Places & experiences
The Short List: What's Happening in NYC This Weekend (Nov 5–8, 2026)
The comedy festival starts Friday, Radio City opens its longest run ever, and the pumpkins come down on Sunday.
No sponsored results. No paid placements. No ads. Ever.
The city exhales this weekend. The marathon is behind us, the holiday machinery has not started, and for about ten days New York belongs to the people who live in it.
Lola’s Picks
New York Comedy Festival
Sunday, November 8 · 7:30 p.m. · Beacon Theatre
Opening weekend begins Friday, November 6. My pick for a substantial Sunday-night outing: Marc Maron with New York Comedy Festival.
Choose this for an evening built around stand-up rather than a multi-stop night out. Open the event page to check current ticket listings.
Ask Lola: “Dinner near the Beacon Theater Sunday night after the festival.”
Playback: The Brooklyn Watch Party
Friday-Saturday, November 6-7 · BAM
The inaugural festival brings together film, music, and Brooklyn culture, with Spike Lee among its hosts.
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Friday, 7 p.m.: Crooklyn, with opening-night performances and a cast reunion.
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Saturday, 11 a.m.–5 p.m.: A free street party outside BAM Rose Cinemas, with DJs, food, double dutch, and local artists.
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Saturday also includes repertory screenings, including The Battle of Algiers and City of God.
My strongest free pick is Saturday’s street party. Official program.
Ask Lola: “Dinner for after the watch party in Brooklyn.”
COLLECTIBLE New York
Friday-Sunday, November 6-8 · 210 East 86th Street
A contemporary collectible-design fair bringing galleries and studios into a former movie theater. Go for experimental furniture, objects, and interiors inspiration, admiring a chair is considerably cheaper than developing an attachment.
Public hours: Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m.–7 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m. Thursday is invitation-only programming.
Ask Lola: “Lunch near the fair on the Upper East Side on Saturday.”
Michelle Branch
Thursday, November 5 · 8 p.m. · Beacon Theatre
The early-2000s nostalgia choice: her Everywhere and Back Again tour, with Josie Edwards opening. A good way to start the long weekend if you want a concert rather than theater. Check current listings on the event page.
Ask Lola: “Early dinner before the show near the Beacon Theatre on Thursday.”
Christmas Spectacular Starring The Radio City Rockettes
Saturday, November 7 · 11 a.m. · Radio City Music Hall
For anyone ready to surrender to the holiday season before Thanksgiving has had legal representation. The precision dancing and full-scale spectacle make this the classic family or visiting-friends choice. Check current ticket listings on the event page.
Ask Lola: “Lunch after the show in midtown on Saturday.”
The Outsiders - New York
Friday, November 6 · 7 p.m. · Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre
The Broadway direction if you’d rather have a dramatic musical than seasonal spectacle. This is an ongoing production, not a one-weekend event. Open its page for current listings.
Ask Lola: “Dinner before the show near the Theatre on Friday.”
ScentXplore
Thursday-Saturday, November 5-7 · 9 a.m.-6 p.m. daily · Center 415, 415 Fifth Avenue
A niche-fragrance gathering featuring independent houses, perfumers, talks, and masterclasses. Worth considering if fragrance is a genuine interest; less compelling as a casual substitute for a museum afternoon.
Ask Lola: “Dinner after the fragrance gathering in Midtown later this week.”
The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show
Saturday, November 7 · DR2 Theatre · 11:30 a.m.
The option to consider with younger children, rather than asking them to sit through an adult-length Broadway evening. Check current listings on the event page.
Ask Lola: “A fun kid-friendly lunch near the Theatre on Saturday.”
Other Options
Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze
Van Cortlandt Manor, Croton-on-Hudson · Closes Sun 8 · Timed tickets
Thousands of hand-carved pumpkins lit along a riverside trail, an hour up the Hudson Line. Final weekend.
Take a Friday slot rather than Saturday. The weekend timed entries are a crush, and the last train back is earlier than you think, so check it before you book dinner up there.
Ask Lola: “A hotel near Van Cortlandt Manor for Friday night.”
Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses
Brooklyn Museum, Prospect Heights · Through Dec 6 · Museum admission
The Dutch couturier’s North American retrospective, 140-plus pieces plus the multimedia installations.
Weekday afternoon, and go to the top floor first. Everyone starts at the bottom and the rooms fill in sequence, so working backwards gets you an hour of near-empty galleries. 2 or 3 to Eastern Parkway-Brooklyn Museum, which puts you at the door.
Ask Lola: “Lunch on Vanderbilt Avenue on Saturday near the Brooklyn Museum.”
Unbound at Brooklyn Public Library
Central Library, Grand Army Plaza · Through Dec 27 · Free
Christopher Myers has filled the Central Library with towering tapestries and stained glass.
Free, largely undiscovered, and inside the best piece of civic architecture in Brooklyn. Weekday afternoon and you will have it nearly to yourself. It is a ten-minute walk from the Brooklyn Museum, so the two make an afternoon.
Ask Lola: “A coffee near the Grand Army Plaza.”
Armstrong in Ghana
Louis Armstrong House Museum, Corona · Open now · $10, or $20 with the house tour
A new oral history marking seventy years since Satchmo’s tour to Accra. The 7 to 103 St-Corona Plaza, then six minutes north.
Pay the extra ten for the house. It is his actual home on an ordinary Queens block, kept close to how he left it, and it is the most affecting small museum in the five boroughs. Book ahead, because the house tour caps at a small group.
Ask Lola: “Lunch in Jackson Heights on Saturday near the museum.”
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