The best things to do in NYC this weekend

The Bronx Zoo’s striking seasonal celebration featuring animated lights and LED displays of safari animals from around the world is returning again this year. This year’s experience will take place in a larger area in the zoo for ample room to social distance, and visitors can expect the zoo to have close to 50 more animal lanterns than last year, and five geographically representative lantern safaris from various corners of the world. Entertainment will include holiday-themed music, ice carvings, costumed characters, stilt walkers, souvenirs and seasonal treats like hot chocolate and s’mores. 

Industry City is opening its ice rink by Volvo Car USA at the end of Thanksgiving week on November 27 and the beloved Dreamland Roller Rink by Lola Star in December. This year, Industry City’s ice rink in Courtyard 5/6 will be open during the winter season every Thursday-Sunday until March 1. (It will also be larger than last year's rink!) And when you're not skating on the heated outdoor rink, decorated with tons of holiday décor, you can grab a cup of hot chocolate from Frying Pan Brooklyn next door.

Marche Maman has been transformed into a winter wonderland with a gourmet hot chocolate bar (including some boozy offerings) and a brand-new cookie menu that includes a s’mores cookie “a la minute;" a lemon meringue white chocolate cookie; dark chocolate & orange cookie sandwich; and a pineapple-passion fruit cookie—all $6 each. The hot chocolate and signature drinks cost $10 and include La Noisette à Noël” (hazelnut semisweet hot chocolate, fresh whipped cream, hazelnut glass ornament, grated nutmeg); Cherries on Snow (white chocolate cherry hot chocolate, rose water whipped cream, brandied cherry sauce drizzle, “frozen” sugared morello cherry & almond brittle crumbs) and Miracle on Centre St  (a rich bittersweet hot chocolate with orange zest and cardamom, laced with pisco and Grand Marnier, topped with homemade cardamom whipped cream & a candied orange peel).

Discover the artwork of 27 artists along Columbus Avenue from West 67th to 77th Streets, Saturday through January 31, 2021, as part of Art on the Ave NYC. Curator Lisa DuBois of X-Gallery in Harlem chose works from more than 220 submissions that reinforce the gallery walk’s timely theme, “The Art of Healing.” New Yorkers can access recordings of each artist describing their work and an introductory message from actor Michael Imperioli by scanning a QR code on individual storefront windows. Also included is an educational component featuring downloadable lessons accessible through the Art on the Ave website.

Support local artisans at a socially-distanced (masks on!) market at Ethel's Club, a Brooklyn social club for people of color, where you'll shop from vendors like Avi’s Essentials, Chai Hanaan, Kelewele, Nappy Head Club, Zippy Pantry, ELDIOR SODECK, Juice Plnt, Emowa Socks and more. All safety guidelines will be followed with vendor tables separated 6 feet from one another and limited occupancy to enter the venue. All vendors, staff and guests must wear masks to enter.

At this time of year, Austin McCormick and his risqué neobaroque Bushwick dance troupe, Company XIV, usually present a lavish erotic reimagining of a classic holiday tale (adapted by Jeff Takacs), complete with circus performers, operatic singers and partial nudity. This year, they are offering the virtual-theater equivalent of bottle service: a pricey lineup of eight newly-recorded acts—in staggered release from Thanksgiving through New Year's Eve—with accompanying cocktail recipes and sexy instructions. (Once they go live, the videos remain viewable through the end of January.) Optional deluxe packages include gilded barware and fancy spirits delivered to you at home. 

Shopping for holiday gifts for your clan can be stressful, so you might as well enjoy yourself while hiking up that credit card balance. And you will, as long as you nab presents from vendors at the best holiday markets in NYC. While fancy Christmas window displays may entice you, these winter bazaars offer many perks such as free-admission ice-skating, mouthwatering treats for purchase, supporting local small businesses this year and more in addition to one-of-a-kind gifts for your loved ones.

On Sunday, November 29, The Great Outdoors comedy show hosted by John Farnsworth will have a lineup that includes comics Jay Jurden, Marcia Belsky, Arti Gollapudi, Solange Azor, and Slight Of Band. All proceeds will go to the Ridgewood Tenants Union. Five Ohm Productions will also produce a livestream of the event. Tickets are donation-based. The show begins at 8pm.

The Greens are officially coming back for winter. (Though this time around, they’ll look a lot less green.) The socially distanced dining destination, which made a splash this summer thanks to its Instagram-ready, reservable mini lawns, announced today that it will be transforming into a new experience for the colder months on Pier 17 in the South Street Seaport. With the mini lawns back in storage, the rooftop venue will be installing 28 individual 12’ by 10’ winterized dining cabins. Each cabin will be able to fit up to 10 guests and will be decorated with fun winter décor and amenities including virtual fireplaces, electric heating, cozy banquettes and, of course, jaw-dropping, floor-to-ceiling views of NYC from its prime location on the East River waterfront.

New York City's five boroughs are home to more than 60 incredible photography exhibits this fall as part of the annual Photoville Festival. Usually taking place just in Brooklyn Bridge Park for two weeks each year (around the corner from Time Out Market New York!), Photoville has also taken over Astoria Park, Chelsea Park, Jackie Robinson Park, St. Nicholas Park, Soundview Park, Travers Park, Van Cortlandt Park, and the South Beach Promenade among other public spaces until the end of November. Each exhibit will be completely free to view and spaced out so that taking in a bit of culture in your neighborhood can be safely done. 

New York City transforms into a magical wonderland with millions of holiday lights right after Thanksgiving, giving us over-the-top inflatable Santas and reindeer found at the Dyker Heights Christmas Lights in Brooklyn to more iconic New York displays, such as in Central Park, Rockefeller Center and at Saks Fifth Avenue. More than ever, we're in need of some magic, so take it all in and get ready to “ooh” and “ahh” at these landmarks, holiday markets and neighborhoods that create the most picturesque holiday light displays during the holiday season.

Infamous, a solo exhibition by renowned artist Andres Serrano on view at Fotografiska, is a visual exploration of the history of racism in the U.S. via 30 photographs of racist artifacts, including race-based and racist memorabilia. Serrano acquired KKK hoods, consumer products depicting caricatures of Black people, violent documentary photographs, and more, most of which were previously owned and purchased directly from the homes of Americans. Serrano hopes to confront the country’s racist history and have Americans consider racism's influence on culture and society today. The museum will support these conversations through programming, includingwith the National Coalition Against Censorship.

It's Black Friday, so it's time to start checking off your holiday shopping list. You may have already scored presents for your mom, your significant other and your kid sister. But what about these out-of-the-ordinary but just-as-indispensable NYC giftees in your life? In the spirit of giving, gift these important but often overlooked New Yorkers a present they will surely appreciate this holiday.

Museum of the City of New York is bringing back one of its most popular items — The Stettheimer Dollhouse, a lavish, highly-detailed dollhouse with rarely seen miniature 20th-century modernist artworks. Carrie Stettheimer, along with her sisters Ettie and Florine and their mother Rosetta, was the host of an influential avant-garde artistic salon in early 20th century New York. The sisters, who were also known as the “Stetties,” weaved together the fashion and style of early 20th century New York in miniature form across 12 rooms, from the Limoges vases in the chintz bedroom to the crystal-trimmed candelabra in the salon. In fact, some of the leading figures of modern art in New York in the 1910s and 1920s, including Marcel Duchamp, Gaston Lachaise, Margaret and William Zorach, and others gifted miniature works for the dollhouse.

The Center for Traditional Music and Dance is launching an online series to highlight the artistry of the city’s leading immigrant performers from around the world, including from Bulgaria, China, Colombia, Gambia, Haiti, Iraq, Japan, Mongolia, Ukraine, and West Africa, among other areas. Specifically, you'll see performances from Afro-Puerto Rican Bomba and Plena dancer and educator Julia Gutiérrez-Rivera (Los Pleneros de la 21 and Redobles de Cultura) and friends in the Bronx; renowned Indian Kuchipudi dancer and dance prodigy Yamini Kalluri of Brooklyn; the storytelling of Japanese dancer Sachiyo Ito in Manhattan; Afro-Colombian musical family of Johanna Castaneda and Ronald Polo in Queens; an intergenerational Sri Lankan Dance Academy of New York on Staten Island, starting on Monday. CTMD will highlight three artists or ensembles each week, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Audiences can tune in on those days at 5pm to CTMD’s YouTube channel or Facebook page.

The Architecture & Design Film Festival is back virtually across two weeks, from November 19 through December 3. Presented by Eventscape the festival will present 17 virtual film programs highlighting some of the world's most iconic architects & designers like Paul R. Williams, Alvar Aalto, Albert Frey, and more. Attendees will also hear from directors during Q&A sessions and introductions with high-profile special guests like architects Bjarke Ingels and Glenn Murcutt, and MoMA curator Paola Antonelli. The film programs can be watched on any streaming device within the US and Canada.

The New York Botanical Garden is adding a splash of color to its holiday celebration. This year, the Bronx family attraction will host NYBG Glow, an outdoor light experience that will brighten up the grounds with Enid A. Haupt Conservatory at its center. Visitors can expect thousands of energy-efficient LED lights and festive installations—an ideal backdrop for a family holiday photo op. Plus, there will be dance performances, ice carving demonstrations and other seasonal activities to enjoy (at a distance). Tickets, which are timed and mandatory, go on sale on Nov 10. Learn more about the new safety measures online. All ages. 

A few miles north of the hustle and bustle of Rockefeller Center, is a pop-up winter wonderland called LuminoCity. The immersive, outdoor holiday spectacular of light sculptures and art installations first touched down in 2019, and proved it's place as a must-see light show in the city. Here, holiday revelers take a 45-minute walking, narrative journey, with twinkling and towering LED sculptures along the way. Think: fairy palaces, alluring lollipop trees, and mystical mushrooms. You'll cross multiple "lands" with their own sets. This year the sets include Mysterious Forest, Dangerous Dunes, Forgotten Ruins, Hidden Land of Hria, and Mystical Moon Land. 

The first is an open-air wine garden on the plaza level, complete with light bites, local sips (City Winery vino, Montauk tapped bears), and those iconic private igloos, which can be reserved for 90-minute stints for up to eight people, and will set you back $150 minimum during lunchtime (1–3:45pm) or $250 minimum during dinner (4–8pm). For the COVID conscious, temperature checks are required upon arrival and domes are cleaned between groups with an “electromagnetic fogger” (whatever that means).  The second experience is a new rink-side café and bar, offering winter warmers like cinnamon buns, Bavarian pretzels, and hot spiked cider, as well as front-row views of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree. Reservations are suggested, but walk-in guests at both pop-up areas may be seated on a first-come, first-serve basis. City Winery at Rockefeller Center will run from November 21st through January 17, 2021, from 9:30am to 10pm.

Dinner at Duane Park was never just about the food. On any given night there could be flames bursting on stage, scantily-clad dancers prancing around and contortionists literally bending over backwards for your entertainment. A few weeks ago, this popular supper club on the Bowery known for its burlesque shows found a way to come back: bring the entertainment outside and schedule them at random times. Duane Park now has 20 seats on its sidewalks as part of Paradise Alley, which takes place Thursdays-Saturdays with a three-course prix-fixe menu ($70 on Thursdays and $80 the other two nights). The reservations-only experience lasts 90 minutes with seatings at 6 and 8:30pm. and any performances are “incidental” to keep things legal (ticketed events are currently prohibited).

There's a new Curling Café at the park with an iceless curling court. You can try your hand out at curling on a synthetic ice rink, which creates a realistic experience. Just rent a curling lane and accompanying tent for either one to four people or five to eight people on Wednesdays to Fridays: 3:30-9pm, (with extended weekend time slots including Saturdays & Sundays: 1:30pm-9pm). Renting a tent and curling lane ranges from $250 to $475 and comes with a carafe of hot chocolate, finger foods, and brownie pops. Note: All gaming equipment and tents are sanitized between each and every booking, and all customers must wear a face-covering when not seated inside your designated tent.

Over the next few weeks, Public Theater is projecting names of Black victims of police brutality and white violence, including George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, and works by 10 artists. The projection, called "SAY THEIR NAMES" by artist Garlia Cornelia Jones (with designs by Lucy Mackinnon and Brian McMullen), honors, remembers and includes at least 2,200 names by covering the entire front of the building. The projected accompanying art includes Ferguson to Baltimore by Dáreece Walker and Pietà by Tylonn J. Sawyer. "SAY THEIR NAMES" will be on nightly between November 11 and December 5, from 6:30pm to 2am.

One look inside Brooklyn High Low, Moon’s eclectic tea salon now open on Vanderbilt Avenue, and you’ll find a chandelier made of teacups dangling from the ceiling, old champagne buckets holding plants, velvet chaise lounge chairs and kooky lamps in every corner. Diners can choose from over 20 teas, from lavender earl grey blends to green tea jasmine. The multi-course tea experience comes in three levels depending on your budget: The Brooklyn ($48 per person); The Vanderbilt (75 minutes, $58 per person); and The Heights (90 minutes, $68 per person) which also sends each guest takes home with a vintage memento such as a teacup. All three services include a baseline of tea, finger sandwiches, scones, and end their tea time with a decadent dessert spread such as banana pudding, chocolate mousse or shortbread cookies. 

Get immersed in the vivid, saturated and dramatic stained glass works of Brian Clarke, who has been one of the world's most prominent stained glass artists. You can walk between and around 20 free-standing, glass screens that almost come to life with changing light. Since the early 1970s, Clarke has collaborated with some of the world’s most prominent architects to create stained-glass designs and installations for hundreds of projects worldwide. 

The Brooklyn Museum and Netflix have teamed up to offer a super-cool 3D exhibit of costumes from both The Crown and The Queen's Gambit. Right now from your couch, you can "tour" the collection of costumes here, where you'll be whisked into a 3D model of the museum. You'll be able to choose which show's costumes you'd like to see first and zoom into them and around them to get a closer look. You'll see the Queen Elizabeth II's "Trooping of the Colour" riding habit and her tweed Braemar Games suit, as well as the stunning wedding dress worn by Princess Diana in the show. On the other side of the 3D room, The Queen's Gambit fashions from the 1960s reign supreme. The collection will be online through December 13.

New Yorkers are still reeling from the loss of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a woman who did so much for gender equality. While the city is officially honoring Ginsburg with a statue that will be going up in her native borough of Brooklyn, creatives across the city have taken the chance to honor her, from the 50th St. subway sign that was temporarily changed to “Ruth St.,” to her signature put on Wall Street’s Fearless Girl statue. This time, the ode to "The Notorious RGB" was done in paint.  On Tuesday, a three-story-tall, vibrant mural celebrating her life achievements began going up in the heart of East Village, on the corner of 11th Street and 1st Avenue.

PS1 is taking an important look at the life of people in prisons and those no longer behind bars through their art that deals with issues of state repression, erasure, and imprisonment, as well as the COVID-19 crisis in U.S. prisons. Installations include Rorschach-like portraits of black Americans who were killed in police-involved shootings, a mural made of 39 prison-issued sheets at 40 feet long and 15 feet tall and more. The exhibition is a powerful exploration of the social and cultural impact of mass incarceration.

A new installation put up in Soho takes 20,000 false and misleading statements from President Trump and fashions them together to create a massive, 100-foot long mural full of his quotes. (The lies included in the piece were all documented and fact-checked by The Washington Post.)  The thousands of lies included in the installation are helpfully categorized by color-coded topics. All the greatest hits are there including Russia, Coronavirus, Ukraine, Taxes, Immigration and more.

Winona’s, which is named after the couple’s rescue pit bull mix, is set to open on November 12th along Flushing Avenue in Williamsburg—just a zip code away from one of the recent hot spots in Brooklyn that faced partial shutdowns. The space functions as a café during the day with breakfast and lunch before flipping to a natural wine bar at night. In December, they plan to open The Back Room at Winona’s, a more formal dining space hidden behind a mirrored door. Greening, who is the executive chef, will serve a prix-fixe menu in the space, which has views of the open kitchen.

Bring your own beer to this night of comedy hosted by the New York Comedy Club at Hudson Mercantile Rooftop. You'll hear from comics like H Foley, Ardie Fuqua, Tom Cassidy, Lean Bonnema, Liz Miele, Rojo Perez, Nick Griffen, Jon Fisch, Caitlin Peluffo and more. Tickets are capped at 50, so make sure you get yours asap.

The Metropolitan Museum is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year, and in light of all of those years passing by, the Costume Institute is mounting this exhibition about fashion’s relationship with time. The show explores how fashion’s history is both linear and cyclical: On the one hand, there’s no more reliable marker for a particular period than the clothes being worn at the time; yet on the other hand, fashion itself often looks to the past for inspiration. The Met reaches into its vast collection to explore how fashion often moves forwards by moving back.

Industry City just unveiled five new murals and launched a free walking tour that covers all 14 in its collection, including the acclaimed full-façade mural by Camile Walala. Visitors will be directed across three courtyards that'll highlight the newest pieces that were inspired by issues in 2020—quarantine, the pandemic, gender, and racial equality. With phone in hand, anyone can scan on-site QR codes to get curation notes and follow this tour map. The new murals at Industry City include pieces from three local Brooklyn-based artists, Scott Albrecht, Josh Cochran and Sophia Dawson.

Pantone's Color of the Year (Classic Blue) is at the center of ARTECHOUSE's latest multimedia exhibit—"Celestial." Visitors to the underground attraction will be taken on a "journey beyond the skies."  Classic Blue, according to Pantone, brings a sense of peace and tranquility to the human spirit, offering refuge. The new installation aim to do the same through sights, sounds and sensations.

It's never too early for a Christmas miracle. Luckily, here's one we can all look forward to: Popular Christmas pop-up bars, Miracle and Sippin' Santa, are set to return this holiday season, despite the pandemic.

From November 1 to the end of December, Miracle will be back in business at Mace and The Cabinet and Sippin' Santa will pop up at Boilermaker in the East Village. As always, the festive bars will be serving up fun seasonal drinks like the "Snowball Old-Fashioned," the "Christmapolitan" and the "Yippie Ki Yay Mother F****r!"

There's now a pizza speakeasy to visit inside one of NYC's best bagel shops, yup, that's two New York masterpieces in one. The Flatiron location of Zucker’s Bagels, which has five shops in New York, is where bagels are made fresh during the daytime. Then a team of pizzaiolos take over as they make the dough from scratch, prepare sauces and bake pies—in the same ovens used for the bagels—that are delivered between 4-10 p.m. between 14th and 42nd Streets within Manhattan. There are seven pies on the menu (along with salads and desserts), but the signature pizza is The Bungalow, which includes toppings of pepperoni, tomato sauce and mozzarella and a crust that’s sprinkled with Zucker’s spicy Chipotle Toasted Everything Seeds. It’s like biting into a New York slice but with the finishing taste of your favorite weekend bagel.

The first to announce its annual winter wonderland pop-ups as chilly weather approaches is 230 Fifth, back with its wildly popular wintertime bubble tents for the season. You can take in panoramic skyline vistas while sipping on spiked hot chocolate in the privacy of your own heated igloo. The bar already has 6 igloos available to reserve now, and the full-on Rooftop Igloo Bar is officially back Sunday, November 1, where a total of 17 igloos will glow with string lights. Each igloo can privately accommodate up to 10 guests of the same party for 2.5 hour sessions, where in the past, they placed separate parties into the same igloo.

Rather than hit the billiards in a crowded dive bar, a new service called Sharks Pool Club lets you book a private room and table online. You can then show up to one of the mansion-style rooms with a key code that will let you in, no human contact required. Once there, you can play your own music, BYOB and have a fun night out with your significant other, a potential match or a group of friends that you’ve formed a pod with.

Live Axe, which just opened in Soho, is Manhattan’s first axe-throwing bar with a modern Viking theme where you can sip innovative cocktails before taking your turn attempting to hit the bull’s eye. The first floor has seven enclosed cages with axe-throwing lanes and three more cages are located in a more private space downstairs, where there's also a private bar. You’ll be surrounded by graffiti murals, a DJ booth on the mezzanine and black leather sofas. 

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum officially reopens its doors on Saturday after six long months of closure with three major shows, including a Jackson Pollock exhibit that features a mural that hasn't been shown in NYC in more than 20 years.

Consisting of three oversized doors that stand ajar, the work, titled Doors for Doris, is meant to be passed through by those entering and exiting the park. Each door is made of marble remnants that artist Sam Moyer collected from around the city and inlaid into poured concrete. To see the doors, head to the southeast entrance to Central Park at the corner of 60th Street and Fifth Avenue. It's free to explore.

Starting on Thursday, October 1, Ellen's will serve its usual retro fare of hamburgers, milkshakes and the like from 11:30am through 9:30pm on Tuesdays through Sundays. But the main attractions, as always, are the talented singers, known as the Stardusters, who serve as live entertainment throughout the dining experience.