Matisse and Martinis Mix Well as N.Y. Museums Open Bars After 5
Big Bambu
Lili Rosboch/Bloomberg
"Doug + Mike Starn on the Roof: Big Bambu," an installation on the rooftop of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The Met's Martini Bar is open on Friday and Saturdays from 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
"Doug + Mike Starn on the Roof: Big Bambu," an installation on the rooftop of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The Met's Martini Bar is open on Friday and Saturdays from 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Photographer: Lili Rosboch/Bloomberg
Museum of the City of New York
Lili Rosboch/Bloomberg
Patrons mingle at the Speakeasy on the front steps of the Museum of the City of New York. The Speakeasy is open on Wednesday nights from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Patrons mingle at the Speakeasy on the front steps of the Museum of the City of New York. The Speakeasy is open on Wednesday nights from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Photographer: Lili Rosboch/Bloomberg
Guggenheim
Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation via Bloomberg
People enjoy drinks at an after-hours music event at the Guggenheim museum in New York. The museum will continue its Dark Sounds series on Thursday, Aug. 5, and Friday, Sept. 3.
People enjoy drinks at an after-hours music event at the Guggenheim museum in New York. The museum will continue its Dark Sounds series on Thursday, Aug. 5, and Friday, Sept. 3. Source: Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation via Bloomberg
The Balcony Bar
Lili Rosboch/Bloomberg
Classical musicians at The Balcony Bar overlooking the Great Hall of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The Balcony Bar is open on Fridays and Saturdays from 4 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Classical musicians at The Balcony Bar overlooking the Great Hall of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The Balcony Bar is open on Fridays and Saturdays from 4 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Photographer: Lili Rosboch/Bloomberg
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Lili Rosboch/Bloomberg
The rooftop of the Metropolitan Museum of Art offers stunning views of New York. The Met's Martini Bar is open on Friday and Saturdays from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.
The rooftop of the Metropolitan Museum of Art offers stunning views of New York. The Met's Martini Bar is open on Friday and Saturdays from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Photographer: Lili Rosboch/Bloomberg
Noguchi Museum
Jeanne Collins & Associates via Bloomberg
The sculpture garden at the Noguchi Museum in New York. The museum is open until 8 p.m. on the first Friday of the month, including August 6 and Sept 3, with a pay-what-you-wish admission and a cash bar with beer and wine for $5.
The sculpture garden at the Noguchi Museum in New York. The museum is open until 8 p.m. on the first Friday of the month, including August 6 and Sept 3, with a pay-what-you-wish admission and a cash bar with beer and wine for $5. Source: Jeanne Collins & Associates via Bloomberg
ARTS PS1
Sez Devres/MoMA PS1 via Bloomberg
A beer is enjoyed in front of the stage at MoMA PS1 in New York. The museum's music party in Long Island City, runs from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. every Saturday through September 4th.
A beer is enjoyed in front of the stage at MoMA PS1 in New York. The museum's music party in Long Island City, runs from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. every Saturday through September 4th. Photographer: Sez Devres/MoMA PS1 via Bloomberg
Timing is everything if you want to hit any of New York’s fabulous museums -- and you happen to be thirsty for more than culture. Spirits rise in the evening, when cocktails are served, often with themed flavors and sometimes music. It’s a most civilized way to take in art, and it beats staring at your own face in a barroom mirror.
Jazz Age
The Museum of the City of New York recalls the era of Prohibition with The Speakeasy every Wednesday night until Aug. 18. Tonight, Michael Arenella and His Dreamland Orchestra perform Jazz Age instrumentals on the terrace with swing dancers and cocktails like brandy-based Sidecars and whiskey-drenched New Yorkers for $10 each.
The $15 admission includes a free drink, a curator-led exhibition tour and dance lessons from instructor Joy Grad.
The Speakeasy, open from 6 to 9 on Wednesdays, is located at 1220 Fifth Ave. at 103rd Street. Information: +1-212-534-1672 or http://www.mcny.org/
MoMA Nights
Thursdays in August the Museum of Modern Art’s MoMA Nights features “Hear France” and a cash bar. Timed to coincide with the exhibition “Matisse: Radical Invention 1913-1917,” the event showcases French songwriters performing in the Sculpture Garden.
Admission is $20, cocktails are $10, beer like Dogfish Head IPA is $9 and wine is $8 -- all from 5:30 to 8:45.
MoMA is located at 11 W. 53rd St. between Fifth and Sixth avenues. Information: +1-212-708-9400 or http://www.moma.org/
Dark Sounds
The Guggenheim will continue its “Dark Sounds” series on Thursday, Aug. 5, and Friday, Sept. 3, when live music performances conjure up the ghostly spirits and obsession with the past that are prevalent in the current exhibition, “Haunted: Contemporary Photography/Video/Performance.”
Admission is $30 paid in advance, doors open at 8, a cash bar is set up on the rotunda level and music starts at 10. Beer and wine are $6 and specialty cocktails like the Dark and Stormy (ginger beer and Gosling’s Black Seal Rum over ice) are $9.
The Guggenheim is located at 1071 Fifth Ave. at 89th Street. Information: +1-212-423-3500 or http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york
Cooper-Hewitt
The best name for a museum event is Cocktails@Cooper-Hewitt -- no confusion there. On Friday evenings until Aug. 27, the Ed Fuqua jazz trio plays in the private garden and you can enjoy summer libations from the cash bar. The museum is open until 9, so there’s lots of time to view the Lobmeyr Glass collection, but you can’t drink out of it.
Two tickets ($4 each) will get you the vodka-based specialty cocktail called Electric Lemonade or a trio of Mediterranean salads to snack on.
Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, is located at 2 E. 91st St. at Fifth Avenue. Admission is $15 until Aug. 20 and 27, when it is $5. Information: +1-212-849-8400 or http://cooperhewitt.org/
Met Martinis
Friday and Saturday nights are spectacular at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. If you want table service and a place to rest your bones after viewing people in various states of movement (or repose) in “Leon Levinstein’s New York Photographs,” go to the second-floor Balcony Bar overlooking the Great Hall.
Classical musicians serenade you from 5 to 8:30 while you sip Astoria Prosecco for $11 a glass or nibble on lobster crostini for $16.
For a bird’s-eye view of Central Park, or more important, an up-close eyeful of the huge installation “Doug + Mike Starn on the Roof: Big Bambu,” go to the Roof Garden.
Plan it properly and you can have a guided tour through the sculpture, made from 5,000 bamboo poles and 50 miles of nylon rope. Then tour yourself through to the Martini Bar, which includes a fantastically drinkable Oolong tea vodka martini called Big Bambu for $12.
The Met is at 1000 Fifth Ave. at 82nd Street. The Martini Bar is open from 5:30 to 8 on Friday and Saturday nights. Admission is $20. Information: +1-212-535-7710 or http://www.metmuseum.org/
Morgan’s Mayme Taylor
At the Morgan Library & Museum, live music in the central atrium and cocktails with an early-1900s focus like the scotch- based Mayme Taylor for $10 are available in the Morgan Cafe on Friday evenings. Admission is free from 7 to 9 and allows you access to the exhibitions, including “Romantic Gardens,” on display through Aug. 29.
The Morgan is located at 225 Madison Ave. at 36th Street. Information: +1-212-685-0008 or http://www.themorgan.org/
Uptown Fridays
The Studio Museum in Harlem holds Uptown Fridays in the courtyard of the contemporary-art collection. A changing food menu including artisanal sandwiches is served for $7, and drinks like Sugar Hill Beer go for $4 a bottle from 6 to 9. The event, on Aug. 6 and 20, is free and includes tours through the museum.
The museum, which focuses on black culture, is located at 144 W. 125th St. Information: +1-212-864-4500 or http://www.studiomuseum.org/
First Fridays
The Noguchi Museum is open until 8 on the first Friday of the month, including Aug. 6 and Sept. 3 with a pay-what-you-wish admission and a cash bar with beer and wine for $5. Milling about with a drink is allowed in the lower galleries, but go outside to the Sculpture Garden to commune with nature and the work “The Well.”
The museum is located in Long Island City at 9-01 33rd Rd. at Vernon Boulevard. Information: +1-718-204-7088 or http://www.noguchi.org/
Andy Warhol
On Aug. 7, Target First Saturday at the Brooklyn Museum hosts Konbit Haiti (Together for Haiti), including the drumming of La Troupe Makandal, and a world music dance party with Brooklyn-based Haitian DJ Hard Hittin’ Harry and the Earthman Experience.
The cash bar sells beer and wine for $6. Admission is free after 5 and the galleries stay open until 11. It’s a good time to visit “Andy Warhol: The Last Decade” since it’s closing on Sept. 12.
The Brooklyn Museum is located at 200 Eastern Parkway. Information: +1-718-638-5000 or http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/
Music Party
Warm Up, MoMA PS1’s music party in Long Island City, runs from 2 to 9 every Saturday through Sept. 4. The $15 admission includes access to all the museum exhibits and music programs. A long and varied beer list includes Magic Hat for $6.
The party takes place in the courtyard where this year’s winning Young Architects Program architectural installation, “Pole Dance,” awaits you.
Highlights for the remainder of the summer series include DJ Questlove, the drummer for the Grammy Award-winning band The Roots, on Aug. 14, and a live set by Holy Ghost! on Sept. 4.
P.S.1 is located at 22-25 Jackson Ave. at 46th Ave. Information: +1-718-784-2084 or http://ps1.org/
(Catherine Smith writes for Muse, the arts and culture section of Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are her own.)
To contact the writer on the story: Catherine Smith in New York c.smith@bloomberg.net.
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