The Coolest & Weirdest Burlesque Outings in NYC!
There’s SO much talent in New York, it’s hard to choose where to go for your nightlife adventures. I find that Googling “burlesque” is kind of like going to IKEA - I get overwhelmed, and I leave with nothing. So! Here’s a list of a few of my favorite spots.
I highly recommend looking up your favorite performers on Instagram, too, after the show. It’s the same way I approach getting tattoos - I don’t look for a shop that I like, I follow particular artists, and then I patronize whichever establishment they end up at, because I know their work will be quality wherever they are.
Also! I curate custom tours myself - so if you’re looking to have a wild bachelorette weekend with some friends, get in touch and I can help you plan!
The Slipper Room - Lower East Side Manhattan
With the iconic Sir Richard Castle hosting many of their evenings, this is a sure bet for a fun night out. I’ve seen absolutely hilarious burlesque and circus acts here, and the venue itself is just charming. This is great spot for a bachelorette party, and the drinks aren’t too crazy expensive.
Know before you go:
Get there EARLY for the best seats.
The balcony is a great view, but will have you going up and down the stairs for drinks.
Like every burlesque club, bring dollar bills!
If you have a birthday in your group, or a bride/groom-to-be, make some noise and get them up on stage.
Later in the evening, some of the acts can get REAL spicy. If you’re a little less inclined to see S&M/full nudity, consider yourself warned.
Duane Park - Lower East Side Manhattan
This is a special spot for a nice, classy dinner and very good cocktails, where you’ll get a more intimate experience - the dancers can easily approach your table, so there is more of an opportunity for (respectful!) interaction, which is pretty cool and feels VIP.
Know before you go:
This one is a bit pricier than some others, but well worth it for a special occasion.
Get fancy!! This is the place to get gussied up, to see and be seen. There IS a dress code. No hats, no ripped jeans. Men must wear collared shirts and/or jackets.
Even though it’s classy, still bring those dollar bills!
Dirty Circus Variety Show - House of Yes, East Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Okay, strictly speaking, this will not be solely burlesque, but it will have SOME burlesque acts, and they will range from classy to funny to acrobatic to bizarre. House of Yes is the place where folks can let their freak flags fly! Go for the aerialists, awesome decor, great drinks, and stay after the show for a dance party! House of Yes is an active (and awesome) night club.
Know before you go:
House of Yes is adamant and serious about consent - which is a great vibe, and tends to make it feel much safer than most dance venues!
Again, bring those singles.
Arrive on the early side - seats are first-come, first served.
Come dressed casually OR creatively - bling, neon, crazy costumes - you’re in Brooklyn with a bunch of cool cats, so have fun with it!
NYC For Dog Lovers
One of the best things about the city is that you can see (and sometimes pet - of you get consent!) almost every breed of dog here. There are lots of niche businesses here that cater to our furry friends, and lots of ways to hang out with a canine during your trip to NYC.
The AKC Museum of the Dog, Midtown East - Did you have any idea there was a whole museum here for dog lovers??
Boris & Horton, Lower East Side - This is a dog-friendly cafe where you can bring your own pup, or just enjoy the company of others!
Fred’s NYC, Upper West Side - this is a great spot for a date night, with terrific mac and cheese. It also features thousandssss of dog photos on all the walls, and you can even bring your own to be hung up with the pack!
Puppy Yoga @ PuppySphere, Flatiron District - $55 will get you 50 minutes of fluffy therapy with a four-legged cutie.
Barking Dog Restaurant, Upper East Side or Hell’s Kitchen - a dog-centric menu & decor, and plenty of dog-friendly seating.
Balto Statue in Central Park - Go visit the park’s most famous non-human resident! Balto was a husky hero, delivering life-saving medication during a diptheria outbreak in Alaska. Good boy!
Also, go to literally ANY dog run at a park near you (you can’t go inside unless you are accompanied by a dog, but you can politely watch from outside the fence!)
Have you visited any of these locations? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.
The Best Weird Classes To Take in NYC
Are you a nerd, and maybe looking for a fun rainy day activity? Look no further - there’s a lot of strange & unusual stuff to learn in the Big Apple!
Have YOU taken a class here that was amazing? Drop it in the comments!
Taxidermy Classes - Ever been curious what goes into mounting a butterfly for display, or how to make a dead rat appear lively again? Gotham Taxidermy can show you the way!
Longsword Fundamentals - If you’re a fan of cosplay or stage combat, this class by Gotham Swords can teach you to look comfy and confident with your weapon.
Learn to Hunt - I’m a little biased, since the instructor was my grad school roommate, but Fisher Neal will teach the most beginner of novices how to hunt, and he’s really into sustainability and also mushroom foraging! A super cool dude all around.
Leatherworking - Forget hitting Canal Street for knock-off Gucci bags - make your OWN!
Cooking and Cannabis Infusion Classes - Need I say more?
Pole Dancing Class - Look, if you think pole dancing is trashy and not an actual feat of athletic ability, I don’t know what to tell you. But if you’re game, the team at Body & Pole will have you wrapped around the chrome looking like a natural!
How to Have a Unique Super Bowl Experience in NYC
I get it, you’re not the sportsing type perhaps, or maybe you just don’t love a bro-ey Irish pub. Here are some ways you can find the fun, without the annoyances.
Chess Place, Upper West Side 6pm-10pm: At Chaotic Good Cafe, you can forgo “the big game” and play the small game - chess! Meet up with a bunch of other nerds, and enjoy the offerings of not only chess, but board games of all kinds.
The Queer Super Bowl @ Wilka’s NYC Lower East Side, 4pm: Tuna melt special and halftime dance party!
Tailgate Party @ Boris & Horton, Lower East Side 2pm-5pm- Watch the Puppy Bowl while surrounded by good doggos at a dog friendly cafe! Snacks and soft drinks included in ticket price.
A Hip Hop Harlem Super Bowl Night: Come to the actual coolest neighborhood in NYC (I’m biased, I live here) for great dim sum style eats, and a DJ spinning jams all night long. Super Bowl happy hour will be in effect.
Threes Brewing & Badass Rescue’s Puppy Bowl Watch Party, Brooklyn 1pm-3pm: Adoptable dogs, local craft beer, AND the Puppy Bowl? Sign. Me. Up. So fun!
Bad Bunny Super Bowl Party & Afterparty, Lower East Side 5pm-11pm: Do you care ONLY about the halftime show? Me too! This bar will be playing the game on large screens all around, but the star of the show will be Bad Bunny, which is going to be incredible to hear on a great sound system! Rooftop views ALSO included here.
Dave & Buster’s Arcade Super Bowl Experience, Midtown Manhattan, 5pm-Whenever: Got kids in tow? Dave & Buster’s will be a place where you can have a goofy big blue drink, watch the kids go nuts with claw games, and see the game all at the same time.
The Weirdest & Coolest Tours of NYC
Do you just love learning about local history and secrets when you travel? Me too! Here, I’ll list some of the quirkiest, weirdest tours you can take, all in one handy dandy spot!
“The Garbage and Rats Tour” by Off the Beaten Subway Track Tours
Suzanne is a certified and very fun/educational NYC tour guide with a passion for all things sanitation! This quirky tour takes you all over the financial district where you will learn the fascinating history of shipping, rat species in the city, rat mitigation and public parks concerns. Super niche, very cool.
“Brooklyn Bridge Tour, With Yelling” - have you ever wanted a comedian to lead you on an historical and beautiful walking tour? Amber, the “only good tour guide in NYC” has got you covered!
“Gilded Age Mansions of Fifth Avenue” by Bowery Boys Walks
Love the Bowery Boys podcast? You’ll be obsessed with these incredible mansions - so many beaux-arts beauties from 1880-1910 line Fifth Avenue, and this tour is SO well-crafted and entertaining. Tales of rivalry, riches and family intrigue galore!
“The Museum of Interesting Things” East Village Apartment Tour
You may not be ready for this. I was not ready, and I’m a certified weirdo. This tour is literally just inside of one man’s (Denny’s) apartment in the East Village (where punk still lives on), and it is up to him on any given day what sort of an experience he’s going to offer. His place is floor-to-ceiling antique STUFF, and he LOVES to talk about every one of his items, as well as his brief NYU career and his long-dead cat. He might take phone calls part way through the tour. It’s incredible, just an experience like no other. You must email to book, there is no booking platform online.
“Secrets of Grand Central” Walking Tour
Save this tour for a rainy day - Grand Central is an amazing indoor palace to explore, and it has a ton of hidden details, cool stories, and fun transit history. You’ll get to know all about the secrets of the astrological ceiling, experience the wonder of the Whisper Gallery, and more! It’s only 1.5 hours, and there are a lot of great food options both in the station and nearby.
How to Have an Unusual Saturday in Harlem
You probably got here by Googling “weird NYC” or “weird things to do in New York.” Here’s how to live your best off-the-beaten-track life in Harlem for a day.
SATURDAY - Harlem
10am: Giddy up. You’re gonna head to Superhet Coffee at 390 Manhattan Avenue in Harlem. It’s an expensive java joint where the proprietor absolutely BLASTS heavy metal all day.
11am: Walk 15 minutes to hit up Wu & Nussbaum at 2897 Broadway - perhaps the city’s only Jewish/Chinese combo restaurant, and get your bagel breakfast.
12pm: Take a “vertical tour” of the Cathedral of St. John The Divine at 1047 Amsterdam Avenue. This building is WILD, and the vertical tour will have you squeezing into locations you didn’t know could exist inside a church.
1:30pm: Meander your way to the Uptown Manhattan Trinity Church Cemetery Mausoleum at 601 West 153rd Street - it’s massive and very pretty! There are some Titanic passengers buried there, as well as some other NYC notables.
2:30pm: Head back downtown a bit to check out the Royal Tenenbaums’ house at 144th Street and Convent Avenue, and continue walking downtown through the campus of City College, which has some absolutely stunning architecture.
3pm: Down to 125th Street you go - to the heart of Harlem! The Apollo Theater is closed for renovations, but you can get cool photos around back, at the stage door on 126th Street - where all the stars of Amateur Nights past have entered the building.
4pm: Get a midday pick-me-up at perhaps NYC’s only coffee shop that is hidden inside of a hardware store - Mushtari Cafe!
5pm: With a bit of daylight left, head east on 125th to see some fantastic street art (South side of the street), and then take a right on Park Avenue to head down to….106 and Park (sound familiar?) It’s the Graffiti Hall of Fame, and it’s free to check it out.
6pm: Grab dinner at East Harlem Bottling Co. at 1171 Lexington Avenue - for locally-brewed beer and great food!
9pm: Go see a cool show at The Shrine at 2271 Adam Clayton Powell Blvd- it’s a divey nightclub with live music, where the walls and ceiling are decked out in record covers. Always a great time and a very cool crowd.
How to Have a Goth Weekend Out in NYC
How to have a goth day out in NYC
Ready to find the niche stuff you’re looking for, as the type of person that just loathes the tourist traps of Times Square and all the photo ops? I’ve got you, fam!
Below is an ambitious-but-doable Friday through Sunday NYC schedule for those interested in the dark, weird, and disturbing.
FRIDAY - Prospect Park/Park Slope/Bushwick, Brooklyn
Start your day by sleeping in. You’ll want to get plenty of rest for the night out you’re about to have, and besides, most of the cool places don’t open until at least 11am.
10am: Get outta that AirBnB bed, and head out for coffee at No Filter - NYC’s only gothic cafe - at 175 Prospect Avenue, Brooklyn.
11am: Walk 15 minutes with that coffee over to Green-Wood Cemetery, one of the largest and most historic cemeteries in the country, and take a tour, or just explore on your own for free! Green-Wood often hosts amazing free art exhibitions, too.
1pm: After wandering the cemetery, either hop on the R train for 16 minutes OR keep hiking toward the Old Stone House Museum (open Fri/Sat/Sun 12p-4p, or by appointment). This site is certainly haunted, as it’s where the 1776 Battle of Brooklyn took place.
2:30pm: Hit some vintage shops and grab a late lunch!
Notable shopping stops along the way include L Train Vintage at 654 Sackett Street, Rewind Vintage at 674 Union Street and the very famous Beacon’s Closet at 92 Fifth Ave.
For food, you can’t go wrong with Kyuramen Park Slope or Alchemy.
4pm: It’s 5 o’clock somewhere - head to the House of Wax cocktail bar to see some medical horrors and have a yummy drink before tonight’s show. (Yes…it’s upstairs inside a weird, very sanitized mall called City Point. Don’t let the bougie-ness scare you!)
6:30pm: Get your ass over to House of Yes for the iconic Dirty Circus show (tix around $60-$70pp and worth it) - it’s a 3hr show absolutely filled with debauchery - burlesque, circus, variety acts of all kinds!
9:30pm: Finish out your night by walking 15 minutes over to Talon Bar at 220 Wyckoff Avenue with a grilled cheese on focaccia and some epic drink specials. Check their events calendar - sometimes there are great goth/industrial dance nights, sometimes DnD gatherings, etc.
SATURDAY - The East Village & Lower East Side, Manhattan
11am: Stumble out of bed in a stupor. Go to La Cabra Bakery (152 2nd Ave, Manhattan) and caffeinate/feed yourself to get ready for your East Village day! Today will be a day of mostly walking.
11:30am: Next, walk 2 minutes to hit up Spark Pretty (333 East 9th St - it opens at noon) for some incredible 80s wear - we all know goths love our 80s vibes!
12:15pm: In a four-minute walk, go visit the classic Trash & Vaudeville (96 East 7th Ave) for all your Kikwear and Doc Martens needs.
1pm: Walk about 7 minutes over to Gothic Renaissance (110 4th Ave) to check out some corsets and giant platform shit-kickers. Then go to Halloween Adventure (104 4th Ave, right next door), the only all-year Halloween shop in NYC, for colored contacts, spiky leatherwear and fake blood!
2pm: Walk 10 minutes to check out the Evolution Store at 687 Broadway for skulls, taxidermy, fun gifts to take home to your favorite friend.
2:45pm: Stop by in a 7-minute walk to pay your respects to the old CBGB at 315 Bowery (now a John Varvatos store) - they’ve preserved one of the walls, so do go inside.
3:15pm: First Street Green Art Park (33 East 1st Street), just 3 minutes of walking away, is the place to see some CRAZY awesome outdoor murals and street art.
3:45pm: Make a pit stop by walking 10 minutes to Economy Candy (108 Rivington Street) - goths can be the sweetest!
4:15pm: Walk 10 minutes over to the Tattoo Museum at 141 Division Street - it’s a museum INSIDE of a tattoo parlor, so you can see all the old tattoo machines and paraphernalia while enjoying the sights and sounds of an active shop! It’s a short experience - about 15 minutes. And free!
5:30pm: Make sure you’ve got a reservation for a classy dinner at Chinese Tuxedo on Doyers Street (a 10-minute walk from the Tattoo Museum). Doyers street was once known as The Bloody Angle, as it’s where old Chinatown gangs called “tongs” used to fight their street battles over opium, women, and territory.
8pm: Reserve a ticket for The Slipper Room (usually $30-$60pp), the absolute best burlesque show in Manhattan! It’s at 167 Orchard, about a 20-minute walk from Chinese Tuxedo. You’ll get the best seats by arriving at least 15 minutes ahead of the show.
10pm: Walk 10 minutes over to Home Sweet Home Bar (131 Chrystie St), where you can finish out the night surrounded by taxidermy and live music!
SUNDAY - Bushwick, Brooklyn
10am: It’s maybe your last day in NYC, and perhaps your flight leaves in the evening. So you’re gonna wake up atypically early and do breakfast at The Bushwick Diner, 299 Wyckoff Ave. Sober up, ya lush!
11am: Check out some more great vintage shops on your way to the Bone Museum.
Along the route, there are several great stops including Brooklyn Vintage Company (194 Irving Ave), Select Vintage (191 Wilson Ave), What Mary Kept (203 Knickerbocker Ave) and Urban Jungle (118 Knickerbocker Ave)
12pm: The Bone Museum (255 McKibbin St) is NYC’s only museum with REAL human skulls, femurs, spines and tibiae! The staff are friendly and knowledgeable. And it’s only $20!
1pm: The Gecko Gallery is in the same damn building! ALSO only $20! What luck.
2pm: Take the L train from Morgan to Lorimer (Manhattan-bound, but you’re staying in Brooklyn I promise) - you’re gonna check out the City Reliquary (370 Metropolitan Ave, $10), a small museum full of weird/old NYC ephemera, and then you’ll head on a 3-minute walk to 306 Grand, home of The Twisted Spine - NYC’s only horror book shop!
4pm: Last but not least, you’re gonna wanna walk 8 minutes to 567 Driggs to see Mother of Junk (floor to ceiling antiques and vintage art) and then have a lovely stroll through McCarren Park to get to Dream Fishing Tackle at 59 Norman Ave (an 80s dreamhouse set within a bait & tackle shop - not kidding)
5pm: Go catch your flight!!
Now…if you tried this epic weekend route, I wanna hear allllll about it in the comments!!