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Don’t let the Fourth of July hog all the attention. From an Avengers-themed costume party to a dream-pop concert at MoMA, there’s plenty to do this week beyond cookouts and fireworks. If you still need help filling your schedule, check Groupon for more great things to do in New York City. Drunk Shakespeare Hell’s Kitchen | Monday, June 30, at 8 p.m. Sure, this limited-run show has multiple performances throughout the week. However, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more highbrow(ish) excuse to get tipsy on a Monday night. Upstairs at Quinn’s Bar & Grill, an actor downs a minimum of five shots of whiskey before attempting to perform a Shakespeare play from memory. Botched lines, mangled soliloquies, and other antics ensue as the troupe blends the poetry of the Bard with the spontaneity of improv comedy. (356 W. 44th St.; $29) Downward Doll Yoga at Karma Kids West Village | Wednesday, July 2, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Child-centric yoga studio Karma Kids kicks off its Wednesday summer event series with a yoga lesson for kids aged 3–6 and their favorite stuffed animals and dolls. Each toy gets its own mini yoga mat to practice poses alongside its pint-size owner. If this session fills up, no worries—Karma Kids has pirate, shark, and fairy-princess themed yoga yet to come. (104 W. 14th St.; $30) MoMA Nights with Au Revoir Simone Midtown | Thursday, July 3, at 6:30 p.m. The austere white walls of MoMA’s sculpture garden will reverberate with the dream-pop of Brooklyn trio Au Revoir Simone this Thursday in the latest outing in the MoMA Nights series. Snacks and drinks will be available for purchase, including local gelato and sorbetto from the Garden Bar. Get there before doors open at 5:30 p.m. to wander the museum’s summer exhibitions. (11 W. 53rd St.; free with $14–$25 museum admission) Nathan’s Famous Hot-Dog Eating Contest Coney Island | Friday, July 4, starting at 11 a.m. Fireworks, shmireworks. Every red-blooded American knows that the real way to celebrate our nation’s birth is to watch an adult man (or woman) scarf down dozens of hot dogs in a matter of mere seconds. Stop by to see Kobayashi’s archnemesis Joey Chestnut and Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas defend their 2013 men’s and women’s titles. (1310 Surf Ave.; free) Midtown Comics Fan Party and The Avengers Screening South Street Seaport | Saturday, July 5, starting at 4 p.m.; movie screening at 8 p.m. Can’t make it to Comic Con this year? No worries—this Pier/Party event will be crawling with cosplayers. Costumed fans enjoy drink specials and compete for prizes provided by South Street Seaport and Midtown Comics. Stop by to participate or people-watch before The Avengers brings heroes like Thor, Captain America, and Iron Man to life on the big screen. (11 Fulton St.; free) Photo of 2006 Nathan's Famous Hot-Dog Eating Contest sourced from Wikipedia under a Creative Commons License. Downward Doll photo courtesy of Karma Kids.

An Art-Packed Bike Trip to Long Island City | Kasia Mychajlowycz Follow our 50-minute itinerary to skyline views and Noguchi sculptures as you breeze from the UES to Queens. At FIKA, Chocolate is a Work of Art | Amy L. Hayden Take a peek inside the café's Tribeca factory, where Håkan Mårtensson creates chocolate sculptures inspired by toadstools and Star Wars. Cheap Eats Before a Free Concert in Prospect Park | Kasia Mychajlowycz From vegetarian Chinese food to fat, juicy cheeseburgers, the cuisine at these four restaurants is ideal for fueling up before a show. The Donut Pub: A New Fad at an Old New York Institution | Amy L. Hayden A peek inside a donut shop that's been serving ring-shaped pastry 24 hours a day, 7 days a week since the '60s. Tasting Menu: Porsena Chef Sara Jenkins Picks Her Favorite NYC Restaurants | Halley Lawrence She’s been called “one of the few chefs in America who understands Italy and how Italians eat.” So where does she dine when she’s not in the kitchen? The Other Madison Avenue: Five Vintage Finds on the Upper East Side | Kasia Mychajlowycz Tucked in among expensive salons and groceries, these resale and consignment shops offer the best designer-clothing deals in the city. Six Overlooked But Awesome Exhibits at the American Museum of Natural History | Mel Kassel You’ve seen the dinosaurs, but what about the dragons? Or the sapphire that was stolen in a 1960s jewel heist? An Art-Filled Beach Day at PS1's Rockaway! | Kasia Mychajlowycz From photography by Patti Smith to cheap beachside beer, here's what to look out for at PS1's latest offsite exhibit.

It’s just past 9 p.m. on a Thursday, long after most of Manhattan’s trendier donut shops have closed for the night. But The Donut Pub will be open all night long, neon sign a-blazing—just as it has been every evening since 1964. Inside the shop on 14th Street in Chelsea, “Magic Mike” stands behind the back counter with his magician’s supplies spread out before him, ready to perform tricks and illusions for the steady stream of customers who will come through the door. He’s been a regular at the Pub for 38 years—“Can’t you tell I love donuts?” he asked, pointing to his belly—and after he retired from the New York City Fire Department, he took up magic, bringing his act to his favorite neighborhood hangout. (He also performs private shows and sells magic supplies at the Pub and elsewhere.) But Magic Mike is only one of many regulars at the 24/7 shop. There are also the dozens of businessmen who appear every morning with their copies of the Wall Street Journal and New York Times to order the Sip & Dip special (coffee and a donut for $2.90) to accompany the day’s news. Operations manager and baker Gus Markatos started working at the Pub while in high school in the 1990s and has held his current role since 2002. He’s a regular sight behind the counter every morning and not an unusual one in the evenings, either. Most anyone who visits the Pub on the regular knows Gus, and the feeling is mutual—though “there are so many regulars [he] can’t even count,” he knows them all by sight and many by name. Gus isn’t the only familiar face behind the counter. There’s also Buzzy Geduld, the retired Wall Street multimillionaire who founded and still owns The Donut Pub. Patty, who works from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. every weekend, has been at the Pub since it opened and has the stories to prove it. (More than a few late-late-late-night revelers come in asking for a beer with their donuts, not realizing that the “pub” name isn’t quite literal, she said.) Sammy, who works various afternoon and evening shifts during the week, has been at the Pub since 1980. Other counter staffers come and go regularly with the seasons. Though the Pub and its clientele seem unchanged through the decades, its neighborhood is not. Just a few blocks uptown, a much-changed Chelsea Hotel now houses the Doughnut Plant, a decidedly froufrou spot whose signature crème brûlée donuts cost upwards of $3 each. You’d think that with all this gentrification, The Donut Pub would have seen some hard financial times. But according to Gus, it’s been the exact opposite. “We’ve put two Dunkin’ Donuts out of business,” he said. “One on 14th Street a few blocks down and another around the corner.” And he doesn’t think that “artisanal” donut shops have anything on the Pub, either, no matter how trendy their flavors or presentation may be. “We are better than the competition: always fresh, and they are made with love.” There’s lots of love to go around here. The Village Voice named the Pub’s chocolate cake donut among the city’s best. CBS NY7 did the same for its honey dip donut, whereas both Gothamist and Tasting Table ranked its jelly-filled donut among the best. (My personal favorites are the boston creme and the sugar-raised, but I’d take any of them before walking out empty-handed.) Gus isn’t stingy with the love on the baking side of things, either. It’s not unusual to see him coming out of the back room with a rack of freshly baked croissants that he happily shares with regulars, sometimes on the house. (Yes, The Donut Pub has a full line of pastries, including muffins, cookies, biscuits, bagels, and bialys.) He has even developed his own version of the crazy-popular cronut, which some daresay is better than the one you-know-who makes (and people wait on line for hours for). Gus’s black-and-white cookie is among the best in the city—I can vouch personally for its ability to single-handedly soothe even the worst sort of New York heartbreak. That includes at least one romance that both began and ended at The Donut Pub, with Gus and company as witness. To their professional credit, they didn’t take sides, and the cookie was on the house. But the best part about working at The Donut Pub? Sammy and Gus agree: it’s the donuts. “I eat a donut every day,” Gus said. But as he stands there framed by racks and racks of tempting sweets, it’s hard to believe he stops at just one. No one else I know is able to. The Donut Pub is open 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, and is located at 203 W. 14th St., just west of 7th Avenue. Photos by Amy L. Hayden. Check Groupon for deals on coffee and treats in New York City.