We start the week with the best air quality in days. The Green Level rating this morning is 29, which is safe for everyone. Last night it was 57, in the Yellow Level. On Saturday we were in Red Level, and on Friday, in the thick of the haze we were at Level Purple (between 201 and 300).

     If you’d still like to take extra protection, free KN95 masks are available at public library branches and police stations. The nearest library is in Fort George, down 179th Street between St. Nicholas and Audubon Avenues, and the 34th Precinct station is on Broadway at 183rd Street. Word Up Community Bookshop is giving them away too, on Amsterdam Avenue at 165th Street. Find more free masks at on.nyc.gov/freemask.

     Want to learn about the golden age of cinema? Discover Paris for romantics? Take a class at Columbia University.

     The university’s School of Professional Studies invites adults who are not enrolled in college to attend selected courses for free from the University’s offerings in the Arts and Sciences during the academic year.

     It’s a community benefit available to Uptown residents. Class auditors are silent participants in class who are encouraged to keep up with the reading. No examinations or papers are required, no grade is assigned, and no credit is granted for course completion.

     Find the current list of open courses and sign up for class.

     Free. The deadline to sign up for the fall semester is in July. Class is held at Columbia in Morningside Heights and Manhattanville.

     On the Lower East Side, Dominican teen and aspiring ladies’ man has nothing but girls on his mind in Raising Victor Vargas (2003), a touching coming-of-age film.

     Part of the Film Works Al Fresco series, the screening will be proceeded with a concert by Curtis Turney and his Afro-Caribbean Septet.

     Free. Monday night at 7:30 at the Hudson, in Inwood where Dyckman Street meets the river.

     Uptowners and staff from the Columbia University Medical Center flock to the Fort Washington Green Market for its bounty of fresh, locally grown offerings.

     Mexican herbs, peppers, greens, honey, cheese, juice pressed from ripe orchard fruit—it’s all grown in the rich soil of Orange County's Black Dirt region.

    Pastries and fresh bread make this the perfect market for putting together a healthy lunch or stocking up your larder mid-week. Visit the Market Information tent each week for cooking demonstrations, nutritional information, kids’ games and health-related events and activities throughout the season.

     Tuesdays on 168th Street at Fort Washington Avenue. Through December 15.

     Over 60 and want to excercise with your crew?

     Columbia invites you for wellness walks and fitness sessions, organized around incentives and rewards for your effort.

     The weekly workouts are held indoors—on the world’s fastest indoor track. (Spiked shoes not required.) To sign up, call (212) 305-9483.

      Free. Tuesday mornings from 10 to 11:30 at the Armory in Lower WaHi on Fort Washington Avenue at 168th Street.

     This year’s weeknight Zumba class bringd more heat, better music, fresh erdance moves, and an even higher level of energy. 

     Led by Samantha Muyet, who’s been a licensed Zumba instructor since 2017. Come ready to move, connect, and vibe out. Let’s make this year unforgettable. 

     Free. Tuesday evening at 6:30 on the volleyball courts near the A Train’s 190th Street Station (south elevators) in Hudson Heights, on Fort Washington Avenue near Margarget Corbin Circle. Weekly through September 15. 

     Created as a martial art and handed down in families for generations, t’ai chi has come to be prized as a wonderful health art as well, for old and young alike.

     Let by a thirty-five-year veteran of t’ai chi classes, Robert teaches the sessions in an easy, gentle, ten-posture form that is adapted from the traditional Yang style. The morning class takes plance in a serene environment to start the day. 

     Free. Wednesday mornings at 6:30 in Fort Tryon Park on the Linden Terrace. Through September 9. 

     Jhanique Lovejoy is a New York maker of images whose practice engages through the lens of race and culture.

     Lovejoy is known for her portrayals of her relationships as a queer Jamaican American artist, encompassing both familial and romantic connections. She uses alternative processes, collage, and insights from her musicological studies, Lovejoy explores the themes of family archives, love, and the preservation of Black family history. 

     Free. Wednesday through Friday from noon to 4 and Saturday from 10 to 4 at the at the Dyckman Farmhouse Museum, in Inwood on Broadway at 204th Street. Through October 24.

     Hone your skills at drawing en plein air when you go to the park for inspiration. 

     You’ll explore dry media in four weekly workshops facilitated by the artist Reynaldo García Pantaleón. Supplies are included in the tuition.

     $60. Wednesday evening from 5:30 to 7. Meet at Word Up Community Bookshop / Librería Comunitaria, in Lower WaHi on Amsterdam Avenue and 165th Street. Weekly through August 5.

     The eleventh year of Bruce’s Garden summer readings includes fiction, non-fiction, and a memoir.

     Leslie Day is this year’s Sid Horenstein Memorial Reader. Dr. Day is an accomplished and prolific writer about the natural world, particularly in New York City. She will read from and discuss her latest book, River–A Hudson Memoir, a love letter to the city, its famous waterway, as well as the environment around us and the people who shape it.

     Free. Wednesday evening with refreshments at 6:30 and the reading at 7 in Isham Park at Bruces’s Garden, in Inwood across from 10 Park Terrace East (not West!), near 215th Street.

     Everyone is welcome to join Stacey’s t’ai chi class, which she adapts to all levels.

     She leads you through breathwork, meditation, and asana (physical poses). You’ll get to do tree pose surrounded by some of the very best trees in the city. And the group may even welcome a groundhog guest.

     Take a mat or towel, and perhaps some bug spray.

     Free. Wednesday evening at 6:45 in Fort Tryon Park on Abby’s Lawn. Through August 26. 

        The history of United Palace, Manhattan’s fourth-largest theater, began in 1930 when it was then one of five Loew’s Wonder Theatres across the boroughs and New Jersey. Designed by the noted architect Thomas Lamb (Cort Theatre, the former Ziegfeld Theater) 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.

     On Thursdays, this stretch of Lower WaHi transforms into a bustling marketplace overflowing with fresh local fruits and vegetables. Neighbors show up to mix and mingle while purchasing produce, Mexican specialty products and bread, pies and scones made with local flour. In many ways, the market doubles as classroom and social center. 

     Greenmarket’s farmers and fishers come from parts of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, and New England, providing a bountiful array of fresh foods.

     Opens this week. Thursday from 8 to 4 in Lower WaHi on 175th Street between Broadway and Wadsworth Avenue. Through November 19.

     Uptown artists are invited to connect, collaborate, and celebrate at a mixer to meet and mingle with visual artists, musicians, festival filmmakers, grantees, writers, producers, and fundraisers of all types and talents.

     You’ll discover like-minded people who share common interests and passions. Raise a glass and support the Uptown arts scene. 

     Light food, and beer, wine, water, and soda will be available at a cash bar. Registration required.

     Free. Thursday night at 7 at the Inwood Art Works Studio on Seaman Avenue between 204th Street and Payson Avenue. If you can’t make it Thursday, join fellow artists at their monthly get-together on Audubon Terrace on Friday (below). 

     Arts and Letters is a place to gather with art and one another. This summer, the storied institution opens its terrace for drinks with Uptown artists and their supporters.

     More information is available here.

     Free. Friday evening at 6 at the American Academy of Arts and Letters, on Audubon Terrace at Broadway and 155th Street. On the last Friday of summer months.

     A food systems researcher discusses his new book, North Stars of Emancipation: California’s Diverse Food and Farming Movements in Times of Racial Reckoning. Antonio Roman-Alcalá explains how greater racial inclusion can propel movements forward and help realize sustainable change, through the eyes of a longtime political organizer and researcher.

     $5 donation. Friday night at 7 at Recirculation, in Lower WaHi on Riverside Drive near 160th Street.

     The Summer Feminist Film Series returns with Norita (2023), about a mother who rose up against the Argentine government after her son was disappeared in 1977. 

     Nora Morales de Cortiñas was a housewife in Buenos Aires who has become a beacon of struggle for her galvanizing efforts to imprison the dictatorship’s military leaders and to make abortion legal. Put another way, Norita, the person and the film,  shows how women and caregivers have always been at the fore front of organizing political power in their communities.

     The series is likely to continue—last year in screened three films—and when new titles are made public will be included here.

     $10. Friday night at 8 in Haven Plaza, in Lower WaHi on the Columbia campus at 168th Street between Fort Washington and Haven Avenues.

    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. Open year-round.

     Get out and get active during  Zumba with Grace, where every step is filled with energy, confidence, and joy.

     From Latin beats to high-energy cardio, this class is all about feeling good in your body and embracing your inner glow. Come ready to sweat, smile, and shine on the dance floor.

     Free. Saturday morning at 9:30 at the Anne Loftus Playground, in Fort Tryon Park’s Inwood edge. Weekly through September 12.

     Discover the biodiversity of an Uptown hidden gem with the Urban Park Rangers, who will highlight the birds, mammals, and other wildlife that call this Muscota Marsh their home.

     The excursion honors City of Water Day.

     Free. Saturday afternoon at 1 at the march in Inwood, on 218th Street and Indian Road.

     Explore el concepto de naturaleza a través de la arquitectura y el arte de The Met Cloisters en Español.

     Conozca cómo el misterio de las flores que brotaban cada primavera dentro de un espacio claustral desató enfrentamientos entre emperadores, artistas, papas y poetas, y dio lugar a obras como la Divina comedia de Dante, centrada en la cuestión del verdadero origen de la vida.

     Atención: el aforo es limitado y se completará por orden de llegada.

     Gratuito con la entrada al Museo. Sábado, 2–2:45 p.m.

     Enjoy some energetic dancing when an Uptown institution kicks off its Saturday series of summer salsa socials.

     Whether you’re a first-time dancer or experienced salsero, all levels are welcome. The session starts with 30 minutes of  introductory dance lessons, followed by an hour of open dance accompanied by live music.
     Registration is required. 

     Free. Saturday afternoon from 3:30 to 5 at the Hispanic Society of America, on Adubuon Terrace at Broadway and 155th Street. Also on August 29, and September 26.

     A new one act play, Uptown Boys, tells the story of for WaHi men.

     The staged reading is performed by Frank Nibbs, Vincent Saia, Jonathan Ellers, and Tuto Taveras. The drama by Adrian Miranda presents a raw, funny, and moving urban drama. Set around a living room table in the neighborhood, the bilingual one-act play captures the sharp wit, buried trauma, and unbreakable bonds of lifelong brotherhood.

     The run time is 30 minutes.

     $22.52. Saturday evening at 5 and 6 at the Inwood Art Works Studio, on Seaman Avenue between 204th Street and Payson Avenue. 

     Enjoy some colonial revelry at a recreation of an eighteenth-century tavern. 

     The fun takes place in a home of the era, Manhattan’s oldest standing house and the location of “the room where it happened.” Open bar, live music, tavern games, and tours of the mansion are all included.

     $50 and up. Saturday evening at 6 at the Morris-Jumel Mansion, in Lower WaHi in Roger Morris Park.

     Try your hand at interpreting medieval art.

     The open studio experience this month at the Cloisters features creatures of myth and Imagination. Through  artist-led demonstrations, drop-in art-making activities, and conversations with experts, you’ll  explore materials and process.

     For visitors of all ages. All materials are provided.

     Free with museum admission. Sunday afternoon from 1 to 4 at the museum in Fort Tryon Park. On the last Sunday of the month through December.

     Looking for the Bourbon, Brews, and Blues fundraiser?

     Originally scheduled for July 26, it’s been postponed to August 23. Same hours, same features, and the same price.

     Details below, in the August listings.

     The power of art to make an emotional connection is on display every Sunday afternoon in Apartment 3F—that’s  Marjorie Eliot’s place, where she invites veteran musicians to play along to her piano accompaniment. 

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

     Join her live—in her home for Parlor Jazz.

     Free. Sunday afternoons at 3:30 at 555 Edgecomb Avenue, Apartment 3F, in Lower WaHi at 160th Street.

     It’s inconceivable that you haven’t seen The Princess Bride on a screen of proportions as epic as the tale’s.

     When a bedridden boy’s grandfather reads him the story of a farmboy-turned-pirate, we are all entranced by the story of obstacles, enemies, and allies in his quest to be reunited with his true love. Starring Cary Elwes, Robin Wright, and Mandy Patinkin. Directed by Rob Reiner. Written by William Goldman. 

     $12.72. Sunday evening at 5 at the United Palace in Lower WaHi, on Broadway at 175th Street.

     Ernest Bloch (1880–1959), a Swiss musician who moved to Oregon, composed music that reflects Jewish cultural themes and European post-Romantic traditions. 

     The cellist Martin Fett performs Bloch compositions at this concert.

     $20, at the door only. Sunday night at 7 at the Inwood Art Works Studio on Broadway between 204th Street and Payson Avenue. 

     Extreme heat kills. More than 500 New Yorkers died prematurely last year from preventable heat illness. If you're elderly or have other health conditions like heart disease or asthma, you're at even higher risk, among other factors. 

     July is bringing high heat with it. Tips to stay comfortable in hot weather are here.

     To help New Yorkers who lack adequate cooling at home, the city opens cooling centers on days when the temperature is well above normal. Their hours vary, so check before heading to one. Here’s a list:

     Hudson Heights Agudath Israel Moriah Older Adult Luncheon Club, 90 Bennett Avenue

     Fort George Fort Washington Library, 535 West 179th Street

     Fort George Washington Heights Neighborhood Senior Center, 650 West 187th Street

     Fort George YM & YWCA of Washington Heights and Inwood, 54 Nagle Avenue

     Lower WaHi Highbridge Recreation Center, Highbridge Park at 2301 Amsterdam Avenue

     Find other cooling centers here.

     Manhattan’s oldest surviving house is in need of some renovation. The exterior restoration and accessibility project broke ground at the Morris-Jumel Mansion in the autumn.

     The acessibility project continues to

face unforeseen delays becase the roof shingles are inconsistent roof shingles, as shown in July in photo to the right (along with a sample of the gray and worn shingle that’s being replaced). As a landmark building, every decision regarding the structure is carefully managed to meet standards of historic accuracy, quality, and durability. Roof work was intended to be completed in October. The delays may push back that expectation. 

     Among the decisions is the color of the exterior, with careful research of 261 years of paint layers. Was the building originally white? That’s under investigation. 

     Scaffolding still surrounds the front porch columns, and the windows were replaced in April. Testing the porch’s soundness is complete too.

     The mansion closed on December 1. We’ll keep posting its events, though they will be smaller in number.

     Take in an evening of live jazz from Uptown musicians and their collaborators around the city in a weekly performance. The lineup varies, so check this week’s personnel here.

     There’s no charge for the music. Food and drink are on you.

     Tuesday nights at 7:30 at Kismat restaurant in Hudson Heights on 187th Street and Fort Washington Avenue.

     As formally audacious as it is narratively brilliant, Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope connects a powerful ensemble in service of a darkly satisfying crime thriller. Famous for Hitchcock’s decision to make the film appear to be shot in one take, it stars Jimmy Stewart. From 1948.

     Part of the Film Works Al Fresco series, the screening will be proceeded with a concert by the Cinema Quartet.

     Free. Monday night, July 27, at 7:30 at the Hudson, in Inwood where Dyckman Street meets the river.

     Join fellow science fiction readers to discuss The City We Became, by N. K. Jemisin.

     Copies of the book are currently available for borrowing at the Inwood Library. You may also reserve a physical copy of this book to pick up at any library branch.

     For adults 18 and older. Register online to secure your seat.

     Free. Thursday evening, July 30, at 5:30 at the Inwood branch of the public library on Broadway between Dyckman and Academy Streets.

     Lend a hand to help clean up Manhattan’s Hudson River shoreline. Volunteers will collect trash to keep the waterfront clean.

     The ninety-minute effort is organized by the Inwood Canoe Club and Friends of Inwood Hill Park.

     Trash bags, work gloves, latex gloves, and grabbers will be provided. Wear clothes to get wet in, and take a water bottle and a snack. The canoe club asks that you release it from its potential negligence before volunteering. 

     Free. Saturday morning, August 1, at 10:30 at the Inwood Canoe Club, where Dyckman Street meets the river—then look to your left. On the first Saturday of the month through September.

     Would you like to learn more about the neighborhood you call home?

     Interpreters from the Morris-Jumel Mansion bring New York history to life in a guided walking tour uncovering Uptown’s centuries-old history. It’s a 90-minute, one-mile mobile experience beginning at the  Mansion and ending at Trinity Cemetery on Broadway and 155th Street.

     Meet up with other WaHi residents, history buffs, and the occasional tourist looking for hidden gems of New York City. 

      $23.18. Resuming Saturday, August 1, at 10:30 and 1:30 starting at the mansion in Lower WaHi, in Roger Morris Park. Through August. No 1:30 tour on August 8 or 29. No tours on August 22. 

     You may know it as the Little Red Lighthouse, but there’s a bit of history to the Uptown landmark.

      Erected in 1880 and moved to its current site in 1921, the Jeffrey’s Hook lighthouse became widely known through the children’s literary landmark The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge. 

     Rediscover the history of this unique structure at an open house. Expect a crowd: You may need to queue for access due capacity limits. 

     Free. Saturday afternoon, August 1, from 1 to 3 in Fort Washington Park; enter the park via the overpass near Plaza Lafayette in Hudson Heights, on 181st Street and Riverside Drive. Entry ends at 2:45.

     The principal bass player of the Washington Heights Chamber Orchestra, Milad Daniari, will be joined by friends for an afternoon of music.

     Make it a night out: pack a picnic and take a blanket. 

     Free. Saturday evening, August 1, at 5 at the Dyckman Farmhouse Museum, in Inwood on Broadway at 204th Street. In case of rain, the concert moves to Our Saviour’s Church of the Atonement in Hudson Heights, on Bennett Avenue at 179th Street.

     Explore old New York—really old New York. This occasional series covers topics back before street cars, when Inwood Valley was still agricultural, and sometimes looks further back. You can find out who lived here before Europeans arrived, and how the land appeared even earlier.

     Cole Thompson, an armchair historian (and real estate broker) presents stories of Inwood’s history in his series on Uptown’s past. Can you imagine the days when  mastodons roamed the hills and meadows or settlers harvested wheat?

     Tuesday night, August 4, at 7:30 at the Inwood Farm (though not at the farm in Inwood) on 218th Street at Indian Road. Often on the first Tuesday of the month.

     Val and Milly fell in love with France at the same time they fell in love with each other and became immediate best friends. Then, they bonded as the only Black students on a study-abroad trip. Now they are in their thirties, each married and with a baby girl on the way. 

     Next thing you know, they’re headed to New York, in Take What You Can, a new novel by Naima Coster.

     She’ll read from the book at this gathering.

     $5. Thursday night, August 6, at 7 at Recirculation, in Lower WaHi on Riverside Drive near 160th Street.

     Enjoy the sounds of the eighteenth annual Stan Michels Jazz Festival, the concert that opens the outdoor jazz season in Uptown parks.

     Headlining the event is Marjorie Eliot and her Ensemble. Celebrated citywide for her legendary Parlor Jazz concerts, Eliot has created a cultural haven for jazz lovers in her apartment. She brings that spirit to the festival every summer.

     Free. Saturday, August 8, from 1 to 4 in Fort Tryon Park on the Stan Michels Promenade. The other jazz festivals are in Roger Morris Park on August 22 and 23, and in Inwood Hill Park on September 20.

     Experience the Met Cloisters’ collection through creative drawing challenges in the galleries with expert teaching artists.

     Materials are provided, but you may bring your own sketchbook. Please note, only pencils are allowed in the galleries. Demonstrations repeat every 30 minutes over two hours. For visitors of all ages. First come, first served.

     Free with museum admission. Saturday afternoon, August 8, from 1 to 3 in the Cloisters. On the second Saturday of the month.

     Volunteer with NYC Parks for Trees Count 2025.

     Guides will provide a 30-minute training session that includes the basics of tree identification and how to measure and assess each tree. Using the Tree Census app, you’ll split up into different zones within the park to start counting trees.

     After completing your first training event, you’re welcome to continue counting trees on your own in smaller parks across the city.

     Registration is required. Registration begins on July 26.

     Free. Sunday afternoon, August 9, from 1 to 3 in J. Hood Wright Park, in Lower WaHi on Fort Washington Avenue at 175th Street.

     When two metro reporters showed how the leader of the free world tried to upend democracy, the president took responsibility and resigned.

     Their story is memorably told in All the President’s Men, the filmed version of the book by Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. The pair uncovered the details of the Watergate scandal that led to Nixon's downfall, screened 52 years to the day he unceremoniously left the White House.

     Starring Dustin Hoffman, Robert Redford, and Jack Warden. Directed by Alan J. Pakula. Written by Carl Bernstein, Bob Woodward, and William Goldman. 

     $12.72. Sunday afternoon, August 9, at 3 at the United Palace, in Lower WaHi on Broadway at 175th Street.

     Join the Urban Park Rangers for a monthly hike exploring Manhattan’s only untouched forest.

     This month’s excursion will focus on trees. Wear comfortable shoes and take a bottle of water on this 90-minute trek.

     Free. Wednesday afternoon, August 12, at 1 in Inwood Hill Park; meet at the Inwood Hill Nature Center, near 218th Street and Indian Road. 

     A creative improvised music series, Uptown Out  features musicians from Upper Manhattan and the Bronx. 

     Space is limited, so save your spot early.

     $10. Thursday night, August 13, at 7 at Recirculation, in Lower WaHi on Riverside Drive near 160th Street. Monthly on the second Thursday. 

     Step into unforgettable surroundings for a theatrical double bill featuring two new pieces by Uptown playwrights.

     Uptown Books, by Adrián Miranda, is a warm and funny musical play set inside a Washington Heights bookstore, where a quirky group of strangers finds connection and unexpected joy among the shelves.

     Your Queen Presents: Petrus, by Edu Díaz, is a darkly comic solo performance in which Queen Catherine de’ Medici reveals the story of Petrus Gonsalvus, the Canary Islander whose extraordinary life inspired Beauty and the Beast.

     $44.52. Friday night, August 14, at 7:30 in the Grand Foyer of the United Palace, in Lower WaHi on Broadway at 175th Street.

     A Man for All Seasons follows the English statesman Sir Thomas More, who defied King Henry VIII after Henry rejected the Roman Catholic Church to divorce and remarry.

     The 1966 film will be screened outdoors and stars Paul Scofield, Orson Welles, Robert Shaw, John Hurt, and Susannah York.

     Space is limited; you must reserve your spot. Take a blanket or lawn chairs. Postponed from July 17 and the smoky skies.

     Free. Friday night, August 14, at 8:30 at the Frances Cabrini Shrine in Hudson Heights, on Fort Washington Avenue just below 190th Street.

     Explore the forest’s fungal networks on this guided trek.

     Mushrooms and other fungi live out of sight in the soil to towering canopies that are hundreds of years old. The Urban Park Rangers will show you how wildlife, plants, and all the micro ecosystems of the forest collaborate to persevere through major climactic change.  

     Wear comfortable shoes and take a bottle of water for this 90-minute excursion.

     Free. Saturday afternoon, August 15, at 1 in Inwood Hill Park; meet at Shorakkopach Rock. 

     Through raw storytelling, a sharp, unapologetic sense of humor, and wisdom, Denise Soler Cox exposes the ten cultural taboos keeping Latina leaders silent and demonstrates how to stop living by rules you never chose.    

     Cox will explain how to find your public voice, how to shed a survivor mentality, how to choose your own healing while reading from her new book, What Will They Say?

     Wednesday night, August 19, at 7 at Recirculartion, in Lower WaHi on Riverside Drive near 160th Street.

     Uptown is known for its love of jazz and jazz festivals. 

     Join Marjorie Elliot on the piano for Jazz at the Mansion, one of the neighborhood’s rites of summer. Musicians from around town and from across the region perform outdoors on the lawn of Manhattan’s oldest standing house.

     Take lawn chairs or a blanket.

     Free. Saturday and Sunday, August 22 and 23, at times to be announced later at the Morris-Jumel Mansion, in Lower WaHi in Roger Morris Park.

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

      The so-called Manhattanhenge effect works Uptown on days different from the rest of the island’s.

      Except for Fort George. To see the sun line up with the streets in Fort George, where the streets are aligned with most of Manhattan, head out on July 12 and 13. Fort George Henge is also on May 28 and 29, and July 12 and 13, the same as Manhattan. 

     Hudson Heights (on 181st Street in the photo), where the street grid is aligned differently from most of the borough, get out on August 26; it’s also on April 18.

     Inwood Henge is on January 23 — the grid there is so katy-wompus that the sun aligns when it is due “south.”

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

     Hudson Heights Henge: Wednesday, August 26, at dawn and dusk.

     Relax with the Riverside Brass Quintet and enjoy a program with music by George Gershwin, Lin-Manuel Miranda, John Batiste, Will Aaronson and more.

     The ensemble aims to redefine contemporary chamber music through novel performances, projects and collaboration. 

     The concert is outdoors, so pack a picnic and take a blanket. 

     Free. Saturday afternoon, August 29, at 2 on Pat’s Lawn in Inwood Hill Park. Rain date: Sunday at 2.

     The Uptown Arts Stroll concluded in June, but the conversation continues.

     As we pause before Labor Day, forty-six Uptown artists gather to answer the question, America, the Beautiful? As you may suspect, there’s no single answer, and many of the artists’ points of view will fall outside the mainstream of America in its 250th year.

     Free. Wednesday evening, September 2, at 6 at the NoMAA Gallery in Fort George, on Broadway between 175th and 176th Streets.

     Few experiences compare with being on the open water in New York City. The rhythm of the waves, the sun on your face, and the exhilaration of slicing through the water all add up to an experience you’ll never forget.    

     The Urban Park Rangers will lead you on canoe adventures embarking from the Harlem River. Participants must be at least 8 years old and must have prior canoeing experience.

     Registration required. Registration opens Monday, August 31.

     Free. Saturday morning, September 12, at 10 in Inwood Hill Park near 218th Street and Indian Road.

     Stroll through the beautiful Heather Garden with the Urban Park Rangers to guide you on a tour of the flowers. You’ll also learn about the park’s history and the birds who visit and call it home.  

     At three acres, this garden is the largest public garden with unrestricted access in New York City and is home to over 500 varieties of plants.

     The tour lasts 90 minutes, so wear comfortable shoes and take a bottle of water.

     Free. Sunday afternoon, September 13, at 1 in Fort Tryon Park; meet at Margaret Corbin Circle, at the terminus of Fort Washington Avenue in Hudson Heights.

     In this third program of the Still Here series, WildLine  celebrates ungovernable bodies, and the ways in which we are still here.

     The concert features fresh perspectives from installation artist Yiseul LeMieux, in collaboration with WildLine’s flute, cello and piano trio of Tessa Brinckman, Chris Gross and David Friend.

     WildLine is a new, project-based chamber music ensemble based in Uptown that imagines.

     Free. Thursday night, September 17, at 7:30 at Our Saviour’s Church of the Atonement, in Hudson Heights on Bennett Avenue at 189th Street.

      This year’s Inwood Jazz Festival includes workshops, a family concert, and jam sessions in Uptown’s northernmost neighborhood.

     It starts with a pre-festival jam session with Daniel Sky on Saturday evening, September 19, from 5 to 7 at Liffy II Bar on Broadway just above Isham Park (near 213th Street). 

     The festival then kicks off with a Senegalese dance workshop featuring Lamine Thiam on Sunday morning, September 20, at 10:30 in Inwood Hill Park near the Nature Center; enter from 218th Street and Indian Road. 

     Main stage performances start at noon and continue until 5. 

     The after-festival jam session features Melvin “Tiger” Vines at 5:30 at Inwood Farm (not to be confused with the farm in Inwood), on 218th Street and Indian Road.

     Honor George Washington and the dinner he held with his staff in the room where it happened. In the photo is the room where Washington slept in the mansion.  

     The meal commemorates our first president and his administration. It also serves as a fund-raiser for the museum, which is undergoing a transformational renovation.

     $260; guests, $295. Thursday evening, September 24, at 6 at Riverside Church, in Morningside Heights on Claremont Avenue at between 120th Street and Seminary Row.

     Take part in the inaugural Sæbø film festival, an outdoor, two-day celebration of live music and short films by emerging and established local filmmakers.

     Like its namesake village on the Norwegian fjords, the festival promises to be quirky. You’ll find a parking lot cleared of cars and transformed into an open-air cinema as the site’s massive brick wall becomes a 50-foot-wide screen.

     Four filmmakers’ work will be showcased.

     Free. Thursday and Friday evenings, September 24 and 25, with music starting at 6 in the parking lot at the corner of Payson Avenue and Dyckman Street. If you’re following GPS, the street address is 1815 Riverside Drive (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints), and the parking lot is to the north.

     A community concert features the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with arrangements by Gilbert Dejean.

     Take your family and meet new friends while enjoying classical music performed by the Inwood Chamber Players.

     A reception with light snacks and beverages follows the performance. Proceeds benefit Good Shepherd School.

     $12.31 to $28.29. Sunday afternoon, September 27, at 2 at the Church of the Good Shepherd, in Inwood on Broadway at Isham Street.

     It’s a classic that’s absolutely worth seeing on the big screen.

     In Sunset Boulevard, a screenwriter develops a dangerous relationship with a faded film star who’s determined to make a triumphant return.

     As Richard Ebert wrote, “In one of the greatest of all film performances, [Gloria] Swanson’s Norma Desmond skates close to the edge of parody; Swanson takes enormous chances with theatrical sneers and swoops and posturings, holding Norma at the edge of madness for most of the picture, before letting her slip over.”

     Starring William Holden, Swanson, and Eric von Stroheim. Directed by Billy Wilder. Are you ready for your close-up?

     $12.72. Sunday afternoon, September 27, at 3 at the United Palace in Lower WaHi, on Broadway at 175th Street.

     In Ted Bushman’s musical Pocket Universe, sixteen-year-old June lives an idyllic life with her father in a picture-perfect suburban town. What she doesn’t know is that her dad is actually a wizard—and that six years ago, he created the town inside a pocket universe to protect her from something terrifying.

      Sit in on a reading of the musical to find out what June findes out, organized by Sæbø Arts, which is building a quirky reputation as a champion of the arts.

      Registering gets you in the room: info@saebo.org.

      Free. Thursday night, October 1, at 7 at , in Inwood at 4700 Broadway (between Dongan Place and Arden Street), Apartment 6F.

      Experience the beloved 1984 classic film Ghostbusters as you never have. At this screening the music will be performed on stage by an orchestra.

     The film will presented on a large HD cinema screen, fully synced to a live performance of Academy Award-winning composer Elmer Berstein’s score.

     $53.76 to $80.64. Saturday night, October 17, at 8 at the United Palace, in Lower WaHi on Broadway at 175th Street.

     It’s time to get back to standard time and stop saving daylight.

     This is when we gain an hour, so set your clocks and watches back an hour—unless they’re bluetoothed, Wi-Fi’ed, ethernetted or otherwise connected to the cloud—and get ready for brighter mornings.

     Sunday morning, November 1, at 2.

     Spend some time on Thanksgiving to remind yourself of the Lenape people and the blessings of their land we now call home.

     Shorakopoch Rock is fabled to be the spot where the Lenape traded the island to Peter Minuit for goods worth 60 Dutch guilders. In pre-pandemic years, a short ceremony honored inhabitants’ duty to Mother Earth and responsibility to the forest, the river, and each other.

     Did you know that the location is in Manhattan’s only untouched forest? The Shorakopoch Preserve was inducted into the Old-Growth Forest Network last year.

     At Shorakopoch Rock in Inwood Hill Park. From the intersection of 214th Street and Indian Road, follow the path that runs along the water; the boulder is on the far side of a large, open field.

    You’ve had plenty of turkey and too much pie, so now’s the time to burn some calories.
     On this Shorewalkers trek, you’ll start at the southern tip of Manhattan, walk the Hudson River Greenway, and end in Fort Washington Park at the Little Red Lighthouse.

     Sign up here. Dress for the weather, take a snack, and wear comfortable shoes.

     Saturday morning, November 28, at a time and meet-up spot shared with the participants.

     Start 2025 by stretching your legs and your expectations.

     The Shorewalkers’ Happy New Year’s Day Hike starts in Inwood Hill Park and from there strolls along the east side, taking you  under the three great bridges that span the Harlem River in High Bridge Park.

     Dress for the weather, wear comfortable shoes, pack some water and take a snack.

     Friday morning, January 1, at a time and an Uptown meet-up spot shared with participants.

     Join the Shorewalkers on a hike to Bear Mountain.

     On this Memorial Day trek, you’ll take the first of two parts of the walk, this one starting at Batter Park and ending on the other side of the George Washington Bridge.

     The hike continues on Independence Day, when it starts at the GWB in Fort Lee, descends 400 steps, and continues north along the Palisades to your destination.

     Registration info will come in the spring.

     Monday morning, May 31, at a place and time shared with registrants.

     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 Shorakkopoch (“edge of the water”).

     The 2026 celebration was led by Louis Mofsie and the Thunderbird American Indian Dancers with Host Drums Heyna Second Sons. The Mohawk Elder Tom Porter gave the opening Thanksgiving Address and ceremonial Tree of Peace Planting.
     Free. Usually on the first Sunday from 11 to 6 in Inwood Hill Park at Indian Road and 218th Street.