Things to Do in Manhattan

Since its creation in 1965, Buzz-A-Rama has hummed with the zooming melody of miniature slot cars, 1/24-scale replicas that race around turns and down straightaways at speeds ranging from 20 to 100 miles per hour. Eight at a time, these mini-racers whip around five different tracks that range from 80 to 100 feet in length, some featuring steep banks and sharp turns for an extra challenge. Owner Buzz Perri likes to say that his fast-paced racing menagerie—open on the weekends for general racing, weekdays for parties—is recommended for ages 5–95. Nothing proves his point better than the fact that past generations of racers now bring in their children and grandchildren to teach them a thing or two about leaving their blinkers on.

At The Bloomfield School, instructors Kerrie Yeung and Melissa J. Tyson love the process of jewelry making as much as the intricate outcomes. With experience at home and abroad crafting and displaying their own work, they have amassed a grab bag of tips and techniques capable of invigorating a simple ring design or transforming a pocketful of beads and molten silver into an elegant pendant. Together, they use their skills to expand the jewelry-crafting community, hosting classes that instill an understanding of how to take a design from a wax idea to a metal reality. Yet they aren't interested in letting students walk away with only surface knowledge. Their intensive courses delve into the theory and collective know-how to create competent artisans capable of expanding on their projects in the future and re-creating their pieces without traveling back in time.

Shake, Rattle & Roll Dueling Pianos delights audiences with an evening of music requests, onstage games, and raucous sing-alongs. Two bantering pianists man the stage with percussive backing from a drummer, drawing on a sprawling mental catalog of classic and contemporary rock standards. The trio's extensive musical knowledge allows them to play any song that pops into guests' heads or is brought forth during deep hypnosis. The performers also call guests onstage for games consisting of solo dances and dares. The venue's full bar includes liquor, wine, beer, and soda, and shot giveaways keep mouths from drying out during lengthy discourses on why one should never stop believin'.

In 1976, Joan Barnes—a Californian mom frustrated with the lack of spaces where she could take her kids for safe and age-appropriate play time—took matters into her own hands and founded Gymboree Play & Music. In the decades since Gymboree’s founding, Joan’s vision of a safe place where youngsters could build confidence and creativity has come to fruition and spread to 30 countries around the globe. Staffed by attentive and expertly trained instructors, each Gymboree outpost adheres to a curriculum of activities designed by experts to foster the development of children’s cognitive, physical, and social skills through structured play and close readings of Goodnight Moon. The staffers also conduct entertaining classes that cover subjects ranging from music to sports, imparting valuable lessons of imagination and physical activity to developing minds. To further set apart her business, Barnes employed nationally renowned playground designer Jay Beckwith to design the proprietary play equipment at her centers.

Finding your passion in life can be a journey, a lesson Bonda Yoga co-owner Alexandra Marks learned as she took a six-year trek from the world of marketing and communications into the world of yoga. The odyssey ended with her opening Bonda Yoga, a boutique, two-room studio boasting a full schedule of yoga classes for beginner to advanced students. Along the way, Alexandra joined forces with co-owner Laurie Ahlemann to combine their passions and yoga studios. Now, the yogic duo and 17 other instructors, most of whom have taught all over the world, help to reenergize clients with Vinyasa, prenatal, and restorative yoga classes as well as meditation, reiki circle sessions, and massage therapy. Youngsters can even join in the bending and stretching fun as they touch their toes and practice poses that resemble their favorite geometric shapes during noncompetitive kids' yoga classes.

While kiddies stretch, parents can peruse Bonda Yoga’s boutique retail area brimming with essential oils, yoga clothing, and Jade yoga mats. Free mat storage is available, as well as rentals for students who left their towels or third chakra at home.

In 1929, three highly regarded patrons of the arts joined forces to found an institution that would break away from the conservative archetype of an art museum. Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, Lillie P. Bliss, and Mary Quinn Sullivan could hardly have guessed that their mutual brainchild—The Museum of Modern Art, or MoMa—would someday transform into an archetype all its own. The museum’s original director, Alfred H. Barr Jr., moved to create the first-ever multidepartmental structure, with various departments devoted to architecture and design, film and video, and photography. These were in addition to the standard painting, sculpture, and visual-arts exhibits found in nearly every other museum to date. The public's response was overwhelmingly positive. After outgrowing two spaces, MoMA moved to its Midtown location, where it stands to this day. MoMA's initial gift of eight prints and one drawing has exploded to encompass a collection of more than 150,000 paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, photos, and design pieces. This collection continues to offer a wide-angle view into modern art and has spilled over into a massive library that houses more than 300,000 volumes. Every day, art lovers from around the world make their way through the museum’s structure, stopping at galleries that house iconic works by Picasso, Bourgeois, Warhol, Rauschenberg, and others. A constant influx of exhibitions keeps MoMA's many walls alive in the spirit of its progressive founders.