Charlie Connell

When it comes to permanent body art, you don’t want to mess around. You’re going to want to get inked by a skilled artist with a steady hand. The best tattoo shops in NYC boast tattoo masters who can take your idea and translate it into a stunning statement piece. Using the best techniques and materials and a good dose of creativity, the tattoo artists you’ll find at these shops have inked everyone from neighbors to celebs. Find one who suits your style and you’ll get exactly what you want, perhaps even something better. Now that tattoos are no longer taboo, you can find artists whose work has been displayed in art galleries and art museums — a sure sign of an expert — and these NYC tattoo shops are home to many of the big names. And hey — if you did make a regrettable choice in the past? These tattoo shops can help you fix that too.

Not to point out the obvious, but things move pretty damn fast here. Skyscrapers replace old tenements in the blink of an eye. Neighborhoods morph into destinations for the trendy clubs-seeking set seemingly overnight. Go-to New York attractions are wiped out like that. As a result, a rich, often sordid history lies buried beneath all the modern construction. That unassuming chain store you stroll past on your way to work? It was the scene of a grisly mob execution, but you’d never have known—until now. We dig up the dirty past of the city, spotlighting the little nooks that hosted violent debauchery you wouldn’t believe happened. But it did, and you interact with these spaces every day.

It’s almost a cliché to say this, but the best art does more than just look appealing. It reaches into your brain and soul and won’t let go. You’ll still be thinking about it days later trying to piece together what exactly you experienced. Arcadia Earth, a fully immersive art installation focused on environmental issues, is exactly that kind of experience.   Experiential artist Valentino Vettori is the brain behind the design of this 15-room journey examining the plight of our planet. Human scale art installations, many of them making use of augmented and virtual reality, overpower your senses, and force you to contemplate the subject matter.    Arcadia Earth Photo: David Mitchell   Each of the rooms has been created to highlight a specific challenge facing our environment—challenges including overfishing, plastic pollution, food waste, deforestation and climate change.  An impressive roster of environmental artists—Samuelle Green, Tamara Kotianovsky, Etty Yaniv, Cindy Pease Roe, Poramit Thantapalit, Jesse Harrod, Justin Bolognino/META, Katie Donahue, Katharina Hoerath, Charlotte Becket and Emmy Mikelson—have worked to use upcycled and reusable materials to create their awe-inspiring pieces.    Arcadia Earth Photo: David Mitchell   One room hits particularly close to home for New Yorkers, a cave created out of 44,000 recycled plastic bags by artist Basia Goszczynska that reflects upon the New York state ban on bags. That number isn’t just a coincidence either, 44,000 i

Have you heard the buzz? National Honey Bee Day is this Saturday, and you don't want to be stung by the regret of failing to celebrate our honey producing friends.  Right now is a crucial moment for the honey bee's longterm survival; conservationists saw an almost 40% loss of colonies over the winter. Scientists believe that a myriad of factors are contributing to the drop in population—habitat loss, pathogens, parasites—with the most impactful being the widespread use of pesticides. And while we empathize with the fear of being stung, honey bees are not to be feared as they play an integral role in our environment by pollinating plants.  National Honey Bee Day is a way for us to honor all of the good work that the honey bee does, and there are plenty of events to do so. The Governors Island Urban Farm is opening up to give visitors a rare peek at the inner workings of the colony, complete with meeting the queen and all of her workers. You'll also get a chance to taste the fruits of their labor as Zarbees Naturals will have samples on hand.  The Staten Island Zoo is using National Honey Bee Day not only as an opportunity to praise the bees whose work pollinates over one third of the food we eat, but also as a chance to build your own "bee chalet" to take home and house your very own colony. Also, did you now that the roof of the Javits Center has 6.75 acres of green space that serves as the home to thousands of honey bees, as well as many different species of birds and bats?

New York City is absolutely teeming with culture and things to do, but for many young people the cost of living combined with high ticket prices often prohibits them from experiencing said culture. It’s a sort of Catch-22—you move to the city to experience culture but living in the city prevents you from doing so.  The good folks at the New York Philharmonic understand that experiencing music performed by world class musicians should not be reserved for only the rich, and that’s why they are bringing back their Philharmonic Free Fridays program.  Starting in September, a selection of tickets will be available for free to people between the ages of 13-26. The online portal will open at noon each Monday and everybody has the opportunity to reserve one ticket to that Friday’s performance. Don’t dilly dally, in previous years tickets have disappeared in a matter of minutes.  The 2019-20 season kicks off on September 18th with Tony Award Winner Kelli O'Hara singing Samuel Barber's Knoxville: Summer of 1915 and the world premiere of a Philip Glass piece.  If your luck doesn’t pan out, or if you’ve had too many birthdays to be eligible for the deal, tickets for the upcoming season at the Philharmonic start at $35. It’s not quite as good of deal as “free,” but seeing a performance at Lincoln Center should be on every New Yorker’s bucket list.

The streets of Manhattan were teeming with bright rainbow colored everything—balloons, confetti, flags, feathers, mustaches, etc.—as an estimated 3 million spectators celebrated the NYC Pride March 2019.  RECOMMENDED: Full guide to NYC Pride 2019 This year’s affair was particularly meaningful as it marked the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising, the riots that kickstarted the modern gay rights movement as we know it today. Combine this with NYC being chosen as the 2019 host of WorldPride and you have an event where visitors came from all over the world to celebrate 50 years of LGBTQIA+ liberation.  Over 650 contingents and roughly 150,000 people came from all over the world to participate in the festivities. Politicians like Governor Cuomo marched to show their support for the community. Love was all around as couples openly embraced and newlyweds celebrated their freedom to wed. There were high heels a plenty—a bold fashion choice for a march—but not bold enough for those that chose stilts so their looks could be adored from afar. There were even some gentlemen doing their best to make fetch happen.  The event was a phenomenal time for all involved, not to mention that it was one of the largest, if not THE largest, Pride Marches of all-time. Relive it all in the gallery below. Photograph: Ali Garber   Photograph: Ali Garber   Photograph: Ali Garber   Photograph: Ali Garber   Photograph: Ali Garber   Photograph: Ali Garber   Photograph: Ali Garber   Phot

The United States Women’s National Team made history this past Sunday when they won their fourth Women’s World Cup in Lyon, France. This Wednesday, July 10, Megan Rapinoe and crew will be returning home to one of New York City’s most time-honored traditions—a ticker-tape parade through the Canyon of Heroes.  The parade will be kicking off from the Battery at 9:30am and march up Broadway to City Hall. Once the team has arrived at City Hall, there will be a ceremony celebrating their achievements hosted by Mayor Bill de Blasio and First Lady Chirlane McCray. Tickets for the event are free, but one must register here starting at 2pm on July 8.  YES YES YES YES!To our 2019 World Cup Champion @USWNT: you have inspired the entire country — and New York City knows how to celebrate champions. We’ll see you Wednesday at 9:30 AM for the Ticker Tape Parade down the Canyon of Heroes. #OneNationOneTeam pic.twitter.com/bwCEoJYg3r — Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) July 7, 2019 Ticker-tape parades have honored a multitude of different world leaders, sports teams, astronauts and heroes since the first impromptu parade celebrating the dedication of the Statue of Liberty back in 1886. Some of the reasons for the parades seems a little bit odd: Theodore Roosevelt received a parade for returning home from an African safari in 1910 and Connie Mack was feted for his 50th season as manager of the Philadelphia A’s in the 1950s, for example. The parade route will definitely seem familiar to Carli

Stock up on sunscreen, be sure to hydrate and prepare to celebrate Pride as this Sunday’s NYC Pride March looks to be the biggest extravaganza yet. RECOMMENDED: Full guide to WorldPride 2019 in NYC This year, New York is the host of WorldPride, the first time that an American city has hosted the international drive for LGBTQ equality, leading to an even bigger influx of international visitors than years past. When you combine that with the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion, this year’s festivities have already been massive, and it will all culminate with Sunday’s march.  The Pride March kicks off Sunday, June 30th at noon from Madison Square Park (26th and 5th Ave.). From there it heads south before turning west at 8th Street, making its way past the Stonewall Monument, and then heading north on 7th Avenue until it disperses around 23rd Street.  Last year over 550 diverse groups took place in the parade—from non-profits to community organizers to political candidates—in what was one of the largest marches in history. Expect things to be even bigger this time around. Organizers are planning for roughly 150,000 marchers with more than 150 floats participating.  With millions of people in attendance, grabbing a prime spot to watch it all is going to be a bit of a chore. We recommend showing up early (no later than 8am) and focusing on finding a place along 5th or 7th Avenue, the wider thoroughfares should be a little less packed. If you’re the type that would rather