NYC events in September 2023

Celebrate the best of the west—the west side, that is—at the first-ever West Side Fest, a free day of cultural experiences. 

This brand new event includes free admission to museums, live performances, art-making activities and more on Saturday, September 30. The festival's hosted by The West Side Cultural Network, a group of more than 19 museums, parks, performing arts centers and cultural institutions located within a half-mile portion of historic New York.

Activites include free admission to The Whitney, tours of Poster House, a puppet show, live music, art-making activities and lots more.

If you didn't get enough of outdoor movie season this summer, don't worry: It's not over yet. Rooftop Cinema Club is keeping the fun going this fall with a packed slate of films running all the way through October 31. 

September features a rooftop romance theme. Expect to see Sleepless in Seattle, When Harry Met Sally, Love & Basketball, Casablanca, La La Land, The Notebook and more for the perfect date night.

Tickets are on sale here. 

The Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze has returned to two New York locations, along with a full slate of Sleepy Hollow-themed events.

The Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze will be back in the Hudson Valley at Van Cortlandt Manor in Croton-on-Hudson for the 19th year, from September 15 through November 19, as well as Old Bethpage Village Restoration in Old Bethpage, Long Island for the fourth year, from September 22 through November 5. Both experiences will feature thousands of hand-carved jack o'lanterns set up in elaborate displays.

Along with the gorgeous gourds, New Yorkers can head to Philipsburg Manor in the historic town of Sleepy Hollow for a brand-new event, The Spirits of Sleepy Hollow Country: A Night of Legendary Magic, where master illusionists Mark Clearview and Nick Wallace will conjure up the legendary spirits of the town, including Major Andre and the Headless Horseman. 

Find ticket and date information at the Historic Hudson Valley website. 

Pumpkin Nights at the Bronx Zoo will debut on Thursday, September 28 and run Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through Sunday, October 29 from 6pm to 10pm.

The fall festival will showcase more than 5,000 carved, animal-themed pumpkins in a jack-o’-lantern trail stretching over half a mile. Live pumpkin carving demonstrations, games, festive fall treats and food trucks will also take place at the all-ages Pumpkin Nights.

Tickets for Pumpkin Nights range from $26.95-$36.95 for adults; kids' tickets range from $24.95-$26.95 for kids. 

In addition to the new Pumpkin Nights, the Bronx Zoo will continue the tradition of Boo at the Zoo, which will return on Saturdays and Sundays, September 30 through October 29, plus Monday, October 9. 

Back for its annual celebration of all things pumpkin (and your best opportunity to take a selfie with a scarecrow in NYC), New York Botanical Garden's Fall-O-Ween is now open.

The event includes hundreds of pumpkins and gourds on display, hands-on activities like mini pumpkin decorating, 3D pumpkin carving, food and beverage talks, tastings and more. Two family-friendly Spooky Garden Nights (Saturday, October 21 and Saturday, October 28) will also offer Halloween-themed entertainment including dancing skeletons, decorating trick-or-treat bags, live shadow puppets, plant potting ad more. 

Master pumpkin carver Adam Bierton will return to NYBG on select weekends to create his intricate and nature-inspired pumpkin carvings, and to host a master carver competition. At the “pumpkin patch” at NYBG Shop, guests can pick and purchase the perfect pumpkin to take home.

Autumn brings some of the beautiful colors in nature with its crispy red leaves and bright orange pumpkins, so it's no surprise that Color Factory is going all out for the season as well.

The Soho immersive art museum will present Haunted Hues, a Halloween-themed takeover, running from September 14 to November 1 with plenty of tricks and treats. Tickets start at $39 and are on sale here.

The experience will include a pumpkin patch with a Color Factory twist, fun giveaways and fresh seasonal treats. Plus, guests can add on a new scavenger hunt to search for hidden monsters throughout the venue.

One of the top things to do in New York this fall includes two weeks of drinking some of the best beer in NYC during Oktoberfest. Take in the beautiful fall foliage while drinking at one of the best beer gardens and German eateries in New York City. Oktoberfest New Yorkers, take advantage of this glorious holiday to sample fine Bavarian beer and food. Prost!

If you want your spooky celebrations to be more festive and less frightening, Halloween House is serving up a fear-free All Hallows Eve attraction at The Oculus this fall.

Kicking off on Friday, September 29, and running through Wednesday, November 1, Halloween House—which welcomed 100,000 visitors across its various locations last year—will take over the transportation and shopping hub at 185 Greenwich Street with an array of immersive, intricately designed themed rooms: a Glow in the Dark space, a mysterious Vampires' Lair, a Horror Movie Graveyard and an indoor pumpkin patch, among others. 

Unlike traditional haunted houses, the all-ages Halloween House "sets itself apart by delivering entertainment through meticulously detailed environments, devoid of actors, jump scares, and strobe lights," reads a press release. In terms of decorations, expect more ghouls and graveyards, not gross-out gore or ghastly characters.

You can get tickets at the Halloween House website; adult entry costs $40, while tickets for kids and under are set at $35. 

Prepare to scream in horror. Blood Manor is confirmed to return to New York City this fall from September 29-November 4, marking the haunted house's 20th season in the city. 

To celebrate two decades of terrifying New Yorkers, Blood Manor will present yet another theater-quality production. The space in Soho at 359 Broadway will include three new rooms, and brand-new costumes by designers from Abracadabra, Manhattan's iconic Halloween store. The multiroom immersive experience employs professional actors, set designers and makeup artists, and promises to leave visitors more afraid than ever in 2023. 

Blood Manor’s most infamous attractions will return for repeat visitors looking to relive their self-induced terrors, and the space will be revamped, and amplified to intensify the fear factor. Visitors will journey through dark, sinister corridors filled with twisted characters and jumpscares at every turn.

The already-striking David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center is even more beautiful right now.

SlowDancing/NYCB, a large-scale film installation by artist David Michalek, is being projected on the facade of the building every single night from now through October 1 in celebration of the New York City Ballet’s 75th anniversary season. 

Free and open to the public, the show features over 50 hyper-slow-motion films of the dancers who call the venue home. The installation lasts about 100 minutes and it will be played on a continuous loop on three screens, each one 40 feet high and 28 feet wide, from 7pm to 11:30pm nightly. 

The Rooftop at Pier 17 is planning a packed season of outdoor musical perfomances.

Here's this month's lineup:

• September 10 - Tove Lo: Dirt Femme Tour
• September 12 - All Time Low & Gym Class Heroes 
• September 14 - An Evening with Ween
• September 15 - Bishop Briggs & MisterWives
• September 19-20 - Tate McRae
• September 22 - Macklemore: The BEN Tour
• September 23 - Grace Potter
• September 28 - The Old 97's & Drive By Truckers
• September 29 - Dance Gavin Dance
• October 5 - Brothers Osborne
• October 11 - Eric Nam
• Plus, more shows to be announced.

Tickets are on sale now.

Long before Pablo Picasso's works made it to major American museums, an art collector in Brooklyn identified the artist's talents and believed his works should be displayed. In fact, he wanted to hang Picasso's works on his very own walls. 

In 1910, Hamilton Easter Field commissioned Picasso to adorn a room in his Brooklyn Heights home with murals, but Picasso didn't finish the works before Field died. Now, for the first time, the Metropolitan Museum of Art is bringing together six paintings linked to the commission. "Picasso: A Cubist Commission in Brooklyn" is now open and runs through January 14, 2024.

"It's an important aspect of Picasso's work that has been not researched on that level, has been not known before we embarked on this project," The Met's director Max Hollein said. "I hope the exhibition will be as revelatory to our audience as it has been to us."

The Perelman Performing Arts Center has officially opened to the public, marking the final piece in the puzzle of the World Trade Center site. Twenty-two years after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, officials say the site offers hope at the sacred ground.

The Perelman is the only major performing arts venue in Lower Manhattan. Its opening, former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg said, adds to the vibrancy and growth of Lower Manhattan.

A five-night global music series called "Refuge: A Concert Series to Welcome the World" is kicking off the season. As for free events, there's an Open House: Arts Community Day on September 27 and Open House: Five Borough Family Day on September 30.

The public's thirst for all things immersive continues strong.

Case in point: "Welcome to the Continental: The Hotel Bar Experience," a new pop-up at 82 Beaver Street in the Financial District inspired by the much-anticipated John Wick prequel, The Continental: From the World of John Wick.

According to an official press release, at the pop-up, guests will be able to "venture into the hotel's cryptic underworld for an unforgettable evening of decadent cocktails and live, interactive storylines with in-world characters and photo ops."

Reservations for the immersive experience are already open and you can make yours right here. The space will be open from September 21 through the 24, from September 27 through October 1 and then again from October 4 to the 8. 

Flipper's Roller Boogie Palace is back at Rockefeller Center through October. 

The rink offers smooth ride with plenty of space to get around other skaters. Being able to glide by Prometheus and in front of spectators visiting Rockefeller Center is quite a thrill. Before Flipper’s first opened last year, the last time anyone roller-skated here was in 1940!

Tickets start at just over $20 for a one-hour rink time.

Of course, we all think our beloved pets are works of art, but now Fotografiska New York, the contemporary photography museum in Gramercy Park, is happily agreeing with us. 

This fall, the museum will stage “Best in Show: Pets in Contemporary Photography,” a sprawling art exhibition exploring “the role our furry (and feathered) friends have played in culture and how they stand in as representations of status, power, loyalty, compassion and companionship."

The exhibit, on view from September 22, 2023, through January 2024, will feature more than 130 photographs—both artfully arranged portraits and amusing candid snaps—and video installations from 24 global artists across two museum floors.

Robert Indiana's iconic LOVE sculpture has been MIA from its usual corner of 55th Street and Sixth Avenue for the past few years, after the work was removed from its post for conservation in 2019. Now Rockefeller Center is bringing a little love—pun intended—back to New York with an installation of work from the American artist. 

Now through Tuesday, October 24, see artworks from Robert Indiana throughout Rockfeller Center's landmark campus, including the long-awaited return of his LOVE sculpture to Manhattan.

The city’s most beloved free summer concert series wraps up this month with several shows. Here's the lineup for September:

• September 3: Emicida, Goyo, a screening ofAmarElo: It’s All for Yesterday in Association with the 27th Inffinito Brazilian Film Festival at Central Park
• September 14: Tanya Tucker, Nikki Lane for the Subaru Music Series at Central Park
• September 30: Carl Cox, Central Park (benefit)

For the full schedule and tickets, check out cityparksfoundation.org/summerstage. 

Join an elite group this Halloween season: The League of Inebriation Technology (L.I.T.), a storied institution dedicated to studying the celebratory effects of alcohol. Get in on the fun at The Drunken Laboratory, a bar in Brooklyn where you’ll wear lab coats and goggles for a night of sipping drinks and doing science. 

The bar's Haunted Laboratory experience includes a ghostly drink menu, haunted decor and scare actors for a truly immersive experience. Tickets are on sale now starting at $45; the experience begins on September 22 in Bed-Stuy with dates running through the finale on Halloween night. 

During the event, guests will try to free the laboratory from the clutches of the supernatural. Plus, you’ll get to compete against each other—from performing exothermic reaction experiments that send heat erupting into the air, to competing in ghoulish trivia quizzes—for the chance to win free themed shots, merch or hangover kits. 

If you're a Barbie girl who's always dreamed of living in a Barbie world, now's your big moment.

The Malibu Barbie Café, an immersive pink-hued pop-up, is now open in the Seaport. Boasting fun photo opps, a menu from a Master Chef finalist, California vibes and, of course, actual Barbie dolls, this cafe feels like a spot Barbie herself would hang out with Ken, Midge and Skipper.

All ages are welcome to experience The Malibu Barbie Café, which is available for booking through October 15. Each reservation includes your choice of entree and side item, full access to the Barbie Cafe experience and a 90-minute table reservation. Early bird pricing ranges from $22-$30 for kids and $39-$49 for adults depending on the date and time. You can buy additional drinks, dessert and food. 

In a year where NYC has seen no snow, sweltering days and wildfire smoke, the Poster House's fall exhibition feels staggeringly relevant. The exhibit "We Tried to Warn You! Environmental Crisis Posters, 1970–2020" features 33 works that have shaped the worldwide public debate on environmental issues including clean energy, endangered species, and air and water quality. 

Ranging in style from whimsical to apocalyptic, the works examine international awareness campaigns and federal advertisements that aimed to address environmental crises as they evolved from regional problems to a global disaster. Exhibited works mark important events and movements, including the first Earth Day in 1970, the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency in the United States a few years later, and the UN Conference on Environment and Development in 1992. 

Artists whose posters are exhibited include: Amos Kennedy, Robert Rauschenberg, Per Arnoldi, Tom Eckersley, Freidensreich Hundertwasser, Hans Erni and Milton Glaser, among others. This exhibition is supported by the Simons Foundation. The show runs from September 28-February 25, 2024.

Wake up with the sun for a morning yoga class with Chelsea Piers Fitness has you covered.

Head to the Maker's Room at Chelsea Market for a free 7am all-levels vinyasa flow class every Thursday morning. Just be sure to bring your own yoga mat and towel and register in advance. It'll be a good way to embrace the vinyasa flow all throughout your day. Programming runs through the end of the year.

Wild Captives, the nation’s first female- and LGBTQ-owned archery studio, is now open. It's a place where everyone can "be their own superhero." The studio in Brooklyn’s Industry City offers empowering and fun hour-long introduction to archery classes every weekend for $45/person. 

Each intro class includes a chance to learn about different parts of the bow and safety requirements. After the lesson, each participant gets a chance to shoot the bow trying to pop a balloon pinned onto the bullseye. Intro-to-archery classes are available each Friday, Saturday and Sunday, bookable online for anyone over age 12.

Remember when NASA published those first images from the Webb telescope and blew everyone's minds? 

Well, now you can admire never-before-seen visuals captured by the James Webb Space Telescope in this new immersive art experience at ARTECHOUSE in Chelsea. “Beyond the Light” runs through November 5 with adult general admission starting at $25.

The phrase “women’s work” is often used derisively to indicate labor that’s seen as “less than,” but a new exhibit at New-York Historical Society reclaims that phrase. Aptly titled "Women's Work," the show chronicles the history of women's contributions to labor and how those efforts are both inherently political and essential to American society. 

The exhibit features dozens of objects in the museum's collection from indenture documents to medical kits to military uniforms. With items ranging from the 1740s to today, the show celebrates the strides society has made in equality while not shying away from highlighting the gender-based inequalities that persist today.

"Women's Work" is on view through August 18, 2024 in the Joyce B. Cowin Women’s History Gallery at New-York Historical Society on the Upper West Side.

On the Upper East Side, dazzling chandeliers are a common decoration in fancy apartments. But these new chandelier sculptures in the neighborhood aren't like any other. 

Artist Willie Cole recently debuted four monumental chandeliers made of thousands of plastic water bottles as a way to draw attention to single-use plastics. The sculptures will be on view through the end of the year on the median of Park Avenue between 69th and 70th Streets.

The sculptor transformed 9,000 disposed water bottles to create the four chandeliers, each with their own distinct look and title—”the Liberty Lantern,” “Soul Catcher,” “Dirt Devil” and “3000 Buddha.”

From The Marcy Houses to the biggest stages in the world, Jay-Z has always represented Brooklyn. Now Brooklyn is radiating that love back to him with a major, free exhibition called The Book of HOV on view at Brooklyn Public Library.

The exhibit chronicles the journey and impact of Shawn Carter through thousands of archived objects, including original recording masters, never-before-seen photos, iconic stage wear, prestigious awards and videos. Roc Nation created the exhibit as a surprise to the renowned hip-hop star as the city celebrates 50 years of the genre that started right here in New York City. See it at Brooklyn's Central Library along Grand Army Plaza during regular library hours through this fall (an exact closure date hasn't been set).