New York, New York Attractions
Unusual landmarks, museums, roadside attractions, and hidden wonders in New York and the surrounding area.
Excepting one awful day in 2001, the Big Apple is less deadly than it once was, and its gridlock isn't as paralyzing as Boston's or L.A.'s. But parking is worse than bad, so we make an official RoadsideAmerica recommendation that would shock in any other spot -- don't drive. Leave the car somewhere secure (leave the RV in Pennsylvania), and take advantage of the subways, which drop you within a few blocks of wherever you want to go.
Manhattan real estate is too precious to accommodate a bottle house village or even a Muffler Man. But it provides room for a rare mummified American saint, a lighthouse devoted to the Titanic, and two places to admire George Washington's teeth. There are many stuffy statues, but we seek out those of TV's A foray to the outer boroughs takes you to relics of a World's Fair, a Hall of Fame of forgotten celebrities, and a memorial to equally forgotten prison ship casualties. Culture? History? International intrigue? This city has fistfuls of it, showcased in museums devoted to sex, tenement squalor, and the gone-but-not-forgotten KGB.
Sights for Oddball Excursions
New York Transit Museum
Brooklyn, New York
Housed below ground in a decommissioned subway station, the city's transit history is told with signs, artifacts, and walk-thru subway cars dating back to 1903.
Coney Island - Sideshows by the Seashore
Brooklyn, New York
Historical playland of the world, with some revitalized cheese and midway romance.
Green-Wood Cemetery
Brooklyn, New York
Huge, ornate cemetery with many prominent dead people. Tours, night walks, art and music events make this a tourist attraction, not just a graveyard.
563 Flu Victims Died Here
Cresskill, New Jersey
The one place you don't want to be in a flu pandemic is a crowded military transit camp.
World's 2nd Largest Light Bulb
Edison, New Jersey
It's perched atop an Art Deco tower, which stands where Thomas Edison once had a workshop.
In and Around New York
Choice field reports and tips. Or check out: Complete list of New York attractions.
- Queens: 1964-65 New York World's Fair Attractions
- New York: Mmuseumm: Smallest Museum in NYC
- Edison: Light Dispelling Darkness - WPA Art
- New York: Walk Upon Famine-Ravished Ireland
- New York: Chief: Firehouse Dog Hero [tips]
- New York: Wall Street Bull - Good Luck Burnishing [tips]
- New York: Key-Crazy Locksmith Building
- New York: Tribute to NYC's Sewer Alligator
- New York: The Cube [tips]
- New York: Metronome: World's Most Confusing Clock
- Brooklyn: New York Transit Museum
- Brooklyn: Tribute to New York City's Sewer Alligator [tips]
- Brooklyn: House of Wax: Victorian Medical Models [tips]
- New York: President Arthur Inaugurated and Died Here
- New York: Ralph Kramden Statue
- New York: Man Stares at Skyscrapers - Think Big [tips]
- New York: Giant Dog and Taxi Cab
- Weehawken: Death Rock of Alexander Hamilton
- Brooklyn: Green-Wood Cemetery
- New York: Spyscape
- New York: Monument to the Maine
