Best of Manhattan 2025 - Arts & Culture

Best Movie Theatres

UES

Cinema 123 by Angelika

1003 Third Ave.

www.angelikafilmcenter.com/cinemas123/now-playing

212-753-6022

We have to be honest with ourselves, East Siders: It’s been some time since we were anything like a destination for movie lovers. Our eulogies are surely long and illustrious—The Beekman, the 68th Street Playhouse, the Lido East, the Trans-Lux East and more—but the loss remains. Lack of institutional support, technology, and real estate have all worked against us. East Siders go to Kips Bay, Times Square, the West Side, and downtown to see movies all the time. The opposite is rarely true, though the Paris Theater at Fifth Avenue and West 58th Street is kind of the East Side, and Cinema 123 by Angelika surely is. The latter, as its name suggests, is under the aegis of the renowned downtown Angelika Film Center and offers a smart mix of independent programming with some big movies (it screened One Battle After Another in 70mm) and smart repertory (Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove, Billy Wilder’s Some Like It Hot) mixed in. If it’s not all an East Side cinephile needs, it’s a lot, and a valuable reminder of the neighborhood’s true cinematic stature.

UWS

Film at Lincoln Center

70 Lincoln Center Plaza

www.filmlinc.org

212-875-5610

If it’s not what it once was—cue tears for the Thalia here—the Upper West Side still stands tall as a cinematic neighborhood. For popular fare, the local AMC multiplexes are in decent shape, the New Plaza Cinema performs its part-time repertory house role well, and, of course, we have Lincoln Center—glorious Lincoln Center! Yes, we know all about San Juan Hill, Thelonious Monk, and the like, but Lincoln Center is still great; see the iconic cover of Pharoah Sanders’s 1970 album Deaf Dumb Blind, for starters. Film at Lincoln Center is just a short walk across the plaza, and it remains one of the premiere movie destinations of New York City. Besides new independent and world cinema releases, don’t forget you can watch the Met Live in HD here in the Walter Reade Theater also. Recent retrospective Pick Hit: “Kōzaburō Yoshimura: Tides of Emotion,” honoring the remarkable yet underknown Japanese director of the 1930s-’70s.

DT

Roxy Cinema

2 Sixth Ave.

www.roxycinemanewyork.com

212-519-6820

While no serious downtown “cinéaste,” cinephile, or plain ol’ movie buff wants to live without the Film Forum or Anthology Film Archives, it’s great to have options, and for those who reside below Houston Street—below Canal Street even!—Roxy Cinema is a fantastic resource. Indeed, so special and so attractive is the Roxy, it should be considered a destination for film fans citywide. Located in the triangular-shaped Roxy Hotel building just north of Barnett Newman Triangle, the Roxy Cinema is an Art Deco-inspired art house specializing in first-run independent films, rare archival prints, and 35mm cult classics. Very much unlike Film Forum or Anthology, the Roxy features a “gourmet” concession stand, selling craft cocktails, beer, and wine, in addition to popcorn and candy. Recent programming highlights include a screening of Drugstore Cowboy and a post-film discussion with filmmakers Dennis Cooper (also a renowned novelist) and Zac Farley following a screening of their new feature, Room Temperature. Bonus for pilgrims: the photo booth at the Roxy Bar around the corner.

Best Comedy Club

UWS

West Side Comedy Club

201 W. 75th St.

www.westsidecomedyclub.com

646-973-1300

Run by Felicia Madison—no known relation to the legendary Upper West Side sportswriter Oscar Madison, whose wife asked him to remove himself from their place of residence—the West Side Comedy Club consistently brings the yucks to a neighborhood whose hilarity extends well beyond the still beloved “Seinfeld” or “The Odd Couple.” Among the club’s recent headliners have been Erez Safar and Menachem Silverstein present Laugh Through the Heartbreak; Adam Mamawalla; and Indian-American comic Zarna Garg, whose astounding biography (born in Mumbai, India, she fled to Akron, Ohio, to escape an arranged marriage, got a law degree at Case Western Reserve University, and, as a wife and mom of three kids, only started doing comedy in 2018) makes anything she says, let alone jokes about, of exceptional interest.

The Comic Strip

1568 2nd Ave.

www.comicstriplive.com

212-861-9386

Founded in 1975, The Comic Strip (which confusingly sometimes brands itself Comic Strip Live) continues, by any name, to be one of the city’s greatest comedy clubs. Nearly every renowned comic of the last 50 years–Richard Pryor, George Carlin, Eddie Murphy, Gilbert Gottfried, Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, and dozens more—have taken the stage here. A quick search of YouTube will bring you to some Comic Strip sets so impolitic and so wildly hilarious they defy simple description. Recent bookings include the self-described “A Jewish-American-Israeli Show” with Sabra Mensch Erik Angel, Mikey Greenblatt, Iris Bahr, & Harrison Greenbaum; Kareem Green; Sara Contreras; and Meghan Hanley. For legends-to-be, the club offers its well-known Gladys Open Mics, workshops, and comedy classes. A farewell Gilbert Gottfried joke, relevant to everyone, gentile or Jew, who goes out for laughs: “At the Last Supper how come no one sat on the other side of the table? See, I think originally there were people sitting on the other side, but those were the people going, ‘You know, the air conditioning hits me right on the back on the neck.’ “

DT

Comedy Cellar

117 MacDougal St.

www.comedycellar.com

212-254-3480

Founded in 1982 by then stand-up comedian and sometime WNBC 660 AM radio host “Wild” Bill Grundfest (today he’s a television writer), the Comedy Cellar has not only improbably survived the subsequent decades but thrived. Located in a narrow basement a block and a half south of the newly drug-den-free (as of late 2025) Washington Square Park, the Comedy Cellar brings together name funnymen and funnywomen as well as up-and-comers—some of whom may come and never return but at least they took their shot. No promises, but unannounced big-name drop-ins are not uncommon, while recent performers include Colin Quinn; Ethan Simmons-Patterson and Liza Treyger (as part of the Toys for Tots Benefit Show), and Jim Norton. Reservations are recommended, though standby tickets are possible. For further laughs, check the calendars of the Comedy Cellar’s two other nearby venues, Village Underground and Fat Black Pussycat and, on the chance you can’t get in to the show you prefer, check out the Tokyo Record Bar at 127 MacDougal, for excellent Japanese food and drink accompanied by vinyl of your choosing.

Best Bookstore

UWS

Book Culture

536 W. 112th St.

www.bookculture.com

212-865-1588

Though the store has had its ups and downs over the years, from business disputes to COVID, the good intentions behind Book Culture have triumphed, repeatedly, and the store remains a cultural mainstay in Morningside Heights. The mothership West 112th Street location is likely our favorite, with its deep stock including books used by some Columbia and Barnard classes, which are always fascinating to see, especially for armchair classicists, musicologists, historians, and those in innumerable other fields. It can be too easy forget, how much they add to the Upper West Side and Gotham generally—it’s more than WKCR, beloved as that radio station is. Book Culture’s hours are to be strongly commended too: They’re open weekdays 9 a.m. to 10 p.m., 10 to 9 on Saturday, and 10 to 8 on Sunday. Ask your proverbial “friend in Brooklyn” what their local independent bookstore’s hours are! A second Book Culture location at 2915 Broadway at 114th Street is smaller and more geared to general readers, including a fine children’s section.

UES

Argosy Book Store

116 E. 59th St.

www.argosybooks.com

212-753-4455

There aren’t enough words in the thesaurus to convey the greatness of Argosy, which celebrated its centennial this year to deserved fanfare. A second 1953 edition of Lester V. Berrey’s and Melvin Van Den Baark’s The American Thesaurus of Slang—subtitled “A Complete Reference Book of Colloquial Speech” might be helpful, however. Founded by Louis Cohen in 1925 on Fourth Avenue’s famed “book row,” the shop later moved uptown to 114 E. 59th St. A 1940 photo of the store includes large neon signs and neighbors like the Caravan Dance Hall and the Margarita Bar & Grill. Today the street is less thrillingly garish, but venture inside the Argosy and one can’t help but feel illuminated. On one recent visit, this reporter was wowed by the New York books section, the foreign leather-bound antiquarian section (Laurence Sterne in French?!), and a hilariously diverse selection of signed celebrity headshots (Shelley Winters, Soupy Sales, the Oak Ridge Boys)—and that’s on the first floor alone. Upstairs, which you reach through what a sign tells you is a “man-operated elevator” are prints, maps, and a history / Americana room. Seen in the last: Harlan Scott Horner’s 1953 Lincoln-Greeley, about the President’s relationship with New York journalist Horace Greeley, and William E. Barton’s 1928, Abraham Lincoln and Walt Whitman, about the many affinities between President and poet.

DT

McNally Jackson

4 Fulton St.

www.mcnallyjackson.com

646-964-4232

“Best of” has extolled the glories of McNally Jackson before and, for the most part, those claims still stand. The exception is significant but not fatal: As this piece was being researched, the store was removing its much-loved café by day, wine bar by night, and its space will henceforth be an expanded stationery selection. When the change was made on Instagram, many replies of protest and lamentation followed. Given that the South Street Seaport Museum has its own wonderful stationery store across the street, Bowne & Co. Stationers, McNally Jackson’s decision seems doubly unfortunate. Still, it must be remembered that the book business is a business, and if the store’s founder and CEO, Sarah McNally, believes stationery will be less hassle and more profitable, one has to respect that, for without her clear-eyed drive, the store—and its four siblings, two in Manhattan and two in Brooklyn—wouldn’t exist. And make no mistake, the Fulton Street store is still great, with an unmatched location in an early-1800s building on Schermerhorn Row, comfortable seating, and, deep, deep stock including a good kids section with a miniature lighthouse for them to play in. Pick Hits from that deep stock: Charles Portis’s True Grit, Philip Roth’s The Counterlife, Tod Goldberg’s Eight Very Bad Nights: A Collection of Hanukkah Noir, Colette’s The Vagabond, and whichever Witches of Brooklyn books by Sophie Escabasse your kid hasn’t read yet.

Best Music

UWS

Jazz at Lincoln Center – Club Dizzy

10 Columbia Circle

www.jazz.org/dizzys

212-258-9973

Named to honor trumpet genius Dizzy Gillespie who, in the early 1940s, was one of the architects of the revolutionary modern jazz form called bebop, Club Dizzy, located on the fifth floor of Time Warner Center, is one of the world’s most scenic jazz venues. With giant glass windows overlooking Columbus Circle, the club’s enthralling setting is matched by the quality of the artists booked to play there. Recent and upcoming acts who have or will figuratively swing the roof down include: the Juilliard Jazz Ensembles performing Afro-Cuban Jazz (a movement of which Dizzy was also an important member); the Jacky Terrasson Trio; a Christmas show by saxophonist and composer Sherman Irby; beloved trombonist Wycliffe Gordon and friends; and the Orrin Evans Trio, with Robert Hurst, bass, and Justin Faulkner, drums. Sayeth Dizzy, also a legendary wit, in his 1979 autobiography, To Be Or Not To Bop: “Lucky Millinder was also nuts. He had this weird idea of how to run a band. He had a fire complex. I guess Lucky fired everybody at one time or another. He’d fire anybody, look in the mirror, and he’d fire himself.”

UES

Midnight Blue

106 E. 19th St.

midnightbluegramercy.com

[no telephone]

While acknowledging the qualities of the famed Café Carlyle (high-end jazz and cabaret) and Brandy’s Piano Bar (gay-friendly cabaret with singing staff) and two basement venues on the same block of East 53rd Street, Tomi Jazz (Japanese cuisine with music) and No Work Allowed (similar but with Thai-Japanese fusion), may we suggest heading a little farther south to Gramercy? If so, Midnight Blue is an exceptional jazz club where the food and drink match the high quality of the music—something you can’t always say about otherwise estimable venues. Fastidiously describing itself as “Cocktails + Whisk(e)y + Japanese Bar Snacks,” a recent week of bookings include The Bill Wurtz Trio; The John Menegon Trio featuring Gary Versace; The Iftah Kary Trio; Wayne Tucker & the Bad Mothas; The Wilfie Williams Trio, and the Will Terrill Quintet. While many clubs have two sets a night by the same performer, Midnight Blue often presents two different acts a night. This is neither better nor worse, but it’s an interesting way to widen the audience. Pick hits for sustenance: Pork Keema Curry and the non-alcoholic cocktail Salty Guava (Seedip Notas de Agave, Guava Puree, Grapefruit Juice, Lemon, Thyme, Salt).

DT

Village Vanguard

178 Seventh Ave. South

www.villagevanguard.com

212-255-4037

Yes, of course, check Small’s, check Mezzrow, check The Blue Note, check the John Zorn-curated The Stone, but for generations now the Village Vanguard is holy. Don’t believe me? Look, up in the sky, at Seventh Avenue and Waverly Place. See that street sign? Max Gordon Corner? Max founded this joint in 1935. He was 32, born in Lithuania, first language Yiddish, arrived in America aged 5, and grew up in Portland, Ore. The iconic live albums recorded here alone are testament to his brilliance at balancing art and commerce: Sonny Rollins, Bill Evans, John Coltrane, Joe Henderson, Art Pepper, many more. When Max died in 1989, wife Lorraine took over (read her autobiography, Alive at the Village Vanguard), and when Lorraine passed in 2018, daughter Deborah took over, and she remains there today booking greats like Christian McBride, Kenny Barron, Chris Potter, Fred Hersch. From Max’s own excellent memoir, recalling a conversation with Lenny Bruce, circa 1961: “ ‘I want the Village Vanguard in New York, my kind of place, where my kind of people will come to see me. Get yourself a jazz trio—that’s all you need—me and a jazz trio.’ He wanted thirty-five hundred a week. ‘I’ll work seven nights a week, two shows a night, three shows on Friday and Saturdays. What do I need a night off for? Reserve a room at the Marlton on Eighth Street. Ask ‘em to paint it dark blue. And fix up your goddamn dressing room. I’ll pay the carpenter.’ ”