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You've just gotten used to it in New York City.
You’ve grown accustomed to six or seven dollar beers. Exorbitant cover charges no longer affect you; unreasonable ticket prices have become reasonably acceptable. You’ve resigned yourself to the outrageous cost of your girlfriend's requisite Cosmo. You have become immune to Saturday night sticker shock, and you've come to expect your wallet to be empty on Sunday mornings. But, when the average cost of an evening's drinks and entertainment costs about as much as one-way flight to Vegas, you can sometimes wonder where all the cheap fun went.
It's there--you just have to look for it. There are always places you can check out for affordable (or free) entertainment here in the City. There are the go-to options—weeklies like Village Voice, NY Press and Time Out (the mother load of things-to-do) are always great stops for divining disport. And, there's the forgotten art of simply asking friends and acquaintances what's happening. There is a good chance one of them will know something about a great, cheap bar or cool cut-rate show. It always helps, though, to have some additional help in finding the lesser-known nuggets worthy of your leisure time:
FreeNYC.net – A daily list of free and ludicrously cheap events in the city. They can range from staged readings to wine tastings to a no-cover DJ extravaganza, and there are usually a few posted every day. Click a day on the calendar, and get some gratis-faction.
MyOpenBar.com – The existence of this website, while not proof of a benevolent god, certainly helps the case. Free (or drastically reduced) drinks between designated hours in great bars throughout the city—which, the next day, may have you looking for a site called MyCuervoConfessions.org. (Note: This does not exist. I've looked into it.)
WhatsupNYC.com – Not all of this is free, but there are a wealth of options for every day of the week. Categories include Eating Contests, Book Events and even Erotica.
Uncoolkids.com – Gather, all ye culture geeks and mavens, and embrace the Uncool. This site highlights events ranging from weekly games of Capture the Flag to Burlesque, and prices are generally nominal or naught.
And, if you'd rather turn pages than scroll through them, guides such as Frommer's NYC Free & Dirt Cheap and NYC for Free are books that provide the best of ongoing and inexpensive things to do. So, bask in all of the discounted diversions, and you may just cringe a little less the next time your girlfriend orders a Cosmo.
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