nyccheaptravel.com

Category: Free

  • Free Sundays at the Studio Museum in Harlem

    Studio Museum of Harlem. Photo by Beyond My Ken (Own work) [GFDL or CC BY-SA 4.0-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0], via Wikimedia Commons

    Free Sunday Admission at the Studio Museum in Harlem

    The Studio Museum in Harlem is a small museum with a permanent collection and changing exhibits featuring contemporary works by artist of African descent and works inspired and influenced by black culture. The collection includes paintings, sculptures, photographs, mix-media pieces, and more.

    See visitor reviews of the museum at TripAdvisor and Yelp.

    Admission to the museum is free on Sundays, compliments of Target.

    Special tours and workshops are often scheduled for Free Sundays. See a calendar of Free Sundays events.

    Regular admission fee is $7.00 for adults and $3 for seniors and students.

     

    Museum Location

    The museum is located in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, at 144 West 125th Street/Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard, between Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Boulevard and Malcolm X Boulevard. The 125th Street subway station is just a few blocks away. The Apollo Theater is also nearby. See the museum’s location on Google Maps.

     

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  • Free Tours of NYC City Hall

    Tour New York City’s City Hall Building

    City Hall Staircase. Photo by Joe David (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons
    Free tours of NYC’s historic City Hall building are available on Wednesdays at noon. The tours are limited to 20 people and are offered on a first-come-first-served basis.

    Tour sign-up is at the NYC Tourism Kiosk at the southern end of City Hall Park (at the intersection of Broadway and Barclay Street). You can sign-up on the day of the tour, from 10:00 a.m. and 11:30 a.m..

    The tour days change occaisionally, so please check the tours page on the City Hall website to confirm dates and sign-up procedure

    New York City’s City Hall is one of the oldest continuously operating city halls in the United States. The building was constructed from 1803 to 1812 and is considered one of the most beautiful public buildings of the time.

    During the tour, you’ll see the beautiful rotunda, City Council Chamber, Governor’s Room, and City Hall Portrait Collection. Tours last about an hour.

     

    NYC City Hall Building Location

    The City Hall Building is located in the center of City Hall Park in lower Manhattan. The park occupies the area southeast of the intersection of Broadway and Chambers (map).

     

    Tourist In Your Own Town #26 – New York City Hall from New York Landmarks Conservancy on Vimeo.

     

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  • Tickets for The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon

    Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon Tickets

    It’s free to attend tapings of the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, but you’ll need to do some planning and have a little luck to get your tickets.

    Tapings of the show are opened up for ticket requests one month at a time, usually during the first week of each month. So, March tickets requests would open up during the first week of February, and so on. The specific date and time for each monthly ticket release will be posted on the Tonight Show’s ticketing page.

    Ticket requests are handled online through the 1iota.com website: Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon tickets.

    You’ll need to sign up with 1iota in order to apply for tickets. You can do that in advance at this link.

    Once you apply for tickets, you’ll be placed on a wait list. Not everyone on the wait list will get tickets. If you get tickets, you’ll be notified by the show at least two weeks prior to the taping date.

    If you’re fortunate enough to get tickets to the show, there’s still a possibility that you won’t get in. In order to ensure a full audience, more tickets are distributed for each show than there are seats in the theater. To claim your actual ticket that will get you in the door, you’ll need to check in at the specified time (usually starting at 3:15) on the afternoon of the taping. This is when the actual entry tickets are distributed, and they’re given out on a first-come-first-served basis, so try not to be one of the last ones to arrive.

    Note: The show has an age requirement. You must be 16 years of age or older at the time of show to attend. You’ll need to show a photo ID as proof of age.

    Have questions? Check out the Tonight Show tickets FAQ

     

    The Standby Ticket Line

    If you didn’t manage to get advance tickets for the show, you can try your luck in the standby line. A standby ticket might get you into that day’s show if there are cancellations or extra tickets available.

    Standby tickets are distributed beginning at 9:00 a.m. on taping days to those in the standby line, which forms under the NBC marquee on 49th Street. The standby tickets are numbered and given out starting at the beginning of the line, so those who get there and lined-up earliest will have the best chance of getting into the show on standby. Standby ticket-holders will be told when to return to the theater for an afternoon check-in to see if you’re going to get tickets for the show.

     

    Monologue Rehearsal Tickets

    A limited number of tickets are available to watch Jimmy Fallon try out monologue jokes for that night’s show. The application process for these tickets is the same as for the regular show tickets. Visit the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon ticketing page for details.

     

    Tonight Show Taping Schedule

    The Tonight Show tapes Monday – Friday. You can see a calendar of upcoming taping dates on their ticketing page.

    Most tapings begin at 5:00 p.m.. Audience check-in usually begins at 3:15 p.m.. The schedule sometimes varies.

     

    Tonight Show Theater Location

    The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon is taped at the NBC Studios at Rockefeller Center, 30 Rockefeller Plaza.

     

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  • Thursday Evenings at the Museum of Arts and Design

    The Museum of Arts and Design. By Beyond My Ken (Own work) [GFDL or CC BY-SA 4.0-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0], via Wikimedia Commons

    Pay-As-You-Wish Days at the Museum of Arts and Design

    The Museum of Arts and Design has “pay-as-you-wish” hours on Thursdays from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m..

    The museum also participates in the Bank of America’s Museums on Us program, with provides free entry on the first full weekend of each month for Bank of American or Merril Lynch credit or debit card holders.

    The normal admission to the museum is $16, $14 for seniors, and $12 for students. Kids age 18 and under are admitted free of charge.

    The store at MAD is always free to enter.

    Although you can enter the museum for free during the pay-as-you-wish hours, museums are expensive to operate, so it’s always nice to make at least a small contribution.

     

    About the Museum of Arts and Design

    The Museum of Arts and Design, often referred to as MAD, originated in the 1950s as the Museum of Contemporary Crafts. Although much of the collection is still focused on craft, the museum’s collections are programs have broadened over the years.

    The museum has four floors of exhibits. The museum displays permanent collections and changing exhibitions featuring individual artists. You can browse the collection at the museum’s website.

    See reviews and comments from museum visitors at Yelp.

    Additional visitor reviews can be found at TripAdvisor.

     

    Museum Location

    The Museum of Arts and Design is located at 2 Columbus Circle, near the southern entrance to Central Park.

     

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  • See the Daily News Building and the “Daily Planet” Globe

    The Daily News Building and Lobby Globe

    Vintage postcard of the Daily News Building lobby.

    The Art Deco entrance and lobby of the Daily News Building will look family to fans of the 1978 Christopher Reeve Superman movie. The building stood in as the film’s fictional “Daily Planet” building.

    The building’s exterior features a large mural carved into the facade and an Art Deco awning over the entrance, but the Daily News lobby is the main attraction.

    Just inside the building is a huge revolving globe. The globe is 12 feet in diameter, sits in a depression that’s lit from below, and is surrounded by a compass rose designed inlaid into the lobby’s marble floor. The globe sits under a domed rotunda ceiling covered in black glass and topped with an Art Deco depiction of the sun. On the lobby walls, you’ll also find a display of brass meteorological instruments, recording measurements such as daily rainfall and atmospheric pressure, and an ornate clock showing the time in 17 time zones.

    The News building opened in 1930 and served as the home to the Daily News until 1995. The building now houses a number of tenants, including the Daily News’ TV station WPIX.

     

    Daily News Building Location

    The News Building location is 220 East 42nd Street in Manhattan. It’s about midway along 42nd Street between the Chrysler Building and the United Nations Headquarters.

     

    Visiting the Daily News Building

    The exterior of the building can be viewed from the street, and visitors can enter the building to see the lobby and globe during normal business hours.

    See comments and photos from visitors to the Daily News Building at TripAdvisor.

     

    References and Links to Additional Information

    Scouting NY – You’ll find great descriptive detail and many nice photos of the Daily News Building Interior in this article from a site written by a movie location scout.

    Atlas Obscura – An informative article about the Daily News Building, with photos, from the website that “explores the world’s hidden wonders”.

    The Daily Planet in Film and Television – A Smithsonian.com article about the real buildings that played the Daily Planet in film and television (including NYC’s Daily News).

     

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  • Bryant Park Audio Tour – Free

    By Jean-Christophe BENOIST (Own work) [CC BY 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

    Bryant Park Audio Tour

    Learn about one of NYC’s busiest and most popular parks with the Bryant Park audio tour. Download the free tour through iTunes for play on a portable device (or you can listen to it at home on your desktop).

    The audio tour is narrated by Mathew Broderick and provides lots of information about the park in a fun, entertaining format.

    The tour is really meant to be listened to while you’re in the park, but it makes good before hand preparation for a trip to the park too. It gives you a good idea of the things you’ll see there and really sets the atmosphere of the place.

    Visit the Bryant Park website for your copy of the audio tour.

     

    About Bryant Park

    Bryant Park is a midtown Manhattan park located adjacent to the New York Public Library’s main branch building (see the location on Google Maps).

    The park is part of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, but is privately funded and managed by the not-for-profit Bryant Park Corporation, which took over restoration and management of the park in the 1980s.

    Bryant Park is a very popular gathering place for residents and visitors. A large lawn provides a green oasis in the middle of midtown Manhattan. There are lots of places to sit and relax, an outdoor reading room with books, newspapers, and periodicals, several places to eat, a putting green, chess, backgammon, and other games.

    Visit the Bryant Park website for details about the park and scheduled activities and events.

     

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  • Winter Jam NYC in Central Park

    Winter Jam NYC

    This free winter sports festival in Central Park features skiing, snowboarding, sledding, Arctic golf, shuffleboard, and more.

    The activities available will depend on the weather. If there’s no snow, snow-makers may be used, but those aren’t very effective at higher temperatures. Frozen ice activities such as an ice slide and ice sculpture carving provide entertainment and activities for just about any chilly weather.

    The event also includes music at the bandshell, and food will be available at a Taste NY Winter Market/Warming Hut.

    The event is open to the public and admission is free.

     

    Date and Location

    The 2017 Winter Jam NYC takes place January 28th, from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. in the Bandshell Area of Central Park.

    Visit the Winter Jam page at the NYC Parks website for updates and details.

     

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  • Chinese New Year Firecracker Ceremony and Cultural Festival

    New Year Firecracker Ceremony & Cultural Festival

    This annual event celebrates the Lunar New Year with firecrackers, lion dances, and more.

    The Firecracker Ceremony and Cultural Festival takes place at Sara D. Roosevelt Park, where hundreds of thousands of firecrackers are lit to welcome the new year. These aren’t aerial fireworks, but firecrackers, longs strands of them, and they make a lot of noise (see the video below). Earplugs might be a good idea.

    The festival also includes music dance, cultural booths, food vendors, and more.

     

    Date & Location

    The 2017 event takes place Saturday, January 28th from 11:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., with the firecrackers starting at noon. Visit the Better Chinatown USA website for details.

    Sara D. Roosevelt Park is located on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, south of E. Houston Street and bordered to the east and west by Chrystie Street and Forsyth Street.

     

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  • NYC Lunar New Year Parade

     

    Chinese New Year Parade

    The annual Chinese Lunar New Year Parade brings lion and dragon dancers, floats, costumed performers, and lots of confetti to the streets of Chinatown.

    The 2017 New York Lunar New Year Parade happens on Sunday, February 5th. The parade starts at 1:00 p.m..

     

    Parade Route

    According to a map provided at the Better Chinatown website, the 2017 parade starts at the intersection of Mott Street and Hester Street, then proceeds down Mott, turning at Bowery,proceeding along Division Street, then running up Eldridge to Hester, where is continues one block east and turns to run north along Forsythe Street to the end of the route around the intersection of Forsythe and Grand Street. See the route map.

     

    Festival in Sara D Roosevelt Park

    A festival featuring foods, vendors, and festivities takes place in Sara Roosevelt Park after the parade.

     

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  • Free Comedy Shows at Upright Citizens Brigade

    There are two Upright Citizens Brigade theaters in New York City, one in Chelsea and one in the East Village. Both host free weekly comedy shows.

    The UCB theaters were founded by a Chicago-based group of comedians (Matt Besser, Amy Poehler, Ian Robers, and Matt Walsh) as training facilities and performance spaces. The UCB theaters focus on improv, but also feature sketch and stand-up comedy.

    The Upright Citizens Brigade Theater Chelsea: UCB Chelsea is located at 307 W. 26th Street.

    The Upright Citizens Brigade Theater East: UCB East is located in the East Village at 153 East 3rd Street.

     

    Free Shows at Upright Citizens Brigade Chelsea

     

    ASSSSCAT 3000 (Improv) – Sundays at 9:30 p.m.  A long form Improv show that sometimes features well-known special guests. Free tickets are distributed at 8:15 p.m. outside the theater on the night of the show. Info.

    WHIPLASH (Stand-Up) – Mondays at 11:00 p.m.. An eclectic mix of stand-up comedians perform at this free weekly show. The line-ups aren’t announced in advance and the shows may include anyone from up-and-coming comics to big name guests. This is a free show that accepts online reservations. To reserve tickets, go the the theater’s schedule page, select the show you’re interested in, and look for the “Free – Make Reservation” button. Reservations open up the Monday before the performance date.

     

    Free Shows at Upright Citizens Brigade East Village

     


    Thursday Night Open Mic at UCB East – Open Mic Night at NYC’s Upright Citizen’s Brigade East Theatre is held on the first and second Thursday of each month. These free shows start at 6:00 p.m.. Would-be participants put their names in a bucket and 14 names are picked at random for a 4 minute spot on stage. Info

     

    Regular Shows at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theaters

     

    Free is always nice, but regularly scheduled comedy shows at the UCB theaters are pretty good deals also, with ticket prices that range from $5 to $12. See a full schedule of UCB Theater performances.

    An advantage of the paid shows is that you can reserve your tickets in advance. You’ll pick up and pay for the tickets at the theater. After you pick up your ticket, you can get in line for admission to the theater. Seating is first-come-first-served, so if getting seats in the first few rows is important to you, get to the theater early. If all the seats are gone, you might end up standing.

     

    Tips and Reviews

     

    The UCB Door Guys: A couple interns who work as “door guys” at the UCB Theatre in Chelsea have posted some useful tips on attending Upright Citizen Brigade shows.

    Yelp: Reviewers at Yelp provide lots of helpful tips and guidance on what to expect at the UCB shows. Visit the Upright Citizen Brigade Theatre page at Yelp.

    TripAdvisor: More reviews from people who have attend Upright Citizen Brigade shows.

     

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