Happy August!

This is the monthly newsletter of Hank Orenstein, real estate broker at the Corcoran Group, professional NYC tour guide, and organizer of the successful Meetup group with over 10,000 members, "Exploring NYC History and Neighborhoods." Also president of Owning New York LLC, which offers real estate and lifestyle tours of NYC neighborhoods for people seeking to make a move. Enjoy my curated list of under-the-radar free events and those with an admission charge that celebrate the culture and history of NYC.

Contact me for a consultation for all your real estate needs!

Scroll to the end for the latest NYC Real Estate Reports

Upcoming Walking Tours: Murray Hill, August 1st; Upper West Side, August 3rd, Long Island City, August 5th; South Harlem, August 10th; Hell's Kitchen, August 13th; Special Jazz Lovers Tour/Sugar Hill/Central Harlem, August 24th, Fort Greene/Clinton Hill, September 6th. All tours begin or end end with an optional free outdoor concert. Email me at hank.orenstein@corcoran.com for details or the full schedule on my group Meetup page:

Washington Heights Chamber Orchestra, Saturday, August 2nd 5pm-6pm

The Dyckman Farmhouse Museum porch

4881 Broadway @ 204th Street (Inwood)

For all ages. Concert is free and open to the public. Donations to support our performances are gratefully accepted. The Dyckman Farmhouse is the last remaining farmhouse in Manhattan and can be visited during regular hours.

14th Annual Greenpoint Film Festival

August 6-10

259 Green Street

The Greenpoint Film Festival (GFF)is a Brooklyn-based non-profit arts organization designed to create art/community projects. Founded in 2011, the festival is inspired by the regenerative opportunities in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, once labeled one of the most polluted places in the United States. The themes of renewal and reclamation continue to play a major role in the social and creative fabric of the Greenpoint Film Festival as it constantly expands into a platform for new thinking, as well as a showcase for great art and great film.

44th Annual Battery Dance Festival

August 9th at 7:00pm in Robert F. Wagner Park

August 12-16 at 7:00pm Rockefeller Park

(Lower Manhattan)

The Battery Dance Festival is New York City’s longest-running free public dance festival. Each year, the Festival draws a combined audience of over 12,000 in-person and over 35,000 virtual viewers. This year experience dance troups from South Korea, Spain, Bangladesh, Romania, India, Germany, Taiwan, and more!

For the fifth year running, the Midsummer Nights series is bringing four evenings of free music to BKCM’s front stoop on July 24, July 31, August 7 and August 14 at 6:30 PM! Curated by acclaimed jazz singer-songwriter, NPR Tiny Desk artist and former BKCM Jazz Leadership Fellow Melanie Charles, this year’s Midsummer Nights lineup is a who’s-who of diverse rising artists who are revitalizing jazz – and knocking down genre boundaries.

Limited seating will be available in front of BKCM’s building at 58 Seventh Avenue, Brooklyn, and is available on a first-come, first-serve basis. In the event of rain or extreme heat, concerts will be moved from the stoop into our Concert Hall inside.

Afribembé Festival on Sunday, August 10, from 4–6 pm at Harlem Week’s main stage at Grant’s Tomb

(Morningside Heights)

As part of Harlem Week, August 1-17, celebrate Black joy, culture, and resistance at Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute (CCCADI’s) 7th Annual Afribembé Festival. This year’s theme, “Black Constellation: Mapping Our Joy, Dreams, and Liberation,” invites the Diaspora to gather to celebrate legacy, imagination, and Afrofuturism.

From ancestral rhythms to future-facing sounds, Afribembé is a portal connecting memory to future vision, featuring live music, performances, and cultural traditions alongside the Ọjà Marketplace and Family Village. Free and open to all, and hosted by award-winning artist Michael Manswell.

Jazzmobile and the Central Park Conservancy present Great Jazz on the Great Hill! Enjoy an incredible lineup of world-renowned jazz performers while lounging or swing dancing in the Park. All ages are welcome.

Perfromers include Lezlie Harrison is a personal renaissance—ever-evolving, ever-giving. As a vocalist, her vulnerable yet bold artistry uplifts and heals through jazz, blues, gospel, soul, and beyond. A beloved WBGO host, she champions America's classical music. Co-founder of The Jazz Gallery, Harrison’s global presence extends to stage and screen. Rooted in dignity and grace, her journey reflects deep legacy, vibrant expression, and unmistakable soul.

Tis The Season of Free Outdoor Concerts!

From Hudson River Park to Brooklyn Bridge Park, there are countless musical events to enjoy! Courtesy of Secret NYC.

And more:

Riverside Park 96th Street Tennis Courts, Saturdays from 7pm - 8:30pm Through August 9. Information here.

Check out the free concert series at Gantry State Park in Long Island City: Four more Tuesdays:

Find the schedule here.

Harlem Meer Performance Festival

Central Park at 110th Street

Sundays 2:00 - 4:00pm, Through August 17

Schedule here.

Travers Park in Jackson Heights:

Sundays Through August 24th at 6pm: Schedule here.

2025 is the fifth and final year of Think! Chinatown’s summer series of food, art & music at the iconic gateway of the Manhattan Bridge. This open-air cultural festival features Chinatown-focused programming alongside local art & food vendors.

Artisans of traditional folk art crafts like paper cutting art, sugar painting, and braided straw figures demonstrated their artform, all of which were available for purchase.

Night Market events happen at Forsyth Plaza (Forsyth & Canal St), 8pm-11:30pm 

Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival, August 9 and 10

Flushing Meadow Corona Park

A Weekend of Races, Multi-Cultural Performances, and More!

An unforgettable weekend of vibrant culture, thrilling dragon boat races, and family-friendly fun at the 35th Annual Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival in New York. This year, they are honoring the Year of the Snake with a festival that will bring together tradition, competition, and celebration. As always it will be free admission, rain or shine at the Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens, New York.

The tradition of Dragon Boat Racing is an annual Chinese rite commemorating the idealistic poet and performer Qu Yuan who drowned himself in the third century B.C. to protest against his emperor's policies. Discover how this poignant event evolved into the vibrant Dragon Boat Racing we celebrate today. 

Blues BBQ Festival, Saturday, August 16th, Hudson River Park at Pier 76, 1:00pm - 9:00pm

Located near 36-37th Streets

Music is free, food and drink $$. Join us in your west side backyard for the 25th year of New York’s finest smoked delicacies, music at two unparalleled stages, dance lessons, hot sauces, a marketplace, games, family fun and so much more! This Hudson River Park staple is one of NYC’s longest-running free festivals.

The Blues BBQ Main Stage features world renowned talent, while the Blues Second Stage delivers popular locals and accomplished artists alike, curated by the Jazz Foundation of America. All of this is accompanied by delicious BBQ from the best joints in NYC!

Metropolitan Opera HD Festival

August 22 - September 1

The Met Opera’s 16th Summer HD Festival brings iconic performances to the people, with screenings of works like Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville” and Verdi’s “Aida.” The Festival kicks off with a film, however, on Aug. 22: Bradley Cooper’s Leonard Bernstein biopic, “Maestro.” Screenings take place every night at 8 p.m. (with a few dates starting at 7:30 p.m.) from Aug. 22 through Sept. 1.

The 10 free showings run from August 22 to September 1, with approximately 2,500 seats set up in front of the opera house each night. Seating is general admission on a first-come, first-served basis. No advance tickets or reservations are required. 

The 2025 India Day Parade in New York City will be held on Sunday, August 17th. It's the 43rd annual parade hosted by the Federation of Indian Associations (FIA). The parade will take place in Manhattan, specifically on Madison Avenue from 38th Street to 27th Street. 

Join the Urban Park Rangers at the Old Stone House to commemorate the Battle of Brooklyn and learn about the Maryland 400's role in the American Revolution.

The Battle of Brooklyn aka The Battle of Long Island took place August 27-30, 1776 and was the largest battle of the American Revolution. A brave regiment from Maryland played a pivotal role in enabling thousands of American troops evade capture or death.

Check out the Battle of Brooklyn Family Day Event at Greenwood Cemetery, Sunday, August 24th, 10am - 1pm. Details here:

Join a discussion with historian Marcus Rediker about his book "Freedom Ship: The Uncharted History of Escaping Slavery by Sea," focusing on the maritime origins of the Underground Railroad.

The Underground Railroad—the complex network of abolitionists and formerly enslaved people that helped free countless African Americans from the horrors of slavery in the South—was not a fixed, monolithic path to emancipation, but an ever-changing movement that was fraught with danger.

Historian Marcus Rediker details an underappreciated but vital component of the Underground Railroad: sea travel. This history brings to life the stories of individual escapees, including abolitionist Frederick Douglass, for whom the sea proved indispensable to their freedom. Marcus Rediker is Distinguished Professor of Atlantic History at the University of Pittsburgh, as well as the prizewinning author of several books, including The Slave Ship: A Human History. His newest is Freedom Ship: The Uncharted History of Escaping Slavery by Sea.

Percussionist Pablo Rosario is held in high regard for his versatility and his accomplished career. In addition to having worked closely with many of the great bands of Latin music, including those of Mongo Santamaria, Willie Colon, Larry Harlow, and Batacumbele, “El Indio” had a long run as a freelance NYC session musician. Best known for his many appearances on David Bowie’s albums, also a natural educator and mentor, his small-group performances have, in recent years, centered the legacies of Santamaria, Colon and Cal Tjader, here supplemented by the work of Charlie Parker.



In his recently published book, Russell Shorto tells the riveting story of how the 1664 English takeover that ended Dutch rule marked the beginning of New York, and introduced the polarization that has characterized American society ever since. Mining newly available sources, Shorto has crafted an enthralling story of the roots of America’s national divide.

New Visions of Old New York  features an interactive 3-D map from the New Amsterdam History Center’s Mapping Early New York project alongside 17th century records from the NYC Municipal Archives. This dynamic exhibit examines the lives of women, enslaved people, and Native Americans and how they shaped the culture of the Dutch West India Company settlement that eventually became New York City.

Beauford Delaney holds a place in the history of American art of the postwar period that is challenging to define. Born in 1901 in Knoxville, Tennessee, he grew up in the segregated South and studied fine art at the Massachusetts Normal School in Boston in the late 1920s. By 1929, he had moved to New York, where he continued his artistic practice at the height of the Harlem Renaissance, producing realistic portraits and cubist-inflected street scenes of the Greenwich Village neighborhood where he lived.

In 1953, at the urging of his friend, James Baldwin, Delaney moved to Paris, the city where he would spend the rest of his life. In Paris, Delaney drew and painted portraits, while at the same time, he developed an all-over calligraphic abstract painting style. For two decades, he painted abstract and figurative works simultaneously, sometimes combining both languages by inserting barely visible figures into abstract compositions, or by working up backgrounds full of abstract incidence that often competed with the fully realized portraits embedded within them. Delaney produced drawings from the beginning of his career in the early 1920s in Knoxville, until his mental illness prevented him from continuing in the early 1970s.

Installation View Photo: Daniel Terna

Governor's Island has a full program of cultural and educational events throughout August, including art, music and a vintage Volkswagon show!

Learn the Latin hustle through the summer with vibrant, outdoor dance celebrations on select Mondays through August! Dancers of all ages and skill levels are invited to find joy in movement as they dance to high-energy music, with a focus on Latin Hustle. 

On select Thursdays, whether you’re a novice or advanced dancer, every level is welcome with beginner Salsa lessons to kick off the night before swinging into an open dance affair.

New York’s age of graffiti began on the city streets in the early 1970s. This new movement, often consciously artistic despite its unsanctioned origins, came of age over the next 20 years. Above Ground centers on the many artists who transitioned from illegally writing on subway cars to creating paintings on canvas and exhibiting in galleries and museums. Their works embody an important transitional moment for the movement’s evolution, as it permeated into broader consciousness and significantly influenced global culture.

Called "an essential exhibition" by The New York Times, Above Ground provides a window into a vibrant subculture of young creators and highlights previously unseen treasures from the Museum’s major collection of graffiti-based art. The collection, which was donated by the artist Martin Wong 30 years ago, comprises more than 300 canvases and works on paper. Among the highlights on view in this exhibition are works in aerosol, ink, and other mediums by seminal figures in the street art movement, including Rammellzee, Lee Quiñones, Lady Pink, and Futura 2000.  

(Pictured), Lee Quiñones, Breakfast at Baychester, 

c. 1980. Museum of the City of New York / Martin Wong Collection (94.114.176) 

Jazz at the Mansion is an annual tradition on the grounds of Manhattan's oldest house, hosted by 88-year old local resident Marjorie Elliot and her family members. The house was built in 1765 and served as General George Washington's headquarters during the fall of 1776! Come early to enjoy wonderful live jazz outdoors. There is seating om chairs or bring a picnic blanket and enjoy the surrounding lawn.

We are pleased to present our snapshot of Brooklyn condo and co-op contracts signed from July 19 to 25.  Read the full brief report here:

Below are some key highlights from the week:

• Last week 66 contracts were signed down 15% year-over-year but up 5% from the previous week.
• Compared to last year sales increased in 3 price segments, in particular the $500,000 - $750,000 segment.

We are pleased to present our weekly snapshot of Manhattan condo and co-op contracts signed from July 19 to 25. 2025. Read the full brief report here:

• Last week showed a 15% annual gain in resale cooperatives.
• For the first time since April, the number of signed contracts has risen year-over-year for four consecutive weeks.  

• The massive new tax law temporarily boosts the maximum amount you can claim under the state and local taxes (SALT) deduction to $40,000, from $10,000, starting in 2025. (For those who are married filing separately, the new cap is $20,000, up from $5,000)
• The SALT deduction lets taxpayers who itemize deduct a variety of state and local taxes, including property and income taxes. While you can claim different types of state taxes under this deduction, you must choose between deducting state income and state sales taxes — you can’t deduct both in the same year.
• A valuable workaround that some businesses — specifically, pass-through entities such as partnerships and S corporations — can use to avoid the SALT cap was preserved in the new tax law.