Gotham City #7: Manhattanhenge

Flappers on Governor’s Island & Van Gogh in the Bronx

May 18, 2025

JAZZ AGE LAWN PARTY ON GOVERNORS ISLAND

Weekend 1: June 14–15, 2025
Weekend 2: August 9–10, 2025
Colonels Row, Governors Island
11:00 AM – 5:00 PM
$55 General Admission; VIP and Family Packages Available
Ferry Access: Departures from Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn

Step into a living postcard of the 1920s at New York’s most stylish throwback. Now in its 20th year, the Jazz Age Lawn Party transforms the shaded lawns and stately old officer’s homes of Governors Island into a flapper’s paradise. Expect live jazz from Michael Arenella & His Dreamland Orchestra, barbershop quartets, Charleston lessons, antique cars, vintage vendors, and classic cocktails. Many dress to the nines in period style, but it’s not required — you’ll have a blast either way. Arrive early to secure a prime picnic spot and soak in the vintage vibes.

QUEENS NIGHT MARKET

Saturday nights through August 17, 2025
Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens
5:00 PM–Midnight
Free admission; food and goods typically $5–$6

Celebrate the start of summer with one of the city’s most vibrant—and delicious—weekly traditions. The Queens Night Market returns to Flushing Meadows Corona Park, featuring over 100 vendors, most serving up street food from around the globe. From Tibetan momos to Romanian chimney cakes, Nigerian jollof rice to Filipino lechon, it’s a flavorful tour of the world in a single night. Beyond the food, you’ll find local artists, handmade goods, live music, and a laid-back, family-friendly vibe that feels like an international block party under the stars. There’s no better place to experience the incredible diversity of New York City in one evening.

VAN GOGH’S FLOWERS at NY BOTANICAL GARDENS

May 24–October 27, 2025
New York Botanical Garden, Bronx
10:00 AM–6:00 PM daily
Grounds Admission: $35

The NYBG is leaning into art history this summer—but not in a dusty, textbook way. Van Gogh’s Flowers brings the painter’s famously obsessive relationship with nature to life through real gardens designed to mirror the ones in his letters and paintings. Think massive sunflower beds, swirling irises, and poppies that look ripped straight off the canvas. It’s part exhibit, part sensory experiment. On Friday nights, they flip the vibe: Starry Nights adds live music, open-air bars, and atmospheric lighting that turns the Bronx into Provence after dark.

PASSENGERS

June 12–29, 2025
PAC NYC, 251 Fulton St, World Trade Center
Evenings and weekend matinees
Tickets from $45

From Montreal’s acclaimed circus collective The 7 Fingers comes Passengers, a visually stunning performance that turns an everyday train ride into a series of high-flying, emotionally charged vignettes. Set inside PAC NYC’s sleek new venue at the World Trade Center, the show combines acrobatics, aerial choreography, live music, and surreal staging to explore the quiet moments of connection between strangers in transit. There’s no dialogue, but every movement tells a story—of departure, memory, and chance encounters.

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA

May 30–June 22, 2025
The Public Theater, 425 Lafayette St, Manhattan
Evenings and weekend matinees
Tickets from $45

Clown and chaos agent Julia Masli brings her smash-hit solo show Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha to The Public for a limited run. Armed with a bronze leg, a handbell, and the conviction that laughter can solve anything, Masli invites the audience into 70 minutes of wild, unscripted hilarity. Each night is different, driven by crowd participation and moments of inspired nonsense. Critics called it “genius,” “giddy,” and “absolutely mad”—in the best way. After sell-out runs at the Edinburgh Fringe and London’s Soho Theatre, this is your chance to catch one of the most original comic voices working today.

RUN DON’T WALK

Twice a year, Manhattanhenge transforms New York into glowing canyons of light, as the setting sun aligns perfectly with east-west streets of Manhattan. This year, catch it on May 28–29 and July 11–12 from wide cross streets like 14th, 23rd, 34th, 42nd, or 57th.

Step into a historic Bed-Stuy brownstone for BrownstoneJAZZ, a cozy, BYOB throwback to classic Brooklyn jazz salons. Live performances every weekend featuring top local and international talent.

Writers from The New Yorker share their favorite treasured spots in NYC that have survived the city’s relentless re-invention.

SailGP returns to New York Harbor May 22–23, bringing high-speed, high-tech sailboat racing to the Hudson. Grandstand viewing (and partying) on Governors Island usually sells out.

Film Forum's "Jack Lemmon 100" brings a curated selection of the actor's most iconic films to the big screen from May 16 to May 29, celebrating his centennial with classics like Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, The Odd Couple and Glengarry Glen Ross.

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