NYC for Free

New York City has a bad budget rep. What with astronomical rents, hundred-dollar dinners, and Broadway show tickets that cost what some people earn in a week, it's small wonder people associate New York with wallet drain. But associations can change. There's a lot to do and enjoy in New York for free.

Christopher Sulavik did the legwork to make the city's wealth of freebies accessible to all, listing more than 600 items in 41 categories. In NYC for Free he tells when the Guggenheim Museum hosts "Pay What You Wish Night," when the Whitney waives its entrance fee, and lists a bunch of lesser-known museums that don't charge at all, such as the Jewish Museum, the American Numismatic Society, the Dyckman Farmhouse Museum, and the Kurdish Library and Museum. He lists venues for free films, free dance performances, free comedy clubs, free music (classical, jazz, rock, and folk), free health services, free meditation, free lectures, and free literary events. He covers free children's entertainment centers (in the form of environmental centers, castles, museums, and day care), free adult entertainment (in the form of piano bars without cover charges, and happy hours with tons of gratis appetizers), and loads of public places to walk and hang out, from beaches and parks to gardens and cemeteries.

It's good fun to clink champagne flutes at the Ritz, but it's also nice to have the option of soaking up some of New York's energy and culture without losing one's shirt in the process.--Stephanie Gold