Hello New York!
Winter Storm Fern has finally passed and MTA is back to normal operations, though temperatures remain in the low 20s. Mayor Mamdani declared today a regular school day. First Lady Melania Trump rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange this morning. The Knicks face the Toronto Raptors at Madison Square Garden tonight at 7:30pm. NYC Restaurant Week continues through February 12 with 600+ participating restaurants offering prix-fixe menus at 30, 45, and 60 dollars.
Let’s get to it.
– Sofia Kurd.
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New York Trivia
Reply to this email with your response. No cheating!
Which U.S. state capital is geographically closest to New York City?
A) Albany, NY
B) Hartford, CT
C) Trenton, NJ
D) Harrisburg, PA
Best Events [Jan 28-30]
We Have Fun: A Stand-Up Show Wed, Jan 28 | 7:30 PM | Young Ethel's (South Slope, Brooklyn) | Free admission | Hosts Zach Sims and Dan Wilbur team up to bring the fun-ny with stand-up by Jill Weiner, Emily Walsh, Christian Conti, Kat Moore, and Shivani Davé.
Free Gnocchi Day Thurs, Jan 29 | 3 PM | Gnocchi on 9th (Kips Bay) | Free gnocchi alla vodka with burrata for first 200 guests | Gnocchi on 9th celebrates national gnocchi day. $6 after if you show them this Instagram post.
The Moth StorySlam Wed, Jan 28 | 8 PM | The Bell House (Gowanus) | The popular community-based open mic storytelling competition returns. Tonight's theme: "Rush." Anyone can share a five-minute tale based on the evening's theme to an attentive audience.
La Festa del Barolo: A Taste of Monforte d'Alba Wed, Jan 28 | 6:30 PM | Locanda Verde | $$$$ First held in 2011, La Festa del Barolo brings together top Barolo producers, passionate wine lovers from around the world, and dozens of renowned sommeliers for an unforgettable week of events celebrating one of the world’s greatest wines. A rare opportunity to taste some of Barolo’s most renowned producers in one evening.
Pat Oleszko: Fool Disclosure Thurs, Jan 29 | 6 PM | SculptureCenter (LIC) | Free admission | The first NYC solo exhibition in over 35 years of Pat Oleszko. The show fills both floors of the space with dozens of large-scale inflatable works, costumes, films, and more. Closed Tuesdays & Wednesdays.
Not In My Backyard! A Political Comedy Roundtable Thurs, Jan 29 | 7 PM | UCB East Village | $15 | A panel of opinionated NYC comedians, journalists, and politicians debate the local issues causing drama in your neighborhood's Facebook group. Hosted by Cody Lindquist (Colbert) and Charlie Todd (Improv Everywhere. Each show includes a pop quiz on NYC knowledge. Monthly recurring.
Ice Theatre of New York: 2025-26 City Skate Pop-Up Performances Thurs, Jan 29 | 6:15 PM | Wollman Rink (Central Park) | Free admission | Ice Theatre of New York's annual ice dance performance series returns to public outdoor skating rinks for the fall-winter season.
Ditmas Lit Wed, Jan 28 | 8 PM | Urbane Arts Club (Ditmas Park) | Free admission | A diverse range of fiction writers, storytellers, poets, and essayists share their work. Tonight features Simona Blat (Élan Vital), Caroline Hagood (Weird Girls: Writing the Art Monster), Francisco Márquez (Best American Poetry), Keith Newton (Revolutions Among Us), and guest host Ben Lasman.
Hidden Gems
Bibliotheque — Literary Lounge 54 Mercer St, SoHo | Sun-Thu 10am-10pm, Fri-Sat 10am-11pm | A gathering space for bookworms and wine lovers. Bien Cuit pastries, cheese and charcuterie boards, wine. Art book talks and events. Quiet enough to read, social enough to meet people. The kind of place that feels like a secret.
Aperitivo by Carta 101 West 10th St, West Village | Day-to-night cafe and wine bar from the Carta Wine Bar team. Paloma Bakery coffee and pastries by morning, Mediterranean mains and natural wines by evening. Lobster manchego mac and cheese is the standout. Intimate, understated, exactly what you want.
7 Spring — Backgammon Café 7 Spring St, Nolita | Daily 10am-7pm | NYC's first-ever backgammon café. Burgundy marble, dark oak, custom boards with built-in drawers and adjustable lights. Walk-ins welcome to rent boards and order coffee. Members-only lounge in back
Local News
1. NYC Schools Successfully Execute First Remote Learning Day in Two Years Roughly 375,000 students logged in Monday for remote classes with 80% attendance. Mayor Mamdani and Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels joined virtual classrooms. City officials called the rollout smooth despite minor Google Classroom issues.
2. Amtrak Restores Full NYC-to-Albany Service After Metro-North Plan Scrapped Commuters get a win: Amtrak announced it will restore full service on the NYC-to-Albany route after a proposed Metro-North plan was abandoned. The move improves transit options for the Hudson Valley corridor.
3. Mayor Mamdani Names New Commissioners for Probation, Administrative Services, Environmental Protection The newly elected mayor continues building his administration with strategic appointments across key city agencies. The moves signal his priorities for the first months in office.
4. NYC Winter Outing Returns with 2-for-1 Deals at 850+ Businesses The citywide promotion combines Restaurant Week, Broadway Week, Must-See Week, and Hotel Week. 2-for-1 Broadway tickets, museum admission, and 25% off hotels at 150+ properties through February 12.
5. Melania Trump Rings NYSE Opening Bell; First Lady Visits New York First Lady Melania Trump rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday to promote her documentary, “Melania,” premiering Thursday at the Kennedy Center and opening in theaters Friday. The film, directed by Brett Ratner, offers unprecedented access to the 20 days leading up to President Trump’s second inauguration.
6. Mamdani Announces $10 Billion Budget Deficit; Pushes for Tax Hike Mayor Zohran Mamdani warned of a more than $10 billion projected budget deficit in the coming year and plans to push state lawmakers to increase taxes on high-income New Yorkers and corporations. “We must raise taxes on the wealthiest few in New York City so that we can invest in the many,” Mamdani said in an interview Tuesday. Gov. Hochul has said she opposes income-tax hikes.
7. Dozens Arrested After Anti-ICE Sit-In at Tribeca Hilton More than 100 demonstrators occupied the lobby of a Tribeca hotel Tuesday evening, protesting the hotel’s alleged housing of federal immigration agents. Wearing shirts reading “Hilton Houses ICE,” protestors chanted for 45 minutes before NYPD ordered dispersal. At least 66 people were arrested and loaded onto buses. It remains unclear whether ICE agents were actually staying at the hotel. The protest followed a similar action in Minneapolis on Sunday.
NYC Polls
Share your voice and opinions on local NYC and national policies. Each month, we randomly pick one of all participants to win a prize. Feb 2026: $25 gift card.
New Yorkers In History
Most people know Andy Warhol for the soup cans and the celebrity portraits, but fewer know how quietly strange his day-to-day New York life actually was. For years, he kept dozens of small tape recorders around his apartment and studio, capturing casual conversations, phone calls, and background noise. He called it his “electronic diary,” and he treated the recordings as just as real and important as his paintings. Friends joked that talking to him meant talking to the tape first.
Another lesser-known piece of Warhol’s New York story: his NYC “time capsules.” Whenever his studio got too cluttered, he swept everything on his desk—notes, receipts, ticket stubs, sketches, newspapers—into a cardboard box, sealed it, dated it, and started fresh. He did this for twenty years, leaving behind more than 600 boxes. Together, they form one of the strangest accidental portraits of New York life ever assembled: a city captured through the tiny scraps people normally throw away.
Good Reads
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