We live in one of the most iconic cities in the world and every day, every moment, every step we take is an opportunity to experience it. Which can feel both liberating and debilitating. That’s why I’m here. I’ve found all the best ways to feel alive in this town and compiled them all for you in your weekend guide.
THURSDAY
Oxalis Pop-Up Dinner at Fitzcarraldo Projects in Bushwick
Things just keep popping up here in Brooklyn, don’t they? Might we live in the most effervescent city in the world? Or may it be that rent is really fucking expensive and hosting pop-ups is a great way to create a buzz in non-committal yet highly-communal spaces without finagling a business plan or liquor license? Regardless, get on board with what has been called the borough’s best pop-up dinner with Oxalis Thursday night. This 5-course meal with drink pairings brings you simple and natural food prepared with exceptional technique. Tickets, $115 include gratuity. Get yours here now quick then be there. 95 Morgan Ave.
Amy Winehouse by Blake Wood, Pop-Up Shop and Book Launch at Space Ninety 8 in Williamsburg
We’ve lost so many amazing artists whose legacies somehow get mired in the reasons for their deaths. Let’s celebrate and explore the lives of one tonight through intimate photographs. Photographer Blake Wood launches his new book of photos of the life of Amy Winehouse and will be in conversation with Vogue culture writer Bridget Read to explore the life of this amazing artist. DJ and complimentary refreshments (that means booze). Info here, 7-9pm, 98 N 6th St.
Golden Girls Bingo at the Brooklyn Cat Cafe in Brooklyn Heights
Ever had second thoughts about those people you swiped left too soon to? Well they’ll be here, at Golden Girls bingo at the Cat Cafe. I love Bingo. I have a cat. I appreciated the Golden Girls. And a fusion of all of those things? It’s happening at the Brooklyn Cat Cafe Thursday night. Also, winners get Dorothy’s cupcakes. Tickets are $20, available here. 7:30-9:30pm, 149 Atlantic Ave.
FRIDAY
Brooklyn Night Market at The Well in Bushwick
Remember how great Brooklyn Bazaar was before BMW took it from us? Come revisit the feeling and experience and Brooklyn nightlife at its finest Friday night at the Brooklyn Night Market. Artisans, food stands, pop-up tattoo parlors, craft cocktails and other libations to convince you to make bad decisions about the first three things I mentioned in this sentence. You’ll feel good about it in the morning, because is there no better virtue than supporting local businesses? Not in this town. $5 online presale here, $10 at the door. 17 Ingraham St.
Nowafest Kick-Off at Nowadays in Ridgewood
The changing of the seasons is upon us and let’s fall into it gracefully, with a weeklong celebration of beers and sausages and pretzels and mustards and singing and chanting atop picnic tables and falling in love while wearinglederhosenn. Or, something like that. Nowadays kicks off their Oktoberfest weeklong celebration with a sit-down (but still super-cas(ual) dinner Friday night, and will be celebrating all week long with snausages from the Meat Hook, special seasonals from Threes Brewing, and always open air partying and dancing all day and night. Tickets to dinner ($25) are available here, but come hang all week.
Babefest with Ani DiFranco at the Warsaw in Greenpoint
As genuine fears continue to mount about our reproduction rights being taken away, there are lots of ways to fight; vote, donate, march, educate, join, run, and revel with a cause in the form of music and activism this Friday night at the Warsaw. Ani DiFranco leads the 4th annual Babefest, a concert to benefit Emily’s List and to rise up, get active and vote to put and keep females in office at every level of government. Tickets, $50, available here. Go. #revelwithacause 261 Driggs Ave
Bill Murray Birthday Tribute and Trivia at Videology
Maybe you’ve had a Bill Murray run-in story to tell (go ahead, ask me about mine…) or maybe you just frequent 12 Greenpoint and take tequila shots hoping to summon him there for a little father-son-(and new best friend!) hang. Or maybe you just fucking like the guy and have seen all his films. Celebrate his birthday and existence this Friday at Videology. They’re having a birthday tribute and trivia and you’re invited. There will be Bill Murray themed prizes and an impression contest (costumes encouraged), so come and pretend to be as cool as the man himself. Tickets, $15 available here. 8pm. 308 Bedford Ave.
Young Adult Friction at El Cortez in Bushwick
Your favorite weekend rub down, in a new place! Young Adult Friction, the indie-alt dance party that gets you to dance yrself clean and then dirty again in Brooklyn will be heating up the dancefloor at El Cortez Friday night. Leave the hypnotic trance-dance warehouse scene behind in exchange for all of your favorite indie pop, alt rock, post punk, dance punk, and oldies, all night. Tickets and love are free. Dance all night and leave with a new lover. Info here, 11-4am, 17 Ingraham St.
SATURDAY
Third Annual Extra Fancy Crab Bash at Extra Fancy in Williamsburg
Is there anything glamorous about picking prehistoric crustacean bodies and scraping the meat out of their carcasses and dipping it into a ramekin of clarified butter and then lowering it into our gaping guppie mouths before washing it down with cold frothy brews? Well no. But there is something fancy about it. Something extra fancy. Need proof? Head to Extra Fancy’s Crab Bash this Saturday. $30 all you can eat crabs plus 1 free Bel Air Sour. $5 Brooklyn Beers, DJs, errrybody’s gettin’ crabz. Tickets here, noon-5pm. 302 Metropolitan Ave.
The 5 Boro Pizza Challenge, in all Five Boroughs
Ok, ok. I admittedly get super annoyed with the desire of this city to fuse together so many events into one to make them more appealing or instagram-worthy or whatever. Stefan knows what I’m talking about. But, this sounds kinda fun. It’s a multi-borough relay race for pizza. Be the first to eat a slice in all 5 boroughs without using a car and you win… I don’t know what you win, but it will sure as fuck be my respect. And a full belly. and I’ll tell you what, I’ll buy you a beer. This is a fundraiser for Transportation Alternatives, so all us bikers (and pedestrians, and straphangers) can feel good about indulging. Info here. Go get ’em (and end up in North Brooklyn for your victory beer)
Paradise New York with Jamie Jones at the Brooklyn Mirage in Bushwick
They are not fucking kidding. it’s paradise. This insane multi-level outdoor party mecca in Bushwick will be closing its doors (or, airspace?) for the season soon and trust me, you want to go down with the ship. Jamie Jones returns to close down the summer out just as he opened, with a night of Ibiza-caliber music across two stages, lights and love and lust and all of the magic of summertime condensed into one night. Tickets are $61.90 and worth every penny. Get yours here now at then get there at 140 Stewart Ave. 6:30pm-4:30am.
Saturdays at Profundo Day Club Pool Party in Long Island City
Ask yourself this question – how badly do you need a pool right now? I’m serious, how bad do you want it? Summer has past and I’m sad too, trust me. Real sad. But sad enough to submit myself to follow an insane checklist of dress code requirements and personal regulations in order to spend 4 hours on a rooftop in Queens? Or, you know, to forfeit $1,200 in exchange to float up to someone in a chlorine and urine immersive experience and say, “yeah baby, I’m the idiot who paid for the VIP cabana,”? This is no longer queens, it’s post-Manhattan. Enjoy some of the discounts of crossing the river but still with all of the douchebags in your wake. OH and also, don’t you dare show up for your 4-hour interval with your lip gloss, mirrored cosmetic compacts, oversized jewelry, too-casual sneakers, beaded clothing, or speedo-style swimsuits (among other things) because you will be denied entry. Also, is it just me or is that pool the width of approximately 3 flamingo floats? Read about what else you can’t have here and decide not to buy tickets. You don’t need it this bad. No one does.
North Brooklyn Boat Club’s Rock the Pulaski Party in NoGreePo
To the boat club in NoGreePo that has turned the second biggest oil spill in North America into a true gift to the community that we can paddle through, sit beside, and celebrate. Because when life hands you natural disasters, you build a boat club upon them and you offer it to the community to use and you throw big seasonal parties with bands playing atop metal containers and the proceeds go towards doing more good. Year after year. Go to this. It’s music and beers and friends and food and a creek too. $5 before 7pm, $10 after. all other info here. 437 McGuinness Blvd.
Bubbles, Beats and Brunch Day Cruise on the Hudson
“OMG, do you want to get white girl day drunk Saturday and blow up instagram and then text our latest hookups and see how desperately they still want us as they follow our stumbly footsteps all over Murray Hill?” she texts her friend and includes the naughty-face emoji.
Millienium Pink! Avatars that don’t exist outside of a screen! Two eggs any style, as long as they are in vogue! Rose all day and all night and into the next day and why can’t we all agree that some trends are made to cover up our prematurely burgeoning alcoholism! This event makes me want to kill myself! And it’s on a boat! TICKETS ARE $71.63 AND AVAILABLE HERE.
SUNDAY
The Victorian Fads Trolley Tour through Green-Wood Cemetery in Sunset Park
I don’t know about you but I rarely feel cool in Brooklyn. And I genuinely hope that someday (soon) we can all look back and laugh at the way most of the people in Williamsburg on a Saturday have chosen to dress to walk the crowded runways between Smorgasburg food stands. Let’s start where we left off by touring through and among the lost trends of the Victorian era, the first to truly embrace the notion of pop culture fadishness. And do all of it on a trolley through a stunning gothic graveyard in Sunset Park. Tickets, $25, available here. Then go hang at Industry City, Brooklyn’s new(ish) hotness. 3:30-5:30pm, 25th St at Fifth Ave.
Saxelby Cheese Mongers Pop-Up and Oktoberfest Celebration at Brooklyn Brewery in Williamsburg
Oktoberfest celebrations have been popping up all over the place and that doesn’t mean you should actually don those lederhosen hanging in the back of your closet that you refuse to get rid of. It means you should celebrate in your own way, in our own way, at the Brooklyn Brewery. They host Saxelby Cheese Mongers, people you want to be among™! and Runner and Stone Pretzels and, you know, beers. It’ll be stinky and sudsy and saucy and sexy (if you make it sexy.) The event is free and all weekend but go Sunday so that cheese can soak up and prevent your hangover hitting Monday. Info here, 5-8pm.
I love you, Brooklyn. With my whole heart.
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