Though its celestial ceiling is impressive, the true star is the vast collection of French books.

New York's oldest and possibly grandest keeper of books.

The site of Paul Revere's historic two lantern warning.

This small New York museum examines Chinese history from its origins right up to its arrival in the city.

This metal eagle one of the final remnants of a newspaper that wanted to keep Brooklyn to Brooklyn.

A hidden architectural treasure in New York's Brooklyn.

A good place to research the Freemasons, esoterica, occultism, and hermeticism.

Two community gardens under the elevated subway lines on a very busy commercial strip in Bushwick.

This Upper East Side apartment co-op was designed as a tuberculosis sanitarium.

A Pythagorean funhouse that tries, successfully, to prove that math is the coolest thing ever.

Once a flowing stream and where the USS Monitor, the world's first ironclad, was built and launched.

This innocent-looking townhome is actually a subway exit.

This unmarked and unloved Manhattan subway grate created one of the most iconic images in American cinema.

A treasure trove of artifacts, books, and artwork from the "golden age" of exploration.

The oldest family-run luncheonette in New York, last renovated in 1948, still serves food and drinks the old-fashioned way.

This neo-Gothic former auto showroom is one of the few remaining reminders of Brooklyn's "Automobile Row."

A yoga studio and venue for "chill-out parties" in a former chicken slaughterhouse.

An 1883 schoolhouse now home to collective of artists.

The childhood home of one of America's greatest unsung troubadours still stands in a much changed Brooklyn neighborhood.

Spike Lee's provocative film is officially honored right where it was made, the first time a work of art was used as a secondary street name.

During the summer, surfers in Alaska take advantage of this inlet’s unusual water patterns.

A prohibition era watering hole for the police.

“Invented in Key West, Perfected in Brooklyn."

Rat sculptures try to infiltrate the Graybar Building in an architectural tribute to New York City's nautical history.