691 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

Chinatown Ice Cream Factory

Celebrate Thanksgiving with pumpkin pie ice cream.

New York, New York

Tom's Restaurant

The "Seinfeld" diner.

See all 83 places to eat in New York City See all 83 places to eat in New York City

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Stories About New York City

A fresh batch of sesame bagels are removed from the oven at H&H Bagels in New York.

Meet the Indispensable Bagel Rollers of NYC

A machine still can't provide a schmear experience up to New York standards.

by Emily Wilson

Podcast: Moses Gates and the Chrysler Building Eagles

Join us for a daily celebration of the world’s most wondrous, unexpected, even strange places.

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Podcast: Brooklyn Latrine

Join us for a daily celebration of the world’s most wondrous, unexpected, even strange places.

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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

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