Taking a trip to visit NYC. I was wondering about some offbeat places to visit, mostly involving either art, music or history.
Just a few quick suggestions. Am I hitting the mark?
Tenement Museum
vs.
Merchant’s House
Lefferts Homestead
http://www.historichousetrust.org/item.php?i_id=19
Transit Museum
http://mta.info/mta/museum/index.html#general
Panorama of the City of New York
http://www.queensmuseum.org/exhibitions/visitpanorama
Tenement Museum, Skyscraper Museum, Transit Museum, Schomburg Center, Cooper-Hewitt Design Collection, The Cloisters. Musical performances at NYU, Julliard, Town Hall, or Lincoln Center.
those are all good ideas, they fit what I am looking for.
Cathedral of St. John the Divine.
One of the largest – perhaps THE largest – cathedral in the world, they’ve been building it for over 100 years and it isn’t done yet. They have occasional musical performances, some follow services but not all:
http://www.stjohndivine.org/Choral.html
http://www.stjohndivine.org/St.James.html
http://www.stjohndivine.org/ItsSunday.html
and offer guided tours:
http://www.stjohndivine.org/pe_forthcoming.html
If you find yourself in the East Village, pop in to Obscura. A very odd antiques store (there’s a reality TV show about them, although I’m not sure it’s still in production.)
I highly recommend the New Museum if you like contemporary art.
I also enjoyed the tour of the Gold vault at the Fed - requires advanced reservations.
Call and ask about a vertical tour. It’s exactly what it sounds like–they walk you through each ‘floor’. Circular stairs in the walls, balconies and buttresses, all seething with art. Eventually you get to the top and pop out near the ceiling. Of a cathedral. A giant cathedral. It is heavenly.
While you’re there head across the street to Columbia U. and see what’s on display in their rare books library. Some amazing things there. Sometimes a bit esoteric and scholarly, but often literary.