Let’s Get down
Sure, all these museums, parks, and fairs are great, but sometimes you just want to get loose and socialize, or maybe you just want to catch a live TV taping or a movie. Whatever it may be, the greater New York area has all your clubbing and entertainment needs covered.
Food & Friends
CJ Sullivan’s American Grill
213-10 41st Ave., Bayside
This treasured Queens dining and drinks destination is the perfect place for a pint and a burger under the stars.
During the summer months, Sullivan’s offers the option of utilizing their spacious and inviting outdoor patio area featuring a circular dining tables, bar and big-screen television during lunch and dinner. The kitchen is open from noon to 10 p.m. seven days, but the party continues until 4 a.m.
Located just off ever-busy Bell Boulevard, Sullivan’s is one of the most popular weekend watering holes in an area famous for its pubs and grilles. Whether your there for lunch or dinner, or to catch the Mets and a few beers, its a great, conveniently located establishment with a warm atmosphere to rival any Queens summer evening.
Big Screen Bash
Outdoor Films at Socrates Park
32-01 Vernon Blvd.
Wednesdays, July 5-Aug. 30, sundown
(718) 956-1819
www.socratessculpturepark.org
Socrates Park hosts outdoor films. |
For those of you that still remember drive-ins, the Museum of the Moving Image’s outdoor film festival at Socrates Sculpture Park goes above and beyond the once cherished movie experience.
For one thing, you don’t have to sit in your car and fiddle with the radio to watch feature films. Grab a blanket or a lawn chair and enjoy the experience by watching a 14-by-20-foot screen, alongside close to some 2,000 other moviegoers.
In addition, the cost is free and like the heart of Queens, each Wednesday evening moviegoers will get to enjoy a vast array of performances and ethnic cuisine geared toward the particular movie’s heritage.
On one night, spectators could get an entire scope of Japanese tradition. The next week, the festival might be devoted to Ecuadorian culture and the following could be geared down under, from New Zealand. There’s also a night devoted to the U.S. Last year, the festival featured several films dedicated to Australian, Swedish and Brazilian cultures. This year’s schedule has not yet been posted.
Hookah Fun
Astoria’s Hookah Bars
Steinway Street
Hookahs are traditional Egyptian pipes. |
Smoking cigarettes indoors is forbidden in New York City these days, but, luckily for fans of the Middle-Eastern cultures, smoking nargilah – flavored tobacco – is not.
A stroll down Steinway Street in Astoria on any Friday night is just the place for those fans who can pop into one of the two busy hookah bars in the neighborhood, Arab Community Center and Egyptian Café. At both locations, patrons will find menus filled with various nargilah flavors, such as melon, passion fruit, rose and some Middle-Eastern culinary delights, including a milky, warm drink called Sahlab.
These hotspots, favorites in the young adult cohort, can fill up quickly on weekend nights, but those insisting on puffing their nargilah out of a three-foot hookah can also jump on the subway for a short trip into Manhattan, where hookah bars are found all over. Some are indoors, some are outdoors, some are on the pricier side and others charge at college-student rates, but all have one thing in common: their Middle-Eastern atmosphere, procured via Arabic music.
Hookah bars worth checking out include Horus Café, Maradonna, Saharah East and Tozy.
Summer Samba
Dancing Under The Stars
Forest Park
Metropolitan Avenue & Park Lane South
Monday Nights
Is it Monday night? It must be time to go dancing…under the stars…in a hockey rink.
What, you’ve never heard of this? Every Monday night from June 4 to July 23 at Forest Park, everybody trades in their inline skates for dancing shoes and takes lessons on a variety of classic dancing styles.
Bring some friends and join the Parks Department for an evening of free dancing under the stars in Wallenberg Square. Take lessons from a ballroom dance instructor and have fun trying different dances from Salsa to Swing and Fox Trot to Cha Cha. Warm up with some line dances like the electric slide while you enjoy the beautiful views of the sunset.
No reservations are needed, but bad weather does cancel the dance for the night. Guess you romantic couples will have to come up with something else to do together on a steamy summer night.
Country Hoedown
Country and Western Dance
New York Metropolitan Country Music Association
72-02 Myrtle Ave., Glendale
The New York Metropolitan Country Music Association has a full country and western dance schedule for 2007. Founded in 1983, the NYMCA is a not-for-profit organization formed to promote country music and dance. Dances are held at the Glendale Memorial Building at 72-02 Myrtle Avenue in Glendale, starting at 7:30 p.m. and feature live bands. Dance lessons are held to introduce newcomers to country dance and to refresh dance instruction to more advanced dancers.
Dances and bands featured this summer are Jan Slow and The Vanishing Cowboys on July 14, The Neil Scott Johnson Band on Aug. 11, and Nashville Attitude on Sept. 9. For more information, visit www.nymcma.org.
Hub Of Pubs
Town Tavern
The Fat Black Pussy Cat
Off The Wagon
Manhattan
There’s a hub of pubs in downtown Manhattan that was conceived for the consummate bar-hopper in mind. They are easily accessible, affordable, and all within walking distance of each other.
The Town Tavern (134 West Third Street), which also has a food menu and private parties, The Fat Black Pussy Cat (130 West Third Street), Off The Wagon (109 MacDougal St.) are all within two blocks of each other and offers happy hour specials, beer pong tournaments and sports for your viewing pleasure.
Town Tavern offers 25-cent beer pong tournaments on Wednesdays, ladies nights Thursdays and graduate and law school students specials on Fridays. Off the Wagon touts $2 shots on Thursdays and half-price wings on Fridays.
Laugh Cellar
Comedy Cellar
117 MacDougal Street
Manhattan
www.comedycellar.com
Some of the most recognizable and talented names in comedy have graced the stage of Greenwich Village’s Comedy Cellar – Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, Colin Quinn, Dave Chappelle, Dave Attell, Jim Norton and Robin Williams to name a few. The Cellar’s intimate setting makes it a perfect stop for couples or groups of friends (maximum reservation allowed is for eight people) to kickoff of a Village pub crawl with some world-class humor.
You can also check out the Olive Tree Café located just above the Cellar for some drinks, dinner and desserts. It’s open from 11 a.m. to 4 a.m. seven days a week and comedians are known to relax up there after shows. Reservations are required for the Cellar. Monday through Thursday, there is a $10 cover plus two-item minimum; Friday and Saturday the cover is $15 plus two-item minimum
So if you’re looking for laughs on a summer evening, the Cellar is your spot.
John Stewart hosts “The Daily Show” in Manhattan. |
Political Humor
The Daily Show
733 11th Ave.
Manhattan
One of the most hilarious and informative news shows of our lifetime, “The Daily Show,” can be said to be the hottest ticket in town, given that it’s free. Tickets are handed out on a first come, first serve basis and can be requested at “The Daily Show’s” official Web site on Comedy Central. Beware though, tickets go fast.
The Party Shack
Neptunes Beach Club
70 Dune Road
Hampton Bays
(631) 653-8737
Neptunes Beach Club in the Hamptons is always a good time.
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Queens bred partygoers have been counting down the months and days since Labor Day weekend 2006 for Neptunes Beach Club to officially open.
Most 20- and 30-somethings have spent the winter working on their physiques and getting some added help from plastic surgeons and tanning salons, all in time for the summertime Saturday afternoon experience of pounding house music, dancing and of course, plenty of alcohol, for a second to none hedonistic atmosphere.
Neptunes is not for everyone. Some might say it is an acquired taste, but for those who have embraced it, the outdoor deck, which stands right on the beach, becomes a large scale dance floor of thousands, partying it up with DJ Theo’s blend of house beats and vocals.
Access to the beach is included in the admission price and the club is open until 8 p.m. At night, the atmosphere shifts to mostly bar music and so does the club’s name, The Drift, and you also will be required to dress more properly.
But during the day, it’s a sea of scantily clad bikinis and shirtless body builders, who are all there for the same purpose – meet great people and enjoy a different kind of club experience.
In years past, the likes of Dennis Rodman, Jerry Springer, Jenna Jameson and various Playboy Playmates could be seen pounding shots, hanging out and posing for pictures. This year expects to be nothing short of the past.
Parking is available on premises, but take a cab unless you have a designated driver.
Drive In Fun
Drive-In Movie Theaters
Hyde Park Drive-In Theater
510 Albany Post Rd., Rt.9,
Hyde Park
Overlook Drive-In Theater
126 DeGarmo Rd., Poughkeepsie
Relics of the past, these drive-in movie theaters are one of the few places in the country where you can have a visceral experience totally separate of the multiplex.
Massive screens often feature double-features for around $7, less than the money you wasted on “Spider-Man 3” at the local indoor theater. For a complete list of drive-ins in the Hudson Valley and beyond, go to DriveInMovie.com.
