690 Cool and Unusual Things to Do in New York City - Atlas Obscura

Unusual Attractions in New York City

New York, New York

City Hall Station

A beautiful and abandoned New York subway station from 1904, complete with chandelier.

New York, New York

The Evolution Store

A terrific purveyor of natural history objects and curios.

New York, New York

Dream House

La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela's "Dream House" will immerse you in an ever changing world of sound and light.

New York, New York

Roosevelt Island Smallpox Hospital Ruins

A crumbling hospital from the 1850s on Roosevelt Island.

New York, New York

Mmuseumm

A tiny museum housed in a New York freight elevator specializes in the "overlooked, dismissed, or ignored."

New York, New York

The Elevated Acre

Amid the bustle and noise of the Financial District hides a secluded garden oasis above the city streets.

New York, New York

Explorers Club Headquarters

A treasure trove of artifacts, books, and artwork from the "golden age" of exploration.

New York, New York

5 Beekman Street

This beautiful building in the heart of Manhattan's Financial District was empty for decades.

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Cool Places to Eat & Drink in New York City

New York, New York

Lexington Candy Shop

The oldest family-run luncheonette in New York, last renovated in 1948, still serves food and drinks the old-fashioned way.

New York, New York

Trinity Place Bank Vault Bar

This lower Manhattan bar is set up in an old bank vault that rests beneath a skyscraper that hides even more historic splendor.

New York, New York

Tom's Restaurant

The "Seinfeld" diner.

New York, New York

Campbell Apartment

A very classy 1920s-era bar right in Grand Central Station.

See all 82 places to eat in New York City See all 82 places to eat in New York City

Atlas Obscura Trips

Afloat the Erie Canal: A Self-Led Houseboat Adventure

Be the captain of your own ship as you steer along this historic waterway, experiencing its hidden wonders and two centuries of history.

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Stories About New York City

Crisco released a slender cookbook aimed at "the Jewish Housewife."

Inside the World's Largest Jewish Cookbook Collection

A librarian with a love for eBay built this trove of culinary history.

Women kiss, celebrate, and hold up a banner for the Lesbian Herstory Archives in front of the Duchess Bar, then a popular lesbian bar in Greenwich Village, at Pride in 1982.

This Project Maps 25 Years of New York's Lesbian Nightlife

The interactive tool allows readers to explore how queer social life has changed over time.

by Reina Gattuso

These two jars are a tiny fragment of Warhol's huge collection.

For Sale: Two Cookie Jars From Andy Warhol's Massive Collection

They sat on top of a fridge for decades.

by Karen Chernick

February 16, 2021

The Gowanus: kinda picturesque, but also terribly polluted since the 19th century.

Brooklyn's Putrid, Beloved Gowanus Canal Has Been a Horror for Centuries

A new $1.5 billion cleanup effort is underway, targeting its "black mayonnaise" of pollutants.

by Jessica Leigh Hester

January 14, 2021

For Tennessee's biscuits and gravy pie, only Dolly would do as decor.

The Singaporean Baker Inventing a Pie for Every American State

Her creations go way beyond apple pie.

by Samantha Chong

January 11, 2021

The Young Lords, a Puerto Rican activist group, seized this mobile chest x-ray unit in 1970. A few months later, they and members of the Black Panther Party occupied part of Lincoln Hospital to establish a drug detoxification program.

How Acupuncture Became a Radical Remedy in the Bronx

When Black and brown activists created Lincoln Detox, they also helped spread Eastern medicine.

by Santi Elijah Holley

November 9, 2020

Is a fly is an odd decoration for a purse? Not when it hides the lens of a camera.

For Sale: The Entire Spycraft Collection of New York's KGB Museum

If you ever needed a lipstick gun or a heartbeat detector, you could be in luck.

by Matthew Taub

October 29, 2020

An abandoned corridor between buildings on Ellis Island.

Capturing Ellis Island's Lost Period

The famous gateway to the United States lay abandoned for years before it was restored.

September 18, 2020

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