Max’s Kansas City, FOOD, the Mudd Club, the Odeon—these eateries and watering holes are as much a part of New York art history as the artists who slid into their booths. Fast forward to 2026, and easy and inexpensive gathering places are harder to come by. But artists still rely on that mythical third space between the studio and bed to refill their cups. As spring brings New Yorkers out of their domestic cocoons, we surveyed 25 artists to see where they’re spending time these days. If you follow their lead, you’ll end up anywhere from a cop bar to a “Jesus-centered, Brooklyn-rooted” church.
Manhattan
“Lately, I’ve noticed that the Rose Reading Room in the New York Public Library’s main branch is the premier place for running into other New York transsexuals. Every time I go, I find myself exchanging cheek kisses with another beautiful trans woman, always in the midst of her studies and sporting a glamorous but sensible look. I visit for the pursuit of knowledge and the public treasure that is the library, obviously; I stay for the dolls.” — Coco Klockner
“15 Orient. I’ve been in New Jersey, and I drive into the city for 15 Orient. The space is so beautiful, and it lends itself to different crowds. I saw a play there by Sam Anderson and it rocked. Ben Morgan Cleveland [15 Orient’s current director] is doing a great job and has a fantastic job.” — Jamian Juliano-Villani
“Noodle Village on Mott Street. It’s where I take my studio visits when my apartment won’t do. Always busy, unfussy, and the staff know me well enough to ask after my family. The Cantonese comfort food is my litmus test, and I always get a booth in the back.”— Tiffany Sia
“I’ve been liking 97 Happy KTV Inc on Bowery lately. It’s a new karaoke spot that I’m happy to blow up because I want them to have more business. They’re the cheapest karaoke rooms in town and the staff is nice. There’s also a great alcohol deal where the money you spend on alcohol goes towards the room. You can also play YouTube on the console. The scene is whoever you bring into your private room.” — Amanda Ba
“My sister Qween Jean runs Black Trans Liberation Kitchen at Judson Memorial Church off of Washington Square Park. Every Wednesday late afternoon/evening they host vogue sessions with guest teachers and also serve food to the community. If you want to donate or volunteer or are a trans person searching for community, this is the place.” — Jade Guanaro Kuriki-Olivo
“Lately I’ve been spending a lot of time at Bus Stop Cafe in the West Village. It’s one of those rare New York spots that truly holds the whole day—breakfast through late-night drinks—with a steady, unpretentious rhythm. You can post up with a coffee and a book for hours or drift into rounds of beers with friends as the day turns over. The staff feel like real New Yorkers, and the clientele are a mix of regulars and artists who seem to emerge from their apartments and settle into a corner with a novella or a conversation. Sitting outside almost guarantees you’ll run into someone on their way to or from a show. It’s become a kind of informal meeting ground—easy, porous, and always alive.” — Jonathan González
“Your friend’s car going up and down the West Side (at night). The only ‘scene’ here would be traffic. Toggling between singing your heart out to having heart-to-hearts. For best results, play ‘Wednesday Night Interlude’ by PARTYNEXTDOOR… Best way to mitigate hump day is to lean into it.” — Louis Osmosis
“On nice days (and on many of my birthdays), we go to the obelisk in Central Park because it’s 3,476 years old.” — Rachel Rossin
“The Ear Inn because you can draw on the tables and I feel like I’m in a ship! I started going there during grad school at Hunter with friends to recover from long days and crits—burgers and drinks! Necessary tools!” — Hannah Beerman
“I’m often at Corner Bar, but more often than anything else people just come over to my place, all the time! I make good cocktails and they keep coming back.” — Ambera Wellmann
“My friends and I spend most of our time around Ludlow and Rivington. Beauty & Essex, Hair of the Dog, Pianos, Kind Regards, The Hairy Duke, Apartment 5, etc. Honestly I’d recommend everyone just stick to that neighborhood.” — Connor Marie Stankard
“l like lurking around MacDougal Street meeting poets and clowns for mediocre cappuccino in that special little booth right by the bathroom at Caffe Reggio and then wandering through Washington Square Park where you can always while away the afternoon talking to a charming wizard or chess player or street magician or weed salesman. I’ve been a hopeless cornball my whole life and I’m not stopping now! The best places are still the haunted places where no one’s really on their phone and you can hang out all day, spend very little money, and get into some deeply strange conversations. And despite the fact that it’s sometimes referred to as a “cop bar,” I nonetheless recommend Nancy Whiskey as one of the last remaining downtown establishments where you can encounter and converse with a beautiful cross-section of humanity while eating a reasonably priced fish sandwich. And who knows! Maybe while you’re at it you can get a cop to quit their job!” — Alex Tatarsky
“Now that the weather is nice, my favorite place to spend time with artist friends is Fort Tryon Park. We grab coffee at Kuro Kirin, take a stroll, and find a spot to sketch. With recent rising costs, it’s harder to find the budget to splurge, but the park offers a respite from all the financial burdens. The neighborhood comes out, and people are friendly.” — Lucia Hierro
“The only spot I can think of is the Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives at NYU… I spent a lot of time there for research purposes leading up to my presentation at Turquoise and have plans to go back soon to check out the Martin Wong archive in their collection. It’s a really an amazing public resource that more artists should know about.” — Joel Dean
“I love gay bars. People at Julius’ are always friendly and have stories to share. The bar kitchen makes the best burgers in the neighborhood. I like to bring friends there for gatherings or just to hang around the bar and chat with strangers. Put in some good songs at the jukebox and take it away.” — Craig Jun Li
“Although the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop is technically a studio environment, its wide range of printmaking facilities and capabilities attract many artists to the space. A bunch of us meet there and upend plans because we decided to hang out. Its a magical place, you never know who you’re gonna encounter. So many friends from the art world work there and use it like a community space. One of my last times printing there a friend was repacking their bag before a flight. I also love catching up with the people who run the place who’ve also become friends. Techniques are discussed and new projects. Because some of us hang before or during working times many unique interactions happen in a space that reminds you some things can be constants.” — Devin N. Morris
Brooklyn
“I find that ‘third spaces’ mainly occur as ad-hoc phenomena. Hangouts can really occur in any number of places, but typically draw from the same larger constellation of people, depending on who’s organizing. So there’s less a spatial and more a temporal aspect to the act of ‘hanging out.’ We often move through different spaces throughout a given period—take ‘the pregame,’ to ‘the rave,’ to ‘the afters,’ for example. I guess for me it’s usually a bunch of artists or writers or ravers and/or other cultural workers/participants. Nash [Glynn]’s studio loft in Seaport was one important nexus for my social world, but she moved upstate recently, so there’s been a gap of sorts. Ser [Serpas] hosts pregames at her studio in East Williamsburg sometimes, and I also like to host at mine in Vinegar Hill.” — Oscar Yi Hou
“My good friend and artist Al Freeman’s apartment has accidentally become an informal late night salon for artists, writers, and cool and/or anxious creative minds. It’s a low-stakes paradise for those of us who believe in the lost art of just hanging out. We talk, joke, fight nice, watch films and music videos, and usually end up drawing each other with Al’s famous litho crayons. My work is made in pretty high-pressure spaces and the world is an increasingly unsparing place, but Al’s is a temporary refuge from all of that trouble. I wish the world was a little more like Al’s Freeman’s living room.” — Isabelle Brourman
“Dear Friend Books. My speed is slower these days and sometimes a cup of tea with well curated books is everything I could want. Sometimes the bartender (there’s alcohol too) will be playing chess with a patron. Sometimes there’s a DJ or a reading. If they opened in the morning I’d be there all day.” — Ajay Kurian
“We’ve been going to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden with my daughter. It’s been less about destination and more about restoration, outdoor meditation, and clarity.” — Nickola Pottinger
“Epiphany Church Brooklyn! All the hottest guys in New York are on their knees on Sunday.” — Nile Harris
“I gravitate to the dance floor, and the nightlife community that Michael, Seva, and Breakfast have built at QNCC feels like home. Anytime I’m there, I run into everyone I love. It’s where I feel most free, dancing from night into morning.” — Barnett Cohen
“La Cantine in Bushwick. It’s near where my friends and I live and work. The dinner menu is exceptional, consistently, and the lunchtime café is great too. It has a Marseille feel about it.” — Tunji Adeniyi-Jones
“I’ve been spending time at a low-key dance party in Greenpoint. I’d rather not name it to keep it that way. It isn’t branded or widely publicized which gives it a different kind of energy—less performative, more immersive. It feels closer to what a third space can still be… shared, a little ephemeral and not entirely shaped by visibility or expectation. The crowd is mostly artists or artist-adjacent and I find it feeds back into my work in a quiet way. Just being in a space where people are moving, reacting, and not constantly documenting themselves feels especially grounding right now.” — Felipe Baeza
“These days my second studio is my local gym. I weight train at least 3-4x a week with my 73-year-old Dad, and there isn’t anything better.” — Abigail DeVille
“Mostly I end up wandering through record shops and thrift stores, not really looking for anything specific. It’s all generative. I’ve found a way to make it even a little profitable for me. It’s important that my hobbies fill a void of even a small community that isn’t exclusively other artists, which isn’t a bad thing. I think because more times old music ends up in most thrift stores, I associate my practice with finding and researching. Also, these stores reflect the local public that it serves. Pawn shops and things of that nature are our neighbors’ things and perhaps that’s what’s most exciting. It’s less about buying and more about absorbing.” — Brandon Ndife
New Jersey
“I’ve been looking forward to some bike rides along Henry Hudson Drive, aka River Road. The road passes through the Palisades Park in New Jersey. Especially with the arrival of spring on the horizon, it’s a nice and fairly convenient escape from the city for cyclists, runners, walkers, or even just for a picnic. As you cross the George Washington Bridge, you are welcomed into a sanctuary. It’s got stunning views of Manhattan as you pass through a surrounding enclave of maple, birch, and oak trees. It’s nice to get some momentary solitude, to replace the sound of car horns and screams with the sounds of nature. I was reading recently that John D. Rockefeller bought a fair few acres of it and donated it as a park in order to preserve the land from development and spoiling the ‘skyline vista,’ which was his view from the Cloisters, sitting on the opposite side of the Hudson.” — Jacob Littlejohn
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