free stuff to do in nyc

So I drew up a list of free and cheap things to do for some kinda broke houseguests recently and decided to turn it into a blog post. There are a lot of cool free and cheap things to do in NYC and here is a list of some of them.

Sundays – check out a gospel choir in Harlem. (Donations requested) The most famous church there is Abyssinian Baptist Church. They have services at 11 a.m. on Sundays that are open to tourists, who get their own separate line. However those lines are LONG and even people who arrive close to an hour early may get turned away. For alternatives check out Mother A.M.E. Zion Church, New Mt Zion Baptist Church (171 West 140th Street), and Metropolitan Baptist Church at 151 West 128 Street. This NY magazine article lists some other churches in Harlem and Brooklyn that are worth checking out.

Museums! You can’t go to NYC without checking out a museum. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (1000 Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street) has a “suggested donation” admission of $20 and the American Museum of Natural History (79th St. at Central Park West) has a suggested donation of $16. But those are just suggestion! If you want you can just give 50 cents, like this New York Times reporter did as an experiment! Also, the MOMA — the Museum of Modern Art — (11 West 53rd St.) is free on Fridays from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. The Guggenheim museum (1071 Fifth Avenue, at 89th St.) is “Pay What You Wish” on Saturdays from 5:45 p.m. to 7:45 p.m.

The National Museum of the American Indian, which is down by Bowling Green at the very southern tip of Manhattan, is also free. The Jewish Holocaust Museum in the same area (36 Battery Place) is free on Wednesdays from 4 p.m. 8 p.m. The Skyscraper Museum is also nearby and just $5.

In that same region is the Staten Island Ferry, a 22-minute trip to Staten Island that takes you near the Statute of Liberty. And it’s free! New Yorkers have been foisting this excursion on their visitors when they want a break for years, but it really is worthwhile, at least when it’s not too chilly. In general you’ll want to just take the ferry across and then come right back. (Sorry Staten Islanders). Ferries run about every 15 minutes to half-hour; schedule here.

The main branch of the NYC Public Library is at 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue, within easy walking distance of Times Square, and, of course, also free.

This web site has listings of free open bars.

Window-shopping is free and sometimes fun! Check out Bergdorf Goodman, at 754 5th Avenue and 58th Street; Saks Fifth Avenue, at 611 Fifth Avenue (between 49th and 50th Streets); the Tiffany & Co flagship store. (Fifth Avenue at 57th Street); and FAO Schwartz (Fifth Ave and 58th Street).

While you are in this area, Rockefeller Center — home to NBC Studios, Radio City Music Hall, an ice-skating rink and sometimes a huge Christmas tree — is at Fifth Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets.

Also in the area is St. Patrick’s Cathedral, seat of the archdiocese of NYC, at Fifth Ave. between 50th and 51st Streets. As you’d expect, it is a v. impressive structure.

Central Park is obviously a good source of free stuff. And could be the subject of its own blog-post. Here’s a list of free tours and here is a map.

Near the southwestern tip of the park is the Time Warner Building, in Columbus Circle, which has a lot of high-end shops. There is a Whole Foods in the basement with good eats. West 59th Street at Broadway/Eighth Avenue.

Speaking of walking tours:

• There a free tour of Grand Central Station that meets each Friday at 12:30 pm in the sculpture court at 120 Park Avenue, located at the southwest corner of East 42nd Street and Park Avenue directly across from Grand Central Terminal. Take the 4/5 train to 42nd Street.
• The Brooklyn Brewery has tours on Saturdays at 1 p.m, 2 p.m, 3p.m and 4 p.m. 79 N. 11th Street, Brooklyn. 718-486-7422.
• Every Thursday and Saturday at noon there are free 90-minute walking tours of Wall Street, “weaving together history, events, architecture and people of Downtown – the birthplace of New York, the financial capital of the world, and the hottest new neighborhood in the city.” Meet at noon at the front steps of the US Custom House, One Bowling Green.
• There are free walking tours of Times Square that begin at the Times Square Information Center every Friday at 12pm. The tour lasts two hours.
• Walking tours of Trinity Church, at Broadway and Wall Street, are offered daily at 2 p.m.

Everyone who visits NYC seems to want to see Ground Zero. It is really just a big construction site at this point. But there is a pedestrian overpass at Vesey Street (taking you over West Street, aka the West Side Highway) that will give you a good view of the Freedom Tower, aka 1 World Trade Center. There is also a “preview site” at 20 Vesey St (At Church Street) that previews what the 9/11 Memorial and Museum will look like once it opens.

While you’re in the area of Ground Zero, if you take that pedestrian overpass on Vesey westward toward the Hudson River you will come to the Irish Hunger Memorial, worth spending a little bit of time on. Once you’re there, turn left (south) and take a short walk to the North Cove and see if there are any mega-yachts docked there. There are also two restaurants in the area with outdoor seating.

A lot of people like walking over the Brooklyn Bridge! At least when the weather is right. If you walk all the way into Brooklyn, there is a really nice chocolate place at 66 Water Street.

Also in the downtown area is the South Street Seaport, which has some cool shops and restaurants and is just fun to walk around in. (I like checking out the dogs at the Salty Paw pet store at 38 Peck Slip.)

Free television tapings! (This could be a whole separate blog-post)

• You can wait for stand-by tickets to the Colbert Report in front of the studio at 4pm (they don’t can’t guarantee admission). They are at 513 W. 54th Street.
• For Late night with Jimmy Fallon, standby tickets are sometimes available at 9 a.m. on the morning of the taping under “NBC Studios” marquee on the 49th Street side of 30 Rockefeller Plaza (GE Building). “Only one ticket will be issued per person. All standby tickets not handed out at 9:00 a.m. will be placed at the NBC Studio Tour Desk on the second floor of the NBC Experience Store in Rockefeller Plaza. Please not that a standby ticket does not guarantee admission.”
• Information about Daily Show with Jon Stewart tickets.

UPDATE: Also, how could I forget taking a walk on theHigh Line? It is a cool public park, opened just this summer, built on an abandoned elevated railway line — giving you a cool, different view of the city. You can enter at West 20th Street between Tenth and Eleventh avenues and walk to Gansevoort Street. Once you’re there if you’re dressed for it you can try to get into the swanky bar at the roof of the Gansevoort Hotel. (Drinks are expensive, but it’s not like you have to order one).