In search of something strange.... in NYC

October 3, 2008 11:05 AM

Need a suggestion for something unusual to do tonight in nyc!

ok I'm hanging out with this guy i really like tonight. Right now we're just friends but there is the potential for more, i think. I have no idea where we should go. I"m tired of just hanging out at bars with him. I'd just like somewhere really cool and quirky and different to bring him.

He's pretty much into anything dark and strange. Ideally we could go to some kind of horror movie festival or midnight book reading or bizarre gallery opening or something like that. We're in our mid-twenties. Anywhere in manhattan or brooklyn would be good.

this is anonymous cuz i think he might read this site!

posted by anonymous to sports, hobbies, & recreation (18 comments total)

Museum of Sex (http://www.museumofsex.com/). Although it closes at 630.
posted by jma at 11:13 AM on October 3

It's Korean restaurant week. Maybe get some dolsot bibimbap at Kunjip on 32nd Street. There are many suggestions at FreeNYC and Flavorpill, as well.
posted by billtron at 11:14 AM on October 3

Take him to see Sea Monsters on the IMAX at the American Museum of Natural History, then go around the corner to Maxilla and Mandible.
posted by kimdog at 11:24 AM on October 3 [1 favorite]

Have you checked nonsense?
posted by kickingtheground at 11:44 AM on October 3

If you end up in the East Village, pop into Obscura. Very creepy, in a good way!
posted by Shebear at 11:56 AM on October 3 [3 favorites]

Take him to see Sea Monsters on the IMAX at the American Museum of Natural History

NOOOOOO
I took a date to see that very movie at that very place. It was terribly overpriced and underentertaining. All fun was had in spite of the movie, not because of. I know, I was as shocked as anyone. Sea monsters sounded like such a good time.
posted by Greg Nog at 12:02 PM on October 3

Go to the temporary Lazarides Gallery at Bowery and Houston to see some street art. Walk down to the New Museum, see their After Nature show, maybe see the performance that's going on tonight. Go to the Back Room or any bars or what not in the LES. Walk east to the the waterfalls at night.
posted by suedehead at 12:15 PM on October 3

If you still like him on Monday, go see the Ukuladies at Rodeo Bar!
posted by bink at 12:21 PM on October 3

There's a lot of really weird off-off-Broadway stuff that is mostly hit-or-miss. I once took a date (this was about 5 years ago) to a show by a woman who claimed to be a world-renowned clairvoyant. It was the most pathetic, staged thing I have ever seen but my date loved it.

If he's open to odd stuff, NYC has no shortage of things to see and do.
posted by camworld at 12:41 PM on October 3

Maybe a haunted house?

http://hauntedhousenyc.com/
http://bloodmanor.com
posted by cazoo at 12:48 PM on October 3 [1 favorite]

This could be totally awkward as a date, but Lucky Cheng's is really fun. Not that dark, but plenty strange.
posted by i_am_a_fiesta at 2:19 PM on October 3

APW Gallery on 195 Chrystie Street is opening an exhibit of art on vinyl records tonight.
posted by sswiller at 3:02 PM on October 3

If you're daring, tell him to get dressed up to the nines ( the dark, brooding, but ultimately incredibly stylish nines), get yourself a one hundred dollar bill or maybe two, and then show up to the box, at around 11pm. Ask for a guy named cyan. Slip him the benjamin, and prepare for one hell of a show. This will require luck and cojones.

Beyond that, I second nonsensenyc: Cheap and Plastique from the list looks like it might be interesting tonight.
posted by Freen at 3:40 PM on October 3

I second Cheap and Plastique. Glasslands is always a bizarre wild and fun time =)
posted by infinityjinx at 3:45 PM on October 3

Lucky Cheng's is, on a normal night, just terrible. Overpriced food and drinks and the standard drag schtick. HOWEVER! On Wednesdays they have a nice cabaret/burlesque show in the back with Albert Cadabra and Gal Friday. Very witty, very fun.
posted by The Whelk at 5:44 PM on October 3

oh! and on Thursday, Starshine Burlesque performs. They used to be the headliners at RIFIFI's before it closed and it's the same vein of funny, smart vaudeville.
posted by The Whelk at 5:45 PM on October 3

Oh, and there is a burlesque show every Friday night at Barrette.
posted by billtron at 6:50 PM on October 3

Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind: http://www.nyneofuturists.org/site/

It's 30 plays in 60 minutes, it's great after a few drinks, I think they serve pizza at the end (at least, the Chicago group does), it's relatively cheap, and it's both strange and interesting.
posted by amandarose at 4:21 PM on October 4