Glendalys Medina

If you’re looking for the best things to do in NYC this week, or even for today, there are tons of fun options, including The best things to do in NYC this week include the Affordable Art Fair, a comedy gameshow, cherry blossom sightings, astrology dinners, lots of movie premieres and awesome free events in NYC! For more ideas, scroll down to see this week's best things to do in NYC. RECOMMENDED: Full list of the best things to do in New York Stay in the Loop: Sign up for our free weekly newsletter to get the latest in New York City news, culture and dining. 

Train drivers, nurses, ambulance drivers, bin workers, postal workers, teachers, border force officers, sixth-form college staff, firefighters, security workers, train cleaners, driving examiners, university lecturers, civil servants. Union members in all of these professions (and more) are either going on strike this month or waiting for the results of ballots to decide if they will also walk out. The scale of this industrial action seems uncomfortably similar to the so-called ‘Winter of Discontent’ which took place between November 1978 and February 1979. But it’s not the 1970s, it’s 2022, and here we are.  From healthcare workers to train drivers, large-scale strikes will be taking place in the run-up to Christmas on an almost daily basis. At its peak, it is expected that around 1.5 million workers could be at the picket lines. And who can blame them? As millions of us face a cost-of-living emergency, the majority of walkouts are calling for better pay and working conditions, yet negotiations between unions, employers and the government are stuck in a deadlock. With an already bleak festive period starting to look even bleaker, we speak to four workers about why they’re going on strike this month.  The bus driver ‘With crazy shifts and long driving times, we don’t see any other way to change what’s going on’ ‘I work for Abellio, a bus company based in Battersea which runs services on behalf of Transport for London. I’ve been working here for the past four years and things

Hot yoga and bikram has been well and truly embraced by Londoners over the last few years – once an eyebrow-raising exercise fad, today there are dozens of studios dedicated to the practice. Newbies might wonder what the attraction to doing exercise in tropical-level heat is, but proponents rave about the benefits of getting a good sweat on and the increased flexibility that the heat allows, while others just like a spot of warmth on a cold London night. And who can blame them? Here we’ve rounded up the very best studios offering hot yoga and bikram in London. Just don't try any on a hangover!

Holi has been celebrated in the Indian subcontinent for centuries, commemorating the arrival of spring after a cold winter. It is now celebrated around the world as a way to welcome spring, embrace inclusivity and get messy with color. Learn more about the holiday with author Anu Sehgal, founder of The Culture Tree, who will debut her first book on Holi. This bilingual reading (Hindi and English) will tell the story of "Kahani Rangeeli" or "Colorful Story." After storytime, there will be puppet making and Holi face painting. This event is geared for ages 3-10. The event will be held at New York Public Library's 53rd Street Library, Community Room on Friday, March 10. 

Embrace your inner Willy Wonka and explore one of Brooklyn's coolest venues while enjoying a few laughs at the Golden Ticket comedy show—it's hosted in a candy store! Joe Bates and Emily Walsh host Golden Ticket, rustling up incredible performers from Colbert, Fallon, HBO, and Comedy Central for every event. Every first Tuesday of the month, they find talent to give you a sweet show.  For the Tuesday,  March 7 show, expect to hear from: Chase DuRousseau, Sean Donnelly, Wilfred Padua, Amamah Sardar, Emily Walsh and Joe Bates.

Emerging Artists Theatre is kicking off their 30th anniversary with their bi-annual new work series now called Spark Theatre Festival NYC. The festivial will include a diverse lineup of acts including, seven new musicals, 34 dance pieces, five solo shows, and 13 short and full-length plays. See the shows from March 6-26 at the 28th Street Theater (also known as TADA!) in New York City’s Flatiron District. They'll also feature some of their past hit plays during the series.

The second-ever Vashti Ball is here and it is not to be missed. This celebration of the Jewish holiday Purim commemorates the Persian-Jewish community's deliverance as recounted in the Book of Esther. The story follows Queen Esther, who replaced Queen Vashti as King Xerxes' wife, Vashti is usually portrayed as a villain but for many LGBTQ+ Jews, she is consider a queer icon. Traditionally, Purim is celebrated with costumes, gift-giving, public readings of the Scroll of Esther (Megillat Esther), and food and drink festivities. The Vashti Ball, starting at 6:30pm on March 6 at HK Hall, will feature an Orthodox speed reading of the Scroll of Esther, followed by an drag performance of the Megillah. Attendees can indulge in a kosher Persian buffet and open bar (for those over 21), participate in a grand costume contest with the chance to win tickets to the Broadway show "Six: The Musical," and dance the night away with a disco party that will last until Tuesday morning. 

Hold on to your hats because the Brooklyn Chamber Orchestra, led by artistic director Phil Nuzzo, is about to take you on a wild musical ride. They're crossing the pond and bringing a taste of Great Britain with them, featuring the rarely performed Fifth Symphony by William Boyce. But that's just the warm-up, because they're following it up with a cosmic journey through Gustav Holst's The Planets, presented in a fresh re-orchestration by British composer George Morton. They'll top off the show with a powerful performance of Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 1 by the Russian pianist Vyacheslav Gryaznov and trumpet player Jesdelson Vasquez. This concert is not to be missed, so mark your calendars for Saturday, March 4.   

Get ready for a night of laughs, donuts and drinks with comedian Zack Zimmerman's weekly showcase on Mondays through March 27 at Sesh Comedy Club. Donuts will be served before the show, and you can BYOB to pair with some sweet treats. Another treat: Zack's razor-sharp wit and clever humor all month long.

TALEA Beer Co wants to make sure we're all spending this Valentine's week feeling fuzzy inside. They're commited to make sure you're celebrating Galentine's, Valentine's, or Rewatching-Love-Actually-tines, just right!  — Self-Love Galentine's Day Brunch (Sunday, February 12)  Enjoy a two-hour bottomless brunch with your choice of beer, draft cider or beermosas at Williamsburg and Cobble Hill locations with delicious brunch pop-ups and special activities at each venue. Tickets cost $35/person. — Not Your Average Valentine's Day (Tuesday, February 14)  If you're looking for something to do on Valentine's Day, TALEA and Modern Rebel have partnered to bring your date night dreams into reality with DISCO bingo, delicious brews and fun prizes. Hosted by the incomparable drag queen Cherry Poppins, get ready to put on your grooviest clothes and grab your partner (or best friend), because it’s a free date. 

Award-winning composer Kenji Bunch's compelling new musical work, Lost Freedom: A Memory, explores the frailty of liberty. See this musical score based on actor-author-activist George Takei's unforgettable childhood memoir of his family's forced relocation to a Japanese American internment camp during World War II. Accompaning Bunch will be Gabriela Lena Frank, drawing on Latin American idioms, cultures, and landscapes to emphasize interrelationships and deep companionship—the reverse of banishment. Together, the story works to question who determines who is an "enemy alien" through the power of  music and storytelling. The free show is on February 6, 2023 in Manhattan; tickets are free but registration is strongly encouraged.

If you were hoping to go to "How To Restaurant" for some business advice, who tricked you? Instead, the sketch show is about two objectively awful people giving horrible, satirical advice on how to behave in restaurants. Comedy duo Jared Eimicke and Stacey Kulow, who have previously written and directed a number of sketch shows at UCB Theatre, wrote this show at Caveat. The World's Greatest Customers, Janine Giraffebelow and Valerie Mansname (Kulow and Eimicke), created this show for anybody who has ever worked in a restaurant and experienced some "eccentric" customers. They hope to teach you how to successfully under-tip and rage at busboys as well as they do, as they so graciously have given up their time to teach their dining secrets. The cast for the Wednesday, February 8 show features: Nicole Adsit, Kathleen Cameron, Joseph Lymous, Jay Malsky, Nanie Méndez, and Jacob Williams. Don't miss the opening act by Kate Sisk.

Are you a "Real Housewives" fan? Regardless of your city of choice (Miami fan right here) Arlene’s Grocery will be inviting all fans to a show filled with the franchise's iconic music. A stellar cast, including Mark Mauriello and Drag Race All-Star Jan, will perform on Tuesday, February 7. All proceeds of this event will go to The Black Trans Liberation Fund, a neighborhood mutual-aid organization that offers food, clothing and other resources to homeless trans people in the city. Tickets start at $15.

It may feel cold outside, but you can toast under the palm trees with local beers from the best breweries across New York City during the Brews at Brookfield Place pop-up. Brookfield Place's Winter Garden will transform into an indoor Winter Biergarten on select Thursdays this month. Brews at Brookfield Place will feature new brews on tap each week, and all beer sales will benefit Brookfield Place's charity partner, the GO Project, which helps kids in NYC public schools. Here's the line-up for the month: — February 9: Kills Boro Brewing Co., Wild East Brewing Co. and Sixpoint Brewery— February 16: Evil Twin Brewing NYC, Kings County Brewers Collective and Sixpoint Brewery— February 23: The Bronx Brewery, Torch & Crown Brewing Company and Sixpoint Brewery Beer will be available for purchase as single pours and flights. 

Tanqueray London Dry Gin and designer Rachel Zoe are collaborating to create the "Damn Fancy" Styling Station in honor of New York Fashion Week. For one day only, browse the mobile pop-up with Zoe's picks for the most fashionable week of the year while sipping trademark Tanqueray drinks. To get in, RSVP in person the day of the event (Thursday, February 9; it's open 4:30-8pm) at the styling station (East Houston and Lafayette Street). You can also check out bars around town serving up speciality Tanqueray fashion week cocktails.

Everywhere around the world, it seems like the general consensus is to avoid talking about the fever dream that was the year 2020. Filled with Addison Rae, Dalgona coffee, and masks everywhere, it’s a year that is hard to forget (no matter how hard we try). One of the most affected groups was small businesses. Struggling to keep up with big corporations, it has been no easy ride for local shops even now, three years later. Lucky Strike Bowling Alley is a prime example of a pandemic victim. In its prime, the alley was Hell’s Kitchen’s hotspot for celebrity sightings. From Justin Bieber to Katie Couric if you were looking for your five seconds of fame, you had a shot at this spot. In 2021, however, the business decided to close its doors, but it has decided to leave with flair—an auction of its many belongings. Photograph: Lucky Strike Lanes Photograph: courtesy of Lucky Strike Lanes A lot of the time, businesses that shutter have huge appliances and furniture that they can never use again. So, if you’re wondering who gets to keep the amazing “Lucky Strike” sign, TAGeX has you covered. The company is devoted to helping facilities close out business in a way that keeps waste out of landfills. It just ended auctioning off the entire space in an online auction where everything started at $1. A few items might’ve been cool in a New York City apartment: Beer Tap Handles A Red Bull Mini Cooler Bar stools Black leather couches An L-shaped leather couch Ceiling chandeliers A woode

Travel publisher Rough Guides recently released its list of the world’s best places to visit in 2023 – and wouldn’t you believe it, three places in the UK made the list. One of those selected was the northern city of Leeds in Yorkshire, with Rough Guides saying it is a ‘no-brainer’ and putting it at number nine on the list of 23 global destinations. ‘Lovers of live performance are spoiled for choice,’ the publication wrote. The city is home to Opera North (the only nationally recognised UK opera company outside London), the Leeds Grand Theatre, and the Northern Ballet, as well as the Belgrave Music Hall and Canteen, where you can reap all the benefits of an outdoor festival under one cosy roof. Leeds is also apparently known as ‘the foodie capital of the North’ (we’re sure Manchester would have have something to say about that). This coming May, the city plans to host the country’s first ‘indie food festival’ to celebrate its culinary culture. Other parts of the UK that got a shout-out in the Rough Guides ranking include Pembrokeshire, in south-west Wales, and the Scottish Highlands. Here’s the list in full: 1. Antarctica2. Berlin, Germany3. Bohol Island, the Philippines4. Cordoba, Argentina5. Dominica, Nature Island of the Caribbean6. Fes, Morocco7. Kanazawa, Japan8. Korčula, Croatia9. Leeds, Yorkshire10. Ljubljana, Slovenia11. Mekong Delta, Vietnam12. Naples, Italy13. Northern Cape, South Africa14. Oaxaca, Mexico15. Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica16. Pembrokeshire, Wales17. Pensa

A new waterpark known as The Seahive could be cannonballing into Kent as early as 2025 – promising all sorts of aquatic adventures to attract wannabe Olympic swimmers. It’s not just any old waterpark – if anything, it’s extra. It will include a ‘lagoon’ with 20 different wave types ranging from 0.5 to two metres high, rides for all ages and abilities, wellness facilities, cold water therapy, and even a small number of sustainably-designed holiday lodges.  What’s more, The Seahive plans to be as eco-friendly as possible, by reducing energy usage and investing in water-management and planting schemes. The project will also strive to be carbon-neutral, with renewable energy being used to power the waves.  There will also be a ‘learning hive’ running a full schedule of courses. It plans to support local children through surf therapy and educational intervention programmes. A planning application for the £40 million project has been sent to Dover District Council. If it goes ahead, the park will sit on the site of a former colliery spoil tip in Betteshanger Country Park. Stay in the loop: sign up to Out There, our free newsletter about all the best stuff to do across the UK.  

A cool new pedestrian bridge is set to built in Docklands, after four years of planning debate.  Originally announced back in 2018, the structure will cross South Dock on the Isle of Dogs. The bridge was originally meant to be 25 metres long, connecting the business-y Canary Wharf to the more residential South Quay neighbourhood.  In 2021, a new application was submitted with few notable differences from the previous one. For one, what was once going to be a pedestrian and cycle bridge, will now only be for pedestrians. Sources now say that the bridge will be, ‘approximately 35 metres long’ which is ten more metres than it was planned to be back in 2018. It will also open up to allow large boats to pass through it.  According to Tower Hamlets Council, the structure will create new jobs and give better access between South Quay and Canary Wharf. Whether they are able to execute this is still up in the air but construction is due to start in 2023, with the latest opening date for the bridge in 2024. However, the council, who is also the applicant, needs to get a final green light for the planning application later this week. The meeting for this will take place on Thursday December 1. ICYMI: Sharks have been found in the river Thames. Plus: The new Trafalgar Square Christmas tree has landed and the internet has opinions.

The Walkie-Talkie tower (officially the ‘Fenchurch Building’) has faced a lot of criticism since its debut to the public in January 2015. It won the Carbuncle Cup, for the ugliest building of the year (ouch), was dubbed the ‘fry-scrapper’ for focusing sunrays that melted cars, and extensively derided for being such an eyesore. Its one saving grace? The free Sky Garden. Promoted as ‘London’s Highest Public Garden’, and including a posh restaurant, the Sky Garden is one of the reasons that the skyscraper finally got approved by the City of London Planning Committee. However, it seems like The Walkie-Talkie will soon have some competition, as plans have been announced for an enormous new building, named 55 Bishopsgate. Developer Funder Schroders plans for the new skyscraper to be 285 meters tall, joining The Shard as one of the tallest buildings in London. Oh yeah, and it’ll also have… its own sky garden. Uh-oh. Funder Schroders wants 55 Bishopsgate to be the UK’s first ‘all-electric building’. Sounds very green. Reports claim it’ll be ‘a structure found in nature’, featuring automatic blinds that respond to light to save energy. The architects, Arney Fender Katsalidis, claim the building is based on the Fibonacci sequence, a mathematical pattern found in nature, present in things like pinecones and seashells. Unlike the Walkie-Talkie, which came under attack for not even remotely fitting into its surroundings, 55 Bishopsgate will apparently blend in to its environment. Not sur

Imagine hearing about an exciting new railway line running across the capital then turning up to find some dingy-looking 1980s train. Well, you don’t have to, because, on the section of London’s spanking new (and mega-expensive) Elizabeth line between Liverpool Street and Shenfield, some of the trains are a whopping 42 years old. These British Rail Class 315 units (as they’re technically called) were a temporary stopgap. The plan was always to scrap them, but more time was needed to get enough newer trains running, so they let the older guys stick around for a bit longer than anticipated. For the first few months of the Elizabeth line services, the 315 ran at weekday commuter peak hours. Now, however, the newer Class 345 trains are ready and have completely replaced the 315s. They officially decided to retire the remaining 315 cars because of their incompatibility with new signalling systems on the central and Heathrow sections of the Lizzy. Since the Elizabeth line now starts in Paddington, joining the existing route just before Stratford, these trains were sitting idle.    If you are particularly passionate about trains, as the Class 315 Preservation Society definitely is, there will be a special farewell tour for the 315 units on Saturday November 26 for £31.50 (see what they did there?). All the proceeds will be going to the Railway Children charity, an organisation helping displaced children find safe accommodation. Which sits well in theme, as the UK’s rail network attr

If you’ve ever visited Bristol, you’ll probably be familiar with the icon that is the Clifton Suspension Bridge. It’s quite the sight in itself, but the fun doesn’t stop there. Beneath the 191-year-old landmark there are 12 vast secret vaults, which were only discovered 20 years ago, and now the public can explore them for the very first time. The vaults were found by a builder who was carrying out repair works around the turn of the Millennium. They’re thought to have been one of the earliest components of the bridge which was built in 1831 by Isambard Kingdom Brunel and his crew of builders. Despite having been originally built as the platform for the bridge tower, the vaults were sealed off when building plans changed. And although modern engineers suspected they existed, they didn’t expect them to be as massive as they are – apparently the largest chambers can fit three double-decker buses stacked on top of each other. They’re pretty breathtaking, with walls made of lime mortar and stalagmites and stalactites growing from the ceiling and floor.  The vaults will be open for the public to visit from Easter to October each year by booking onto an official 40-minute Hard Hat Tour. Worth bearing in mind if you’re looking to planning a trip to the city anytime soon. You can find out more about the Clifton Suspension Bridge and the tours here. Stay in the loop: sign up to Out There, our free newsletter spotlighting stories, scenes and incredible stuff to do all over the UK.