PS1

Originally uploaded by Alex Terzich.

PS1in Long Island City, Queens is the much cooler sibling of MOMA. Housed in a Victorian school, it’s worth going just to wander round the labyrinthine and atmospheric corridors.

Sit on the playground steps, hot chocolate or glass of wine in hand to watch  the Brooklyn hipster / downtown design types congregate at their cultural watering hole. There are no tourists here.  

The art is contemporary and varied, there’s usually something good, bad and ugly to make you smile/scratch your head/despair.

In the summer, Warm Up  (pictured) with DJs and dancing in the  tricked out school yard; young architects compete annually for the opportunity to design the space.

If you like graffiti, check out 5 Pointz, which is across the road. You can’t miss it.

Goodbye Blue Monday

Goodbye Blue Monday @ Bushwick, originally uploaded by photophobia.

Head out to Goodbye Blue Monday in Bushwick, Brooklyn to see new bands play in the surreal surroundings of a junk emporium. It’s a bit of a trek but worth the effort to get to this frontline of hipsterdom.

There’s all kinds of furniture and books piled floor to ceiling, but find a spot to perch and enjoy the music. The venue has a great story and the owner books anyone who wants to play.

There’s a bar that serves beer, wine and coffee and a sculpture garden out back. Oh, and everything is for sale.

1087 Broadway, nr Dodworth Street, Bushwick, Brooklyn

(Kosciusko Street on the J train)

Von

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Bar Movements, originally uploaded by Nick Nada.

Von is a narrow, candlelit bar, just north of Houston. There’s seating tucked away at the back and around the corner, but sitting at the bar is best. You’ll probably get your ankles nuzzled by their fierce looking but friendly pitbull, Happy.

3 Bleeker Street @ Bowery
(Bleeker Street on the 6 train)

Zebulon

you are really so many, originally uploaded by Disguised as Meat.

Zebulon is a great little music bar, owned and run by musicians. It’s dark, atmospheric and intimate (you have to squeeze past the band to get to the bathroom) with nightly performances at 9pm and 11pm. There’s no cover charge save for a hat that’s passed around.

The music is eclectic and it’s worth turning up even if you don’t know who is playing. The best, and most random, thing I saw there was a French marching band, who gradually stripped their clothes off as the night wore on. I’ll add their name when I remember it.

The place is generally quiet up until a few minutes before the gig, then everyone disappears. They do good bar snacks, such as cheese and cold meat plates. Many a night there has gotten out of hand and gone on way, way too late.

Wythe @ N 3rd, Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
(Bedford Ave stop on L train)

Moto

i like moto, originally uploaded by ecstatictyler.

Another of my absolute favourites, Moto is a tiny bar tucked into a wedge shaped building under the JMZ tracks in Williamsburg.

It’s cosy and looks magical late at night when lit by candlelight. It’s fitted out with reclaimed materials, including motorbike parts, which is where it gets its name.

The food is delicious but cash only, so come prepared.

394 Broadway @ Division, Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Monkey Town

monkey town, originally uploaded by R.bean.

Monkey Town is my favourite place to take people. It’s a little hard to find behind its nondescript door, but once in you are in a strange and wonderful place. Up front is a strangely decorated (homemade dream catchers and a monkey nest mural at one point) small restaurant and bar.

But keep walking…. to the left of the bar is a door leading to a painfully bright corridor and the bathrooms, which usually have some kind of sound installation in them. Keep going and you reach the hidden screening room at the back, which is furnished with low sofas around the edges of the room and four screens, one on each wall.

Settle in for a series of artsy shorts (I saw some of the same films at Tate Modern in London some months later), porn week (annually near Christmas) or pure cheese (Dirty Dancing and the Bollywood version screened simultaneously. Genius).

Check the website before you go to see what’s on – I’d recommend avoiding the live performances as twenty minutes of experimental triangle is enough triangle for a lifetime. I did it so you don’t have to. You can reserve seats beforehand, but you can usually just rock up on the night.

They serve dinner and drinks during the screening – the food is good and reasonably priced.

If you catch the early show you generally get out in time to catch the end of a gig at Zebulon, which is just around the corner on Wythe.

58 N3rd b/tween Kent and Wythe, Williamsburg, Brooklyn

(Bedford Road stop on L train)