Events

Miss Subways 2024

Friday, May 31, 2024, 7-11 pm (8 pm showtime)

Coney Island USA Sideshows by the Seashore Theater (1208 Surf Ave, Brooklyn)

Tickets: $30 General/$25 City Reliquary members. Buy Now!

The City Reliquary will present the 2024 Miss Subways spectacle on Friday, May 31. We’re once again working with our friends at Coney Island USA, NYC’s historic nexus of the weird and whimsical. Join us at the Sideshows by the Seashore Theater (1208 Surf Avenue). Tickets are on sale now! ($30 general, $25 for City Reliquary members).

A diverse lineup of contestants will represent their subway line of choice for a panel of local celebrity judges in Costume, Talent, and Interview categories.

The winner will receive the transit tiara, the subway sash, and the title of Miss Subways 2024. (Photo credit: Matt Josephson @matty2jay)

This year’s event will also celebrate the 120th birthday of the New York City subway system!


The winner will be crowned by Miss Subways 2023, Harmony Hardcore (shown here at the 2023 Brooklyn Public Library’s People’s Ball!) (Photo credit: Scott Lynch @scoboco)

The 2024 Miss Subways Contestants

  • Christine Stoddard (she/her), writer, artist, filmmaker, and one of Brooklyn Magazine’s 50 Most Fascinating People in 2023. Representing the C train.
  • Sally Ann Hall (she/her), award-winning standup comedian and cabaret singer. Representing the M.
  • Julia Schemmer (she/her), puppeteer and producer/production assistant. Credits include Broadway, television, and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Representing the J train.
  • Dani Riedel, author, cosplayer, comedian, and cosplaying comedian representing the A/C/E.
  • Kandi Spindler (she/her), femme lesbian public defender who moonlights as an artist. Representing the 2.
  • MeanLadyTiff (she/her), business socialite representing the R train.
  • Kate Zibluk (she/they), bird, person, performer, and aspiring Funeral Director. Representing the M.
  • Queerly Femmetastic (she/her/ma’am), Brooklyn-bred bombshell inspired by Black shake-dancers, strippers, and hoochie-coochie girls across generations. Representing the A train.

The Master of Ceremonies

Presiding over this year’s subway-themed shenanigans is performer and director Tom Meglio. Tom is the co-writer and host of the musical-sketch-comedy show Ze Follies Dorée!, which recently completed its residency at The Brooklyn Comedy Collective. He has performed at Carnegie Hall, 54 Below, Theatre 555, and the Laurie Beechman Theatre. His most recent project as a director, Little Miss Ransom by Julia Randall, just completed a sold-out run and extension at Adult Film theater in Bushwick. @tommeglio @zefolliesdoree

The Celebrity Judges

This year’s Miss Subways judges come from the worlds of performance, comedy, advocacy, journalism, and local politics. They’re the artists who help make and keep NYC a cultural hotspot, our local elected officials and transit activists who fight for a fairer system, and the voice of our daily commute.

Aurora North, Miss Coney Island 2024

Aurora North is a Circus/Sideshow Performer and Miss Coney Island 2024. Major performance highlights include the Coney Island Circus Sideshow, Jazz at Lincoln Center, PULP at Radio City Music Hall, and Michael Clark’s residency at Whitney Museum of American Art. Together with her wife as The Brides, she is regularly produced at The Box NYC, House of YES, and Coney Island USA. The two own BODYHOO Studios, a Pilates and Yoga studio in Ridgewood, and co-direct Kinetic Cabaret Productions. @aurora_north

Bernie Wagenblast, Transportation Icon

Please stand away from the platform edge! Bernie Wagenblast’s iconic voiceover work for the Department of Transportation and Port Authority has been part of hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers’ daily commute for years. Bernie transitioned in January 2023, and her story has since been featured in several media outlets. She now edits several transportation e-publications and hosts podcasts for Transportation Radio and Cranford Radio. @cranford_radio

Derrick Holmes, Riders Alliance

Derrick Holmes is the Digital Strategist for Riders Alliance, a nonprofit organization that fights for reliable, affordable, world-class public transit to build a more just and sustainable New York. Derrick aims to help improve access to mobility and opportunity for millions of New Yorkers and ensure that New York continues to set the most progressive example for transit agencies around the country and the world. @ridersalliance (IG/FB), @helplessdelta (X)

Lisa Levy, Miss Subways 2017

Lisa Levy is a comedian, conceptual artist, and Miss Subways 2017 (the first postmenopausal Miss Subways!). Her performance work has been featured in publications such as the New York Times and The London Times. Her visual art has been exhibited at The New Museum, The Bronx Museum, SPRING/BREAK Art Fair, The Pulse Art Fair, and The Brooklyn Academy of Music. She hosts a weekly show on Radio Free Brooklyn, Dr. Lisa Gives a Sh*t, where she conducts funny, emotionally revealing “psychotherapy sessions” with a range of creative guests. @misssubways2017 @drlisalevysp

Emily Gallagher, NYS Assemblyperson

Emily Gallagher represents District 50 (Greenpoint and Williamsburg) in the New York State Assembly. A self-described socialist who previously served on Brooklyn Community Board 1, Emily was elected in 2020 on a platform of environmental sustainability, housing justice, and transit improvement. Since taking office, Emily has fought to address New York’s deep inequality and dire housing crisis while accelerating the state’s transition to renewable energy. As a member of the Assembly Transportation Committee, Emily is a leader on local and statewide initiatives to make streets safer for all users of the road. @emilyassembly

Don’t miss the crowning of this year’s metro monarch! See you at the seashore!

We’re Seeking Miss Subways 2024!

Miss Subways 2024
Friday, May 31, 2024, 7-11 PM
Coney Island USA Sideshows by the Seashore Theater (1208 Surf Ave)

We’re looking for our next Miss Subways!

The City Reliquary invites applications to compete in its 2024 Miss Subways event on Friday, May 31, 7:00-11:00 pm. We’re thrilled to partner with Coney Island USA once again at that historic nexus of the weird and whimsical, Coney Island USA’s Sideshows by the Seashore Theater.

This year we’ll also be wishing the New York City subway system a happy 120th birthday!

Are YOU Miss Subways 2024?

This year, contestants will compete in THREE CATEGORIES evaluated according to creativity, originality, and skill:

  • Costume (new for 2024!)
  • Talent
  • Interview

Application open now! Submit by 11:59 pm on Tuesday, May 7, to be considered.

Last year’s performances included a dance by a mad scientist with Doc Ock arms, a dizzying hula hoop routine dedicated to the 7 train, and a subway-inspired rendition of “What I Did For Love” from A Chorus Line. Read more about the 2023 City Reliquary Miss Subways event from Brooklyn Magazine. Previous Miss Subways events received coverage from Atlas Obscura and The New York Times, among other outlets.

About Miss Subways

The City Reliquary Miss Subways updates the historic “Miss Subways” beauty contest held in New York City from 1941 to 1976 (and resurrected once by the MTA in 2004) for the 21st century. The City Reliquary event expands on the progressive history of Miss Subways as the first racially integrated beauty competition and invites contestants of all gender identities, body types, and ages 18+ to apply. The first City Reliquary Miss Subways was presented in 2017.

Contestants representing their subway line of choice compete for the prized title of Miss Subways and the transit tiara. A panel of local celebrity judges will evaluate their costumes, their answers to subway-themed questions and their talent show performance to determine who will represent NYC straphangers as the next Miss Subways!

Miss Subways 2017 Lisa Levy. Photo by Brian Zak for the New York Post.

The winner will join an illustrious lineup. Past winners of the City Reliquary Miss Subways are artist and comedian Lisa Levy (Miss Subways 2017), urban planner Parker MacLure (Miss Subways 2018), musician and director Dylan Mars Greenberg (Miss Subways 2019), and marketing pro by day/costumer and performer by night Harmony Hardcore (Miss Subways 2023–the first since the pandemic). 

Event details for 2024, including the celebrity judge panel, coming soon!

About Coney Island USA

Coney Island USA exists to defend the honor of American popular culture through innovative exhibitions and performances. Presenting and producing exciting new works, our approach is rooted in mass culture and the traditions of P.T. Barnum, dime museums, burlesque, circus sideshows, vaudeville, and Coney Island itself. Preserving and championing a set of uniquely American visual and performing art forms, we seek to create an international forum for cultural preservation and discourse, and where Coney Island represents these impulses, we strive to make it once again a center for live art and entrepreneurial spirit. Learn more at  https://www.coneyisland.com/. Follow on Instagram at @coney.island.usa and on Facebook at @coneyislandusa.

13th Annual Panorama Challenge Questions & Answers

We have been slipped a copy of the highly classified MASTER QUESTION & ANSWER SHEET from the 13th Panorama Challenge, held live last Friday from the New York City Panorama at the Queens Museum in Brooklyn.

Presented without edits:

AWKWAFINA

1) Nora Lum, better known as Awkwafina, grew up here – where her show is set. The Ramones AND  Simon and Garfunkel went to the high school named for the neighborhood, although Nora did not.  Name the neighborhood

Forest Hills

Pro follow-upIn January 2020 Awkwafina was ‘the voice’ of the 7 train which terminates at the station in this predominantly Asian neighborhood. Pros, name the last station on the 7 line.

Flushing-Main Street MUST HAVE MAIN STREET

2) Awkwafina co-starred in a 2018 crime caper that centered on a jewel heist, here. Name the movie.

Ocean’s 8

Pro follow-up
The action focused on infiltrating a fete in a famous space formerly named for which disgraced pharma family. Pros, name the family.

Sackler

3) The beverage Aquafina is a brand owned by a company with a landmark here in Queens. Name the company.

Pepsi(-Cola)

Pro follow-upAquafina is bottled here, in this Queens neighborhood. Pros, what is the neighborhood’s name?

College Point

WOMEN ON TV

4) Originally pitched to the Bravo network as Manhattan Moms, the first four seasons of which hit series featured Alex – and in an unusual twist for the show, her devoted husband Simon. In another unusual twist, they lived here, in Brooklyn. Name the Bravo series.

Real Housewives (of New York) (of New York City) (RHONY)

Pro follow-up
They lived five blocks away from a park named for an unusual founding father, Charles Carroll. He was the only signer of the Declaration of Independence of what faith?

Catholic

5) While Serena and Blair and Chuck lived in Manhattan, Jenny and Dan lived in Brooklyn, here, in which 2007 to 2012 ‘teen’ CW series? XOXO, name the show.

Gossip Girl

Pro follow-up
This neighborhood is notable for the factories built for Robert Gair. He made his fortune manufacturing commonplace items.  Pros, what did he manufacture?

(corrugated) Cardboard boxes

6) From 2011 to 2017 a CBS series, starring Kat Dennings and Beth Behrs, told the story of a pair of waitresses working at a diner, here. Name the series.

Two Broke Girls

Pro follow-up
Williamsburg was named for Jonathan Williams. Pros, what service did Williams perform for property owner Richard Woodhull? 

Surveyor

FAME (Musical Category)

7) Name the Bronx-born artist who won the Oscar for this song (PAUSE FOR MUSIC) from the 1980 movie Fame, which featured an iconic dance scene in the streets, here. Who was the singer?

Irene Cara

Pro follow-up
The film related the stories of students at the School of Performing Arts, now here, and currently named for which New York City politician? Pros, name the politician.

(Fiorello) LaGuardia

8) Which New York-raised actor, heard here, (PAUSE FOR MUSIC) graduated from the same high school in 2013. Name the actor you just heard.

Timothee Chalamet

Pro follow-up
While at high school he dated a classmate, the daughter of an iconic pop star. Her mom was, in 1985 famously rejected by the co-op board at the San Remo, here, perhaps because of her volatile soon-to-be husband. Pros, name the mom.

Madonna (Madonna Louise Ciccone)

9) This 1975 song was a hit for David Bowie, (PAUSE FOR MUSIC) thanks to an assist from a NYC resident who lived here.Name the artist who shares songwriting credit and can be heard as a backup singer. 

John Lennon

Pro follow-up
The track was recorded here, in Greenwich Village, at the West 8th Street studio of which famous musician who died five years earlier? Pros, name the musician.

(Jimi) Hendrix

WOMEN IN SONG (Musical Category)

10) The actress who sang this song (PAUSE FOR MUSIC) won an Oscar for her role in the movie set in this neighborhood. Name the actress.

Rita Moreno

Pro follow-up
After her Oscar victory she won a Grammy, a Tony and an Emmy. Only two other people could claim an EGOT before her: Helen Hays and a composer who has a theater named for him, here. TIMES SQUARE It’s currently Hamilton’s home. Pros, give us the first and last name of the composer.

Richard Rodgers NEEDS BOTH NAMES

11) Amy Adams sings and dances through New York City and this park CENTRAL PARK in which 2007 Disney movie? Name the movie.

Enchanted

Pro follow-up
The finale of this musical number (PAUSE FOR MUSIC) takes place in front of a sculpture created by the first woman to receive a public art commission in New York City. Pros, name the sculptor.

Emma Stebbins

12) Which artist from here, hit it big in 2017 with this track? (PAUSE FOR MUSIC) Name the artist. 

Cardi B

Pro follow-up
She claims her thick accent comes from staying with her Dominican grandmother in this famously Dominican neighborhood north of Sugar Hill. Pros, name the neighborhood.

Washington Heights

SNL in SI

13) Colin Jost grew up in Grymes Hill, here, but went to a very selective free high school here. Another New Yorker, with a record 17,000 hours on television was named for the school. Which Catholic school is it?

Regis (High School)

Pro follow-up
Grymes Hill is home to a school which was recently in the news for their basketball team. The Seahawks made it to the NCAA Basketball Tournament, only to be defeated by the Tar-heels in the first round. Pros, name the college.

Wagner College

14) Before he made a splash and got big, this 10-time SNL host made his industry debut filming here, on Staten Island. Name the frequent SNL host and star of the horror flick “He Knows You’re Alone”

Tom Hanks

Pro follow-up
They filmed at the shopping plaza, here, located alongside a 14-mile-long boulevard, the longest street on the island. The Plaza and Boulevard are both named for the Mayor between Mitchel and Walker.Pros, name the Mayor.

(John F) Hylan

15) Pete Davidson is another SNL star from Staten Island. His father’s name can be found here, at the northern tip of Staten Island at this memorial. Who does the memorial honor?

(Staten Island) Victims of 9/11/01 NOT FIREFIGHTERS

Pro follow-up
In 2021 Pete brought then-girlfriend Kim Kardashian on a date to the restaurant Campagna in this, the southernmost neighborhood in New York State.Pros, name the neighborhood.

TottenvilleIt’s the 13th Panorama Challenge, does that make it unlucky? Regardless, that’s the first category of the second half!

UNLUCKY

16) Talk about unlucky: Andrew Haswell Green was murdered outside his home, here, on Friday the Thirteenth in a case of mistaken identity! He was best known for his 1898 accomplishment. What was that signature accomplishment?

Consolidation of NYC/Creation of the Five Boros/Greater New York

Pro follow-up
Pros, Green is honored here, with what sort of memorial?

Bench

17) In 1997, Kathleen Caronna, was watching the Thanksgiving Parade, here, and was hit in the head by a streetlamp knocked over by which balloon?

Cat in the Hat

Pro follow-up
In 2006, Kathleen Caronna’s apartment caught fire just before she returned home, because an airplane crashed into her building, here 72 & EAST RIVER. Pros, what was notable about the pilot of that aircraft?

Corey Lidle/MLB/Yankees player/pitcher

18) In 1939, Yankees’ first baseman Lou Gehrig declared himself ‘the luckiest man on the face of the earth’ here, despite being diagnosed with a debilitating and soon-to-be fatal case of ALS. Gehrig was a graduate ofwhich local University?

Columbia

Pro follow-up
Gehrig played a record 2,130 consecutive games after replacing which unlucky player who asked to be benched for the day due to a headache?Pros, who was the player he replaced?

Wally Pipp

MYTHICAL MTA

19) The Nereid Avenue station, here, is named for the fifty sea nymphs of Greek mythology. One of them gave birth to a Homeric hero who shares his name with the organization that helps disabled runners participate in the NYC Marathon. Name the organization.

Achilles (International)Pro follow-up
The station is at the intersection of Nereid Avenue and a road that runs the length of the Bronx from Classon Point to Wakefield but is named for a city 10 miles away, which it does not reach. Pros, what is the name of the City the road is named for?

White Plains

20) Lou Reed, Neil Gaiman and Harvey Keitel have all been named King Neptune at ‘the nation’s largest art parade’, held since 1983, a few blocks from the Neptune Avenue F station. What is the name of the parade?

Mermaid Parade

Pro follow-up
In 1995, the MTA changed the station name to Neptune Ave. Pros, what was the name of the second (edit: actually third to last – didn’t make a difference in the end) to last station on the F train before 1995? SPELLING COUNTS!

Van Sicklen (NEEDS K)

21) Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson starred in a 1995 movie about a near-mythological subway train. One of its final scenes was set in a station here. Name the movie.

Money Train

Pro follow-up
That now-defunct mysterious train terminated here, at 370 Jay Street. When the building was built in 1951 the MTA did not exist. Pros, from 1951-1953 which agency ran the subways from the offices located above the tracks at Jay Street?

(NYC) Board of Transportation (NYCBOT)

ANGLO NYC

22) This neighborhood and Staten Island Railroad station was most likely named after a Lake District town where the poet Wordsworth ‘wandered lonely as a cloud’ What’s the neighborhood’s name?

Grasmere

Pro follow-up
This neighborhood is home to the Island’s most notable daily newspaper, purchased by S.I. Newhouse in 1922. Pros, name the newspaper.

The (Staten Island) AD-vance

23) In 2010 a sporty English prince appeared here, to participate in a polo match. Name the prince.

(Prince) Harry

Pro follow-up
In 2023, another English prince visited the Island to pursue a project to bring back a bivalve to the waters surrounding the city.Pros, name the project.

Billion Oyster Project

24) The steps here are seen in the J-Lo film Maid in Manhattan as well as what 2019 movie? This question doesn’t have an ‘Anglo answer’. No kidding. Name the 2019 flick.

Joker

Pro follow-up
Pros, the steps connect Anderson Ave to a very ‘Anglo’ Avenue. The street in question begins at Jerome Ave and runs north to Featherbed Lane and is named for which English writer?

(William) Shakespeare

BIG APPLE

25) A big apple appeared 215 times last year, here, just past the centerfield wall. What event made the apple appear?

Mets Homerun (MUST HAVE METS)

Pro follow-up
The orange in the Mets uniform is derived from what other team’s colors? Pros, name the other team.

(NY) Giants (NOT SAN FRANCISCO)

26) One of the founding fathers wrote a letter from Paris lamenting the absence of his favorite apple, a Pippin, which shares its first name with this creek, here. What’s the ‘first name’ of the Pippin?

Newtown

Pro follow-up
For a while this founding father lived on Maiden Lane. There’s now a plaque marking the location of his former home. Pros, name the founding father.

(Thomas) Jefferson

27) The ‘flagship’ home of a big Apple is here, at the intersection of Amsterdam and Broadway, in a landmark building designed by York & Sawyer. What is this Apple’s business?

Banking

Pro follow-up
Edward York and Philip Sawyer first collaborated on a project for Vassar College while at the firm that designed the master plan for this University, here. Pros, name they firm they left to strike out on their own.

McKim Mead & White

IN THE RIVER

28) In late 2022 on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, John Reeves claimed that thousands of tusks were dumped here in the East River. What kind of tusks did he claim they were?

(Woolly) Mammoth NOT MASTODON

Pro follow-up
Reeves claims the tusks – and other bones – were dumped off East 65th Street, here,  next to America’s ‘first biomedical research center’. Pros, which institution claims that title?

Rockefeller University (or Institute) (or Hospital)

29) While allegedly carrying millions in gold the HMS Hussar sank in 1780 after hitting Pot Rock, between Hallet’s Point and this, the southernmost of what were once three islands. Three years after the sinking it took the name of its new owners: the brothers Jaspar and Bartholomew.What was their last name?

Ward

Pro follow-up
From the 1840’s until 1892 a hospital on this island, in conjunction with facilities off the coast of Staten Island and at the southern tip of Manhattan was part of a system that sought to manage and treat a specific type of patient. Pros, what kind of patients did this system endeavor to treat?

Arriving/new immigrants

30) Everyone knows Captain Sully’s name since he landed Flight 1549, here, in the Hudson River, but do you remember the name of the airline he was flying for?Name the defunct carrier.

US Air(ways)

Pro follow-up
The plane eventually arrived at its first destination for that day. It’s now in an aviation museum – named for Sully – at the airport in what city? Pros, name the city Sully was flying to – and where the plane resides today.

Charlotte

The 13th Annual Panorama Challenge

Congrats to the Winners!!

Congrats to winning Pro team GANYC Panic and Challenger team New Yorkians Going Places! Out of 27 teams, they come out on top of their respective categories. GANYC Panic’s team name will be added to the roster of past Panorama Challenge winners that grace the Panorama Challenge trophy.

Coming up in second place (for the third time in a row!) were Panorama Pros Flatlanders and Challengers The Early Onsets. Third place was taken by Pro team Pomonok You Out! and New AmsterDAMN.

Thanks to all the teams who played a great game and to everyone who came out for the return of this incredible New York event. And thanks to our partners at The Municipal Art Society of New York and the Queens Museum, and our sponsors Brooklyn Brewery and Two Boots.

Didn’t get to join us this year, or want to relive the moment? Check out the event photo album on Flicker.

See you next year for Panorama Challenge 14!

Friday, April 12, 6-9:30 pm at the Queens Museum

General Admission: $20 in advance/$25 at the door

Members of the City Reliquary, Queens Museum, or MAS: $15

Doors 6 PM, Game 7 PM (free shuttle between the Queens Museum and the Mets‐Willets Point 7 stop from 5:30-7pm and 9-10 pm)

Update 2: Waitlist now full! No further spots will be offered.

If you didn’t get your Panorama Challenge tickets in time for this year, we hope to see you in 2025!


Update: Panorama Challenge SOLD OUT!

Panorama Challenge 2024 is SOLD OUT!!

We wish we could fit everyone, but for the safety of our audience and the historic artifacts at the Queens Museum, we’ve had to limit admissions.

ALL tickets are now sold–NO further tickets will be available at the door.

HOWEVER, a WAITLIST will be made in case any of our advance ticket holders do not arrive on time to the event.

If you wish to be put on the waitlist:

Email [email protected] with your name and the number of tickets requested. We’ll offer tickets to people on the waitlist starting at 7:00 PM THIS FRIDAY. Please be at Queens Museum at this time. Please also note that game play is scheduled to begin at this time. If you are admitted after 7:00 pm, you are welcome to watch the game and cheer on teams, but we can’t guarantee that you will be able to participate as a team player—but we’ll do our best to make it happen!

If you are requesting tickets for you and your team members, all team members must be present to purchase their ticket. We will not sell more than one ticket to each waitlisted guest.

We’re thrilled by the enthusiasm for the return of this signature City Reliquary event. Huge thanks to our co-sponsors MAS for all their help in organizing and to the Queens Museum for welcoming us into their space.


After a four-year hiatus, the City Reliquary Museum returns to the Queens Museum to host the 13th Annual Panorama Challenge. The event, the largest NYC-themed trivia game, will take place at The Panorama of the City of New York, a scale model of the five boroughs.

The event will be co-hosted with the Municipal Art Society of New York (MAS), the organization that teamed up with Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis to save Grand Central Terminal from being demolished. MAS advocates for the preservation of New York City’s historic public art and architecture while fighting for livable and equitable urban planning and design today.

Ticketing is open now! Buy online in advance for a discount ($20 vs. $25 at the door). Members of the City Reliquary, Queens Museum, or MAS get an even deeper discounted admission of $15.

City Reliquary members will be able to purchase $15 tickets after logging into their Withfriends account.

This unique evening of trivia puts the whole city at your feet. Teams of Panorama Pros and Panorama Challengers get quizzed on all things NYC using the Panorama as a massive game board. After two rounds and the classic Halftime Quiz, the winning Pro team will join the ranks of past winners when its name is etched on the Panorama Challenge Trophy housed at the Queens Museum.

Emcee Gary Dennis will preside over the evening. Jonathan Turer, long-time tour guide and founder of KnowItAllNewYorker.com, returns for his tenth year as Quizmaster with a new batch of mind-bending questions. This year’s trivia topics include “Awkwafina,” “SNL & Staten Island,” “Fame,” and more NYC-centric minutiae.

This marks a triumphant return for the City Reliquary, which first launched the Panorama Challenge at the Queens Museum in 2007 and last presented it in 2019. This year’s event will commemorate the 60th anniversary of the 1964-1965 New York World’s Fair, where the Panorama debuted as an exhibit celebrating New York’s municipal infrastructure and built environment

Think you have deep NYC knowledge? Register your team now and show us what you’ve got!

The Judges’ Chambers

The Panorama Challenge judges represent a veritable Who’s Who of New York City experts. This year’s panel includes notable New Yorkers Kevin Walsh, webmaster of the acclaimed Forgotten New York blog; Michael Miscione, former Manhattan Borough Historian and expert on sewer gator lore; Michelle Myles, owner of Daredevil Tattoo and local tattoo history tour guide; DeeAnne Gorman from the board of the Greater Astoria Historical Society; former municipal employees Mitch Paluszek and Steve Scofield; and Moses Gates, Vice President for Housing and Neighborhood Planning with the Regional Plan Association.

The Evening’s Entertainment

Guests will enjoy a special halftime performance from the City Reliquary’s 2023 Miss Subways and 7 line lover, Harmony Hardcore!

DJ Frankie Teardrop will play 64 Fair-era doo-wop, soul, girl group, and British Invasion tunes throughout the night. Frankie Teardrop was the resident DJ at NYC’s Wierd Records party. In addition to DJing, he plays bass and synth with dream pop band The Harrow, serves as a writer at Systems of Romance and Post-punk.com, and most recently has been working with Cherry Red Records for a series of box sets.

Pizza (including a vegan option) by Two Boots and beer from Brooklyn Brewery will be available for purchase.


About the City Reliquary Museum

The City Reliquary Museum & Civic Organization preserves the everyday artifacts that connect visitors to the past and present of New York City. Established in 2002 as an apartment window display at the corner of Grand and Havemeyer Streets in Williamsburg, it relocated to 370 Metropolitan Avenue in 2006. The Reliquary also hosts public events that invite neighbors and visitors to meet, exchange ideas, and celebrate the diversity of our city. Learn more at www.cityreliquary.org. Follow us at @cityreliquary.

About the Municipal Art Society of New York

The Municipal Art Society of New York (MAS) lifts up the voices of the people in the debates that shape New York’s built environment and leads the way toward a more livable city from sidewalk to skyline. For over 130 years our advocacy efforts have led to the creation of the New York City Planning Commission, Public Design Commission, Landmarks Preservation Commission, and the Tribute in Light; the preservation of Grand Central Terminal, and the lights of Times Square; the conservation of more than 50 works of public art; and the founding of such civic organizations as the Public Art Fund, the New York Landmarks Conservancy, P.S. 1, the Historic Districts Council, the Park Avenue Armory Conservancy, and the Waterfront Alliance. Learn more at www.mas.org. Follow us on Instagram at @mas_nyc on Instagram and on Facebook at @masnyc.

About the Queens Museum 

The Queens Museum in Flushing Meadows – Corona Park presents contemporary art, events of hyperlocal and international impact, and educational programs reflecting the diversity of Queens and New York City. Changing exhibitions present the work of emerging and established artists, both local and global, that often explore contemporary social issues, as well as the rich history of its site. The Museum works outside its walls through engagement initiatives ranging from multilingual outreach and educational opportunities for adult immigrants, to a plethora of community led art and activism projects. The Museum’s educational programming connects with school children, teens, families, seniors as well as those individuals with physical and mental disabilities. The Queens Museum is located on property owned in full by the City of New York, and its operation is made possible in part by public funds provided through the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. Visit www.queensmuseum.org. Follow us at @queensmuseum.

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Mamma Mia! A Burlesque Tribute to ABBA

Friday, November 17, 8 pm (show at 8:30)
Tickets: $20 (free for our members)

The Last Chance Dancers disco dance to GOLD by ABBA, played live on vinyl.

ACCESSIBILITY & SAFETY

Dress for the weather
Mixed seating & standing room
COVID vaccination required
Masks optional

This is a real burlesque show, with professional burlesque dancers. Anyone is welcome, but please note there will be sexually explicit performance, nudity, and language.

Other accommodation needs or questions? Email [email protected]

Midcentury Stereopanorama: See the 1950s in Astonishing 3-D

Wednesday, November 15, 7 pm
Tickets: $15 (free for our members)

Come and experience a retro-tech time-travel experience unlike any other! (Perhaps you read about it in the New York Times?) Immerse yourself in the 1950s through incredible Midcentury 3-D photographs — taken mostly by amateurs with the Stereo Realist Camera system. Emmy-winning writer and comedian Eric Drysdale has been collecting the amazing images produced by this largely-forgotten technology for 25 years and will share them with you in your own (for the night) high-quality restored vintage stereo viewer. New York City will be highlighted, but all of America is the star. Don’t miss this intimate yet spectacular trip to the past!

There are only 10 tickets available for each evening, so we highly recommend purchasing in advance to guarantee your seat (and stereo-viewer)!

Get your tickets now!

Liberty, the Tattooed Lady: Call for Exhibition Submissions


The City Reliquary seeks tattoo flash, drawings, acetates, and photos of tattoos that depict the Statue of Liberty for an upcoming exhibit and book project: Liberty the Tattooed Lady. The show, curated by Michelle Myles of Daredevil Tattoo & Museum, will run from February through June 2024.

Original art and artifacts will be hung in the show. If your object can’t be loaned, we also invite submissions of digital images of examples of Lady Liberty ink for inclusion in the book project.

To be considered for the exhibit and accompanying book, please submit your information and images of your object submissions to [email protected] by December 1.

Stay tuned for more details on this upcoming exhibition!

Daredevil Tattoo opened in 1997, when tattooing was legalized in New York City. The shop houses the Museum of Tattoo History, which features a world-class collection of artifacts focusing on the history of tattooing in New York City.

The collection features artifacts from the early roots of modern tattooing with original artwork by Samuel O’Reilly, Bert Grimm, August “Cap” Coleman, George Burchett, Sailor Jerry and many more. Antique tattoo machines, original photos, news articles and sideshow banners are also included in the collection. The shop is located on the border of the historic Lower East Side and Chinatown, just a few blocks east of the Bowery and Chatham Square where O’Reilly, Charlie Wagner, Millie Hull, and other legendary tattoo artists plied their trade. Website: https://www.daredeviltattoo.com/

Canceled–The Gatekeeper – LIVE!

This event has been canceled and will be rescheduled in spring 2024!

Join The Gatekeeper’s finest (and only) news broadcasters as we forge the news of the future and reflect on the shortcomings of present day —  a comedy variety show with standup, sketch, characters and more!

Hosted by local broadcast legends David Colton & Mo Macsai-Goren and featuring a star-studded team of correspondents: 

Maggie Crane (Soup of the Day; Sacred Heart Middle and High School Talent Show)
Vannessa Jackson (writer for Saturday Night Live; The Late Show With Stephen Colbert)
Business Casual (Hunter Saling, Cory Lane, and Jeremy Elder)
Neel Ghosh (The Comedy Store, UCB, The Hollywood Improv, The Stand, New York Comedy Club)

**The Gatekeeper is not liable for creating/ inspiring actual or fake news events, mutinies, etc.

Canceled — Capricieux’s Adventure (Double Feature with Capricieux’s Quest)

This event will be rescheduled in spring 2024.

A double feature from filmmaker C.A. Nicola of Capricieux’s Quest followed by his newest film, Capricieux’s Adventure, which won Best Experimental Comedy in the 2023 FilmFreeway Comedy Shorts Awards (First Period).

The screening will be followed by Q&A with C.A. Nicola, actress Jane LeCroy (Capricieux’s Quest), and another participant TBA.

Film Synopses:

Capricieux’s Quest
Capricieux is summoned by the Empress Ophelia to retrieve a sacred vase stolen by the malevolent Filou.
2021
Run time: 22 minutes

Trailer: 


Capricieux’s Adventure
Capricieux faces a new adversary threatening the magical forest after defeating the malevolent Filou.
2023
Run time: 10 min

Trailer: 

Planet Over Profit Halloween Fair

Sunday, October 29, 6-10 pm
Free, but please RSVP!

The City Reliquary is proud to host a Halloween Fair organized by Planet Over Profit–the climate activist group known for protesting while wearing orca costumes–on FRIDAY OCTOBER 29 at 6 pm.

Kick off Halloweekend with a fun and spooky evening of food, drinks, games, and costumes with POP and other activist groups. This is a great opportunity to participate in community building and to meet other NYC climate activists. 

Now that Halloween is approaching, you probably fall into one of two camps: you planned your entire costume months ago, or you’ll be scouring your closet at the last minute for a make-shift “costume.” Either way, dressing up is HIGHLY encouraged and there will obviously be a competition (orca costumes disqualified!) so get creative and have fun!!