Good afternoon, this is W42ST Lifestyle Editor Sarah Beling with “Make Way For The Weekend” — your curated guide to the best of New York events in one convenient newsletter!
Look, I’m not going to BS you — there is plenty of commercial/chain nonsense in New York. Nothing’s worse than the feeling of going to a vibrant neighborhood once filled with small businesses only to find it stuffed with sterile, VC-backed coffee shops. BUT! The good news is there are holdouts, if you know where to look. For instance — did you know that M&S Schmalberg — responsible for the iconic fabric flowers worn by none other than the patron saint of this newsletter, Carrie Bradshaw — is the last custom handmade flower manufacturer of its kind in the US?? I got a chance to tour the century-old Garment Center factory as part of my reporting for Manhattan Sideways, and you can too!! Tell ‘em we sent you, and long live the holdouts!!
P.S. You can subscribe to Sideways newsletter by just clicking this link 😎
…when you can only think as far ahead as Monday!
🌌far out
If you’ve been following along here at MWFTW you know that I’m simultaneously fascinated by and terrified by outer space (the plot of every space movie is getting lost in space, don’t @me!!!) Luckily for me, there’s a new, immersive space exhibit Destination Cosmos now through June 4 at the Hall des Lumières on Chambers Street that doesn’t require leaving Planet Earth. I will not float into space like Sandra Bullock!!!!
🎭as bees in honey…
Billed as a new “Washington Heights love story”, Guadalís Del Carmen’s Bees & Honey now playing through June 11 at MCC theater explores the lives of a young married couple navigating change and parsing through the age-old question: is love enough?
🧗 the climb
If you’re looking to spend Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month with fellow AAPI climbers, scale the heights at the Asian Climbing Tribe at The Cliffs at LIC May 12 (and every second Friday of the month!).
🎭 hidden history
A world premiere at the 36th Street Theatre, playwright Marc Weiner’s Hidden — opening tonight and playing through May 28 — tackles one family’s journey to uncover their Holocaust history within the shadow of the Vietnam War.
🇯🇵 celebrating the land of the rising sun
Enjoy an afternoon of live taiko drum and dance performances at the annual Japan Parade May 13 on Central Park West — and for my 90s figure skating fans ( 🙋), Olympic Gold Medalist Kristi Yamaguchi is this year’s Grand Marshall!!!
🖼️ more than 15 minutes of fame
Go see over 100 Andy Warhol works — from early drawings and intimate Polaroids to the artist’s most recognizable works at Thirty Are Better Than One, a new exhibit of Warhol’s pieces from the collection of Peter M Brant showing now through July 30 in the East Village.
✒️ write on
Get to hear a kickass lineup of writers speak at the PEN America World Voices Festival today through May 13 for thought-provoking conversations on the future of storytelling, identity and the publishing industry. If you plan to attend, be sure to check individual events — while most of them are at different venues around the city, a few are in LA! I don’t want you buying a plane ticket here (unless you want to!!).
🎭 everybody loves lois
The Actors Studio hosts another free, public session May 12 and 13 this time with legendary performer and studio member Lois Smith. You may know her from, oh, East of Eden? Fatal Attraction? Twister? Lady Bird? Minority Report? The Inheritance (😭)? Go see her!!!!
🎶 take the ferry!!
Red Hook is one of those places — if you live far from it, like I do — where going there feels like taking a vacation (Brooklyn Crab fans, STAND UP!). This Sunday May 14 you can jam out and hang out at the monthly Pioneer Works cultural center Second Sundays festival, where you can enjoy live music, food and community workshops in honor of “the cultivation of care in all its forms” for Mother’s Day. Bonus: you can take the ferry from HK!
🎞️ i got chills
Y’all. I am only slightly older than Stockard Channing when she pretended to be a high school student on film!!! See Stockard and the gang in Grease at the Rooftop Cinema Club Midtown May 12 and try to forget the movie’s truly horrible moral as you sing those damn catchy songs lol.
🎞️ celebrate indian filmmakers
Catch the final leg of a comprehensive lineup of documentary and narrative films from the diaspora at the New York Indian Film Festival now through May 12!
…what’s happening before and just after I hit your inbox next!
🎭 outta sight
“In a crumbling house in Arizona, a family haunted by addiction — and hardened into smart-asses — wrestles with the alcoholic ruin of its patriarch… who may or may not be repeatedly abducted by aliens.” I, for one, am intrigued by this log line of Wet Brain, a co-production between MCC and Playwrights Horizons which opens May 17!
🖼️ after hours arsenal
Head to an after hours showing of artist Ji Zhou’s Symbiosis and hear a live broadcast conversation with Zhou from Beijing at Arsenal Gallery Artist Talk: Ji Zhou in honor of AAPI Heritage month May 17!
📚 embracing the absurd
The 21st century humorist we need, Samantha Irby, is appearing in conversation with New York Times editor Jazmine Hughes on May 15 at St Anne’s Church about her new book of essays, Quietly Hostile, which tackles “all the gory details that make up the true portrait of a life behind the screenshotted depression memes.” I mean, who doesn’t relate!!!
…for when you need to secure those hot tickets before they sell out!!!
🎶 what’s my age again
I’m currently in a group text with friends lamenting how many of our favorite songs came out one billion years ago so I might as well ruin this for you— Blink-182’s What’s My Age Again came out in 1999!!!!! Ahhhhhhhhh!!! What’s MY age again?! Anyway they’re playing Madison Square Garden May 19!
🌯 chow down HK
It’s back!! The Ninth Avenue International Food Festival is May 20 and 21 and full of local favorites like Nizza, 5 Napkin Burger and Poseidon Bakery, whose fearless leader Lili Fable has been around since the days that Ed Koch used to stroll through the celebration.
🔥 Hot tip
If you can’t score a ticket to her Eras tour (I think they are going for approximately one trillion dollars now??? lol), why not head to the Museum of Arts and Design’s Taylor Swift: Storyteller exhibit opening May 20 (May 18 for MAD members), where you can marvel at the singer-songwriter’s many costumes, props and other design elements from her prolific music video and concert career.
⚠️ Omg I forgot to tell you
There’s a Proenza Schouler sample sale this weekend
There’s a FAD (Fashion Art Design) market pop-up in DUMBO this weekend
The vendors behind Bryant Park’s holiday shopping village are back with a spring market this weekend
That’s it for now! Call me beep me if you want to reach me! (sarah@w42st.com)
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