June 28th, 2010

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Travel
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Non-Obvious and Offbeat Things To Do in New York

Next week we’re going to New York. I’m staying for a week, and Julie’s staying longer. We’ll be based in SoHo.

We’ve been to New York twice before (here’s a 2009 post about both trips), so we’ve checked off a lot of the popular attractions, galleries and museums. Obviously we’ve only skimmed the surface of all there is to do in the Five Boroughs, so I was curious to hear what you’d suggest we do that might seem like a non-obvious diversion.

If you know me or read this site with any regularity, you can probably predict what’s going to interest me. From previous trips to New York, favourite memories includes The Morgan Library & Museum and The Cloisters.

Julie has been gathering suggestions, too. At some point in the near future, I’ll share the complete list.

What shouldn’t we miss in NYC?

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Comments: 17 Responses so far

kcdyer
June 28th, 2010
9:26 pm

Three weeks ago I went to see the freak show in Coney Island. I was actually there to see the creepy wee museum, but it was closed.

I think it might qualify…

~kc

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Meryl
June 28th, 2010
11:08 pm

Have you been to the Frick Museum? Really worth a visit. I was going to add the Cloisters, but see that’s done. African Fabric shops in Harlem??? Have you walked the Brooklyn Bridge?

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JennJ
June 29th, 2010
7:29 am

Have you checked out the High Line? Totally my favourite place to take out-of-towners in NYC, a beautiful park that still gives a nice city experience: views of Hudson River, views of Empire State Building, nice wildflowers, lots of places along the way to get an ice cream cone.
http://www.thehighline.org/

Am also going to check out Governor’s Island this weekend coming up, free ferry and free bike rentals on the other side.
http://www.govisland.com/

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Bill Stilwell
June 29th, 2010
8:36 am

It’s a short train ride outside New York, but I’ve always wanted to go to Dia:Beacon (http://www.diabeacon.org/sites/main/beacon), mostly based on reading about Robert Irwin’s work there (http://www.vqronline.org/articles/2008/spring/weschler-robert-irwin/).

And on the gross consumerism side, both Muji and Uniqlo are worth a visit.

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tyfn
June 29th, 2010
10:19 am

How about the “key to the city” project?
http://nyti.ms/axcq0Q

Participants get access to areas normally off-limits.

I also recommending

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Jesse Miller
June 29th, 2010
10:25 am

Just got back from 4 days in NYC with my wife for my birthday. Walked the Brooklyn Bridge, Meatpacking District was fantastic and Saturday street festival on Bleecker was a great find for street food. City Lobster off Times Square was a good meal if you want to stay in budget and although I didn’t get a chance, the Alpine Club has an all-you-can-drink Brunch on the weekend… or just grab an ice-cream in the Central Park and enjoy the amusement rides while listening to Jay-Z, the new unofficial anthem of NYC.

“In New York,
Concrete jungle where dreams are made of,
There’s nothing you can’t do,
Now you’re in New York,
These streets will make you feel brand new,
The lights will inspire you,
Lets here it for New York, New York, New York”

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Brooks
June 29th, 2010
10:35 am

I found the NY Transit Museum pretty interesting. They’ve restored old subway cars that you can go through. We were in a rush when we went, so I’d like to go back and spend more time.

http://www.mta.info/mta/museum/

You could go there, then walk back towards DUMBO and then walk across the Brooklyn Bridge.

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Brian
June 29th, 2010
10:51 am

My friend (and Northern Voice alum) Jim Groom did this guide up for us a few years — everything we tried on it was great. It’s a little out of date… alas, I believe Coney Island is now closed.

http://tinyurl.com/32af6qe

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Siobhan
June 29th, 2010
2:58 pm

Visit the new High Line park, built on a section of the former elevated freight railroad:
http://www.thehighline.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Line_(New_York_City)

And stay in a hotel that has rooms that looks like ship cabins:
http://www.thejanenyc.com/#/rooms/0

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Roland Tanglao
June 29th, 2010
3:04 pm

+1 on the frick
+1 on the High Line
+1 on bagels
+1 on any ethnic food recommended by the new york times
+1 on filene’s basement

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Kevin
June 29th, 2010
10:23 pm

Noguchi museum & garden in Queens: http://www.noguchi.org/

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kcdyer
June 30th, 2010
4:19 pm

Me again. Just spotted this on boingboing today:
http://www.boingboing.net/2010/06/30/free-guide-to-having.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+boingboing%2FiBag+%28Boing+Boing%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

~kc [hoping the link worked...]

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armando
July 1st, 2010
4:51 pm

aawww! it’s closed for the summer!
http://www.diaart.org/sites/page/52/1366
the earth room

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trish
July 2nd, 2010
8:17 am

i love taking the free water taxi to governor’s island, and biking around…

http://www.govisland.com/visit_the_island/default.asp

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Stewart
July 3rd, 2010
10:15 am

Here’s a site which may lead you to some interesting stuff (Via Leftantler):

http://www.scoutingny.com/

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And
July 6th, 2010
11:53 pm

The African Burial Ground National Monument. It’s only a couple of blocks from St. Paul’s Chapel which was headquarters for a lot of the 911 rescue workers and now houses a very grassroots, but effective memorial/museum. Both are worth a look – horror at how we’ve treated each other in years past and present vs. amazement at how much compassion and generosity we are capable of in times of need.

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