1. A Forgotten Piece Of History Resides On Top Of New York’s Most Famous Building
One of the most under-the-radar cool things in New York City is hiding in plain sight. In fact, it just might be the most widely visible thing in the entire city. Had enough with the riddling? We’re talking about the prominently pointy top section of the Empire State Building, famous for standing out atop the skyline and being scaled by a huge ape with a heart of gold.
While the tower has hosted a large broadcast tower since 1951, when the building was originally completed in 1931, the building’s tip was meant to be a “mooring mast” for holding visiting airships, which was thought to be the transportation mode of the future (this was before the Hindenburg disaster in 1937). So every time you see the Empire State Building from now on, you can go ahead and imagine a huge blimp tethered to the top.
2. There’s A Bar Hidden Behind Crif Dogs
At East Village spot Crif Dogs, you can grab all-beef franks wrapped with bacon, topped with an egg and schmeared with cream cheese at hours of the night. But if that’s not enough (you greedy person, you), Crif Dogs also doubles as an undercover entrance to a secret speakeasy.
After following the instructions in Crif Dog’s unmarked telephone booth, a door will open to a small, hidden speakeasy called PDT, short for Please Don’t Tell (sorry guys, we told). However, space is limited so you’re best off making a reservation when the phone line officially opens at 3 p.m., lest you be left out. Double bonus: you can still order some Crif Dogs while inside, which taste even better after a couple cocktails have entered the system.
3. Hurry Up And Grab Your Camera: The Banksys Are Disappearing Like Hotcakes
You’ve probably heard of the mysterious street artist known as Banksy, whose work became widely known after being featured in the Oscar-nominated documentary “Exit Through the Gift Shop.” You might have even heard about his one month “Better Out Than In” New York City art project that featured his works (stencilled and otherwise) popping up every day during October of last year. But where can you actually find his New York pieces? We’ve got the low down.
To check out his stencil of a dog silhouette peeing on a fire hydrant, head between 6th Avenue and 24th Street in Chelsea. You can still see his controversial work that features a kid tagging a wall with the words “Ghetto 4 Life” at 465 East 153rd Street in the South Bronx. To see his stencil of a robot, you have to head all the way to Coney Island at 2812 Stillwell Avenue in Brooklyn. You might want to hustle, since the works are being removed and defaced at a pretty rapid rate.
4. An Amazing Room Full Of Dirt Occupies Prime Real Estate In Soho
What is the Earth Room? Well, it’s a room full of dirt. You can’t play in it. You can’t dig anything up. This is the kind of modern art your mama warned you about, and your dad is none too impressed by.
There is a bit more to it than that. The work is by the influential, recently deceased American artist Walter De Maria, and has been sitting at its current location on Wooster St. in Soho since 1977. If you know anything about New York real estate, you know how crazy it is that this room is full of dirt instead of, say, Chipotle burritos or Urban Outfitters clothing. And the 3,600 square foot exhibit featuring two feet of dirt is a “permanent installation,” meaning it isn’t going anywhere any time soon.
It’s closed for the summer but free to enter for the rest of the year. It’s also been kept by the same fellow, Bill Dilworth, for the last quarter of a century. For some reason, there’s something reassuring and calming about the whole strange situation.
5. Stop By 530 Madison Ave. To See A Slice Of The Berlin Wall
It’s incredibly easy to walk past the office building at 520 Madison Ave. without thinking twice. But the Midtown Manhattan spot is a must-see spot for anyone interested in world history, since the building’s courtyard features a graffiti-tagged portion of the Berlin Wall.
Five kilometers of the Wall were originally painted by German artist Thierry Noir in an attempt to make the East Berlin/West Berlin barrier seem ridiculous. After the Wall fell, pieces were auctioned off, and several of them were bought by real estate company Tishman Speyer, who put them on display at 520 Madison. These days, the pieces go mostly unnoticed except by the occasional visitor who's heard about the display.
6. NYC Is Home To The World’s Strangest (And Smallest) Bird Sanctuary
New York City is known for being pretty much everything besides being wildlife friendly. (Bronx Zoo doesn’t count. Sorry.) But at least one small part of New York City is all about wildlife, serving as a protected bird sanctuary for migratory birds.
The title of “island” feels like a bit of a stretch, since U Thant Island, located west of UN Headquarters at 42nd Street, is all of 100 by 200 feet. But this untouched piece of prime NYC real estate is of huge importance to migratory species like the double-crested cormorant, who use it as a stopping point. The island, created by an abandoned trolley tunnel, is off limits to the public for obvious reasons, but you can check it out from several vantage points around the city.
7. 27 Miles Of Pneumatic Tubes Used To Deliver Your Mail
“Pneumatic tubes” sound an awful lot like an 18th century disease you would want to avoid, but really, they’re just compressed air tubes. Today, you’ll occasionally run across them at a drive-through banks.
Back in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, New York City had one of the most advanced pneumatic tube systems in the world, connecting Manhattan and Brooklyn post offices with more than 27 miles of tubes. At its peak, the system carried almost 100,000 pieces of mail a day. These days, you can check out remnants of New York’s old tube system at a couple different spots around the city, most notably, the New York Public Library, which still uses them for certain tasks.
8. The Best Kind Of A Day Is A Pantless Subway Day
The subway is the cheapest, most convenient way to get from A to B in city. For 364 days a year, however, there’s one major drawback: not wearing pants is generally frowned upon. But on one magical January a day a year, taking to New York’s storied subway system sans trousers isn’t only acceptable, it’s encouraged.
The “No Pants Subway Ride” was started by the public performance group Improv Everywhere in 2002, and has since become an NYC phenomenon, with over 4,000 riders taking part earlier this year. The tradition has spread to other cities around the globe, but make no mistake, NYC’s is the oldest, biggest, and most thoroughly pantsless.
9. A Fairytale Village Hides Amidst Manhattan High Rises
A gated village in its own little world, the Upper West Sides Pomander Walk is unlike anything else in New York City. The cooperative apartment complex, located amidst Manhattan high rise apartments not too far from Columbia University, sticks out like a sore thumb among its surroundings, looking roughly like a quaint European village right smack in the center of one of the biggest cities on the globe.
The idyllic community was originally built in 1921 by businessman Thomas J. Healy, who had designs on eventually upending the area and turning it into a hotel. Luckily his plan fell through, leaving New Yorkers a small slice of small village life—if they can make it through the gate, that is.
10. Join A Roving Foodie Club That Specializes In The “Nasty Bits”
New York has its fair share of “supper clubs” designed for bigtime cooks to show off their some of their best (and strangest) stuff and bigtime foodies to test the limits of their pallets. The Gastronauts, however, is the biggest, weirdest and most exclusive.
Gastronauts’ roving, monthly dinners have become the stuff of legend since starting up in 2006, aiming to get adventurous eaters get acquainted with “nasty bits and odd foods.” Gastronauts dinners, which have menus loaded with intestines, bugs and other assorted culinary delights, are huge draws, averaging over 70 people a pop, with a much, much longer wait list.
11. Visit An Incredible Hidden Subway Station
As anyone who lives in New York will tell you, the subway system hardly runs like clockwork. There are delays. There is construction. There are Saturday nights where you end up waiting 45 minutes before saying, “Screw it, I’ll pay for a cab.”
The history of the NYC subway is similarly human and imperfect, as illustrated by the city’s numerous abandoned subway stations. Probably the coolest, and certainly the most visually striking, is the old City Hall station. The old downtown stop, which was designed to be a showpiece, went out of use in 1945 when it could no longer accommodate the system’s new, longer cars.
These days, you can check the station out by taking the 6 line past its last downtown stop, or getting a tour through the MTA Transit Museum.
12. Watch Out For Public Art Displays In Hidden Places
After learning about the non-profit public art organization Creative Time, it’s hard to see an abandoned factory or storefront in New York City without wondering if it’s secretly housing some ridiculously cool exhibition.
Over the years, Creative Time has hosted exhibitions and music showcases in the anchorage of the Brooklyn Bridge, an art labyrinth inside of a disused market and most recently, a massive, Sphynx-like sculpture in Brooklyn’s abandoned Domino Sugar Factory.
13. This Ghost Shipyard Is A Photography Major’s Dream
Staten Island’s so-called “boat graveyard,” formally known as the Witte Marine Scrap Yard, is a dumping site for past-their-prime ships.
A visit to the site might sound as appealing as a trip to a garbage heap, in theory, but the graveyard is full of incredible, frequently haunting imagery, making it perfect fodder for sepia-toned snaps. The site has been active since the 1930s, and currently houses over 100 abandoned vessels, making it one of the largest sites of its kind in the world.
Getting in will take some finagling, however, since it’s technically closed to the public.
14. Experience The “Gothic Romance” Of An Abandoned Island Hospital
Roosevelt Island is a house of mysteries for most New York residents, mostly because unless you’re one of the roughly 10,000 people that live there, you’ve never stepped foot on the island, even though it’s within spitting distance of Midtown Manhattan.
For New York City historians, however, Roosevelt Island is fascinating for another reason: it houses the abandoned Renwick Smallpox Hospital, used to quarantine smallpox patients between 1856 and 1875. These days, the building is in shabby-yet-beautiful condition—what the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission called a "picturesque ruin, one that could readily serve as the setting for a 19th century Gothic romance."
15. The Sexiest Museum Around
When people are listing off New York City museums worth checking out, MoMA, the Guggenheim and the Met are bound to get a mention, but one of New York’s most interesting museums (and easily its most salacious), the Museum of Sex, usually doesn’t make the cut. We blame this either on a lack of knowledge (the east 27th street spot is pretty new, having opened up in 2002) or general public squeamishness, but the oddball museum is certainly one of the more interesting places in the Big Apple.
The institution aims to “preserve and present the history, evolution and cultural significance of human sexuality” which is explored through serious exhibitions, like one on the history of Chinese erotic art, and more lighthearted attractions, like their new sexy carnival. Leave the kids at home for this one (but we’re sure you already knew that).
Did we miss anything? Tell us your favorite secret spot in New York in the comments below! 
