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  1. Photograph: Phyllis B. Dooney
    Photograph: Phyllis B. Dooney

    Professional Bull Riders MSG Invitational, January 2012
    Many New Yorkers started the year by brushing off their ten-gallon hats, boots and plaid shirts to root on the riders and the bulls.

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  2. Photograph: Thomas Donley
    Photograph: Thomas Donley

    No Pants Subway Ride, January 2012
    Every year ends with revelers looking for an excuse to remove their pants. Conversely, every year also begins with an excuse to drop trou and let your legs breathe. The 2012 event saw an uptick in missives plastered over butt cheeks. Call you? Maybe…

     

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  3. Photograph: Richard Burrowes
    Photograph: Richard Burrowes

    XL opening weekend, January 2012
    The gay nightlife crowd welcomed a sprawling new homo playground to the scene.

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  4. Photograph: Phyllis B. Dooney
    Photograph: Phyllis B. Dooney

    Freeze Tag on Wall Street, January 2012
    There’s nothing quite like tearing round the backyard of the masters of the universe on a weekend.

     

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  5. Photograph: Phyllis B. Dooney
    Photograph: Phyllis B. Dooney

    136th Annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, February 2012
    Just five photos into our review of the year in pictures, and you’ve seen a butt and a noble-looking canine. Yes, 2012 was a great year.

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  6. Photograph: Jon Klemm
    Photograph: Jon Klemm

    Aretha Franklin at Radio City Music Hall, February 2012
    She came, she saw, she blew everyone away with that voice—for probably the 10,000th time in her life.

     

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  7. Photograph: Caroline Voagen Nelson
    Photograph: Caroline Voagen Nelson

    PopRally presents Cindy Sherman, March 2012    
    “Cindy Sherman” at MoMA was one of the best art shows of 2012. It’s apt, then, that it was feted with one of the most original parties of the year. The collective Cheryl (arty promoters who jumped animal-head first into the museum scene this year with bashes at the Museum of Arts & Design and the Jewish Museum) helped orchestrate the bash-cum-performance-art happening, during which revelers could deck themselves out in paint, wigs and other accessories draped on mannequins.

     

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  8. Brendon Stuart 2012, Photograph: Brendon Stuart
    Brendon Stuart 2012, Photograph: Brendon Stuart

    Central Park, March 2012
    We sent Brendon Stuart to photograph Manhattan’s iconic park with 35mm film. He returned with stunning shots and stories. About this image he wrote: “This is a frame I took at the end of the day on my way out of the park. The scene looked picturesque; it seemed like a great end to a great experience.”

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  9. Photograph: Virginia Rollison
    Photograph: Virginia Rollison

    Easter Parade and Bonnet Festival, March 2012
    These two meteorologists were among the sky-high fascinators, gentlemen in fedoras and even a pug wearing a flowery headband trooping down Fifth Avenue.

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  10. Photograph: Phyllis B. Dooney
    Photograph: Phyllis B. Dooney

    “This Side of Paradise,” April–June 2012
    Andrew Freedman Home, an abandoned mansion in the Bronx, found new life as a temporary art space. Nonprofit No Longer Empty (nolongerempty.org), which specializes in mounting exhibitions in vacant buildings, gave 26 artists the run of the place.

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  11. Photograph: Filip Wolak
    Photograph: Filip Wolak

    Yuri’s Night, April 2012    
    All hail cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, who on April 12, 1961, became the first man to orbit the earth and on April 12, 2012, gave us a reason to party.

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  12. Photograph: Caroline Voagen Nels
    Photograph: Caroline Voagen Nels

    PEN Festival Parade of Illuminations, April 2012
    To open the high-minded international fest, the Processional Arts Workshop (one of the groups that create the large-scale puppets for the Village Halloween Parade) led a train of book-lanterns and literary-inspired marionettes along the High Line.

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  13. Photograph: Caroline Voagen Nels
    Photograph: Caroline Voagen Nels

    “Terracotta Warriors: Defenders of China’s First Emperor,” April–August 2012
    When China’s first emperor, Qin Shi Huangdi, died in 210 BC, he was entombed with a clay army of thousands of life-size soldiers who were supposed to protect him as he entered the afterlife. More than 2,000 years later, we reckoned his passage had been secured, so there was no harm in displaying more than 200 of the relics (including weapons and animals) from his mausoleum at Discovery Times Square. Beats another Harry Potter show, anyway.

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  14. Photograph: Brendon Stuart
    Photograph: Brendon Stuart

    Occupy May Day rally, May 2012
    Some of the 99 percent took to the streets to mark International Workers’ Day. Ex-Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello led a string-instrument Guitarmy, and a large Solidarity March traveled from Union Square to the Financial District.

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  15. Photograph: Reuvain Leider
    Photograph: Reuvain Leider

    Kentucky Derby party at the Bell House, May 2012
    Now this is how Brooklyn does the derby: beautiful dresses, big bows, wide-brimmed hats, lacy gloves, a mint julep in a plastic cup.

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  16. Photograph: wagz2it
    Photograph: wagz2it

    The Great GoogaMooga, May 2012
    The great experiment to meld the mass, communal experience of a music festival with small-batch artisanal treats did not go as planned. Twitter was aflutter about long lines, tiny samples, and food and drink shortages. Organizers ended up providing a full refund to anyone who bought a $250 Extra Mooga ticket. Still, there were cooking demos and chances to see Hall & Oates, the Roots, Holy Ghost! and more acts over two gloriously sunny days in Prospect Park.

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  17. Photograph: Filip Wolak
    Photograph: Filip Wolak

    Olde Time Coney Island Strongman Spectacular, May 2012
    Savor the memory of this kind of barmy Brooklyn shore behavior; since Sandy devastated the area, we’ll see whether these kinds of shenanigans will still happen. We sure hope so.

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  18. Photograph: J Carter Rinaldi
    Photograph: J Carter Rinaldi

    Peepshow Carnival by Gemini & Scorpio, May 2012
    Normally when we try to Shoot the Peep (i.e., slingshot marshmallow Peeps at a man dressed as a Peep) we’re told that it’s cruel. Party planners Gemini & Scorpio do it to raise funds for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (lls.org), and suddenly it’s fine. Go figure.

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  19. Photograph: Filip Wolak
    Photograph: Filip Wolak

    Decentralized Dance Party: Extreme Physical Fitness edition, June 2012
    In conjunction with Newmindspace (you may know them as the duo behind Pillow Fights, Lightsaber Battles and other assorted awesomeness), the roving pair of Tom and Gary hit NYC for their novel nomadic party. They broadcast some tunes, dressed-to-the-nines kids turn up with battery-powered radios, and everyone roams around (in this instance from Battery Park to Staten Island and then up to Times Square), spreading youthful kicks. What’s not to like? More, please.

     

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  20. Photograph: Phyllis B. Dooney
    Photograph: Phyllis B. Dooney

    National Puerto Rican Day Parade, June 2012
    Thousands of participants, including New York Giants star Victor Cruz and this cute kid, showed their national pride with a colorful procession down Fifth Avenue. They were joined by Governor Andrew Cuomo, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and assorted dancers, beauty queens and stilt walkers.

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  21. Photograph: Phyllis B. Dooney
    Photograph: Phyllis B. Dooney

    Pet Day at Deno’s Wonder Wheel, June 2012
    NYC’s four-legged set put its finest paws forward at Deno’s annual Pet Day (tagline: “Pets ride free”). Several owners who were inspired by the shorefront locale dressed their pooches as sea creatures or sailors. Our favorite in the field was a gussied-up guinea pig.

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  22. Photograph: Filip Wolak
    Photograph: Filip Wolak

    Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island, June and August 2012
    The annual old-timey party channeled the Prohibition era with the Charleston, Model-T Fords, fringed skirts and vintage threads.

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  23. Photograph: Jonathan Aprea
    Photograph: Jonathan Aprea

    Solstice in Times Square, June 2012
    A sweaty, barely clothed army of yogis took over the crossroads of the world for the now-annual series of yoga sessions on the longest day of the year. Why? Er…

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  24. Photograph: J Carter Rinaldi
    Photograph: J Carter Rinaldi

    Coney Island Mermaid Parade, June 2012
    You may be noticing a theme here: It was a hot summer. People took most of their clothes off.

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  25. Photograph: Marielle Solan
    Photograph: Marielle Solan

    McCarren Park Pool opens, June 2012
    The summer’s big opening turned sour with crazy long lines and reports of thefts and fighting. However, things seemed to settle down as the season wore on, and it’s a huge boon to the neighborhood. Just no diving, mkay?

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  26. Photograph: Jakob N. Layman
    Photograph: Jakob N. Layman

    Space Shuttle Enterprise, June 2012
    The biggest recent addition to New York’s museum scene made quite an entrance, flying over Manhattan en route to JFK, then riding on a barge up the Hudson to its home on the deck of aircraft carrier turned museum USS Intrepid.

     

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  27. Photograph: Grace Chu
    Photograph: Grace Chu

    Art Takes Times Square by Chashama and Artists Wanted, June 2012
    Art replaced commercials in Times Square as more than 4,000 works were looped on a pair of LED screens, interrupted only by the world premiere of “Five Seconds,” a music video by singer-songwriter-guitarist Twin Shadow, who was there to introduce it. Meanwhile, percussionists on stilts weaved in and out of the crowd.

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  28. Photograph: Dominic Perri
    Photograph: Dominic Perri

    Gay Pride Parade, June 2012
    As marchers celebrated the first anniversary of New York’s Marriage Equality Act, grand marshal Cyndi Lauper proved her worth as a gay icon, resplendent in a crimson bowler to match her ride, a cherry convertible.

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  29. Photograph: Grace Chu
    Photograph: Grace Chu

    The Day Party, June 2012
    Josh Wood and Jared Needle’s Pride party may have been full of half-naked revelers, but the crowd really lost its top when surprise guest diva Kylie Minogue took the stage.

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  30. Photograph: Zenith Richards
    Photograph: Zenith Richards

    NYC Air Sex World Championships Regionals at Drom, July 2012
    We maintain our journalistic integrity and total impartiality 99 percent of the time. But we had a horse in this race: Jam Out with Your Clam Out (pictured), who was kind enough to give us a lesson in air sex and a gif for the ages. Sadly, Jam lost out to Tootenanny.

     

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  31. Photograph: Grace Chu
    Photograph: Grace Chu

    Macy’s Fourth of July Fireworks, July 2012
    U-S-A! U-S-A!

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  32. Photograph: Jena Cumbo
    Photograph: Jena Cumbo

    Brooklyn Bridge Park’s pop-up pool on Pier 2, July 2012
    It was still hot, but thankfully, this waterfront park opened a temporary swimming hole.

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  33. Photograph: Filip Wolak
    Photograph: Filip Wolak

    Kaleidoscope 5: Rainbow Brite warehouse party, July 2012
    The organizers of the Kaleidoscope warehouse parties have a noble aim: to bring a free underground scene back to New York. They led a costume parade through downtown Manhattan and onto the subway en route to a Brooklyn rooftop where fire-eaters, a brass band and acrobatic performers awaited.

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  34. Photograph: Phyllis B. Dooney
    Photograph: Phyllis B. Dooney

    Bastille Day on 60th Street, July 2012
    We don’t get the point of Bastille Day. Honestly, what have the French done for us? Apart from fine food, great wine, philosophy, culture and pétanque? Oh, and mimes. But we ask you, what else?

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  35. Photograph: Loren Wohl
    Photograph: Loren Wohl

    Warm Up at MoMA PS1, July–September 2012
    An incredible series lineup that included Todd Terry, Jamie xx and Thom Yorke deejaying under the Atoms of Peace moniker—and a courtyard installation, HWKN’s Wendy, that sported a water cannon—made the Long Island City–based contemporary art museum’s annual parties a summer essential.

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  36. Photograph: Jena Cumbo
    Photograph: Jena Cumbo

    Celebrate Brooklyn! Saturday Night Fever, July 2012
    The annual concert series in Prospect Park isn’t just about excellent artists performing for a couple of bucks. It’s also about Bee Gees tribute bands, sing-along screenings and, um, outdoor disco yoga classes.

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  37. Photograph: Noah Devereaux
    Photograph: Noah Devereaux

    Dynamic Rockers 33rd Anniversary: B-Boy Massacre 9, July 2012
    There were some crazy legs on show at this break-dancing contest. The Dynamic Rockers formed in 1979, famously battled the Rock Steady Crew as part of the Lincoln Center Out of Doors festival in 1981 and are credited with pioneering moves like the continuous head spin.

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  38. Photograph: Phyllis B. Dooney
    Photograph: Phyllis B. Dooney

    Coney Island Sand Sculpting Contest and Unity Day, July 2012
    Beautiful weather and the allure of a $400 grand prize drew teams to the 22nd annual Coney Island Sand Sculpting Contest and Unity Day. About 50 mounds of sand were molded into fanciful castle towers, lounging mermaids and one cleverly conceived seaweed sandwich.

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  39. Photograph: Bill Kelly
    Photograph: Bill Kelly

    The Jacksons at the Apollo Theater, August 2012
    Jackie, Jermaine, Marlon and Tito returned to the Apollo—where they first performed in the late ’60s for the venue’s legendary Amateur Night series—as part of their Unity tour, three years after their brother Michael’s death. The crew celebrated their brother, performing such early classics as “Rock with You” and “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’?” to the joy of the crowd, at what felt like a homecoming of sorts.

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  40. Photograph: Jena Cumbo
    Photograph: Jena Cumbo

    Creative Time Sandcastle Competition 2012 at Rockaway Beach, August 2012
    This inaugural contest gave local artists three hours in which to construct sand monuments.

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  41. Photograph: Nadia Chaudhury
    Photograph: Nadia Chaudhury

    The Color Run, August 2012
    Thousands of jubilant runners were pelted with bright neon dyes during this 5K that took place at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn. Racers were asked to wear white, and by the end of the 3.2-mile jaunt, they were covered in a bright mix of yellow, pink, green and blue.

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  42. Photograph: Filip Wolak
    Photograph: Filip Wolak

    Made Event on Governors Island, August 2012
    Thousands made for the lighted palm trees and sandy dance floor of the Governors Beach Club to hear acts like London superstar John Digweed, beloved vet Danny Tenaglia, Pleasurekraft and Sleepy & Boo.

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  43. Photograph: Phyllis B. Dooney
    Photograph: Phyllis B. Dooney

    West Indian–American Day Carnival, September 2012
    New York’s biggest celebration of Caribbean culture didn’t disappoint the almost 2 million people who lined the streets of Crown Heights. Good thing, too: 2012 was the 50th anniversary of Trinidadian and Jamaican independence.

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  44. Photographer: Filip Wolak
    Photographer: Filip Wolak

    Coney Island Beard and Moustache Competition, September 2012
    Superlative handlebar mustaches, overgrown muttonchops and Santa Claus beards battled for facial-hair honors on the Brooklyn shore.

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  45. Photograph: Virginia Rollison
    Photograph: Virginia Rollison

    Meatopia, September 2012
    Pork-and-beef–mad celebrants braved tetchy weather on Randalls Island for this cookout featuring the red-blooded stylings of more than 45 high-profile chefs, who roasted, grilled and smoked meat of all varieties.

    Pictured: Chef Zak Pelaccio, Fatty Crab: Spit Duck W/ Lady Jayne’s Preserved Citrus

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  46. Photograph: Eric Harvey Brown
    Photograph: Eric Harvey Brown

    Derelicte Fashion Show at Windmill Studios NYC, September 2012
    BBQ Films held a Zoolander screening and tribute party in (where else?) Williamsburg. Yes, partygoers were ridiculously, ridiculously good-looking.

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  47. Photograph: Filip Wolak
    Photograph: Filip Wolak

    Barclays Center arena tour and ribbon cutting, September 2012
    Brooklyn got its new stadium, and lo, there was much wringing of hands and saying of the borough’s name. By our count, Brooklyn Borough President “Marty Mart” Markowitz won the race to namecheck BK the most times at the inauguration ceremony, with 17 mentions.

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  48. Photograph: Eric Harvey Brown
    Photograph: Eric Harvey Brown

    New York Burlesque Festival, September 2012
    The sprawling fest celebrated ten years of raising pulses by raising pulses.

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  49. Photograph: Filip Wolak
    Photograph: Filip Wolak

    Blessing of the Animals, October 2012
    Camels, kangaroos, and pets of all shapes and sizes came to the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine to receive a blessing.

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  50. Photograph: Noah Devereaux
    Photograph: Noah Devereaux

    NYC Zombie Crawl, October 2012
    The sixth annual crawl dragged its sorry, undead self from Webster Hall to Union Square and back again in an insatiable quest for brains and booze.

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  51. Photograph: Caroline Voagen Nelson
    Photograph: Caroline Voagen Nelson

    The High Line at the Rail Yards, October 2012
    For two weekends only, the Friends of the High Line opened the final, undeveloped third section of the park to the public for self-guided tours. If you missed out, you’ll have to wait until it’s reopened to the public in 2014.

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  52. Photograph: Filip Wolak
    Photograph: Filip Wolak

    FDR Four Freedoms Park opens on Roosevelt Island, October 2012
    This park took nearly 40 years to complete, from inception to execution. (Beat that, Second Avenue subway. Oh…) But the space—designed by the late, noted architect Louis I. Kahn—is a beaut, with rows of trees, a stunning view of Manhattan and a massive bronze bust of FDR himself.

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  53. Photograph: Francine Daveta
    Photograph: Francine Daveta

    Tompkins Square Park Halloween Dog Parade, October 2012
    Ladies and gentlemen, we are proud to introduce the next president of your hearts, Mutt Romney.

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  54. Photograph: Elyssa Goodman
    Photograph: Elyssa Goodman

    Steven Reker, October 2012
    The dancer and his People Get Ready band performed at New York Live Arts.

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  55. Photograph: Caroline Voagen Nels
    Photograph: Caroline Voagen Nels

    Far Rockaway after Hurricane Sandy, November 2012
    One week after Hurricane Sandy ravaged New York City, Time Out photo editor Virginia Rollison captured this shot in Far Rockaway.

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  56. Photograph: Virginia Rollison
    Photograph: Virginia Rollison

    Brighton Beach after Hurricane Sandy, November 2012
    A week and a half after Sandy, volunteers from Time Out helped Brighton Beach residents affected by the storm and witnessed the devastation firsthand.

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  57. Photograph: Filip Wolak
    Photograph: Filip Wolak

    Kostume Kult’s impromptu Halloween parade, November 2012
    The annual Village Halloween Parade was canceled in the wake of Sandy, but members of the artsy group staged their own illuminated processional in the darkness of lower Manhattan.

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  58. Photograph: Filip Wolak
    Photograph: Filip Wolak

    Macy’s Parade balloon inflation, November 2012
    This particular gentleman caught our attention. He seemed to have the authority of a distant relative of Ron Swanson.

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  59. Photograph: Filip Wolak
    Photograph: Filip Wolak

    86th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, November 2012
    A crisp, clear day provided the backdrop as the parade trod its new route down Sixth Avenue.

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  60. Photograph: Filip Wolak
    Photograph: Filip Wolak

    Soul Clap and Dance-Off, November 2012
    Rock and soul kingpin, Soul Clap impresario and DJ Jonathan Toubin returned to the scene in June this year after a long recuperation from a freak accident (a taxi cab crashed into his ground-floor hotel room in Portland, Oregon, last winter). Good to have you back, Jonathan.

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  61. Photograph: Grace Chu
    Photograph: Grace Chu

    The Dalloway grand opening, December 2012
    A new nightlife destination came to Soho thanks to lesbian reality-TV celebrities Amanda Leigh Dunn (The Real L Word) and Kim Stolz (America’s Next Top Model). Here’s hoping this is the beginning of yet another reinvention of Soho—we’re over its mall phase.

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The year in pictures: New York photos 2012 (slide show)

Check out 2012’s best photos with our review of the year in pictures, including shots of Brooklyn’s new stadium, Hurricane Sandy and more.

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This city thrives on the new, but there’s nothing like the warm blanket of the old. Look back on the year in pictures—from cultural highlights, wild parties and new places (hi, Barclays Center) to one devastating hurricane—as captured by Time Out’s cadre of NYC-based photographers.

The year in pictures by section

2012 in photos: Gay & Lesbian

2012 in photos: Gay & Lesbian

  • Nightlife
  • Alternative nightlife

New York's gays certainly are photogenic! Throughout 2012, TONY dispatched photographers to some of the coolest, most important LGBT parties and events in the city. From massive parades and circuit parties to sweaty basement throwdowns and oddball performances, they found a seemingly endless supply of hot people eager to grin, give face, make out and disrobe for the camera. Click through above for many more photos from each event—and be sure to say "cheese" when you see our shutterbugs out and about in 2013. LGBT holiday events New Year's Eve in New York The best movies of 2012 Gay New York photo galleries

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Best concert photos of 2012

Best concert photos of 2012

  • Music

Check out our top ten concert photos of 2012, including Beach House, Aretha Franklin, the Jacksons, Zola Jesus, Divine Fits and more. RECOMMENDED: The year in pictures: New York photos 2012 Along with our picks for the best concerts of 2012, we asked Time Out's roving band of snappers for their favorite concert photos of the year. It didn't have to be the biggest concert events such as All Tomorrow's Parties on Pier 36 or Jay-Z opening the Barclays Center. Click through our slide show to see what they chose. You might also like 2011 in pictures: Music See more in Music Concert schedule for live music in New York City Find out about recently announced live music in New York with our concert schedule. Beat the scalpers and buy tickets now. No concert in New York is ever truly sold out. You can always turn to the secondary market—Stubhub, Craigslist et al.—for tickets, but those passes come at a premium. (There's always the ol' bum-rush-the-show trick, but we advise against doing that, New York rite of passage or no.) Use our concert schedule to plan which shows in New York you want to see, and buy tickets before official channels sell out. Recently announced concerts December January February March April May June and beyond You might also likeBest live-music venuesNew York City events calendar 2012See more in live music Best live-music venues in New York City Even as the recording industry crumbles, Manhattan and Brooklyn remain packed with live-music venues, from

Read more
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