kickassNYC

A museum dedicated to all things illustrated, including comics, cartoons, and children’s book art.

Conceived by two readers and artists calling themselves the House of Screwball, the Tarot Society is an art gallery, alternative performance space, and divination room in Brooklyn. They combine special events with Tarot, Astrology, and Palmistry readings in their unique space, as well as appearing at other events around town.

4 Charles Pl, Brooklyn, NY 11221

Gallery hours & walk-in readings: 12-8 Wed – Sat / 12-6 Sunday

Hell Phone is a retro-chic cocktail bar and crêperie that you get to by entering through, you guessed it, a phone booth. Specifically, a red phone booth inside of the Ange Noir Cafe in Bushwick.

247 Varet St, Brooklyn, NY 11206

American & French Fusion, Live Music

Located on the northern shore of Staten Island near the former site of the Freshkills Landfill, the Arthur Kill Graveyard of Boats is a photographer’s wet dream. The land approach is technically off-limits, but Kayak East offers tours of the place where marine vessels go to die.

Featured in the documentary Graves of Arthur Kill (2013).

C-Squat, one of the longest-standing squat houses, has been a part of the fabric of the New York Punk scene since the first squatters set down roots in the 1980s. In the early days, they moved through the burnt out walk-up on ladders. Then they renovated it, setting up a skate ramp, a punk venue, and a permanent homestead on Avenue C.

Now its history and the history of other New York squat houses is preserved in the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space (MoRUS), a living archive located on the ground floor of 155 Avenue C.

An artist-run venue, the Slipper Room was the first space built to showcase performers in the burgeoning Burlesque and neo-Vaudeville scene. Oh, and it’s traditional to take a picture in the gutter outside.

167 Orchard St, New York, NY 10002

Tickets $5 to $30, 21+

Catland aims to be THE destination for Brooklyn witches, mystics, yogis, and otherwise occult-minded. The storefront boutique specializes in talismanic texts, spell supplies, and related esoterica. Spellworkers, diviners, and occult teachers can be consulted in the shop. The connected event space and backyard garden play host to a variety of events, including rituals, workshops, and parties.

987 Flushing Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11206

Free to visit! Prices of events, workshops, and readings vary.

“Part workshop, part cabaret, part madhouse.”

This uniquely New York event takes place approximately every two months in the back room of Jimmy’s No. 43, a cozy pub in the East Village. Expect strange new theatre pieces, comedians’ least-vetted sets, adventurous musical numbers, and every other flavor of artist taking risks and honing their talents on this small stage curated by Sam Reisman and Matt Herzfeld.

43 E 7th St, New York, NY 10003

$4 at the door, no drink minimum.

Russian banya comes to New York! The Russian & Turkish Baths in the East Village is an institution. Built in 1892, the authentic Russian bathhouse offers five different steam and sauna options ranging in temperature, including an oven-heated granite sauna, a Finnish cherry-wood sauna, and an aromatic white-tiled Turkish steam room, as well as an icy plunge pool and roof deck.

Don’t come expecting glitz and glamor, but this is the real Russian bathhouse experience. You bring: yourself, a bathing suit, and a sense of adventure. They provide: robes, towels, shorts, slippers, and lockers with locks.

268 E 10th St, New York, NY 10009

$40 day-pass. Memberships available.

A wild feline community lives on Roosevelt Island alongside abandoned smallpox hospitals and new developments on Roosevelt Island. Since 2005, a group of volunteers called the Island Cats has been helping maintain the cat sanctuary by maintaining the four existing cat colonies, providing food and medical attention, working with ASPCA to spay and neuter cats, and try to find homes for the adoptable animals.