kickassNYC

A Mexican food restaurant that features modern Aztec decor and a “bugged-out” menu. Try the grasshopper tacos, or the ant and worm cocktails.

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+

“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.

Small history museum dedicated to telling the story of grassroots activism in the Lower East Side and efforts to reclaim community spaces that have been taken over by city bureaucracies and corporations.

Slide through the non descript telephone booth at Crif Dogs to access this speakeasy.

More like a museum you can shop at, this high-end antique and curiosity store sells paintings, furniture, skulls, and taxidermy, among other things.

A two-room museum that was once a speakeasy. Learn about Prohibition, Women and Temperance, and the early roots of organized crime.

A Japanese speakeasy hidden inside Village Yokocho, an Izakaya in the East Village. Finely crafted drinks from ingenious Japanese mixologists, and a menu that changes every week. Interesting  painting of a small boy dressed as a devil inside, as well.