Best way to burst a social bubble: Rochester Pool League
It happens. You wake up one day and realize you’ve been hanging around the same people, listening to the same music in the same places for the past five years or more. Comfort is rarely exciting.
Enter: Pool league. The great equalizer. One week, you’re facing off against a musicologist from Eastman and the next you’re congratulating an RTS bus driver on a match well-played. There is no single characteristic that fits all 700 (give or take) registered league players in Monroe County, other than a shared love for the game. Given that as a base, one’s social bubble is bound to burst. And thanks to the marvel that is handicaps (this writer is not a golfer), even a seasoned vet has reason to fear a well-practiced novice.
Like travel baseball, minus the driving, hotels, bourgeois disillusionment and expense, league moves you around the city into establishments you may have never before considered, discovering micro cultures that only exist outside of one’s normal routine. In this environment, intersectionality is innate and insularity is impossible; something that all of our bubbles could benefit from. rochesterpool.org —KATIE EPNER
Best winter fort: Lamberton Conservatory at Highland Park
There used to be a duck named Lucky at Lamberton Conservatory. Lucky was — as you might expect — an icon. She wouldn’t just walk around the space, no, she would strut. Need some spunk? Need some sass? Lucky was your mallard. I’ve been to the botanical garden, located in Highland Park, many times post-Lucky, but each visit to the cozy confines reminds me of the special duck.
My lede is full of nostalgia, because, well, that’s what I feel when I visit Lamberton — nostalgia for simpler times. And coziness. Lots of coziness. As I’m typing this, it’s snowing … a lot (an evergreen statement that will sometimes leave me in awe of winter’s beauty, and other times will irk me with its relentlessness). So, it’s important to note just how toasty it is inside the conservatory. The temperature isn’t ideal in summer, but it’s glorious in the winter. It’s the best snow fort around — one with turtles, and cacti, and flowers, and buttonquails, and whimsy, and magic. It’s truly an elite spot for lollygagging.
Here’s my typical Lamberton agenda:
- Tell my secrets to the turtles. If you don’t trust the turtles, that’s a you problem.
- Take a selfie in the garden of cacti and caption it “just a couple of pricks!”
- Name the quails as they skedaddle around the place. Doug is a good name. So is Gertrude.
- I don’t just take one lap around Lamberton, no, I need at least three trips around to capture all the beauty.
- Sit on the bench under the twisty arch of branches and practice my yearning.
- VISIT SHELLVILLE (the real name for a sandbox where majestic shelled creatures roam).
- Take SO MANY photos so I can look back at them and swoon over the memories.
The Conservatory is open 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. every day except Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. monroecounty.gov/parks-conservatory —SCOTT PUKOS
Best class series for freelance dancers: Movement and Community
Technique classes are baked into full-time company positions, but freelancers have a different challenge — if you want class, you have to carve out the time (and dime), and hope the class feels worth it. As a freelance performer, I’ve struggled for years to find a dance class that fits what I’m looking for in-studio (rigorous, affordable and originally creative training).
Movement and Community, a dance training program housed in The Auguste Roost on Cumberland Street, entered the Rochester dance space this past fall with a rare solution: free, weekly, professional-level classes. The program, which is grant-funded and thoughtfully curated, also offers modern dance and dance-injury prevention — two areas freelancers tend to need most and are able to access least.
Saturday afternoons offer injury prevention taught by Elyssia Primus, a local dancer and physical therapist whose approach is grounded and accessible. Each month centers on a different anatomical focus — think feet and ankles, core stability or shoulder mechanics — and Primus leads dancers through targeted warmups and circuits designed for longevity. The movements are practical and repeatable, the kind you can add onto a rehearsal or do in your living room to stay performance-ready.
The weekly modern class rotates teachers each month, giving Rochester dancers a chance to sample fresh artistic perspectives, from improvisation-heavy explorations to more traditional technique classes that leave attendees sweaty and sore in the best way. A warm communal atmosphere also fills the gap many part-time performers feel (especially when our 9-5 is outside the arts).
With programming slated to run through May 2026, Movement and Community feels a bit like a love letter to local dancers; an investment in keeping artists moving, healthy and connected. Freelancers, don’t sleep on this one. rochaha.com/mnc —SYDNEY BURROWS
Best place to cut loose: improv classes at the Focus Theater
Before an improv show, there’s a thing we do. We go up to each teammate, pat them on the back and say, “got your back.” It’s a simple gesture, but it means a lot. It’s a sign of support and trust. It means we’re going to “yes, and…” our hearts out together.
While improv can be performed anywhere, The Focus Theater (located in the Sibley Building on East Main Street) is the spot that has your back. It’s a location where Rochester’s improv community grows. The Focus Theater offers seasonal eight-week classes for beginners (Improv I), long-time performers (Improv IV) and everything in-between (Improv II and III, if you can believe it). Aside from improv, they also offer a sketch comedy writing class (my personal favorite), stand-up comedy classes, workshops and even some fun, creative one-offs (like a Dungeons & Dragons improv class). The instructors are knowledgeable and supportive, and taking a class (or two, or all of them) is a TOP-TIER way to make new friends. Witty friends who are excellent listeners, by the way (the best kind of friend).
If you’re on the fence and need a pitch, here it is: Improv is essentially play for adults. It’s a small window where you can truly and fully embrace your silly side. You can be a goofy little weirdo (complimentary), you can create fun characters, you can forget for a few hours that there are a lot of things in our world that suck (too many things, one may argue)! How often do we get the chance to be a certified chucklehead (again, complimentary)? I say, seize this opportunity. focus.theater —SCOTT PUKOS
Best news for local moviegoers: 70mm projection at Cinemark Tinseltown
Discussing the theatrical experience often feels like grasping onto a rapidly fading memory. It’s not something you want to see disappear, but the way movies are consumed has been changing for a long time and theaters never truly rebounded after 2020. In the aftermath of the pandemic, Rochester lost a handful of theaters which seemed to spell doom for our city’s moviegoing options.
It was a refreshing — and unexpected — surprise when Cinemark Tinseltown announced it will add 70mm projection next year (timed with the release of Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” in July). The 70mm format has become an in-demand way to see movies (in 2025, “Sinners” and “One Battle After Another” sold out 70mm screens around the country) and its recent uptick in popularity has breathed new life into theaters.
What’s especially exciting for Rochester is people will travel from Buffalo or Syracuse — if not further — to see Nolan’s upcoming movie in 70mm format. The capability to play this larger format remains limited (Tinseltown will be only one of 33 theaters in the country with 70mm projection), which will make Rochester a hotspot for fans of the format.
It’s sad when any theater has to close their doors; Rochester had it happen too many times in the past five years. But to now see our city become a destination for 70mm projection is heartening for fans and supporters of the Rochester theatrical experience. I just need to remind myself of that instead of yelling at the Fandango app when it’s difficult to secure a ticket. —MATT PASSANTINO
Best 90s relic: the exit and entrance signs for the Mt. Read Blockbuster
Stonehenge, the Pyramids of Giza, Machu Picchu and the Roman Coliseum — this is just a small list of some ancient ruins existing in the modern world, each with their own jaw-dropping glory. A marker of what once was, they carry stories passed down from generation to generation. But did you know our city has ruins of its own?
Just across from Mt. Read Wegmans in the town of Greece, two columns greet patrons by the roadside as they pass by or through. Blink and you might miss ‘em: a pair of exit and entrance signs in the shape of a strangely familiar ticket stub. These are the only remnants of what was once a Blockbuster. The building’s history has been mostly scrubbed as it is now home to a wine and liquor store (a different kind of Friday night stop), but the signs have lasted, a reminder of the video rental Titan that brought entertainment to our living rooms before the streaming era.
A lasting symbol that, for those who remember, signifies a night roaming blue carpeted aisles searching white shelves lined with new releases and curated classics. The unmatched joy of seeing an available copy behind the movie’s placeholder, the snack assortment tempting you in line before checkout and — at least, in my family’s case — the ill-timed late fee balance on your account.
This entire experience has largely become extinct, save for the last lone standing Blockbuster storefront in Bend, Oregon. For us Rochester locals, the two-foot signage structures that guard this plaza are a reminder of a simpler time before the ‘open app, doomscroll, search, exit and repeat’ pipeline of exhaustion that ultimately ends with watching nothing or renting a movie that isn’t on any of your 10 subscription services. —ROBERTO FELIPE LAGARES
Best walk ‘n’ talk spot: Mount Hope Cemetery
Some days (weeks/months/years) warrant a walk with a good friend to sage the toxic vibes or just catch up the good ol’ fashioned way: in person, no screens, breathing fresh air the way nature intended. In addition to giving you a reason to yap, walking is one of the best exercises for a body: it sheds pounds, strengthens bones and muscles, improves cardio health and increases blood flow. (I can personally promise you will sleep better and have an improved outlook on life after a brisk walk, too.)
Hands down, the best place I walked with a friend this fall was Mount Hope Cemetery. Throw on a pair of good hiking (right now, snow) boots or sneakers for the hilly terrain, bring a water bottle (whatever you fill it with is between you and god) and park somewhere nearby (I always find a spot on Robinson Drive, just across Mt. Hope Avenue).
As the city website accurately states, Mount Hope is “more than a cemetery. It’s a peaceful park, a wildlife sanctuary, and an outdoor museum.” Founded in 1838, it’s a massive 196 acres that I haven’t managed to walk in entirety yet. The grave markers alone are endlessly fascinating, not to mention you can visit the resting places of Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony (but hopefully you knew that, and already have).
One last note: It’s peaceful. So respect that peace if you visit. One friend asked if it felt morbid to wander through Rochester’s past lives. But rather than morbidity, it’s a welcome reminder. There’s a gravity and refocus in knowing that, in the end, death comes to us all. Someone, someday may walk by your grave discussing the week’s trivialities with a trusted friend. They may remember that we all live and die, and now is the time to make the most of it. The cycle continues. Mount Hope Cemetery is open 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. through March 31, and until 8 p.m. beginning April 1. —LEAH STACY
