November 4, 2009

Museums open late for fall/winter 2009/10 in NYC

Many museums stay open late at least one night a week, often in conjunction with free admission hours, live music and cocktails.

Here are the New York City museums with late-closing hours listed by day of the week:

Mondays
Reopened: Closed Jan. 19 - March* New York Transit Museum Gallery Annex at Grand Central Terminal - 8 p.m. (always free)

Tuesdays
China Institute Gallery - 8 p.m. (free 6 to 8 p.m.)
Society of Illustrators - 8 p.m. (always free)
Reopened: Closed Jan. 19 - March* New York Transit Museum Gallery Annex at Grand Central Terminal - 8 p.m. (always free)
New-York Historical Society - 8 p.m. ($12)

Wednesdays
Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art - 7 p.m. ($10)
Reopened: Closed Jan. 19 - March* New York Transit Museum Gallery Annex at Grand Central Terminal - 8 p.m. (always free)
Museum of Jewish Heritage - 8 p.m. (free from 4 to 8 p.m.)
New-York Historical Society - 8 p.m. ($12)

Thursdays
China Institute Gallery - 8 p.m. (free 6 to 8 p.m.)
National Museum of the American Indian - 8 p.m. (always free)
Gallery of NY Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center - 8 p.m. (always free)
Reopened: Closed Jan. 19 - March* NY Transit Museum Annex at Grand Central - 8 p.m. (always free)
Waterfront Museum - 8 p.m. (always free, but donations requested)
Museum of Biblical Art - 8 p.m. (recommended admission of $7)
Paley Center for Media - 8 p.m. ($10 contribution)
New-York Historical Society - 8 p.m. ($12)
Museum of Chinese in America - 9 p.m. (free 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.)
Museum of Arts & Design - 9 p.m. (pay-what-you-wish from 6 to 9 p.m.)
New Museum - 9 p.m. (free 7 to 9 p.m.)
Starting Nov. 19: Jewish Museum - 8 p.m. ($12)
First Thursdays, starting Jan. 7: Museum of Modern Art - 8:45 p.m. ($20)

Fridays
American Folk Art Museum - 7:30 p.m. with free music (free 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.)
Museum of Modern Art - 8 p.m. (free 4 to 8 p.m.)
International Center of Photography - 8 p.m. (voluntary contribution from 5 to 8 p.m.)
New-York Historical Society - 8 p.m. (free 6 to 8 p.m. $12)
Bronx Museum - 8 p.m. (free all day)
Reopened: Closed Jan. 19 - March* New York Transit Museum Gallery Annex at Grand Central Terminal - 8 p.m. (always free)
Asia Society - 9 p.m. (free 6 to 9 p.m.)
Morgan Library & Museum - 9 p.m. (free 7 to 9 p.m.)
Whitney Museum of American Art - 9 p.m. (pay-what-you-wish 6–9 p.m., sometimes with Whitney Live music)
Met Museum - 9 p.m., and rooftop martini bar open until 8 p.m. until Nov. 29 ($20 suggested admission)
New Museum - 9 p.m. ($12)
Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art - 10 p.m. (free 7 to 10 p.m.)
First Fridays only: Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum - 8:30 p.m. ($5)
Third Fridays only: South Street Seaport Museum - 9 p.m. (free 5-9 p.m.)

Saturdays
Guggenheim Museum - 7:45 p.m. (Pay what you wish 5:45 to 7:45 p.m.)
Museum of Sex - 8 p.m. ($14.50)
Met Museum - 9 p.m., with a rooftop martini bar open until 8 p.m. until Nov. 29 ($20 suggested admission)
First Saturdays only: Brooklyn Museum - 11 p.m. on the first Saturday of most months (free 5 to 11 p.m.)

Sundays


Other late-night attractions:
Empire State Building - 2 a.m., last elevator goes up at 1:15 a.m. ($18.45)
Top of the Rock - last elevator goes up at 11 p.m. ($21)
Discovery Times Square Exposition Center - 10 p.m., last admission 9 p.m. ($24.50 for Titanic exhibit;
$19.50 for DaVinci)
Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum - 8 p.m. on Sundays through Thursdays; 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays ($28 with online discount)
Ripley’s Believe it or Not Odditorium - 1 a.m., last ticket sold at midnight ($29.34)
Bodies … The Exhibition - 7 p.m. on Sundays through Thursdays, last admission 6 p.m.; 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays with last admission at 9 p.m. ($26.50 weekdays, $27.50 on weekends and holidays.)

Correction: This story was updated to note Museum of Jewish Heritage’s free Wednesday hours.

Update: This story was changed to add MoMA’s new late Thursday hours.

Update on Jan. 19: The Tranist Museum Annex closed for renovations as of Jan. 19. It will reopen sometime in March. All references were removed for the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame Annex, which closed Jan. 3.

March 10 update: New-York Historical Society ended its free Fridays and that deal was removed.

March 19 update: The Transit Museum Annex reopened.

April 8: Added N-Y Historical Society’s new late hours Tuesday through Thursday.

Image source: From the “Kandinsky” exhibition at the Guggenheim through Jan. 13.

Vasily Kandinsky, Moscow I (Mockba I), 1916, Oil on canvas, 51.5 × 49.5 cm, The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, © 2009 Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris

November 4, 2009 10:28 AM in Cheap Stuff, Downtown, Museums, Out of Manhattan, Romance, Upper East Side, Upper West Side

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