Explore Manhattan’s Harlem, from neighborhood favorites to unique curated events. Start with the best-known things to do, then check out "What's happening" for upcoming limited events in Harlem.
These special events are sourced from the web and social media, then carefully curated based on cool and unique events you might enjoy doing in Harlem.
We update this page on a daily basis, so be sure to bookmark us and return for fresh events.
Explore Harlem
144 W 125th St
The Studio Museum in Harlem
Artists of African descent, working in Harlem and around the world, are the focus of The Studio Museum in Harlem. You’ll encounter their work through changing exhibitions in the museum’s new building, which opened in November 2025. Its collection spans painting, sculpture and photography, with holdings by Faith Ringgold, Al Loving, Nina Chanel Abney and Mavis Pusey. The artist residency program also supports artists making new work, alongside the museum’s collecting and exhibitions.
253 W 125th St, New York, NY 10027
Apollo Theater
The Apollo Theater has presented Black artists since 1934, and its relit marquee gives you a landmark to see farther west on 125th Street. The historic auditorium is closed for renovation; the exterior is the stop here for now. The marquee was illuminated again in June 2026, while the institution’s performances continue at Apollo Stages at The Victoria.
515 Malcolm X Blvd
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
Langston Hughes’s words become part of the floor beneath you at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, north of the 125th Street stops. In the lobby, Houston Conwill’s Rivers cosmogram incorporates river names and Hughes’s poem “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” into a circular design. The work memorializes Hughes and Arturo Schomburg, and some of Hughes’s ashes rest beneath its center.
148 W 133rd St
Bill’s Place
Harlem-born saxophonist Bill Saxton leads the Harlem All-Stars at Bill’s Place, where you can hear straight-ahead jazz in a small brownstone room on historic Swing Street. Saxton’s career includes playing with Frank Foster, Clark Terry and Charles Tolliver. Here, he’s both the musician leading the band and the owner sustaining a room dedicated to Harlem jazz.
2271 Adam Clayton Powell Jr Blvd
Shrine
Musicians and music lovers founded Shrine as an independent venue for bands and artists, and you can hear that breadth in its programming. Jazz quartets, rock, blues, funk and Brazilian rhythms appear across its bills, alongside jazz improvisation and Afrofusion DJ sets. Several acts can share an evening, so the music may change substantially between performances.
414 W 141st St
Hamilton Grange National Memorial
Alexander Hamilton and his daughter Angelica shared music at the early pianoforte in the parlor of Hamilton Grange National Memorial. You can see that instrument as part of a visit to the restored rooms of his country house, completed in 1802. Farther north in Hamilton Heights, the house offers a separate extension to the central Harlem stops, with family music and entertaining among the details of Hamilton’s domestic life.
What's happening in Harlem
Find upcoming street fairs, performances and other unique events in Harlem.
21 things worth doing in the next 7 days · Friday, October 16th – Thursday, October 22nd
You come for a show at the Harlem theater that has presented Black artists since 1934, including Amateur Night.
4.6★ from 8,345 Google reviews
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Open any day
Museum of the City of New York
local history museum · Harlem
Two exhibitions are running: "Another Wonderland," a restored New Deal-era mural cycle painted for the children's ward at Gouverneur Hospital, in which Lewis Carroll's Alice characters wander through 1930s New York, and "The Occupied City," which fills the third floor with Revolutionary-era New York.
4.5★ from 6,391 Google reviews
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Open any day
Shrine
live music venue · Harlem
A combined arts and performance space.
4.5★ from 2,030 Google reviews
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Open any day
Hamilton Grange National Memorial
museum · Harlem
The Grange is the country house Alexander Hamilton commissioned in 1800, now standing in St.
4.5★ from 992 Google reviews
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Open any day
El Museo del Barrio
modern art museum · Harlem
The collection here covers Latino culture across the Americas, ranging from pre-Columbian work through to contemporary pieces.
4.4★ from 966 Google reviews
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Open any day
Hex & Company
cafe · Harlem · $10–20
A cafe built around a library of several hundred board and card games you can play while you're there.
4.7★ from 886 Google reviews
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Open any dayFree
Book Culture
book store · Harlem
An independent bookshop stocking best-sellers, literary fiction, art books, academic titles and remaindered stock.
4.7★ from 532 Google reviews
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Open any day
The Studio Museum in Harlem
art museum · Harlem
A museum of Black art in Harlem, with rotating exhibitions — currently "From Now: A Collection in Context", "Fade", and "Through Motion and Repose: Expanding the Walls".
4.6★ from 470 Google reviews
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Open any dayFree
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture - New York Public Library
public library · Harlem
A research library on Harlem's 135th Street and Malcolm X Boulevard that a visitor can walk into without an appointment.
4.6★ from 413 Google reviews
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Open any day
Bill's Place
jazz club · Harlem
A tiny, stripped-back jazz room where established players perform.
4.8★ from 402 Google reviews
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Open any day
Riverbank State Park Roller skating
ice skating rink · Harlem
Roller skating in three-hour sessions with a DJ playing.
4.3★ from 354 Google reviews
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Open any day
Comedy In Harlem
comedy club · Harlem
A ticketed comedy club running stand-up shows, an open mic, a comics-compete-for-cash night and R&B karaoke.
4.7★ from 308 Google reviews
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Open any day
VITAL Climbing Gym - Upper East
rock climbing gym · Harlem
This is a climbing gym you can visit on a day pass rather than a membership, with climbing shoes and chalk bags available to rent on site.
4.6★ from 272 Google reviews
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Open any day
VITAL Climbing Gym - West Harlem
rock climbing gym · Harlem
A climbing gym on Broadway that takes single-visit day passes as well as members, with climbing shoes, chalk bags and yoga mats available to rent.
4.7★ from 268 Google reviews
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Open any day
Movement Harlem
rock climbing gym · Harlem
A 16,000 square foot bouldering-only gym across from the Apollo Theater, with hundreds of climbs across a range of wall angles in an open-floor layout — bouldering here means climbs of roughly 15 feet with no ropes.
4.7★ from 267 Google reviews
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Open any dayFree
Sister's Uptown Bookstore
book store · Harlem
A Black-owned bookstore and cultural centre on the border of Harlem and Washington Heights, open since 2000, that carries Black literature alongside work by local authors and artists.
4.8★ from 267 Google reviews
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Open any day
Saint Nicholas Russian Orthodox Cathedral
orthodox church · Harlem
4.8★ from 262 Google reviews
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Open any dayFree
Revolution Books
book store · Harlem
Browse a stock that runs from literature, history and science to philosophy and revolutionary theory, including a section devoted to Black people in the US — radical classics like George Jackson next to newer fiction — shelves of Latin American fiction, and what the store bills as the best James Baldwin collection in NYC.
4.3★ from 246 Google reviews
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Open any day
Marjorie Eliot's Parlor Entertainment Harlem
jazz club · Harlem · $1–10
Marjorie Eliot & Friends have played free concerts every Sunday since 1993 at 555 Edgecombe Ave in Sugar Hill.
4.9★ from 241 Google reviews
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Open any day
Club Deportivo
club · Harlem
4.4★ from 175 Google reviews
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Open any dayFree
Trinity Church Cemetery and Mausoleum
cemetery · Harlem
You walk the grounds of a historic uptown cemetery near the border of Hamilton Heights and Washington Heights, looking for the graves of well-known New Yorkers — the Astor family, the ornithologist John James Audubon, businesswoman Eliza Jumel, and Mayor Edward I.
4.6★ from 99 Google reviews
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Open any day
Riverside Park Tennis Courts
tennis court · Harlem
There are two separate court groups in Riverside Park: ten outdoor clay courts at Riverside Drive and W.
4.1★ from 65 Google reviews
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Open any day
Painting Lounge - Harlem Studio
art school · Harlem
You pick a class from the monthly calendar and paint the specific picture listed for that session, with an instructor talking the room through it step by step.
4.8★ from 52 Google reviews
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Open any day
Urban Crawls LLC
sightseeing tour agency · Harlem
5★ from 42 Google reviews
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Open any day
Magician Ryan Kane
magician · Harlem
A professional entertainer whose act combines magic with comedy.
5★ from 36 Google reviews
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Open any day
Houdini House
historical landmark · Harlem
4.9★ from 10 Google reviews
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Neighborhood FAQs
Where can I have a soul-food meal in Harlem?
For a soul-food meal, choose between a longtime Harlem restaurant known for fried chicken and collard greens and a menu with unusual waffle pairings.
Sylvia's Restaurant has served Harlem since Sylvia Woods opened it on Lenox Avenue in 1962. Fried chicken and collard greens remain central to its story.
Melba's pairs Southern fried chicken or country catfish with eggnog waffles. Its menu also includes low-country collard greens, mac and cheese, and candied yams honoring Harlem-born A$AP Yams.
Which independent bookshops can I explore in and around Harlem?
You can browse Black literature and local authors at Sister’s Uptown or visit Revolution Books on Lenox Avenue.
Sister's Uptown Bookstore and Cultural Center sits on the Harlem and Washington Heights border. It carries work by local writers and artists and also hosts book clubs, workshops, and readings.
Revolution Books is on Lenox Avenue at 132nd Street. Its afternoon hours run from 2–7pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays through Sundays, while Sister’s Uptown opens Tuesday–Saturday, noon–6pm.
What can families enjoy in Harlem?
Children can choose playground time or explore Alexander Hamilton’s home through Junior Ranger activities.
Marcus Garvey Park playgrounds include a toddler area and a children’s playground. Both have swings, slides, and climbing structures, so families can choose the play area suited to their children.
