Scarier Dome: Syracuse University's Real Loud House
The Scarier Dome delivers local and touring bands, homemade snacks, and an “all welcome” vibe that attracts a loyal and large crowd. This house full of music-loving dudes delivers student-music shows that range from garage rock to hip hop. But its homemade tacos and the "all welcome" vibe that keeps the crowds coming.
Soundgarden’s Vinyl Revival
This Armory Square record store has established itself as a haven for metal-heads and vinyl-nerds alike.
24 Hours at the Westcott
From hippies to ravers: two nights, two shows, two packed crowds filling the university neighborhood’s go-to, live-music venue.
A Night at SubCat Studios
At the monthly Sub Rosa sessions, music lovers experience an intimate venue with impeccable sound and no distractions.
How Syracuse Got the Blues
This original American art form was born in Mississippi Delta in the 19th century but soon found fans around the country and the globe, including here in the Salt City.
Syracuse University’s Most Famous Indie Pop Alumni
How Ra Ra Riot stuck together through fame, tragedy, and house parties on Euclid Avenue.
Art Attacks
From student-run venues to those devoted to the African diaspora, controversial subjects, and social engagement, these galleries fuel inspiration and creation.
The World’s Best Photographers Stop in Syracuse
Beyond heavy doors, in a temperature-controlled room behind the office of Jeff Hoone, Light Work's Executive Director, hundreds of copies of photos previously shown in the studio wait to be rediscovered. Enjoy a few from the most influential contributors.
The 8 Best Salt-City Flicks
A cinematic roundup of movies that showcase Syracuse, its history, and its surroundings.
Your Alternative Theatre Guide
Firehouses, tents, black boxes, and houses painted red — these five venues deliver drama that ventures beyond standard fare.
Four Bookstores Worth a Linger and a Latte
Books are like the Internet. They possess the power to take you to magical places. Unlike the Internet, you need to go to a physical place to find these books. These places are called bookstores. Begin your next jump on the reading rainbow with these four shops.
How to Ignore All Practical Advice and Become a Poet
When all other Newhouse grads flocked to New York City, Ryan Van Winkle traveled to Edinburgh, Scotland in pursuit of a New Year’s Eve party in August of 1999. Sixteen years later, he's an award-winning poet, a celebrated podcast host, and a one-man, international, creative circus. Lucky for us, he agreed to field a few questions.
22 Writing Greats With Ties to Syracuse
Maybe it’s in the salt. Or the snow. Or possibly the university’s top MFA program. But whatever it is, a lot of the nation’s best writers lived and worked here. Some, like George Saunders, Cheryl Strayed, and Mary Karr, found their creative space as students or as professors. Others, like Hart Seely, David Foster Wallace, and Bruce Coville, wrote stunning works while living in Central New York. Regardless, they deserve your attention.
How Dana Spiotta Created the New Great American Novel
Spiotta sees potential, and conflict, in the rusty edges of Syracuse, which inspires her complicated, yet inherently good, characters in her fourth critically acclaimed fiction, "Innocents and Others.” As a creative writing professor at SU, Spiotta continues the legacy of literary giants like George Saunders and Mary Karr who also got their breaks in Syracuse.
Geared up
Once an abandoned hulk of a building, the Gear Factory now percolates with artists working to reclaim the space in the name of community, collaboration, and creativity.
What’s Inside the Smallest Theater in Central New York?
Without the frills of big chain mega-movie-plexes, the Manlius Art Cinema attracts a loyal audience of independent cinema enthusiasts looking for one simple thing: a good movie.
Where to Get Your Edifice Complex On
Much of the art that resides in Syracuse requires you to crane your neck upward. Here's the must-see list of this city's jaw-dropping, architecturally amazing buildings.
How to Tell an Entire People’s History in 6,500 Beads
Syracuse sits at the center of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy in the Onondaga Reservation Nation and possesses a vibrant history and culture that informed this area and the creation of our nation.