series Star Trek, the Intrepid, Sea, Air & Space Museum welcomes the new exhibition Star Trek: The Starfleet Academy Experience. The museum is the first place in the U.S. to host this brand-new, immersive “Trek Tech” experience, which spans a starship-sized 12,000 square feet. Visitors become cadets, joining the Starfleet Academy’s Career Day in the 26th century. After “student orientation,” cadets visit zones that focus on the Academy’s special training in language, medicine, engineering, navigation, science, and command skills. Check out interactive activities and unique technology, including voice recognition to communicate in Klingon, a medical tricorder table, planet projection mapping, holograms, and a target game using the show’s iconic phasers. You can get your results and a certificate emailed to you. On your way out, take a selfie in the captain’s chair; you can also visit the fully restored Shuttlecraft Galileo, which carried the crew in the original series.

Click here for our Intrepid Coupon to save $5 off Star Trek Starfleet Academy admission!

Click here for our Intrepid Coupon to save $3 now (max 4 persons) off general admission!

PLUS

(New 10/28-2/26/17) The First Jewish Americans: Freedom and Culture in the New World opens at N-Y Historical Society. This exhibition examines the story of newcomers to the New World, both Jewish and of Jewish ancestry, who made their way to colonial America and engaged fully in the cultural, social, and political life of the young nation. The exhibition, on view October 28, 2016 to February 26, 2017, showcases more than 170 rare early portraits, drawings, maps, books, documents, and ritual objects, illuminating the birth of a new Jewish American tradition and the extraordinary contributions of 18th- and 19th-century Jewish artists, writers, activists, and others to the development of American culture and politics.

(New 10/28-2/5/17) Dreamlands: Immersive Cinema & Art: 1905-2016  at the Whitney Museum of American Art focuses on the ways in which artists have dismantled and reassembled the conventions of cinema—screen, projection, darkness—to create new experiences of the moving image. The exhibition will fill the Museum's 18,000-square-foot fifth-floor galleries, and will include a film series in the third-floor theater. Dreamlands spans more than a century of works by American artists and filmmakers, and also includes a small number of works of German cinema and art from the 1920s with a strong relationship to, and influence on, American art and film. Featured are works in installation, drawing, 3-D environments, sculpture, performance, painting, and online space.

The Museum of Arts and Design unveils its 2016 Fall exhibits, including Chris Antemenn: Forbidden Fruit, Coille Hooven: Tell It By Heart, and more.

(New-now-1/11/17) Agnes Martin at the Guggenheim Museum, which traces the artist’s career from her early experiments of the 1950s through her final paintings in what is the first comprehensive survey of her work since her death. Influenced by Asian belief systems including Taoism and Zen Buddhism and the natural surroundings of her home in New Mexico, Martin’s restrained style was underpinned by a belief in the expressive power of art. This retrospective presents the scope of Martin's output, including her biomorphic abstractions of the 1950s, signature grid and stripe compositions, and final paintings. Together these works illuminate Martin's practice as she developed and refined a format to express her singular vision.  

(now-1/8/17) The Battle of Brooklyn at the New-York Historical Society presents the dramatic story of the largest single battle of the American Revolution. On August 27, 1776, on the marshy fields of Gowanus and Red Hook, George Washington and his ragtag army of untrained soldiers fought Great Britain’s Royal Army, one of the most powerful military forces in the world. Things did not go well. In the first major armed campaign for the colonies after declaring their independence, the British seized control of the strategically important city of New York. Washington was able to make a surprising retreat that saved the day for his troops and ultimately for the American cause. Through 90 objects and documents, including Hugh Gaine’s printing of the Declaration of Independence, a camp bed used by George Washington during the war, Thomas Paine’s 1776 Common Sense, which lays out the arguments for independence, and a rare hunting shirt that became the first “uniform” of the Continental Army, this new exhibition presents the dramatic story of the near-disaster that played a major role in the making of America. 

(now-1/2/17) Marking the 200th anniversary of her birth in 1816, Charlotte Brontë: An Independent Will celebrates Brontë’s life and successes, tracing her life from ambitious teenager to celebrated novelist, at the Morgan Library and Museum.

(now-1/8/17) Who Shot Sports, A Photographic History, 1843-Present at the Brooklyn Museum gathers together approximately 230 works—from daguerreotypes and salted paper prints to digital images—that capture the universal appeal of sports, highlighting unforgettable moments of drama and excitement from around the globe.

AMNH Dinosaurs Among Us

(now-1/17) The exciting new exhibit Dinosaurs Among Us, at the American Museum of Natural History, examines how one group of dinosaurs evolved into the birds of today.

(now-1/17) The American Museum of Natural History welcomes an exhibit with bite: Crocs: Ancient Predators in a Modern World provides a fascinating look at the world of archosaurs, a group that includes alligators and crocodiles as well as extinct dinosaurs and modern birds.

(permanent) New York’s latest resident is a 122-foot-long dinosaur so new it has yet to be formally named. Going by “Titanosaur for now, it has taken up residence at the American Museum of Natural History, in a cast of 84 fossil bones uncovered in Patagonia in 2014. The find included a colossal 8-ft. thigh bone, whose shape and size indicated a new species—and one of the biggest dinosaurs ever found. The titanosaur is so large, in fact, that it doesn’t fit in the gallery: a 39-ft.-long neck in a new permanent exhibit extends out towards the elevator banks.

(ongoing) On The Line: Intrepid & The Vietnam War is up at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space MuseumIntrepid made three tours of duty in Vietnam between 1966-1969.

THIS WEEK IN NEW YORK: COMEDY

 Conan O'Brien

(10/29-11/3) Late Night's Conan O'Brien performs for four evenings of comedy at Apollo Theater.

PLUS

(10/26) Comedy with a Side of Charity at Stand Up NY. Citymeals on Wheels will host a comedy night with New York’s hottest comedians at Stand Up NY. Tickets include unlimited premium red and white wine, two drink vouchers and food provided by Num Pang and Insomnia Cookies. 

(10/27) Dave Chappelle is doing a last minute show at The Cutting Room!!! Grab tickets while you can! 

(10/27) Jessica Kirson performs at Gotham Comedy Club

(10/28) 30th Anniversary with Mike Yard, Yamaneika Saunders, Rory Albanese, and Joe List at Stand Up NY.

(10/29) 30th Anniversary with Judy Gold, James Mattern, Yamaneika Saunders, and Brian Scott McFadden, at Stand Up NY.

(10/28-10/29) Robert Kelly performs at Gotham Comedy Club.  

Get free admission for two to Stand Up NY!

THIS WEEK IN NEW YORK: KIDS

Brooklyn Botanic Garden Ghouls and Gourds

(10/29) Save the date to shake a tail feather, show off your costume, and carouse with colossal puppets at Brooklyn Botanic Garden's wackiest costume parade, Ghouls and Gourds! Noon-5:30pm, rain or shine. Kids under 12 free.  

(now-10/31) Randall's Island Haunted Hayride. Recommended for children 8+. Grab your best friends and get ready for thrills! For the first time, hayrides will debut three experiences, House of Shadows, Purgatory Haunted Village, and the Theater Macabre. 

(now-10/30) Scarecrows & Pumpkins at New York Botanical Garden. Experience the thrills and chills of the season with a garden full of intricately carved pumpkin sculptures, bugs, bats, parties, and parades. 

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

THIS WEEK IN NEW YORK: SIGHTSEEING

water taxi foliage

(10/29) It's all aboard for the Sleepy Hollow Ferry, with New York Water Taxi. $25 adults, $15 children (roundtrip.)    

PLUS

(10/29-3/5) Bryant Park's Winter Village kicks off the holiday shopping season early. wintervillage.org. The Grand Opening event takes place 11/1, 5:30pm.

(now-11/6) Enjoy a foliage-filled ride along the Hudson while sampling tasty brews and listening to live Oktoberfest music on Circle Line Bear Mountain Cruises, complemented with craft vendors and the largest pretzels known to mankind. You can burn off all those beer and brats, plus stock up on fresh air, with a gorgeous three-hour hike along one of the 50 hiking trails in Bear Mountain State Park. Every weekend. $65 adults, $52 kids. Boards 8:30am sharp, Pier 83, W. 42nd St. and 12th Ave., NY, 212-563-3200, circleline42.com

PLUS

(10/30, 11/5, 11/6) Don't get leafed behind! Enjoy a Fall Foliage Cruise with New York Water Taxi. Noon-4:30pm. $85 pp. 

A Slice of Brooklyn Chocolate Tour

(New!) Sample a taste of heaven on the brand new Slice of Brooklyn Chocolate Tour! Sure to be a hit this fall season and beyond, TripAdvisor's top-rated NYC tour company A Slice of Brooklyn Bus Tours  has launched its Brooklyn Chocolate Tour, which 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. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. 

Rockefeller Center Ice Skating Rink

(New) The Rockefeller Center Ice Skating Rink is now open for its 80th season! 

(10/29) Take advantage of Spirit of New York's Fall Foliage Lunch Cruises along the Hudson. Cruises depart from Chelsea Piers. Great fun for the whole family. $62.90 adults, $37.95 children. Boards 11:30am, sails noon-3pm.

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

(ongoing) Catch the new Ghostbusters Experience (walk through/immersive) and Ghostbusters Dimension, a Virtual Reality Experience at Madame Tussauds. Get ready to strap on some gear and laser some ghosts against breathtaking, realistic backdrops. The technology puts you right there!

(ongoing) Take a one-hour tour of one of the world's most important buildings, the United Nations, now celebrating 70 years. (Tours offered weekdays only.)

Explore NYC with a magical live interactive experience when you take The RIDE and The TOUR!

Check out the new "tour about nothing" When Harry Met Seinfeld with On Location Tours

There’s only one tallest. Only one strongest. And only one destination selected as the Best New Attraction in the World. These superlatives belong to One World Trade Center, and its pinnacle, the One World Observatory, rising over 100 stories in the sky. Catch 360° sights of the city and beyond, from the rivers to the harbor, and from the Statue of Liberty to the Empire State Building. Click here for information about ordering tickets and getting a free collectible pin!

Explore NYC's Financial District with Wall Street Walks

THIS WEEK IN NEW YORK: NIGHTLIFE & MUSIC

George Clinton

(10/31) George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic have a Halloween Funkdown at B.B. King Blues Club & Grill.  

PLUS 

(10/26-10/29) Jazz singer Kurt Elling performs at Birdland to celebrate his new release, Beautiful Day.

(10/27) Country power couple Faith Hill & Tim McGraw bring their Soul 2 Soul Tour at Barclays Center in Brookyn. 

(10/28) Sons and Heirs Tribute to Smiths & Morrissey w/Masters and Servants: Tribute to Depeche Mode and Dead Letter Office: Tribute to R.E.M. Halloween Show at Brooklyn's The Bell House.

(10/29) Broadway songstress Kelli O'Hara performs at Carnegie Hall

(10/29) A Wasabassco Halloween at City Winery: Costume & Burlesque

(now-11/16) Wild Women of Planet Wongo at Parkside Lounge. 

(now-10/28) Halloween Murder Mystery at Mount Vernon Hotel Museum & Garden. In this fictional mystery game, loosely based on an historic newspaper account, an unidentified skeleton has been discovered at the Mount Vernon Hotel. Explore the Museum by candlelight, and collect clues to unravel the mystery and solve the case. Recommended for families with children 8+. 

(now-10/29) Steely Dan continues a 10-day residency at the Beacon Theatre

(10/28-10/31) McKittrick Hotel's Supercinema 'Inferno' Halloween Parties. 

(10/29-10/30) The Damned perform a 40 year retrospective at The Gramercy Theatre. 

(now-4/29/17) New York Theatre Ballet 2016/17 Season at St. Mark's in the Bowery.  

SNEAK PEEK, NEXT WEEK

New York Comedy Festival 2016  

(11/1-11/16) Now in its 12th year, the New York Comedy Festival features a star-spangled lineup of comedians, including Bill Maher, Marc Maron, Tig Notaro, Tracey Morgan, Patton Oswalt, Chris D'Elia, Fred Armisen, and others. Various locations. newyorkcomedyfestival.com.

PLUS

(11/1) Yes vets Jon Anderson, Rick Wakeman and Trevor Rabin perform at the Beacon Theatre

(11/1) Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast, Live with Whoopi Goldberg, at Carolines.

(11/5) Madeleine Peyroux performs at Carnegie Hall.

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