If you happen to be among the approximately 400,000 out-of-towners swooping into the city for the Super Bowl this weekend … well, you have a lot of ground to cover. But the story isn’t all that different if you already live here: Overscheduled New Yorkers tend to be just as booked up between Friday and Sunday, squeezing every precious moment of free time to a FOMO-proof pulp. Not surprisingly, then, when we asked dozens of well-known New Yorkers to walk us through their dream weekend itinerary, they came back to us with an embarrassment of suggestions—from Harvey Weinstein’s go-to spot for a lazy Sunday tagliolini lunch to Zoe Kazan’s favorite zoo to David Copperfield’s secret vintage-clothing source. No doubt, New Yorkers hold their weekends sacred. Just ask Joan Rivers: “I work in L.A.,” she says, “but every Friday night I’m on the red-eye home, because I need that weekend in New York.”
Friday Afternoon
Start slow.
“Even if you’re not a guest at the Mark Hotel, you can get room service—which is from Jean Georges—brought to you on a tray with a flower when you get your hair cut at Frédéric Fekkai Salon (25 E. 77th St., at Madison Ave.; 212-396-4600). It’s like the Upper East Side version of Steel Magnolias up there, because everyone knows each other.” —Jill Kargman, writer
“I like walking down Atlantic Avenue and checking out Opalia (377 Atlantic Ave., nr. Hoyt St., Boerum Hill; 718-643-9160), which is a great little flower shop. I live nearby, and I like to buy flowers on the weekend so when I see them throughout the week they remind me of a calmer time—it’s nice to see the flowers that you bought on Friday on, like, Wednesday and Thursday when you start to feel a little bit of a drag.”—Jenny Slate, comedian
“If you’re in Times Square, pop into Cafe Edison (228 W. 47th St., nr. Seventh Ave.; 212-840-5000), a diner everyone calls the ‘Polish Tea Room.’ It doesn’t look like much from the outside. But when you walk in, there’s this blue ceiling and these massive columns. It’s where us Broadway actors go in between shows. The matzo-ball soup is amazing.” —Brian d’Arcy James, actor
“I really shy away from things that are my-age-bracket popular and seek out things that are old-school New York, which is why I love the Carlyle (35 E. 76th St., nr. Madison Ave.; 212-744-1600). They’re going to treat me the same as if Bill Clinton walked in. Avoid Bemelmans, and instead get tea in the Red Room. It’s officially called the Gallery, but I call it the Red Room—it’s right by the lobby. You’ll be sipping tea next to some crazy, silvery-haired Upper East Side lady, and it’s kind of a time capsule; you’ll get a glimpse of certain New Yorkers who have these decadelong habits, people who’ve been coming there for the last 40 years.” —Mary Ping, designer
“Start off in Red Hook with a coffee at Baked (359 Van Brunt St., nr. Dikeman St.; 718-222-0345). They don’t mind if you sit there for a while. To get from there to Wall Street for free, you can ride the IKEA Express Shuttle ferry; just buy some Swedish meatballs and show your receipt. Then walk to the Poets House library (10 River Terr., nr. Murray St.; 212-431-7920). You can read a book of poetry while looking out at the river. And then hopefully some people are occupying a building down there or something, and you can join a protest.” —Nick Flynn, writer
“Go to the 84th Street AMC (2310 Broadway; 212-721-6023), which has those full-reclining seats, and take a nap!” —Albert Hammond Jr., musician
“Order a martini at MObar (80 Columbus Cir., at 60th St.; 212-805-8800), this tiny bar at the top of the Mandarin Oriental. They make one of the best martinis I’ve ever had, anywhere. I get my martini without vermouth—it’s something Colin Firth taught me a long time ago.” —Amber Tamblyn, actress
Friday Evening
Pickle plates, Greek statuary, zombie laser tag.
“For a Friday-night date night, there’s this new shuffleboard place in Gowanus, the Royal Palms Shuffleboard Club (514 Union St., nr. Nevins St.; no phone). I’d go there and then get a drink around the corner at Lavender Lake (383 Carroll St., nr. Bond St.; 347-799-2154). But if I wanted a more chill uptown night, I’d say a drink at the St. Regis, at the King Cole Bar (2 E. 55th St., nr. Fifth Ave.; 212-339-6857), where they just restored the Maxfield Parrish mural. That’s a more swanky kind of thing. As for the daytime, I’m a big Citi Bike person; I would tell anyone visiting to rent one and then ride over to Hudson River Park. In the warmer months, you can play mini-golf, and they also have these rowboats where you can have eight people rowing together, which is weird and cool. I think that really dorky Circle Line tour around the city is, on a beautiful day, kind of awesome. And then sometimes on the weekend we’ll go to the Trapeze School (510 W. 30th St., nr. Tenth Ave.; 212-242-8769). You start out just swinging, and by the end of the first class, which is like two hours, you’re hanging by your knees, reaching back, and doing a grab where a guy is on a trapeze on the opposite side and then you’re swinging together. It’s so much fun. Oh! I have the best thing! It’s called Hollywood Stunts (73 West St., at Milton St.; 917-548-5461), and it’s in Greenpoint right by the water. It’s a little sketchy, but it’s really fun. It’s run by an ex–Hollywood stunt man, and they take you in a little group from tumbling on a mat to climbing a ladder and diving off this super-high platform, the height of a four-story building, into a giant air bag. It’s perfect for the winter, when you need something to get the excitement going a little bit. —Cynthia Rowley, designer
“Late night, go to this underground—not that it’s exclusive, but just not that well-known—West African place in Harlem called Keur Sokhna (2249 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd., nr. W. 133rd St.; 212-368-5005) and get the fish firires, which is a whole grilled fish with plantains and salad. It’s the greatest thing of all time.” —Terence Nance, filmmaker
“In the early evening, head down to this little restaurant by the Staten Island Ferry called Gigino (20 Battery Pl., nr. West St.; 212-528-2228) and order a glass of wine. It’s right on the river, and you can watch the sun set as the ferry goes back and forth. It’s just a special experience. Then I’d say take the ferry out to Staten Island—which is free—and walk for five minutes to this restaurant called Enoteca Maria (27 Hyatt St., nr. Bay St.; 718-447-2777). The guy who runs it has his little biodynamic farm, and he’s very good with the food and very good with the wine. It’s really just a little gem—one of the more sophisticated restaurants in New York City.” —Sean MacPherson, hotelier
“Grab a drink at the new Library (425 Lafayette St., nr. Astor Pl.; 212-539-8777) over at the Public Theater. It’s lined with pictures from the Public’s greatest productions. David Rockwell designed it, and he played up the library theme with wood paneling and a kind of intimate, clubby vibe. I always get the pickle plate, which is just all these different kinds of vegetables that they’ve pickled. I love it, but it’s not for everyone.” —Alex Timbers, theater director
“For cocktails, I love Weather Up (589 Vanderbilt Ave., nr. Dean St., Prospect Heights; no phone), which is a super-cozy bar in my neighborhood. You really wouldn’t know it was there, you’d walk right by it, but once you open the curtains behind the door, you walk in and it’s like that Woody Allen movie Midnight in Paris. You’re in another era. And the owner, Kathryn Weatherup, is really sweet. She’s always there, holding court.” —Eric Demby, Brooklyn Flea co-founder
“There’s this huge indoor laser-tag place in Long Island City called Indoor Extreme Sports (47-11 Van Dam St., nr. 47th Ave.; 718-361-9152) that’s super-fun. I went with a couple friends, and we were put in a group with this real motley crew—people who came from all over the five boroughs to play. It was really high-octane. On Fridays, they do zombie laser tag with all these actors dressed up, and it’s super-dark, so it’s pretty fun and scary. After working up an appetite, go eat amazing tacos at the El Rey Del Taco Truck (33-01 30th Ave., nr. 34th St., Astoria; no phone).” —Sophia Takal, actress
“There’s this sing-along cabaret joint that’s been around forever called Marie’s Crisis (59 Grove St., nr. Seventh Ave.; 212-243-9323), where you can watch people from all walks of life break out into show tunes. This place is crazy fun. There’s a lot of undiscovered talent in New York.” —Cuba Gooding Jr., actor
“Sit by the fireplace, get a hot toddy, and play Scrabble at the Bowery Hotel bar (335 Bowery, nr. 3rd St.; 212-505-9100). It’s really unassuming, there are always fun people there, but it’s never that crowded.” —Sue Chan, Momofuku brand director
“I had a surprisingly great time singing karaoke at MaisonO (98 Kenmare St., nr. Cleveland Pl.; 212-274-9898) the other night. The co-owner, Genc, wisely spared the crowd and gave us one of their private rooms. If its forest theme was intended to encourage harmony, in that respect we failed rather spectacularly.” —Paul Haggis, filmmaker
“So this is more for when the weather gets a little warmer, but in early spring, at around 9:30 or 10 p.m., go bird-watching at the top of the Empire State Building (350 Fifth Ave., nr. 34th St.; 212-736-3100), when there are no lines and there are hundreds of birds flying over New York City to their breeding grounds. It’s sort of chilly, but there’s a great energy in the air, and nobody’s up there, and you’re looking down at the hustle and bustle of the city below as hundreds and hundreds of birds are flying right overhead. Some are no bigger than the palm of my hand, some are as big as the length of my arm, and it’s just a spectacular sight. And even if there aren’t any birds or if you’re not into birds, you don’t have to deal with lines or crowds and you get to see the city at night from the Empire State Building. I don’t use this word often, but it’s awesome. Even non-birders love to do this with me.” —Lili Taylor, actress
“Get dinner at Brucie (234 Court St., nr. Baltic St.; 347-987-4961) in Cobble Hill. They change the menu all the time, and it’s just good, fresh inspired Italian cuisine. Nice people who work there. It’s not super-fancy, but fancy enough.” —Paul Dano, actor
Saturday Morning
Steam baths, Hannah Arendt tours, alt-parks.
“Cemetery tours are fascinating. First off, I get to see my friends, but also at Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery (500 25th St., at Fifth Ave., South Slope), they have Louis Comfort Tiffany buried there, along with Henry Steinway, Boss Tweed, Samuel Morse, and Horace Greeley, founder of the New York Tribune. When you go back and see who lived in our city, it’s amazing. If you don’t go see a show on Broadway, you’re a fool. On Broadway, Off Broadway, above Broadway, below Broadway, go! Don’t tell me there isn’t something wonderful playing. The Lower East Side Tenement Museum (103 Orchard St., nr. Delancey St.; 212-982-8420) will knock your socks off. Most of us have someone in our family who walked through Ellis Island. The museum shows how they lived in the tenements, and it’s a killer. And on the other end, if you like art, there is the Hispanic Society of America (613 W. 155th St., nr. Broadway; 212-926-2234) up in Harlem; they have El Grecos, they have Velázquezes, they have Goyas. It’s incredible. If you love offbeat cinema, head to the Film Society at Lincoln Center (70 Lincoln Center Plz., nr. Broadway; 212-875-5367), because sometimes, if you’re just in the mood to see a revival of Eraserhead or The Honeymoon Killers, they got it! The people who go here are nerds, and nerds are tiny, so I can see! I like walking on Park Avenue mid-afternoon because none of the rich mothers are out, so you just see the nannies—and I’m thinner than they are. I love having a late supper at Joe Allen (326 W. 46th St., nr. Eighth Ave.; 212-581-6464)—because it’s a real place. It’s where all the Broadway gypsies go. It’s just cozy comfort food—nothing’s got a French name on it. And they have the best banana-cream pie. —Joan Rivers, comedian
“One of my favorite runs is down Christopher Street and then down along the Hudson to the Staten Island Ferry and back. I really like the way Christopher Street, as much as it’s changed, is still a place where you can watch everybody let it all hang out. The cruising scene is such a trip to watch, and seeing the kids, when it gets warmer, start to come out and go dancing on the piers is great. You run from there along the river, down by Wagner Park, where you can look at the Statue of Liberty, which always just gives me a thrill. I think that’s one of the great views in the city. I like it better than the High Line because it seems slightly less fussy and slightly more democratic and a little bit ugly, in a way that I like in a city park.” —Lorin Stein, Paris Review editor
“Head out to Rockaway Beach, find a rock, and just watch the winter surfers. There are a bunch of them who come out in the winter. They look freezing! But, you know, that’s passion. And that’s why I like watching them.” —Diana Picasso, art historian
“Go to the Aire Ancient Baths (88 Franklin St., nr. Church St.; 212-274-3777) at around nine in the morning. It’s where I go in the winter to warm up. They have a salt pool, hot baths, and a steam room, and it’s all candlelit.” —Caitlin Mociun, jewelry designer
“It’s the smaller, off-the-beaten-path galleries on the Upper East Side that are really cool right now, so I’d suggest doing a gallery stroll up there. You won’t just see the blue-chip masterworks, but these super, highly curated shows, like at Craig F. Starr Gallery (5 E. 73rd St., nr. Fifth Ave.; 212-570-1739), where there have been recent shows of Bruce Nauman, Robert Rauschenberg, and an early Joel Shapiro. Of course, there’s my own gallery, Gagosian (980 Madison Ave., nr. 77th St.; 212-744-2313), but there’s also Adam Lindemann’s Venus Over Manhattan (980 Madison Ave., nr. 77th St., third fl.; 212-980-0700), which has that absolutely beautiful Calder show. Michael Werner (4 E. 77th St., nr. Fifth Ave.; 212-988-1623) shows some of my all-time favorite art from Germany. And Half Gallery just moved from the Lower East Side into the same building as the Cynthia Rowley store and her crazy candy shop (43 E. 78th St., nr. Madison Ave.; 212-744-0151). You’re going to see cutting-edge young artists as well as those more traditional works from different eras up there.” —Richard Phillips, artist
“Walk around Grand Central station. For a public space, I find it amazingly welcoming. I also remember when it was so horrible, and when that gorgeous ceiling was all covered up. It’s still astonishing that I can use the restroom at Grand Central station and it’s clean and there’s a line of normal-looking people outside. I never would have dreamed when I was growing up that I could use the bathroom at Grand Central station.” —Roz Chast, cartoonist
“I love taking a morning walk along John Finley Walk, the promenade by the East River, and stopping into Carl Schurz Park, which is an exquisite little park next to Gracie Mansion. A lot of people don’t know about it because it’s quite out of the way. Along the promenade, there’s a cluster of these beautiful Queen Anne redbrick houses called the Henderson Houses. You won’t see anything like them anywhere else in New York; they’re quite charming.” —André Bishop, creative director of Lincoln Center Theater
“I like to take visitors to Morningside Heights. For one thing, the rest of Manhattan is pretty much flat, and Morningside Heights has almost as much topography as Montmartre. There’s this cliff, or escarpment, which extends along Morningside Drive from around 113th Street to around 121st Street; below it lie Morningside Park and Harlem. The cliff is probably at its highest at 116th Street and Morningside Drive, which is where the president of Columbia University lives. Hannah Arendt lived on Morningside Drive along the cliff. That’s where the view over Harlem is most dramatic. Look over it, you’ll hear all these sort of Harlem-y noises floating up, very soft and benign, and you can sort of see the great expanse.” —Jim Holt, author
“If it’s a cold, brisk day, grab some hot chocolate and go ice skating at the new ice-skating rink, Lakeside, Prospect Park (171 East Dr., enter nr. Parkside and Ocean Aves., Lefferts Gardens; 212-661-6640). I actually have my own skates—how corny is that?” —Jennifer Esposito, actress
“I’d suggest doing Bikram yoga at Yoga to the People (12 St. Marks Pl. nr. Second Ave., 2R; 917-573-9642) in the East Village. It’s free—and everybody likes free. It’s really just people from all walks of life who want to have a little stretch.” —Taryn Manning, actress
“I like to grab a coffee after being out the night before and take a sunrise walk down to Wall Street, which is totally deserted in the morning. At that time, you can see what this city looks like with no people in it.” —Sasha Petraske, cocktail-bar owner
“For a Friday night, I’d go to dinner at Acme (9 Great Jones St., nr. Lafayette St.; 212-203-2121), and then head downstairs afterward to dance. I like the idea of eating and then adjourning to the downstairs for a continuation of the evening. It just seems like a civilized way to spend an evening—not that there’s anything civilized about what happens downstairs on a Friday night at Acme! On Saturdays, if I need some alone time, I’ll go to this little garden, St. Luke in the Fields (487 Hudson St., nr. Christopher St.; 212-924-0562), and sit on a bench. There are no phones allowed, and it doesn’t get a lot of foot traffic. Please don’t everyone go at once! Then I like to spend an afternoon book shopping. Start at Three Lives (154 W. 10th St., at Waverly Pl.; 212-741-2069), which is where I get my narrative nonfiction. And then there’s Mercer Street Books & Records (206 Mercer St., nr. Bleecker St.; 212-505-8615), which is a free-for-all. You’re going to find something unexpected. It’s vintage books, old books, loved books. Then I’d walk over to Dashwood Books (33 Bond St., nr. Lafayette St.; 212-387-8520), which has art books you’ve never heard of or seen before. And then I like to end up at the Strand (828 Broadway, at E. 12th St.; 212-473-1452). I can spend hours, the whole afternoon, going floor to floor. For a quiet dinner, I’ll go to Mary’s Fish Camp (64 Charles St., at W. 4th St.; 646-486-2185) and sit at the counter. That place can be busy, but not if you go right before closing, at like 10:30. The last time I was there, I ended up talking to the bartender about cricket—which neither of us know anything about! But it was nice. —Waris Ahluwalia, jewelry designer and actor
Saturday Afternoon
Cheap vintage, Masonic paraphernalia, custom suits.
“I love going to the Sock Man (27 St. Marks Pl., nr. Second Ave.; 212-529-0300). I just got the coolest pair of Grateful Dead socks there!” —Cody Critcheloe, musician
“If you’re in Greenpoint, go to Word (126 Franklin St., at Milton St.; 718-383-0096), which is an awesome bookstore. It’s got a really nice neighborhood feel. They often have novelists who work there part-time. Jami Attenberg, who wrote The Middlesteins, has occasionally done shifts there. Emily Gould also volunteers there at times. So it’s kind of neat—you might find a writer you admire who is working that day and will recommend books.” —Adelle Waldman, writer
“I like to go to Freemans Sporting Club (8 Rivington St., nr. Bowery; 212-673-3209) for a shave, and then maybe get a shirt tailor-made—I’m six-three and I have long arms, so it’s very hard for me to get a shirt that fits—and sometimes even a suit. You could spend the whole day there, four or five hours. It’s like a social club.” —Pat LaFrieda, meat purveyor
“A lot of the time in New York you’ll find a ‘vintage thrift store’ and you get there and you’re like, ‘$400 for a shirt!’ I’m sorry, but that’s just not thrift anything. My favorite thrift store ever is Urban Jungle (118 Knickerbocker St., nr. Thames St.; 718-381-8510), in Bushwick, off the Morgan stop. It’s real vintage stuff and it’s really cheap. I got this awesome jacket from the seventies for like $20. And it’s humongous. To find the really good stuff you have to dig. My friends and I like to go to Roberta’s (261 Moore St., nr. Bogart St.; 718-417-1118) for pizza afterward, because it’s right around the corner.” —Condola Rashad, actress
“Spend a Saturday afternoon walking around Red Hook (3 p.m. is when the light is amazing) and poke your head into Erie Basin (388 Van Brunt St., at Dikeman St.; 718-554-6147). It’s a little shop with small nineteenth-century antiques and fantastic jewelry and an inclination toward strange Masonic and odd paraphernalia. I once procured a magic wand there.” —Dustin Yellin, artist
“More artsy people who are into wacky fashion should go to the VFiles Shop (12 Mercer St., at Howard St.; 212-804-6400). They carry very selective designer clothing, like that brand Hood by Air. But it’s kind of expensive, so I would take my friends on a budget to my favorite 99-cent store on Knickerbocker Avenue in Bushwick, which is there right when you get off the subway. They have this very cool wall of masks, which I collect.” —Sandy Kim, photographer
“I like the thrift stores on the Upper East Side, because they’re pretty random and there’s a lot of old-lady stuff. You’ll find labels like Nina Ricci, James Galanos, Arnold Scaasi. Some weird furs. There’s a cluster of these stores in the East Eighties: There’s CancerCare (1480 Third Ave., at 84th St.; 212-879-9868), the Arthritis Foundation (1430 Third Ave., nr. 81st St.; 212-772-8816), and Council Thrift Shop (246 E. 84th St., nr. Third Ave.; 212-439-8373). I don’t like my thrift stores to be too curated. I like the hunt.” —Leanne Shapton, artist and writer
“There are tons of antique shops down in this cluster in the Village. You just have to know where to go. They’re scattered, and unfortunately the shops are becoming fewer and fewer. At Bernd Goeckler (30 E. 10th St., nr. University Pl.; 212-777-8209), I’ve found Art Deco–ish light fixtures and some great chandeliers. These stores all have wonderful, strange things that you kind of have to search in a haystack to find, if you know what I mean.” —Mario Buatta, interior decorator
“Dolce & Gabbana just opened a new store on Madison Avenue (827 Madison Ave., at 69th St.; 212-249-4100), and it’s a little jewel box. Edwin Vega is one of the sales guys, and what I love is that he can just look at you and put you in what he knows you’re going to look good in. When I watch him with people, he’ll never put somebody into something he knows they won’t fit into or will make them feel bad. Edwin’s very lovely like that. Anytime he puts me together, I look great. And you know, they have reasonably priced stuff in there. They have great sales.” —Cornelia Guest, handbag designer
“I like stopping by my friend Emilie Jean’s new textile store Xenomania (206 E. 6th St., nr. Third Ave.; 646-590-3211). It’s kind of like my own store, Creel and Gow, in the sense that she travels all around the world and discovers really crazy things. The store feels like her own home; it’s very warm. It has beautiful carpets on the floor and African furniture and sculpture, and she also sells jewelry; a lot of it comes from Jaipur, where she lived for a while.” —Jamie Creel, store owner
“For antiques, I’ll go to an auction at Doyle (175 E. 87th St., nr. Third Ave.; 212-427-2730). They have extraordinary sales: They had the estate sales of Lena Horne, Bette Davis, and Joan Crawford. I bought some wonderful silver serving dishes of Joan’s, which I love; I polish the silver myself. At the Lena Horne sale—I knew Lena; she wasn’t a friend, but I saw the Lena Horne show on Broadway about seventeen times—I bought some of Lena Horne’s forks.” —André Leon Talley, contributing editor
“If you go to New York Vintage (117 W. 25th St., nr. Sixth Ave.; 212-647-1107), ask for Shannon Hoey or Jon Schneck. They’re the ones who dress Lady Gaga. They do the clothes for Boardwalk Empire, they did Sex and the City. And they’ll give you an amazing tour upstairs: these secret rooms where they have almost a museum of vintage clothing. You know Carrie’s crazy bird hat? It’s there.” —David Copperfield, magician
Saturday Night
Whee.
“I walked across the Brooklyn Bridge for the first time right before my 18th birthday, and that to me is such a fun and beautiful thing to do at night for a pre-dinner stroll. To be still and look at the lights … I think that’s so romantic. I think Prospect Park is the most beautiful park in New York. It’s sort of the wild version of Central Park. It’s like being in the woods in the middle of Brooklyn. I like walking by the zoo ’cause they have a red panda. I really like the red panda. At night, go to Henry Public (329 Henry St., nr. Pacific St., Cobble Hill; 718-852-8630) and have their Wide Awake cocktail. That’s what I do on my date nights. It’s got like lemon and ginger and then a lot of alcohol in it. It feels like you’re doing something vaguely good for yourself, because you’re drinking lots of ginger and lemon, but actually you’re just having a very alcoholic beverage. For dinner they have the most amazing turkey-leg sandwich. Oh my God, I can’t … it’s insane. They make like a stew of dark-meat turkey and gravy, like sort of Sloppy Joe style, but really it’s just like this dark brew, and then they put it on some toasty bread and they put little fried-onion crumbles on top, and then you can eat that with some French fries. Another one of my favorite things to do is go to Video Free Brooklyn (244 Smith St., at Douglass St., Carroll Gardens; 718-855-6130), a video store in my neighborhood, and see what they have, what the staff recommend on the shelves. The experience of going to a video store is sort of dying—being able to go in there and look at all the titles together and then being like, ‘Oh, right, I Married a Witch—I’ve actually never seen that.’” —Zoe Kazan, actress
“I’ll usually spend the whole night at Paul’s Baby Grand (2 Sixth Ave., nr. Church St.; 212-519-6681). There’s a guy whose job it is to just go at 1 a.m. and put a disco ball up. You’ll usually see a bunch of celebrity and industry types.” —Sydney Reising, publicist
“The Spectrum (59 Montrose Ave., nr. Lorimer St., Williamsburg; no phone) is awesome but so weird because it’s literally on a residential block in East Williamsburg. Across the street is a park. You pull up to the address, see just a row of houses, and you’re like, ‘What is going on? Where is there a club?’ You go through a gate and inside a three-story house. It’s this big dance hall that can fit about 150 people and is run by this guy Gage of the Boone. It’s an underground club, essentially, so you can’t just walk in there on any random Saturday night and expect something—you have to know what’s going on. It’s very artsy and Bushwick ‘dress-uppy.’ Voguing and dance-offs are always going down. Some queen will always get undressed and start voguing on the floor for sure.” —Seva Granik, event producer and promoter
“Tokya (40 E. 58th St., at Madison Ave.; 212-308-6888) is a very cool sushi restaurant that turns into a nightclub after-hours. There are these golden-leather-padded walls and you go down a golden staircase and think, ‘Where am I? Disneyland?’ It reminds my friends and me of the old-school times of the eighties because everyone is all together and it’s very uptown-downtown. There’s also a proper dance floor, so everyone feels connected, which is nice, especially in these days of being roped off in these VIP areas.” —Marjorie Gubelmann, D.J. and CEO
“Saturday is the best night at the Jane Hotel (113 Jane St., at West St.; 212-924-6700). The crowd has definitely changed in the past few years—we have a lot more Europeans now. French people love the Jane for some reason. But there’s still a lot of artists and models.” —Lyz Olko, director of nightlife for the Jane Hotel
“I went to Kingston, Jamaica, and experienced their nightlife scene, and Bembe (81 S. 6th St., at Berry St., Williamsburg; 718-387-5389) kind of has that feel—that Latin-Afro-Caribbean vibe. It’s also a good group of people who go on Saturdays—people who are more fun to be with than the super-scene–y people I’m normally around. When I’m there, I see people doing what they call in Jamaica ‘daggering.’ It’s kind of like twerking but has been around since before we started using that word.” —David X. Prutting, photographer
“I love Veselka (144 Second Ave., at 9th St.; 212-228-9682); it’s such an iconic late-night spot. I’m really weird and end up getting borscht, which is a super-random thing to eat at four in the morning, but I guess it’s my brain trying to be healthy and not going for the pierogi. You find such a mix of people and ages there. It’s all classic, old-school New Yorkers.” —Hannah Bronfman, D.J. and entrepreneur
Sunday Late-Morning
Pastrami jugoso, rice rolls, cannoli.
“Here’s how you order a pastrami sandwich at Katz’s deli (205 E. Houston St., at Ludlow St.; 212-254-2246): Tip the counter guy a dollar, and he’ll give you a taste of the pastrami to make sure it tastes good to you. Tell him you want it jugoso, which is Spanish for ‘juicy’—all the counter guys there speak Spanish—and they give you pastrami that’s a little bit more marbled, with more moisture, fatter. That’s the pastrami you want to eat. If you’re down there, stop by Russ & Daughters (179 E. Houston St., nr. Orchard St.; 212-475-4880), which is just down the street, and get a bagel and lox. Ask them to wrap it up to go, sit on a park bench, and enjoy the quintessential New York bagel.” —Ed Schoenfeld, restaurateur
“On Eighteenth Avenue in Bensonhurst there are these great Italian bakeries; it’s this little enclave where everyone speaks Italian, and it’s more interesting than Little Italy. Go for old-school Italian pastries at Villabate-Alba (7001 Eighteenth Ave., at 70th St.; 718-331-8430). I like the cannoli, these cookies they have with sesame seeds, and the gelato. It won’t be too crowded on a Sunday at lunchtime, because that’s when all the Italian-American locals are eating.” —Najla Said, writer and actress
“When I have people visiting, I take them to neighborhoods. Period. One neighborhood is Arthur Avenue in the Bronx. Although it’s changing now, it’s still, when you walk through it, a unique place. Italian. Mike’s Deli (2344 Arthur Ave., nr. 186th St.; 718-295-5033) is one of these shops with salamis and prosciuttos hanging from the ceiling. When I was living in the Bronx, back when I was writing The Power Broker, Mike used to bring out special pieces of mortadella or prosciutto. And when he saw my wife, Ina, coming, he would always give her a glass of homemade grappa. Mike is still there every day.” —Robert Caro, writer
“My favorite lunch place in New York is at Harry Cipriani, the one next to the Sherry-Netherland hotel (781 Fifth Ave., nr. 59th St.; 212-753-5566). The specialty of the house is baked tagliolini; you can have it with ham or without. The service is old-world: A weekend lunch that should last an hour lasts three.” —Harvey Weinstein, film producer
“I went to Nom Wah (13 Doyers St., nr. Pell St.; 212-962-6047), a dim sum place in Chinatown, for the first time 34 years ago, when I was just married, and it’s still just as fabulous and old-fashioned. I usually get the vegetarian rice roll and the pan-fried noodles. My meat-lover friends love the house special roast-pork bun and the sweet-and-sour spareribs. And the dim sum sampler is great.” —Bob Balaban, actor
Sunday Afternoon
Church choirs, hangover cures, avant-garde dance.
“Hightail it up to the Roosevelt Island tram—you can use your MetroCard—and go to the Noguchi Museum. Taking the tram is how Noguchi used to get to his museum. It lets you off at Roosevelt Island, where there’s the beautiful Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park (1 FDR Four Freedoms Park, Roosevelt Island), designed by the architect Louis Kahn about 40 years ago, that only opened recently. It’s two long corridors that form a V pointing to the East River. The sweeping vistas are so fantastic. From there you can take this little bus that circles Roosevelt Island, and it lets you off at the bridge that leads you into Astoria. It’s a short walk to the Noguchi Museum (9-01 33rd Rd., at Vernon Blvd., Long Island City; 718-204-7088), which is this tranquil spot with a beautiful sculpture garden. You’re like, ‘Am I really in New York?’ ” —Laura Wills, owner of Screaming Mimi’s
“The music at Saint Thomas Church (Fifth Ave. at 53rd St.; 212-757-7013) is absolutely extraordinary. The choir is, I think, the best in the city. The choral Eucharist service on Sunday is outstanding. You don’t have to go for religion—go for the music. And for the fashion: It’s a mix of both very classic, British-feeling tweeds and other staid outfits alongside the eccentric New York City people in their big hats. While they’re listening to the service, I’m usually sketching the people I see.” —Maira Kalman, artist
“The Ziegfeld Theatre (141 W. 54th St., nr. Seventh Ave.; 212-765-7600) in midtown is a giant old twenties-style movie house—it has almost 1,200 seats—where they hold a lot of premieres and events, but they still have screenings where you can just walk up and buy a ticket on the spot. See something huge that you would want to see on the Ziegfeld’s gigantic screen (the Metropolitan Opera screens its Live in HD events there; The Wolf of Wall Street, fittingly, played there recently). But the event of seeing something at the Ziegfeld is so unique that it almost doesn’t matter what you see. It’s also a great place to recover from a hangover.” —Michael Chernus, actor
“Go see a movie at the IFC Center (323 Sixth Ave., at 3rd St.; 212-924-7771) and then watch a pickup basketball game at the West 4th court across the street. On the weekends, that’s when the leagues come out. I think that basketball is the most beautiful sport; the athleticism reminds me of Baryshnikov. It’s dance, in my estimation. I’m going to go see the Nets play in a couple of weeks, but it’s a totally different experience watching people at West 4th. Watching those games with a makeshift crowd feels so New York.” —Annie Clark, a.k.a. St. Vincent, musician
“The history of downtown is what makes New York City such an exciting place, so I would take anyone from out of town to a dance performance at Danspace Project at St. Mark’s Church (131 E. 10th St., nr. Second Ave.; 212-674-8112). St. Mark’s is this beautiful church that’s been used by the downtown avant-garde scene since the sixties. It’s a real community anchor. It houses the spirits of Isadora Duncan and Martha Graham, John Cage and Merce Cunningham, as well as present-day dancers, because this beautiful space was a meeting place then for an extraordinarily inventive community and still is today. Really, you can go any night of the week. The program is always excellent.” —RoseLee Goldberg, director and curator of Performa
“I mean, being in New York, even as a Puerto Rican, but who was married to a Jew, Jewish deli food is very important in my life. So a morning visit to Zabar’s (2245 Broadway, at 80th St.; 212-787-2000) is a real must-do. My favorite thing, when I used to live across the street, was to listen to a woman, a very New York–y woman, saying, ‘Give me a nice piece of flounder!’ As opposed to what, a rotten piece of flounder? Such a Jewish thing! And I’ll tell you a wonderful thing that happened to me at Zabar’s. I was in line at the front of the counter, and they’re playing Muzak, and at one point they were playing a beguine, and the gentleman next to me looks at me, I look at him, and without saying a word, we start partner-dancing! And when it was over, we went back to the nice piece of fish. I love having lunch at the Modern (9 W. 53rd St., nr. Sixth Ave.; 212-333-1220), the Museum of Modern Art’s restaurant, just because it’s very elegant. The food is good—I’m not going to say it’s fantastic—but the atmosphere is pretty fabulous. And, oh! The Museum of Modern Art shop! I’m a real shopgoer at all museums. Another thing I never get tired of is visiting St. John the Divine (1047 Amsterdam Ave., at 112th St.; 212-316-7540). It absolutely rivals any of the glorious cathedrals in Europe. I just walk through the whole thing slowly, and that takes a whole afternoon. For Puerto Rican food, I like Sofrito (400 E. 57th St., nr. First Ave.; 212-754-5999). They’re very, very good. They make mofongo. Doesn’t that sound like a dirty word? “Hey, up your mofongo!” Mofongo is simply mashed fried plantains which have tiny bits of crispy, crispy pork and garlic. It sounds weird, but it is so good you just want to die. —Rita Moreno, actress
Sunday Night
The Big Game—if you’re not actually going to be at the Big Game …
“There’s a hidden sports bar called Bleecker Heights Tavern (296 Bleecker St., nr. Seventh Ave. S.; 212-675-6157). It’s not a goofy speakeasy—like, you don’t have to knock on the door and give a password—but part of the fun is that you have to know it’s there. It’s upstairs from Five Guys Burgers. You can look out the windows onto Bleecker Street and see all the sports fans being insane.” —Raúl Esparza, actor
“The Whiskey Brooklyn (44 Berry St., nr. N. 11th St., Williamsburg; 718-387-8444) is the perfect kind of sports bar. Go and bug the bartender named Griffin: He makes delicious picklebacks and has a real laid-back attitude; you can talk to him about The Fast and the Furious, which often plays there. The D.J. is also really good—he spins late-nineties R&B and pop. You can run up and be like, ‘Oh my gosh, can you please play Mya, “Case of the Ex”?’ and he’ll usually play it.” —Jessica Williams, Daily Show correspondent
“A classic New York sports bar is Malachy’s (103 W. 72nd St., nr. Columbus Ave.; 212-874-4268). It’s not a hip dive bar, it’s just a dive bar—a dive bar that plays sports. It’s one of the few remaining old-school drinking establishments in New York City.” —Michael Chernus, actor
“Kettle of Fish (59 Christopher St., nr. Seventh Ave. S.; 212-414-2278) will probably be packed during the Super Bowl. They have TVs all lined up around the bar, a back area with a big TV, and couches. It’s a really friendly place; I’ve never had anybody be mean to me there. And it has arcade games like Ms. Pac-Man, so you can take a breather from the game and go play.” —Jess Weixler, actress
“The most important thing you need in a sports bar is lots of TVs. This place Bounce (55 W. 21st St., nr. Sixth Ave.; 212-675-8007) has them all over. Wherever you turn, there’s another TV. Plus the food is good and the service is great, so you really can’t go wrong.” —Deron Williams, Brooklyn Nets point guard
“I like a sports bar that doesn’t feel like a sports bar. Warren 77 (77 Warren St., nr. Greenwich St.; 212-227-8994) has a nice atmosphere, but it’s still a perfect setup to check out the game.” —Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers goalie
… And a halftime break for dinner.
“My favorite local restaurant, Locanda Vini e Olii (129 Gates Ave., at Cambridge Pl., Clinton Hill; 718-622-9202), is in a landmarked turn-of-the-century drugstore. Go for an antipasti course of crostini di pesce followed by the sage pappardelle with braised duck. But first take a seat at the counter and put yourself in the hands of bartender Daniel Kent for one pre-dinner specialty cocktail.” —Jonathan Butler, Brooklyn Flea co-founder
“We’re obsessed with Hometown Bar-B-Que (454 Van Brunt St., nr. Reed St., Red Hook; 347-294-4644). It’s just slabs of meat that the owner cooks right outside the door. And they have an amazing bourbon selection. You almost feel like you’ve been transported to Texas.” —Jeffrey Costello and Robert Tagliapietra, designers
“The roast chicken at Barbuto (775 Washington St., at 12th St.; 212-924-9700) is phenomenal. For dessert, they have chocolate pudding, and in the spring, butterscotch pudding. If you get both of those, you don’t even need the chicken. Just have the butterscotch first, then a glass of Champagne, and then the chocolate.” —Joel Grey, actor
“If you don’t eat enough vegetables, go to Westville (210 W. 10th St., nr. Bleecker St.; 212-741-7971) and order the four market sides—you get four sides for $15. The way they’re cooked, they taste like candy. There are three Westvilles, but I go to the one in the West Village. They do Brussels sprouts, kale, sautéed cherry tomatoes, artichoke hearts with Parmesan cheese—none of it sounds nearly as delicious as it actually tastes.” —Halley Feiffer, actress and playwright
“Raoul’s has been in Soho since the seventies (180 Prince St., nr. Sullivan St.; 212-966-3518). The crowd’s changed a little, but it used to be a hard-core regular place, where I think every single person got steak au poivre and fries. That’s the only thing I’ve ever had there. It’s really good.” —Rafael de Cárdenas, architect and designer
Additional reporting by Abby Schreiber and Arianna Davis