Sights in New York City
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Alexander & Bonin
Since moving to Chelsea from Soho in 1997, this three-story gallery has made excellent use of its airy space with a stellar roster of artists, including several prestigious Turner Prize winners. Carolyn Alexander and Ted Bonin, the directors, can sometimes be seen at their 2nd-story desks. Recent shows include Willie Cole and the videos of Willie Doherty.
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St Mark's in the Bowery
Though it’s most popular with East Village locals for its cultural offerings – such as poetry readings hosted by the Poetry Project or cutting-edge dance performances from Danspace and the Ontological Hysteric Theater – this is also a historic site. This Episcopal church stands on the site of the farm, or bouwerie, owned by Dutch Governor Peter Stuyvesant, whose crypt lies under the grounds.
The 1799 church, damaged by fire in 1978, has been restored, and you can enjoy an interior view of its abstract stained-glass windows during opening hours.
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Wing Fat Shopping Mall
One of the most unique malls you'll ever see, Wing Fat lies underground and has businesses offering reflexology, collectible stamps and feng shui services. The most fascinating aspect is its history, as the tunnel is said to have served as a stop on the Underground Railroad as well as an escape route in the early 1900s for members of rival Tong gangs, who fought up on the street and then disappeared below before police could even begin to search.
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Lesbian Herstory Archives
This Brooklyn brownstone is filled to the brim with books, periodicals, videos, audiotapes, photographs and various ephemera that tell a long and storied lesbian tale. You can visit by appointment only or during several annual open houses – check the website for events. Founded by Joan Nestle and Deborah Edel in 1974, this is the oldest lesbian archive in the world. Be prepared to get lost among its fascinating holdings for hours.
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New York Earth Room
Since 1980 the oddity of the New York Earth Room, the work of artist Walter De Maria, has been wooing the curious with something not easily found in the city: dirt (250 cu yd, or 280,000lb, of it, to be exact). Walking into the small space is a heady experience, as the scent will make you feel like you’ve entered a wet forest; the sight of such beautiful, pure earth in the midst of this crazy city is surprisingly moving.
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United Nations
Welcome to the headquarters of the UN, a worldwide organization overseeing international law, international security and human rights. While the soaring, Le Corbusier–designed Secretariat building is off-limits, one-hour guided tours do take in the General Assembly, where the annual convocation of member nations takes place every fall, as well as exhibitions about the UN's work and artworks given by member states.
To the north of the complex, which technically stands on international territory, is a serene park featuring Henry Moore’s Reclining Figure as well as several other peace-themed sculptures. The UN visitors’ entrance is at 46th St.
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Ravenite Social Club
In Little Italy, take a gander at what was once the Ravenite Social Club to see how things have really changed around here, as these days it’s host to a rotating roster of legit businesses, including clothing and gift shops. It was once an organized-crime hangout (originally known as the Alto Knights Social Club), where big hitters such as Lucky Luciano and John Gotti (as well as the FBI, who kept raiding the place) logged time.
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Astroland
Many Coney Island boosters wept (at least on the inside) when this amusement park closed in 2008. Luckily, its most famous ride, the clackety, classic 1927 Cyclone roller coaster remains in operation and safe from future development owing to its placement on the National Register of Historic Places. The two-minute ride is well worth the price: it drops a dozen times and reaches a speed of 60mph on near-vertical falls.
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New York Mercantile Exchange
Frantic buying and selling by those familiar red-faced traders screaming ‘Sell! Sell!’ goes on at the New York Mercantile Exchange, near Vesey St. This exchange deals in gold, gas and oil commodities, but no longer with tourists; like the New York Stock Exchange, it’s closed to visitors.
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Gracie Mansion
This Federal-style home served as the country residence of merchant Archibald Gracie in 1799. Since 1942, it has been where New York’s mayors have lived – with the exception of megabillionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who prefers his own plush, Upper East Side digs. The house has been added to and renovated over the years. Reservations required.
The home is bordered by the pleasant, riverside Carl Schurz Park.
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Mott Haven
More of New York is talking about the Bronx these days, and pondering a move to enormous loft spaces at (relatively) cheap rents. In ‘SoBro’ (or South Bronx), Mott Haven is starting to attract its share of artists and folks looking for more elbow room. Bruckner Blvd is lined with industrial shops, red-brick loft spaces and nearly a dozen antique shops between the Third Ave and Willis Ave Bridges.
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Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park
On the water, set snugly between the bridges and backed by Civil War–era warehouses, the 9-acre Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park has a cozy lawn on the East River. At research time, the park was closed for retooling, including the addition of a glass pavilion designed by Pritzker Prize–winning architect Jean Nouvel to house a 1920s-era carousel. The park is scheduled to reopen in spring 2011.
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Kehila Kedosha Janina Synagogue & Museum
This small synagogue is home to an obscure branch of Judaism, the Romaniotes, whose ancestors were slaves sent to Rome by ship but rerouted to Greece by a storm. This is their only synagogue in the Western Hemisphere, and includes a small museum bearing artifacts like handpainted birth certificates, an art gallery, a Holocaust memorial for Greek Jews and costumes from Janina, the Romaniote capital of Greece. An upcoming renovation has plans for a Greek cafe, too.
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New York Aquarium
This fun, kid-friendly aquarium offers an opportunity to peek at an ocean’s worth of creatures. The shark and walrus feeding times are the big draw, and there are sea lion shows (free kisses if you dare). Admission on Fridays from 3pm to closing is by donation. Skip the overpriced ‘4-D’ shows – basically, 3-D films with wind and other effects.
Don’t miss the sea horse tanks, full of fascinating and beautiful species. The aquarium closes 60 to 90 minutes earlier than the times posted above during the winter months (November to May).
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Washington Mews
Private stables converted into homes line one side of the picturesque Washington Mews. Gaslights and horses have disappeared, but the tiny alley still embodies the essence of old New York. Famous residents have included writers Sherwood Anderson and Walter Lippman, and artist Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, founder of the Whitney Museum. It's surrounded now by New York University, which owns some of the properties.
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Museum of Sex
From vintage vibrators to homosexual necrophilia in the mallard duck, 'MoSex' explores the world of sex in culture and nature. One long-running exhibition, 'Action: Sex and the Moving Image,' examines representations of sex in mainstream cinema and pornography, while the permanent collection showcases everything from vintage blow-up dolls and homemade copulation machines to anti-onanism devices.
Don’t expect any sex parties or naked go-go dancers – though various folks do take the stage from time to time for presentations including erotica readings, one-person shows and sex-ed seminars. The museum shop sells a variety of sex-themed books and designer sex toys, while…
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Harlem YMCA
The Harlem YMCA, dating from 1919, provided rooms for many newly arrived African Americans who were denied a room in segregated hotels elsewhere (including James Baldwin, Jackie Robinson and Malcolm X). Note the ‘YMCA’ in neon atop the tower. Just past the Y there are public b-ball courts with a mural that claims that ‘Harlem plays the best ball in the country.’
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Mulberry Street
Although it feels more like a theme park than an authentic Italian strip, Mulberry St is still the heart of Little Italy. It’s the home of landmarks such as Umberto’s Clam House, where mobster Joey Gallo was shot to death in the ’70s, as well as the old-time Mulberry Street Bar, one of the favorite haunts of the late Frank Sinatra. Just a half–block off of Mulberry is the legendary Ferrara Cafe & Bakery, brimming with classic Italian pastries and old-school ambience. You’ll see lots of red, white and green Italian flags sold in souvenir shops, and you’ll also enjoy the lovely aroma of fresh-baked pastries and pizzas wafting out of doorways. Take a gander at what…
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Grace Church
This Gothic Revival Episcopal church, designed in 1843 by James Renwick Jr, was made of marble quarried by prisoners at ‘Sing Sing,’ the state penitentiary in the town of Ossining, 30 miles up the Hudson River (which, legend has it, is the origin of the expression ‘being sent upriver’). After years of neglect, Grace Church is being spiffed up in a major way; now it’s a National Landmark, whose elaborate carvings, towering spire and verdant, groomed yard are sure to stop you in your tracks as you make your way down this otherwise ordinary stretch of the Village. The stained-glass windows inside are stunning, and the soaring interior makes a perfect setting for the frequent…
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Arsenal
Built between 1847 and 1851 as a munitions supply depot for the New York State National Guard, the landmark brick building was designed to look like a medieval castle, and its construction predates the actual park. Today the building houses the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation and the Central Park Wildlife Center. There is also a small gallery.
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Woodlawn Cemetery
As elegant as Brooklyn’s Green-Wood is this 400-acre cemetery, the top resting place in the Bronx. It dates from the Civil War (1863) and actually has more big names than Green-Wood – and it is a contest – among its 300,000 headstones, including Herman Melville and jazz greats such as Miles Davis and Duke Ellington. Ask at the front for a photo pass if you want to snap pictures.
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Edward Mooney House
The red-brick Edward Mooney House, New York City’s oldest townhouse, was built in 1785 by butcher Edward Mooney. The blend of Georgian-Federal architecture has housed a store, hotel, billiards parlor and Chinese social club, and today it’s a bank.
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Stuyvesant Heights Historic District
Near Bedford-Stuyvesant’s southern reaches, Stuyvesant Heights Historic District vies with Brooklyn Heights for the best late-19th-century brownstones – something house-buyers are catching on to (prices now break $1 million). Head west from the Fulton St subway for a block and wander up Lewis Ave, then left and right on Decatur and MacDonough Sts; Lewis Ave has a cafe or two.
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Cable Building
NoHo’s Beaux Arts Cable Building was built by famed architects McKim, Mead and White in 1894. Originally used as the power plant for the Broadway Cable Car (the nation’s first), it features an oval window and caryatids on its Broadway facade. Today it houses the Angelika Film Center.
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Puck Building
The southeast corner of Lafayette and Houston Sts is dominated by Albert Wagner's round-arched bit of architectural genius. Wagner designed the building in 1885 as the printing facility for the German-language magazine Puck (now defunct, obviously). The building's dotted with little gold statues – Wagner's version of Puck the fairy – and he's a jolly, round-bellied, top-hatted fellow.
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