1395 Lexington Ave., 212-415-5500, 92y.org 
The 92nd Street Y is a city within the City. Locals make the daily pilgrimage to the building's eminently affordable gym facilities, which include a beloved pool and basketball courts. Families rent rooms for birthday parties, while musicians, artists and writers teach and take classes on everything from jewelry-making and mah-jongg to Scrabble (with national champion Joe Edley). The events, performances and talks on the 135-year-old cultural center's calendar are similarly diverse and enriching; in coming weeks, look for novelists Paul Auster and Javier Marías (November 30), celebrity finance barker Jim Cramer (December 3) and an evening of Samuel Beckett (December 7). The biggest affairs take place in the 905-seat Kaufmann Concert Hall (which boasts a recently upgraded sound system). —David Sokol

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