“A lot of people don’t study their history,” bemoans New York drag pioneer Flotilla Debarge in Wig, the new documentary from Chris Moukarbel premiering tonight on HBO. The film charts the birth, ebb, and recent renaissance of the annual Wigstock drag festival, which had its heyday in New York in the 1980s and ’90s. By the time the festival disappeared in 2001—the final official Wigstock took place in early September of that year, just before the landscape and spirit of the city changed irrevocably—its attendees numbered in the thousands. It had become a scene staple. Wig is a colorful love letter to its subject matter, a suggestion that much of our contemporary drag moment remains indebted to the trailblazers of Wigstock. But in 2019, Moukarbel seems to argue, too few of us know about it. More →

On the promenade in front of the Gowanus Canal on Saturday, 16 people wearing costumes made of single-use plastic bags performed a dance routine. On the canal, an EPA Superfund site, a mother and her two children paddled around in a red canoe  and lifejackets belonging to the Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club.  A storyteller by the name Sweet Aminata recounted her first impressions of the Gowanus Canal when she moved to the neighborhood 27 years ago. “I can recall the smell,” she said. “A thick stench that followed you down the block.” More →

For the 19th year, the Egg Rolls, Egg Creams, and Empanadas Festival brought its namesake treats– and other celebrations of the Lower East Side’s Chinese, Jewish, and Puerto Rican traditions– to the Eldridge Street Synagogue. Watch our video for a look at Sunday’s lion dancing, bomba drumming, and a pretty fierce mahjong match.

Video by Doreen Wang

New York archetypes are not rare in fiction — from the (allegedly) starving Lower East Side artist to the millennial nanny thrust among Upper East Side wealth. However, a children’s book coming out this fall is putting the spotlight on New York literature’s forgotten felines: bodega cats! (noun, sing.: those fuzzy creatures that sit on newspaper piles and Arizona iced tea packages at your local Latinx/Hispanic grocery.) More →

Just blocks from the Knickerbocker / Myrtle M stop, El Sótano Art Space occupies the bottom floor of a residential building. Not much goes on on its quiet street; a small market draws groups of neighbors to the corner, but that’s about it. The gallery’s storefront, to the extent that there is one, is a label on a buzzer. To get down the stairs and into its exhibition space, you have to ring number 1. More →

In high school, Norris designed costumes for every theatrical production, and dreamed of being a fashion designer. And he dreamed of getting out of his homophobic community in Gloucester, Mass., where he desperately “tried to be anything but gay.” As the song goes, you can’t always get what you want. But if you try sometimes… More →

Warm weather has come and has taken UpNorth, the Canadian-inspired bar at 17 Wyckoff Ave, with it. Replacing the poutine-packed restaurant is the Gradient, an airy bar with expansive vegetarian options and eccentric entertainment.  The bar initially operated as an event\ venue after its opening this past April, boasting $3 beers, $5 cocktails and $6 beer-and-shot specials at parties. Last month, it expanded, now providing treats by Variety Coffee and a full vegetarian and vegan menu.

A Brooklyn street artist is sharing gifts across the city– if you can find them. See Me Tell Me, who prefers to go by this persona, creates miniature collages, sculptures and trinkets and places them in random spots throughout the boroughs. She posts pictures of her work on Instagram with vague locations, inviting her followers to find the art and tell her when they do. More →

The Bicycle Film Festival kicked off its 19th year last night ahead of a week of events that will include a vegan BBQ tonight at Hester Street Fair and a live-scored screening by local experimental mainstays Gang Gang Dance on Thursday and Friday. This year, the festival moves from its longtime home at East Village’s Anthology Film Archives to the First Unitarian Congregational Society in Brooklyn Heights, where all of the films will be shown on Saturday. More →

After 24 years, the Poetry Walk Over the Brooklyn Bridge has become a literary tradition in New York City, and it was especially significant this year because of Walt Whitman’s 200th birthday on May 31. Unfortunately, bad weather forced the organizers to cancel the crossing just a few hours before it was to take place Monday. More →