Unexpected New York
1. Under the Stars Grand Central isn't exactly unknown; hundreds of thousands of people pass through every day. But only the savviest of those bustling by ever bother to look up at the ceiling of the Main Concourse. Covered with an elaborate painting of the zodiac (which was accidentally reversed when it was painted), the ceiling was cleaned during the 1998 restoration of the station. But if you know where to look near one edge, you can see one small dark patch, left by the restorers to remind commuters of all the grime - most of it tar and nicotine from the cigarettes of commuters - that used to block out the stars.
2. Underground Art The largest museum in the city isn't the Met, and the entry fee is a mere $2: The MTA's Arts for Transit program sponsors all kinds of public art in the subway system. Giant fish adorn the platforms at Essex and Delancey, while the "Rail Rider's Throne" offers an ornate seat to some lucky commuters at 116th Street. Crowd-pleasing whimsical sculptures of tiny figures lugging subway tokens adorn the station at 14th Street and 8th Avenue, and the mosaics at the 81st Street/American Museum of Natural History station depict both extinct animals (in gray) and their still-extant progeny (in color.)
3. Island Getaway Manhattan is an island, but there's a smaller island just offshore that's Manhattan as well. Politically part of the same borough, Roosevelt Island is best known for its Swiss-built tram that crosses 250 feet above the East River. Once you get there, there's no need to hurry right back - stroll around the promenade that encircles the island and take in the views of the New York skyline, starring the U.N. building, spread out before you. For a more macabre turn, stare at the ramshackle, romantic ruins of a Victorian-era smallpox hospital, and thank your lucky stars you didn't live back then.
4. Irish Copy Hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers claim Irish ancestry, but tucked away in Lower Manhattan you can find a literal piece of the auld sod. The Irish Hunger Memorial at Vesey Street and North End Avenue commemorates the 19th-century famine with a quarteracre of Ireland in New York City. Entering through a stark glass-and-granite tunnel, you emerge in an Irish landscape, complete with soil, flora, and a ruined cottage brought stone by stone from County Mayo. Climb the hill, and you're rewarded with spectacular views of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.
5. Model City A leftover from the 1939 World's Fair, the New York City Building in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens once hosted an indoor ice rink and the initial meetings of the United Nations. It's now occupied by the Queens Museum of Art and its Panorama of New York City, a 9,000-square-foot model of the entire city (originally built for municipal planning purposes) featuring 895,000 individual scalemodel structures, among them a 13-inch-tall rendition of the Empire State Building. Bring binoculars and pick out your favorite landmark as the simulated sun rises over New York.
6. Offbeat on Display The Forbes Galleries is one of the best small (and little-known) museums in New York. The permanent collection, assembled by eccentric bazillionaire Malcolm S. Forbes, includes fascinatingly comprehensive regattas of toy boats, armies of lead soldiers from all periods, historic Monopoly games, and trophies for everything from boxing to egg-laying. And the temporary exhibits have been equally eclectic: Japanese children's kimonos, Olympic medals, and the cartoons of Ronald Searle - all brought to you by a motorcycling hot-air balloonist who owned nine Faberge eggs.
| Advertisement |
