Events in the Neighborhood, May 21–27

     Every month aspiring Uptown writers try out new works in front of freinds and neighbors.

      This month’s theme: Mother and Fathers.

      Above the Bridge Writers’ Café is a playground for writers, a place to encourage and cultivate neighborhood writers and provide them with an audience for their work. Writers may submit five minutes of material of any genre or style (poetry, plays, fiction, non-fiction, blogs, etc.) that reflect the month’s theme. 

     Pieces are chosen by the Above the Bridge selection team. For details, contact abovethebridge@gmail.com.

     Free. Monday night, usually at 8, at Le Cheile in Hudson Heights on Fort Washington Avenue at Cebrini Boulevard at a time announced to the participants.

     You don’t have to go to Fifth Avenue to see suits of armor anymore.

     This spring and summer a site-specific art project turns the lawn near the Cloisters into a modern display of medieval costume.

     The Icelandic artist Steinunn Thorarinsdottir positions each of three figures in a suit of armor that was cast from a custom 3D scan of a carefully chosen suit of armor from The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection.

     Be one of 1,000 Friends of the Dominican Film Festival at its Spring Soirée, honoring Laura Gómez, the actress, writer, and producer.

     The evening will include a red carpet, drinks, passed hors d'oeuvres, music, and the opportunity to visit with luminaries from film and TV.

     $200 per couple and up. Thursday night at Castro Bar in Inwood at 104 Dyckman Street.

     A New York farmers’ market is open Thursdays on 175th Street between Wadsworth Avenue and  Broadway.

    The Inwood greenmarket is a year-round neighborhood favorite.
    People of all ages, backgrounds, and tastes gather each Saturday to meet and greet their friends and neighbors and do their weekly shopping. Even on the coldest, darkest winter Saturdays, loyal Inwood shoppers come out because they know they can’t get products like this anywhere else.
     A core group of 15 farmers attends every week of the year, and during the peak of the season, five more join to round out the offerings with the summer’s bounty.
     Saturdays from 8 to 3 on Isham Street between Seaman Avenue and Cooper Street.

     From late spring through the late autumn, a greenmarket in Lower WaHi offers Mexican herbs, peppers, and greens, honey, cheese, juice pressed from ripe orchard fruit, produce grown in the rich soil of Orange County’s “Black Dirt” region, pastries and fresh bread. You can also take your food scraps for composting and used textiles for recycling.

     You can also take your food scraps for composting and used textiles for recycling.

     Saturdays in the spring and summer on Fort Washington Avenue at 168th Street. On hiatus until spring.

     Famous and up-and-coming artists perform at Eliot’s weekly sessions and her free concerts are legendary among jazz aficionados.

     Free. Sunday afternoons at 4 at 555 Edgecombe Avenue, Apt. 3F, in Lower WaHi.

     Clean out your closets and recycle at the same time.
     Bring clean and dry textiles like clothing, paired shoes, towels, sheets, scarves, hats, bags and belts for reuse or recycling. Sponsored by Grow NYC.
     Free. Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Inwood Greenmarket (in Inwood Hill Park) on Isham Street between Seaman Avenue and Cooper Street.

     Every Saturday (weather permitting), Northern Manhattan Parks Inwood Astronomy Project offers free star and planet gazing in Inwood Hill Park. These free, family-friendly events aim to spread the joys of the evening sky, and help you to learn more about the nature of our Solar System and current happenings in Astronomy.
     This week’s sky updates come from StarDate.
     Saturday nights from 8 to 10 on the ball fields near Seaman Avenue and Isham Street in Inwood. A map is here.

     The High Bridge—New York City’s oldest standing bridge—is a landmark that connects walkers and cyclists from Manhattan and the Bronx.
     The High Bridge is a path from the neighborhoods of Washington Heights to Highbridge in the Bronx, and is accessible from both boroughs.
     Free. Daily from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Enter from Highbridge Park, in Lower WaHi on Amsterdam Avenue in the 170s.

     If you like outdoor geometry, get out in the streets for sunrise and sunset when the shadows line up with the streets.

      The “Manhattanhenge” effect works Uptown on days different from the rest of the island’s.

      To see the sun line up with the streets in Hudson Heights (on 181st Street in the photo), where the street grid is aligned differently from most of the borough, get out on April 18; it’s also on August 26 in Hudson Heights Henge (Fort George Henge is on the same dates as Manhattan, and Inwood Henge is on January 23 — the grid there is so katy-wompus that the sun aligns when it is due “south”). In the spring, the date for Hudson Heights is April 18.

     The effect works below 174th and above 174th if you go east of Broadway (for sunrise: sunset views may be blocked by buildings to the west). So if you want to see Manhattanhenge, as it’s dubbed, hope for clear skies around May 30 and June 12.

     You can look for the dates in all the city’s neighborhoods on this map from Carto.

     Sunday, August 26, at dawn and dusk in Hudson Heights.

     The Uptown Arts Stroll takes you all over Upper Manhattan during the month of June with an array of gallery shows, demonstrations, performances, and more, all featuring Uptown artists.

     The schedule will be posted here.

     Free. In June all over WaHi and Inwood.

     The Washington Heights Music Fest in collaboration with W.H.A.M. hosts a monthly open mic for artists, poets, singers, writers and performers. Refreshments will be provided.

     All ages are welcome, so the acts should be appropriate for everyone. Hosted by Jason Rosario.

     $5. Friday night, June 1, from 6 to 9 at the Word Up Community Book Shop in Lower WaHi on Amsterdam Avenue at 165th Street. On the first Friday of the month.

     Inwood Art Works is re-purposing the dormant Cliff Club in Sherman Creek, turning it into Culture Hub, a pop-up community arts center that will be open from the first to the last day in June.

     So what can you expect? A welcoming place to write, work on your craft, have meetings, rehearse or check out the art during Hang Time. Silent hours to meditate, read, or get work done (with tea/coffee and free WiFi).

     Free (though performances may require admission fee). Tuesdays through Sundays, at varying times, in June in the Sherman Creek area of Inwoon at 440 West 202 Street, off 10th Avenue.

     Hike the Heights promotes the use of the Giraffe Path, a trail that connects the Cloisters to Central Park through the escarpment parks of northern Manhattan. The giraffe-shaped trail takes its shape from existing trails and streets that connect Fort Tryon Park, Highbridge Park, Jackie Robinson Park, St. Nicholas Park, Morningside Park, and Central Park.  

     This annual hike is an annual community walkabout and celebration in northern Manhattan’s parks. The family-friendly event invites you to explore and celebrate the area’s natural treasures by combining physical activity, art, and fun.

     Free. Saturday, June 2, from 11 to 3. Meet at the Sunken Playground in Highbridge Park, near Edgecomb Avenue and 163rd Street.

     Get your feet wet on the shore of this island we call home.

     As part of the annual World Science Festival, the Urban Park Rangers will wade into the Hudson River to collect and count what species of fish we find. 

     Great for kids, this waterside event is fun for amateur naturalists of all ages.

     Free. Saturday afternoon, June 2, from 2 to 4 at the 172nd Street Beach (yep, you read that right), just below Jeffery’s Hook in Fort Washington Park.

     A touring show of guitar memories, Legends of Rock features Bobby Kimball, John Elefante, Jimy Sohns, and Bill Champlin.

    $50 to $200. Saturday night, June 2, at the United Palace Theatre in Lower WaHi on Broadway at 175th Street.

     The annual Drums Along the Hudson began in 2002 as a traditional Pow Wow to celebrate Native American heritage and culture, and also to commemorate the Lenape people who first inhabited Inwood Hill Park, or Shorakapok (“edge of the water”).

     The event features dancers and drummers from around the world, combining Native American heritage, culture and art with the diversity of New York City. Activities include a Tree of Peace planting, international cuisine, Native American storytelling, a Pow Wow and crafts.
     The event has attracted a growing audience, numbering from 400 in the first year to over 8,000 in recent years.
     Free. Sunday, June 3, from 11 to 6, rain or shine, in Inwood Hill Park at Indian Road and 218th Street.

     Who makes Inwood’s favorite pizza? You decide! 

      Taste all the pizza you like and cast your vote for Inwood’s Premiere Cheese and Specialty Pizza Slice.

      Participating Merchants include: Grandpa’s Pizza, Pizza Nova, Pizza Palace, Tony’s Pizza, Pasta & Gyro, Tryon Public House, Tubby Hook Tavern, WaHizza Pizza, and Las Tapas.
     Awards will be presented for:

• Inwood’s Favorite Cheese Slice
• Inwood’s Favorite Specialty Slice
• Inwood’s Most Creative Slice

      $15; children, $10. Sunday, June 3, from noon to 6 at Culture Hub in Inwood at 440 West 202 Street. 
 

     Sit down for a 3-hour fiction workshop geared toward Latinx students and writers who want to have their fiction closely critiqued by a former acquisitions editor at a major publishing house. 

     Creative work can be either short stories or beginnings of novels, restricted to 3, 500 word count max.

     A Hollywood screenwriter becomes implicated in the brutal murder of a night-club hatcheck girl, and gets involved with the would-be starlet who provides him an alibi.

     In A Lonely Place (1950) stars Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Grahame. Nicholas Ray directed.

     The film is not rated. Columbia Pictures, 94 minutes.

     Free. Sunday afternoon, June 3, at 2 at the Inwood branch of the public library on Broadway between Dyckman and Academy Street.

     The acoustics of the United Palace’s grand foyer come to life with excerpts from Bellini's opera Norma.

     Soprano Claire Stadtmueller portrays the Druid High Priestes, mezzo soprano Madison Marie McIntosh plays her subordinate Adalgisa, and tenor Paolo Buffagni is Pollione, the deceitful lover of them both.

     Seating is limited to the first 125 guests who reserve seats at (212) 568-1157.

     Free. Monday night, June 4, at 7 at the United Palace Theatre in Lower WaHi on Broadway at 175th Street.

     Written and performed by LeLand Gantt, Rhapsody in Black is a one-man show that explores Gantt’s personal journey to understand and eventually transcend racism in America.

     Charming, self-deprecatingly funny, linguistically awesome, LeLand Gantt imbues every word that falls from his mouth with all the passion and poignancy of a preacher speaking the Gospel.

     Seating is limited to the first 125 guests who reserve seats at (212) 568-1157.

     Free. Monday night, June 4, at 7 at the United Palace Theatre in Lower WaHi on Broadway at 175th Street.

     Come celebrate a historically inspired multi-course dinner featuring 18th-century dishes.

     The event commemorates George Washington’s cabinet dinner held on July 10, 1790, at what was then known as Mt. Morris. The event was attended by President Washington and his wife Martha, Thomas Jefferson, Eliza and Alexander Hamilton, Vice President John Adams, and prominent cabinet members.

     You can even get a glimpse of the room, right, where Washington slept.

     Advanced registration required. For additional information, please email publicprograms@morrisjumel.org or call (212) 923-8008.

     $150. Friday night, June 8, at 6 at the Morris-Jumel Mansion on Jumel Terrace.

     For an immersive performance that transforms the theatrical space, watch as astounding performers appear where you least expect them, giving each audience member a singular experience.

     Jazz Age Jive brings jazz to life from the Roarin’ 20s to the Rockin’ 50s with a circus celebration that would make Jay Gatsby’s jaw drop.

     In between performances join in with your best Charleston, jitterbug, and swing moves.

     $20; children 13 and under, $10. Adults receive $5 off admission at the door if dressed to the theme of the show. Friday night, June 8, at 7 at Culture Hub in Sherman Creek at 440 West 202, between 9th and 10th Avenues.

     Inwood Art Works presents the inaugural Inwood Music Festival, a showcase of Inwood’s finest music artists. The all-day event will feature all local pop, jazz, classical, indie rock, Latin jazz, and more.

     Confirmed acts include Annette A. Aguilar & String-beans, The Inwood Jazz Quintent, Hot Glue & The Gun, Juanma Trujillo, Calliope Brass, Stephanie & the Band, Don Slatoff Jazz Trio, Emy Cee, Laurie G & her Accomplices, Rose Hashimoto, Mike Boland Experience, and Emma Wagner.

     For updates on band times and information keep an eye on www.inwoodartworks.nyc.

     $40 for an all-day pass; $25 for afternoon or evening pass. Saturday, June 9, from noon to midnight at Culture Hub in Inwood at 440 West 202 Street.


 

     The Pied Piper players present Dorothy and Toto in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

     Saturdays, June 9 and 17, at 3 and 7, and Sundays, June 10 and 18, at 4, at Holy Trinity Church in Inwood at 50 Cumming Street.

    The legendary conga player Ray Mantilla and his exciting quintet head Uptown for an outdoor concert.

     The dance company that calls Hudson Heights home will perform with the New Dance Alliance in Affront during its 32nd Performance Mix Festival at University Settlement.

     The first Performance Mix Festival in 1986 was groundbreaking because it was the only festival at that time exclusively dedicated to performance art in lower Manhattan.

     Saturday and Sunday, June 9 and 10, at University Settlement on the Lower East Side at 184 Eldridge Street.

     You’ve heard about it but you can’t quite imagine how this architectural confection came to be in WaHi.

     So here’s your chance to explore this stunning 3,400-seat theater, its mezzanine, grand foyer, balcony, exterior and if you’re lucky, you’ll get to go up on stage.
     Reservation is required here.

     The history of United Palace, Manhattan’s fourth-largest theater and now a landmarked building, began in 1930, when it was then one of five Loew’s “Wonder Theatres” across the boroughs and New Jersey. Designed by noted architect Thomas Lamb (Cort Theatre, the former Ziegfeld Theatre) with interiors overseen by decorative specialist Harold Rambusch (Waldorf Astoria, Radio City Music Hall), it was one of the region’s premier vaudeville and movie houses.

     Free. Sunday morning, June 10, at 10 at the theater in Lower WaHi on Broadway at 175th Street. On the second Sunday of the month.

     Now in its 14th year, the NY Scandia Symphony  serves Washington Heights and Inwood with free outdoor music programs in Fort Tryon Park that celebrate Scandinavian heritage.  

     Performers for the June series have not yet been determined.

     Take a blanket and enjoy this free performance with backdrop views of the Hudson River.

     Free. Sunday afternoon, June 10, at 2 on the Billings Lawn in Fort Tryon Park.

     A staged reading of Illumination Rounds, a play by Josh Liveright, brings to life a totalitarian state during the final days of civil war. A cynical and opportunistic journalist finds himself trapped in an abandoned apartment with a young female sniper on a fatal mission.

     The reading time is about 90 minutes with no intermission.

     Free. Sunday night, June 10, at 7 at Culture Hub in Sherman Creek at 440 West 202, between 9th and 10th Avenues.

     Are you a new musician who wants to make it in NYC? Or a comedian who wants to improve your joke-telling skills? Here's your chance to bring your talents to the stage.

     If you’d like to perform at Open Mic Night, please email anwar@unitedpalace.org no later than May 21 with links to video performances, website, portfolio or social media pages. All talents (comedy, music, dance, spoken word, etc.) are welcome.

     Seating is limited to the first 125 guests who reserve seats at (212) 568-1157.

     Free. Monday night, June 11, at 7 at the United Palace Theatre in Lower WaHi on Broadway at 175th Street.

     Take a blanket and a snack and enjoy outdoor cinema.

     A group of life-long friends goes on a wild adventure full of laughs in search of one of their closest college buddies who disappeared without a trace a day before their graduation day.

     3 Idiotas, from Mexico, is appropriate for families and is in Spanish with English subtitles.

     The evening’s entertainment starts with Marimba: Mariana Ramirez with Andrew Beall.

     In case of inclement weather, the show will move indoors to Culture Hub in Sherman Creek at 440 West 202nd Street.

     Free. Monday night, June 11, with the concert at 7:30 and the film at dusk on Gaelic Field in Inwood Hill Park.

     For an immersive performance that transforms the theatrical space, watch as astounding performers appear where you least expect them, giving each audience member a singular experience.

    This show blasts off terra firma and into the great unknown. Performers will explore the depth of space, distant stars, and worlds filled with creatures we can only imagine.

     $20; children 13 and under, $10. Adults receive $5 off admission at the door if dressed to the theme of the show. Friday night, June 15, at 7 at Culture Hub in Sherman Creek at 440 West 202, between 9th and 10th Avenues.

  Now in its 14th year, the NY Scandia Symphony  serves Washington Heights and Inwood with free outdoor music programs in Fort Tryon Park that celebrate Scandinavian heritage.  

     Performers for the June series have not yet been determined.

     Take a blanket and enjoy this free performance with backdrop views of the Hudson River.

     Free. Sunday afternoon, June 17, at 2 on the Billings Lawn in Fort Tryon Park.

     Julia Lee Barclay-Morton's newest stage text, On the edge of/a cure, inspired by the #metoo movement, asks how can we speak the unspeakable? Especially that which manifests as body memories—maybe a snapshot or two— too real to ignore but resisting coherent narrative? Who will believe you?

     Free with reservation. Sunday night, June 17, at 7 at Culture Hub in Sherman Creek at 440 West 202, between 9th and 10th Avenues.

     Set in southern Spain in 1920s, Blancanieves is a moving, eerie, and fascinating silent film that re-imagines the classic fairy tale Snow White.

     Once upon a time there was a little girl who had never known her mother. She learned the art of her father, a famous bullfighter, but was hated by her evil stepmother. One day she ran away with a troupe of dwarves and became a legend.

     Written and directed by Pablo Berger, this is a critically-acclaimed homage to the black-and-white Golden Age of Europe’s silent cinema. From Spain, 2012, the film is appropriate for young adults.

     Before the film you can enjoy a Flamenco performance by Xianix Barrera Flamenco Company.

     In the case of inclement weather, the evening will move indoors to Culture Hub in Sherman Creek at 440 West 202nd Street between 9th and 10th Avenues.

     Free. Monday night, June 18, with the dance at 7:30 and the film at dusk on Gaelic Field in Inwood Hill Park.

      Now in its 14th year, the NY Scandia Symphony  serves Washington Heights and Inwood with free outdoor music programs in Fort Tryon Park that celebrate Scandinavian heritage.  

     Performers for the June series have not yet been determined.

     Take a blanket and enjoy this free performance with backdrop views of the Hudson River.

     Free. Sunday afternoon, June 24, at 2 on the Billings Lawn in Fort Tryon Park.

     Wear long pants and sturdy shoes and join the Friends Committee of the Fort Tryon Park Trust at its monthly beautification day.

     Volunteers will help with painting, planting preparations, planting, weeding, and more. Tools and gloves will be provided.

     Groups must reserve their spots by sending an email to  info@FortTryonParkTrust.org by August 6. Volunteers under 18 must be accompanied by an adult.  

     Free. Sunday, June 24, from 10 to 2; enter through Margaret Corbin Circle in Hudson Heights. Also on July 15 and August 19.

     Cantanti Project performs Far and Near, a concert that explores the distance between where you are and where you long to be. Some distances are small, some are big; some distances are measured by miles, and some by hopes and fears.

     Through opera, musical theater, and popular songs, Cantanti Project goes on a musical journey about the excitement of new adventures, the strength it takes to pursue your dreams, and the importance of finding a place where you belong.

     Seating is limited to the first 125 guests who reserve seats at (212) 568-1157.

     Free. Monday night, June 25, at 7 at the United Palace Theatre in Lower WaHi on Broadway at 175th Street.

     So you want to direct?

     Learn essential techniques to add to your creative toolbox and up your filmmaking game. In this workshop you will learn fundamental storytelling methods such as getting what you want, misdirection, and the role of the audience.

     Taught by local cinematographer and filmmaker Joe Foley (Forbidden Cuba, Eggs and Soldiers, The High Wire, and Brief Reunion at the Inwood Film Festival).

     Foley has been working as a cinematographer for over two decades, shooting feature films, commercials, television, documentaries and music videos. He received his BFA in film from NYU and an MFA in film from Columbia.

     Open to beginners and above. Limited class size of 30. Registration required.

     Pay what you can. Tuesday night, June 26, from 7 to 9 at Culture Hub in Sherman Creek at 440 West 202 (between 9th and 10th Avenues).

     A variety show championing the homegrown artistic excellence of Uptown artists, the Hub Show is an indoor answer to the Back Porch Show.

     Anyone who’s a seeker of diversified amusements will be delighted and entertained by sensational sets of great variety, talent, and spirit. Tickets available here.

     $14–$15. Thursday night, June 28, at 7:30 at Culture Hub in Sherman Creek at 440 West 202 (between 9th and 10th Avenues).

     The invisibility of technology is both amazing and tragic when you’re looking for new love in 2018.

     In this site-specific dance experience, Alexa takes an inside look at the relationships we deem normal today as virtual reality comes to life all around you. Who do you let in?

     Tickets available here.

     $15. Friday night, June 29, at 9 at Culture Hub in Sherman Creek at 440 West 202 (between 9th and 10th Avenues).

     Join author and naturalist Leslie Day for a pollinator walk in the Heather Garden.

     Try a new experience in music with Taikoza.

     The group creates a new sound using the thunderous rhythms of the ancestral Taiko drums and the magical sounds of the bamboo flutes.

     Roughly translated, Taiko means “big drums,” and that’s exactly what Taikoza brings: big drums, powerful rhythms, and electrifying, room-thumping energy. This exciting group draws from Japan’s rich tradition of music and performance to create a highly visual performance.  

     Free. Friday evening, July 14, at 6 in the Higbridge Recreation Center in Lower WaHi in Highbridge Park, just off Amsterdam Avenue at 173rd Street.

     You live on an island, so take the chance to see it from the Hudson.

     The Hudson River Community Sailing club offers free sails to land-lubbers yearning for open water.

     The club maintains several sailboats Uptown, including a 28-foot picket cruiser and four Hobie Waves.

     Register here.

     Free. Saturday, July 15 at the Dyckman Marina in Inwood. Also on Sunday, August 27.

     When a film crew goes to Skull Island for an exotic location shoot, it discovers a colossal ape who takes a shine to the blonde star.

     The reading series Bloom presents a variety of authors and genres.

     Bloom’s literary readings and discussions will get you to shake off your assumptions and think hard about everything. The evening includes wine and light fare. Pleasant as a tea party, but with booze and cutting-edge writing. More information at www.bloomreadings.org.

    $7 suggested donation. Sunday evening, September 23, at 5 in The Lounge of Hudson View Gardens, in Hudson Heights on Pinehurst Avenue at 183rd Street. Monthly on the third Sunday, September through May.

     Hear the most beloved music and songs from Metal Gear performed live, with the most memorable moments from the video game projected on a giant screen.

     More than 70 musicians will perform on stage, plus giant screen HD game video projection, with singer Donna Burke.

     The show features more than 70 musicians on stage, and debuted in Japan before moving to Los Angeles. After the Washington Heights performance, it moves to Paris. For ages 13 and up.

     $44 to $119. Saturday night, October 13, at 8 at the United Palace Theatre in Lower WaHi on Broadway at 175th Street.

     Join the Friends Committee of the Fort Tryon Park Trust at its monthly beautification day, this time planting bulbs for spring blooms.

     Only in New York ...
     One day late in most springs, The Great and Glorious Grand Army of The Bronx comes together to claim the neighborhood of Marble Hill which, the group suggests, belongs to the only borough on the mainland on the basis that it was annexed by Bronx Borough President James Lyons in the 1930s.
     Care to fight back? Everyone is welcome, even hecklers.
     Free. A Saturday morning in early May, beginning with pre-invasion cocktails; the battle of Marble Hill commences soon thereafter.