The City Reliquary will host Antiques! Oddities! Ephemera! A City Reliquary (Back)Yard Sale on Saturday, June 24 (Pride Weekend!), from noon to 6 p.m. True to its name, the event will take place in the museum’s backyard.
Local vendors will be selling an eclectic variety of one-of-a-kind vintage ephemera, unusual collectibles, and unique art and crafts. For those who know the City Reliquary Collectors Night event, a show-and-tell where collectors display their strange collections, this is a rare opportunity: a show-and-sell!
Free entry with museum admission, but we ask that you please RSVP! We suggest that buyers bring CASH as many vendors can’t accept credit cards.
Tunes by Dj Yestergay, who’ll also be selling midcentury artifacts from his personal collection.
Refreshments from Yardsale Cafe, who will also be selling vintage items from their wonderful store!
Calling all Vendors!
The City Reliquary invites applications from vendors to show and sell their vintage ephemera, unusual collectibles, and other unique items. Vendors interested in participating can submit an application through Friday,June 2. Space is limited!
After a covid-imposed hiatus, The City Reliquary Museum’s Miss Subways returns! The beloved event, known for highlighting NYC’s underground and outsider talent, will take place on Friday, April 28, 7:00-11:00 p.m., at New York’s historic nexus of the weird and whimsical, Coney Island USA’s Sideshows by the Seashore Theater (1208 Surf Ave., Brooklyn).
As in previous years, this is sure to be a very. wild. time.
Evolving the Miss Subways Tradition for Today’s NYC
In 1948, Thelma Porter became the first African-American Miss Subways.
The City Reliquary’s Miss Subways celebrates the historic “Miss Subways” beauty contest held in New York City from 1941 to 1976 (and resurrected once in 2004) while challenging traditional ideas of beauty. Updated for the 21st century, the event expands on the progressive history of Miss Subways as the first racially integrated beauty competition and is open to contestants of all gender identities, body types, and ages 18+ to compete for the Transit Tiara and the prized title of Miss Subways 2023.
Meet the 2023 Contestants
Lena Horné (she/they, representing the Metropolitan G/L) I am a dynamic drag entertainer and can be found serenading crowds all over Brooklyn and lower Manhattan with diva anthems of the past and present. I’ve performed at the past two Bushwigs, as well as guest starred in a Billy Porter music video (“Children”). I’m in my Star-to-Be era, and my heart would grow 3x larger to be able to represent not only the subways, but the beautiful genderqueer individuals all over New York who ride it.
After moving to the Big Apple in 2008 to chase my dreams of an acting career (what else?), I soon realized I could make a living combining my natural desire to perform (Leo Sun/Leo Rising) AND my fascination with NYC history by being a tour guide! I am the next Miss Subways because I represent unbridled and evangelical enthusiasm for New York City from the ground up, and especially, below.
MX. MAD SCIENTRESS (she/they, representing the R) I’m a comedian and multidisciplinary theater artist, incorporating my interests in gender, science, visual arts, and evolution into my work. Most importantly, I’m a lifelong New Yorker. Much like the rats Eric Adams thinks he has a chance against, I’m never leaving. And I pride myself on wearing the biggest costume on the subway every Halloween. I will be a historic winner of the Miss Subways competition, because i will be the first ever DOCTOR SUBWAYS!
Angelina Bowie Waggytail (she/her, representing the F) Our first-ever canine contestant in Miss Subways history!
Angelina is an opinionated Chihuahua mutt rescued from the deserts of Los Angeles. Her mom, Holly, is the founder of Waggytail Rescue and once saved an aging pit bull from drowning in Prospect Park Lake by administering “mouth-to-snout” resuscitation!
Rob Coover (he/him, representing the Franklin Ave Shuttle) I live in Brooklyn. I write medical journal articles, turn compost, and rescue injured birds. I have wept on the Q and slept on the A. I lost twice already. Surely victory is within my grasp.
Chantelle (she/her, representing the B) I’ve been living in New York City for 6 years, but when you adjust for Covid it feels closer to 10. I’m a cat mom and a cat modeler, an avid and prolific reader, a fitness enthusiast, unapologetic morning person, and a clean freak. I truly and genuinely enjoy taking the subway, even if it doesn’t love me back. In my opinion, it’s the great equalizer and the one thing that really defines a “true New Yorker.”
I was born in a subway-less town where tumbleweeds blew, publictransportation was scarce, and all we could do was twirl sticks and hoops as we suffered from excessive wait times. Finally, I followed my dreams to the Big Apple, home to America’s greatest transportation system. Now, after ten years and four home subway lines later, I’ve spent a lucky 7 years on the 7 line. I’m ready to represent my unique home with a song medley and hula hoop performance.
Much like the train I represent, I operate at 101% capacity. I’m hardworking and reliable, I never deviate from my track line. I might not always go into Manhattan or run express, but you know exactly where you’ll end up.
Annie Stone (she/her, representing the N/W) Annie Stone once performed a 45-min set at Rockwood Music Hall with a broken insulin pump. She is fascinated by the endless offerings of this gigantic city, which often results in her overextending herself. During the day, she makes ridiculous things for the Nutter Butter Instagram. Annie represents the best and worst parts of the city. Totally broke? Absolutely. Laughing about it all the way to the Atlantic Terminal Target? You bet. Electric and exhausted, Annie is always on the move, from one show, project, or fever dream to the next.
Miz E with a Z! (she/her, representing the 7) Miz E with a Z! co-hosts KNG-TV’s “The Kong Show on TV!” on YouTube and Roku TV and also appears as her own evil twin sister, KNG-TV station manager Madison Lynne. A former child star, she once appeared in a Girl Scout cookie commercial with the Brady Bunch’s Ann B. Davis. A former belly dance instructor and roller derby queen, she now devotes her time to co-hosting the biggest little vaudeville style/comedy variety show on KNG-TV.
Ketriana Yvonne (she/her, representing the A)
Ketriana Yvonne is a native of Brooklyn and producer & host of the award winning “The Ketriana Yvonne Show” airing on BRIC Brooklyn Free Speech TV network. Author of “Sequin Soul Poetry from the Spirit.” Volunteer for the MTA’s volunteer Maskforce during the pandemic. Her award-winning tribute poem for Truly Brooklyn in 2019, “Dear Brooklyn,” is now part of the Intergenerational Community Arts Council Brooklyn Tribute Song “Spread Love the Brooklyn Way.”
I am like the subway, moving with speed, making connections, and making life flow in a forward progression. I am poetry in motion, greeting each stop I arrive at with a memory of a personal story that happened on the train, meeting now-lifelong friends and reconnecting with old ones.
An outrageous competition led by Miss Coney Island
Our event emcee, current reigning Miss Coney Island and local burlesque performer Maggie McMuffin, welcomes us to her kingdom and will preside over the evening’s antics.
Local Celebrity Judges
Local celebrity judges will determine who takes home the Transit Tiara. This year’s panel features some of the best of the city’s artists, performers, historians and daily documentarians:
Performance artist and Miss Subways 2017, Lisa Levy
Tickets on sale now. All proceeds benefit The City Reliquary and Coney Island USA. Space is limited!!!
Are you Miss Subways 2023? – (Submissions closed as of 4/18)
We’re looking for contestants! Miss Subways is gender/size/age-inclusive (18 and up, please). Send us your info to get a chance to take the stage at Coney Island and gain eternal glory! Winner takes the coveted title of Miss Subways 2023 and the Transit Tiara, an original work of art by celebrity judge Reverend Jen Miller!
Applicants are invited to propose an original performance that captures their relationship with the NYC subway, in all its complexity. “Performance” may be interpreted broadly. Past performances have included an ode to the G train, an experimental soundscape inspired by the Q, songs about subway proselytizers, and an appearance by the Wicked Witch of the Upper East Side and an immigrant from Oz. Apply now!
The City Reliquary’s new exhibit, Wonder Women: NYC’s Heroes of Heterodoxy spans topics of feminism, equality, and community—all subjects that we at the museum hold dear and are determined to highlight and uplift.
In the spirit of Wonder Women everywhere, we have teamed up with some amazing community members to educate, inspire, and entertain you!
Get tickets to all events here, at our Withfriends events page. Museum Members may reserve free tickets through the same page.
Friday, June 24th Opening Reception
– Open house, museum tours, informative talks, and some surprise performances –
Saturday, June 25th Cartoon Carnival
– Vintage33mm film cartoon showing with the theme: Wonderful Women –
Thursday, June 30th Carousel
– A comics reading and performances focusing on Women in Comics –
Thursday, July 14th Bare Book Club
– Women who love to read naked will be reading excerpts from articles, books, slash fiction, and more celebrating the world of comics –
Thursday, July 28th Superhero Burlesque
– A sexy show where all kinds of superheroes take it all off in the name of comics –
Wonder Woman-inspired illustration by Leslie Lanxinger
The City Reliquary Museum, in collaboration with Desert Island, is conducting a call for submissions of artwork and creative or academic writing related to or inspired by the popular icon, Wonder Woman.
Submissions will be considered for inclusion in a 32-page comic book, edition of 2000 titled “Wonder Women: NYC’s Heroes of Heterodoxy.” Edited by Desert Island founder, Gabe Fowler and City Reliquary founder, Dave Herman; it will serve as a companion piece to the museum exhibition of the same name on view at the City Reliquary Museum beginning in June 2022. The comic book will be distributed free to supporters of the City Reliquary and Desert Island, and to select comic book dealers throughout NYC. Selected contributors will receive 10 free copies of the publication.
Other contributors to the museum exhibit and limited edition comic book include:
Trina Robbins; artist and author, The Legend of Wonder Woman, and It Ain’t Me Babe
R. Sikoryak; artist, The Unquotable Trump, and Constitution Illustrated
Robyn Smith; artist, Nubia: Real One, and Wash Day Diaries
Tim Hanley: author, Wonder Woman Unbound, and Betty and Veronica: The Leading Ladies of Riverdale
Noah Berlatsky: author, Wonder Woman, Bondage and Feminism in the Marston/Peter Comics 1941-1948
Karen Green; Curator for Comics and Cartoons at Columbia University
Andy Mangels; author, editor; Gay Comix, founder/curator; Wonder Woman Museum
The publication and exhibition will address additional themes integral to the Wonder Woman comics and their surrounding NYC history including:
Early 20th century birth control pioneers
Underground and Gay Comix
1st-, 2nd-, and 3rd-generation feminists
BIPOC representations in comic art
NYC protest activities including women’s suffrage parades, pride parades, the BLM movement
Women’s, Transgender, and Queer liberation.
More about the museum exhibition:
For over a century, all across New York City, the women behind the fascinating evolution of Wonder Woman have rejected social norms and fought tirelessly to break the chains of orthodoxy in its many forms. Beginning with the suffrage movement in Greenwich Village and the nation’s first birth control clinic in Brownsville, the character’s unique history grew to span a polyamorous triad at Columbia University, a mental health clinic in Harlem, a Lower East Side bohemian boutique, the United Nations Building, and Black Lives Matter protests throughout the city. Explore the remarkable women who inspired the triumphant and troubling journey of America’s favorite female superhero in the City Reliquary Museum’s exhibit: Wonder Women: NYC’s Heroes of Heterodoxy.
Submissions should be received by Friday, April 18th 2022.
Hello there! Interested in visiting the City Reliquary? The Museum is open on Saturdays and Sundays from 12-6 p.m. Visitors have two different options:
Make a reservation for a 45-minute time slot, during which you and your party will have the Museum to yourselves. These time slots begin at 12:00, 12:45, 3:00, and 3:45 each Saturday and Sunday. One person will pay for admission in advance and additional members of the group will pay at the door.
Come to the Museum without a reservation during our first-come, first-served open hours. These are from 1:30 to 3:00 and 4:30 to 6:00 each Saturday and Sunday.
Following current NYC guidelines, ALL VISITORS to the Museum ages 12 and older must show proof that they have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine authorized for emergency use by the FDA or WHO. We also ask that visitors to the Museum ages 2 and older wear a mask indoors.
Site where the vaccine was administered, or name of the person who administered it
In the spirit of civic solidarity, we want visiting the Museum to be a safe experience for all our visitors and volunteers. Thank you for your cooperation in this endeavor.
Hello City Reliquary website visitor! For the latest listing of our upcoming events, please visit our Withfriends page here! You can purchase tickets or reserve Member tickets to all upcoming events through that site.
The City Reliquary is proud to present a very special event celebrating America’s favorite eyepatched rascal Bazooka Joe! A distinguished panel of candy and comics experts will discuss the history of the iconic character and his lasting impact on marketing and design.
Our guests include:
Ira Friedman has spent his career on the merchandising side of pop culture. Since his early days at Starlog and Fangoria magazines, to a stint at Lucasfilm during the original release of The Empire Strikes Back and Raiders of the Lost Ark, Ira landed at Topps in 1988 as the director of new product development. Since that time, Ira has been a fixture at the famed bubble gum and trading card company involved in hundreds of different projects, publishing, and confectionery products – ‘homegrown’ and licensed.
Charles Kochman is the Editorial Director of Abrams ComicArts and editor of the #1 bestselling series Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney. For thirty-five years, Kochman has edited several hundred books for all age groups, including award-winning picture books, middle-grade novels, retrospectives, monographs, graphic novels, and art book collections published by Abrams, DC Comics, MAD magazine, Bantam Books, and Putnam. He is a recipient of the Inkpot Award, presented by Comic-Con International for achievement in comics.
Jason Liebig is regarded as one of the nation’s foremost experts on candy and snack food brand history and is considered an arbiter of candy as pop culture and nostalgia. As such, he has written hundreds of articles on the subject matter and has served as a brand consultant as well as period television consultant for shows such as Stranger Things, Young Sheldon, Mad Men, and more. His unique perspective and expert knowledge have led him to become an occasional television host and frequent guest, sharing his love of the candy and snack worlds he loves. Blog: http://www.collectingcandy.com/wordpress/
R. Sikoryak is a cartoonist and author of the graphic novels Constitution Illustrated, The Unquotable Trump, Masterpiece Comics, and Terms and Conditions (Drawn & Quarterly). His comics and illustrations have appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times Book Review, The Nation, The Onion, and more.Sikoryak presents his live comics performance series, Carousel, around the U.S. and Canada.
Special guest appearance by M. Sweeney Lawless, writer of ill repute. Twitter: @Specky4Eyes
Bazooka Joe and his Gang appeared in mini-comics on Bazooka bubble gum wrappers starting in 1954. The comic concept was the brainchild of Woody Gelman and Ben Solomon, heads of product development at Topps, and the original comic artist was Wesley Morse. Topps, the king of trading card companies, has been based in NYC since 1947.
Admission to the Museum and The Call of Candy exhibit included – come early to check out vintage Topps and Bazooka Joe ephemera as well as that of other NYC candy manufacturers from the 1800s to today!
Candy is the fifth food group, the fourth meal of the day, the one that you eat in between all the other meals. And as candy changed from treats sold by the pound from jars atop counters to mass-produced, mass-marketed chews and bars with colorful names, New York City was home to a thriving collection of candy and chocolate manufacturers, employing thousands of New Yorkers. America was growing into a candy-eating and candy-producing nation, and that candy (along with the American practice of eating it other than at mealtimes) would be exported all over the globe, much of it originating from here in the Big Apple. At the beginning of the 20th Century, the waterfronts of the East River were lined with sugar refineries, such as the Domino Sugar Corporation on Kent Street, started by the Havemeyer family, namesake of the street not ten yards from the Reliquary’s front door.
The refined sugar was used by candy manufacturers all over Brooklyn and the surrounding boroughs. In 1908, Brooklyn produced 130,000,000 pounds of confections, serving not only the 560 candy shops across Kings County, but also for national and international export and sale to the U.S. government for use as military rations.
Wallace Candy Factory, 1918
From the Rockwood Candy Company near the Navy Yards, to Phoenix Candy Company of Greenwood Heights and the nearby Topps Chewing Gum of Industry City, to Manhattan’s Huyler’s Candy on Irving Place near Union Square, this exhibition displays wrappers, packages, and ephemera of NYC’s boisterous history of candy-making on an industrial scale. As declared by the National Confectioners Association in the 1920s, “Candy is delicious food—enjoy some every day!”
Bazooka Joe bubblegum wrappers, manufactured by Topps in Brooklyn, NY
Last night, our supporters proved that there IS a future for the City Reliquary Museum on Metropolitan Avenue! With the help of hundreds of sustainable memberships, we were able to reach our goal, securing a new path forward for our beloved community-built organization.
This has not been simply an “end-of-the-year” fund drive, or a way to help a small business survive a global health tragedy. This is a new model for our long-term viability that will last us as long as our members are by our side.
If you became a member over the past two months, you didn’t simply get us over a hurdle, you established a new road ahead. You committed to helping us see beyond the current challenges and provided us with a backbone that will help us thrive.
Having met our most basic needs for survival in the storefront space, we are now working to rebuild our coffers to support the programming and exhibitions we will once again be able to deliver in our Williamsburgh home.
As more memberships continue to push us past our basic goal, we are able to start thinking about what more we can do beyond simply paying the storefront rent.
Additional memberships and donations will help us; rehire our one part-time administrative staff position, resume efforts to catalog our collections and make them accessible to remote visitors, and resume planning for the public exhibitions we’ve put on hold since the summer.
Just weeks ago, we had to consider the very real thought that this would be the end of the road for the museum as we knew it. Now we see that it is the end of what we once knew, but for the better. Rather than packing and relocating countless city relics, we can once again plan on delivering the unique blend of art, history, and civic pride that made us a part of this community.
The work has not ended; your support has just made it possible to begin once again.
With most civic gratitude, Dave Herman Founder, City Reliquary Museum & Civic Organization
Dave Herman and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz at the ribbon cutting for the City Reliquary storefront in 2006
Dear Friends of the Reliquary,
We’ve made it to the FINAL 24 HOURS of our Sustainability Drive with the help and encouragement of so many friends both old and new. Each day we see new sustainable memberships coming in, inching us closer to our very-real goal of $3,000/month of recurring funds needed. We have now received more than 90% of our goal!
We’re very very close, but it is not quite “in the bag.” We need to secure renewing memberships from ALL of our friends who have NOT YET SIGNED UP, and who still believe our Williamsburgh home should, can, and WILL SURVIVE!
During the nearly 20 years of our existence, I’ve heard two questions over and over, year after year: “What is this place?!?” and “How does this exist?!?” Much to my dismay, the answer to the latter has often been, “As if by magic.” For years, the City Reliquary has survived on good will, copious amounts of volunteer efforts, and repeated pleas for donations to help keep the whole operation afloat. For years, we’ve tried one creative approach after another, trying to invent a new sustainable model for an alternative, small-town museum to exist in the biggest of cities.
In recent years, we had become more reliant on what thankfully seemed to be a steady source of income; museum admissions by international and domestic tourists. Many larger museums would be proud of the impressive percentage of funding that we received from patrons walking in our front door. We ARE very proud of this fact, but no single source of revenue can truly sustain any organization. And, in the wake of a worldwide pandemic, we are left brutally aware of this.
So, two months ago we put out the call to our fans. We acknowledged that admissions, events, and one-time donations had been enough to get us this far, but NOT ENOUGH to secure a stable future in our Metropolitan Avenue location. The only way to keep on our current path would be through a large number of small and steady monthly and annual contributions. With our friends at (ironically) WithFriends, we set up this new model of sustainable support. Over the past 9 weeks, we’ve been given a new hope for survival by hundreds of friends; some we’ve known since the Reliquary was a tiny window display on Grand Street, and some fans we never knew we had until now.
What’s most promising about this moment, is the new optimism we’ve seen in recent weeks giving hope for a stronger City Reliquary community; not only for keeping the rent paid, but for breathing new life into a creative and unique space that can support the art, history, diversity, and civic pride that our city needs.
