Trisha Mukherjee

Just before 11pm on a drizzly Saturday night, I walked across Columbus Circle and through the drab, emptying streets of midtown in glittery heels that would look more fitting on a spaceship. The only others who shared the sidewalk with me were elegant couples coming from classical concerts at Carnegie Hall or waiters taking their last smoke break for the night. Through the fog, I made a beeline for my destination: one specific newsstand on West 57th Street. I had already passed many other newsstands, metallic and grimy, already shuttered after a day of selling magazines and cigarettes. But the newsstand I was heading towards was like no other in NYC.  On weekend nights, this particular newsstand transforms into a portal to another world, glowing with rainbow-neon lights, operated by people in leather bodysuits and masks. From the outside, the newsstand is the only clue that there is a lot more going on in this unassuming corner of midtown Manhattan. A couple of doors down, full of psychedelic sculptures, karaoke booths, and burlesque dancers, is one of New York’s most unique new clubs: The Stranger. Photograph: Trisha Mukherjee | Inside The Stranger Created by the owners of The Box and known on TikTok as Joe Jonas’ favorite club, The Stranger doesn’t give away too much online. On Google, it shows up labeled as a “coffee stand.” Its Instagram has only one photo, and its website has little but the page to buy tickets, which go for $56.45 in advance and $86.87 night-of at the