60 HOURS IN GAY NEW YORK
The 60by80 gay guide to an extended weekend in New York City with Club, Queen and King-sized recommendations on what to see and do, and where to eat, shop and go out.
Friday afternoon.
CLUB-SIZED
Start your weekend by stretching your limbs as well as your mind at a Hot Nude Yoga session. Renourish at Danny Meyer's Shake Shack in nearby Madison Square Park or at the Farmer's Market at Union Square. Oh yes, you've arrived.
QUEEN-SIZED
Find one of NYC's best-kept secrets, Burger Joint, hidden behind a velvet curtain for a bite. Plenty of reasons to pay a visit the Museum of Arts & Design afterwards, not least the Central Park views and the building's architecture.
KING-SIZED
Award-winning cuisine before seeking out Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans. Get a headstart on your sightseeing while lunching at The Modern where Gabriel Kreuther's dining room overlooks the MoMA’s Sculpture Garden.
Friday evening.
CLUB-SIZED
Go for Mexican at Chelsea classic Rocking Horse Café, and if you fall off the barstool because of the gigantic frozen margaritas or the endless Eighth Avenue parade of chicos muy guapos – consider it a good night so far.
QUEEN-SIZED
Set up by the owner of West Village cocktail haven Employees Only and with its super late opening hours and a hearty Italian menu, the East Side Social Club has become the Midtown destination of choice for hungry scenesters.
KING-SIZED
The retro menu stuff includes oysters but who’s concentrating on their plates when there’s star-spotting to be done? The seating chart at Monkey Bar is overseen by Vanity Fair's Graydon Carter himself, and it shows.
MORE RESTAURANT REVIEWS AND RECOMMENDATIONS IN OUR NYC RESTAURANT GUIDE
Friday night.
CLUB-SIZED
Explore Chelsea. Strut your pecs, beam your whitened teeth and yank up the attitude, and you’ll feel right at home at G Lounge and end-of-the-nighter Splash. Barracuda, XES or even The Eagle offer more relaxed alternatives.
QUEEN-SIZED
With rents increasing in Chelsea, the boys have moved further uptown, too. Hell's Kitchen offers a much more relaxed vibe - go bar hopping at local faves like Ritz Bar & Lounge, Therapy and Barrage.
KING-SIZED
The Gramercy Park Hotel’s haute bohemian heritage was been honored and renewed by Ian Schrager's $210-million renovation. Gorgeous people galore in the Rose and Jade bars and rooftop terrace.
MORE SUGGESTIONS FOR GOING OUT IN OUR NYC GAY NIGHTLIFE SECTION
Saturday morning.
CLUB-SIZED
Everything’s bigger in America, and Chelsea Piers is no exception; this facility is huge. Swim, golf, climb or simply buff up, then refuel at the nearby Hotel Jane outpost of NoLita's legendary Café Gitane.
QUEEN-SIZED
Work up an appetite on the railroad track that is The High Line, the city's newest and coolest park, before hitting NYC classic Pastis for brunch and the hot designer shops of the Meatpacking District.
KING-SIZED
Luxury shopping comes no better than Upper Madison Avenue, en route to the Guggenheim Museum - conveniently housing The Wright, the town's newest and best-looking lunch restaurant.
Saturday afternoon.
CLUB-SIZED
The art is world class, but on weekends go both to see and be seen at the Chelsea galleries like Daniel Reich or Barbara Gladstone. If it gets too stuffy, pop out and see the local talent in Hudson River Park - best around Perry Street.
QUEEN-SIZED
More has been written about the exterior of the SAANA-designed seven-story New Museum than anything you might find inside, but it makes a perfect stop before exploring Orchard Street's hip galleries and the rest of the Lower East Side.
KING-SIZED
Make time for a matinee performance at America’s premier performing arts venue, the Lincoln Center, before working your way down Fifth Avenue, from Barneys, Bergdorf's, Prada and Fendi, down to Saks.
Saturday evening.
CLUB-SIZED
The atmosphere is crisp and clean (men included) at 44 & X, the west side eatery serving American classics to local Hell’s Kitchen boys and theatre queens.
QUEEN-SIZED
Tasty food at Yerba Buena and tastier cocktails inspired by the fresh Latin flavors. Relax in pre-Castro tropical chic as your mixologist prepares you a carefully researched classic cocktail. Muy buena.
KING-SIZED
Exceptional views of Central Park and a constantly changing menu of food as art. From the food to the service to the ambience, Thomas Keller's Per Se is considered by many to be the best restaurant in the city.
MORE RECOMMENDATIONS FOR EATING OUT IN OUR NEW YORK RESTAURANT SECTION
Saturday night.
CLUB-SIZED
Populated by plenty of hot boys, trannies, twinkies, hipsters and go-go dancers, forget Studio 54 – these days gay New Yorkers are all over Saturdays at Club 57. With Mr Black closed, this is the weekend option.
QUEEN-SIZED
Less abs and eyebrow waxing, more scruff and tattoos, the East Village is a playground for twinks and anybody who likes it a bit rough around the edges. Start at dives like Easternbloc, then progress to The Cock or The Urge.
KING-SIZED
Hotel bars are back in vogue in the Big Apple, and none is creating more buzz at the moment than the newly opened Provocateur at the Gansevoort. Make reservations for access into the swanky ground floor bar and garden.
Sunday day.
CLUB-SIZED
With patio seating hard to come by in Chelsea, Viceroy may just have the best outdoor brunch space. Then go get some more fresh air in Central Park with its overzealous joggers and suicidal rollerbladers. Don't get too fresh at The Ramble.
QUEEN-SIZED
Brunch at Delicatessen may be more may be more about the scene of models and modelizers than the food. But who says you can’t have both before engaging in a bit of retail therapy in SoHo, NoHo and NoLita.
KING-SIZED
Don't deny yourself a luxe brunch experience at the Mandarin's 35th floor Asiate restaurant even if the room rates are too steep. Then go salsa at a matinee show of 2008 Best Musical Tony Award winner In The Heights.
Sunday evening.
CLUB-SIZED
Quench a few cocktails, or even to sober up in style at the 24-hour Chelsea favourite, Cafeteria, where traditional American comfort food is served to those wanting to see or to be seen.
QUEEN-SIZED
One of Gotham’s most stylish dining destinations. At La Esquina you’re in on the secret. Head to the “Employees Only” door in the diner car and down the stairs to the dark and sexy restaurant hidden in the basement.
KING-SIZED
Star chef Keith McNally has hit the nail on the head, yet again, with the Minetta Tavern, revamping this 1930’s Greenwich Village dinosaur into a cool, yet still old-school modern speakeasy.
Sunday night.
CLUB-SIZED
Be a Superhiro at the Maritime's spectacular Kill Bill-chic ballroom. Work or no work in the morning, all the hottest boys come to get their drink on at Cuckoo Club at Hiro before the week begins.
QUEEN-SIZED
The kind of club scene you expect from NYC but rarely find. Featuring a wild crowd of clubland characters and fashion freaks, Vandam is an ‘anything goes’ kind of old school vibe played out to the sounds of 80s and 90s classics.
KING-SIZED
Top Standard: Though now called Top of The Standard, Boom Boom Room at the Standard Hotel still sits on top of the NYC bar scene. But make door arrangements or you'll stay firmly at the bottom.
FIND RECOMMENDATIONS ON WHERE TO STAY IN NEW YORK IN OUR HOTELS SECTION
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