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Houdini Museum

Midtown    Free    www.fantasmamagic.com/

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Submitted By: Nina Ki

Located on the third floor of Fantasma Magic Shop, this one-room museum houses the second largest collection of Houdini artifacts in the country.

Ford Foundation Building’s Hidden Tropical Forest

Midtown    Free    tclf.org/landscapes/ford-foundation-a...

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Submitted By: Nina Ki

A tiny rainforest hidden away from the bustling streets of Manhattan inside an office building.

 

New York Earth Room

SoHo    Free    diaart.org/visit/visit/walter-de-mari...

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Submitted By: Nina Ki

In a city of skyscrapers, Walter De Maria has created an “interior sculpture” in the second floor of a SoHo storefront that consists of 280,000 pounds of Manhattan soil lying in a 3,600-square-foot room. It is exactly what the name suggests.

Gowanus Dredgers Boat Tour

Brooklyn    Free    gowanuscanal.org/

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Submitted By: Nina Ki

Gowanus Canal has long had a reputation for being one of the most polluted bodies of water in the United States. In 2010, it was even labeled a Superfund site. In spite (or because) of this, Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club is offering self-guided canoe tours with the goal of educating people about its history as a busy cargo transportation hub, and its future with environmental cleanup efforts.

Roosevelt Island

Roosevelt Island    Free    https://rioc.ny.gov/

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Submitted By: Nina Ki

A narrow little island in the middle of the East River. In the 1800s, the city bought the island to create a “city of asylums” in what was an attempt to create a more humane space for prisoners and the mentally ill. The island housed several hospitals, mental institutions, and prisons, and one penitentiary in particular became steeped in scandal (think uprisings, nude men swimming for their freedom, and boss gangsters running the joint). Celebrity prisoners there included Mae West and Emma Goldman. Nellie Bly also visited one of the mental institutions undercover, and wrote a stirring expose about the mistreatment of the “mentally ill” housed there (along with the actually mentally ill, many of the patients were women who were committed by their husbands for being insubordinate). There are still remains of the smallpox hospital, lunatic asylum, and library.

The Explorer’s Club

Upper East Side    Free    https://explorers.org/

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Submitted By: Nina Ki

A non-profit organization dedicated to advancing field research and preserving the explorer’s instinct. The Club has famous “Firsts” members, including firsts to the North and South Poles, to the top of Mount Everest, to the ocean’s deepest point, and to the moon’s surface.

Treasures in the Trash Museum

East Harlem    Free    www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-treas...

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Submitted By: Nina Ki

Curated by Nelson Molina, a sanitation worker, over a period of 30 years, “Treasures in the Trash Musem” is a secret museum on the second floor of the MANEAST11 garbage truck garage. It is unavailable to the public, but can be seen by scheduling a visit with the NYC Department of Sanitation.

Conjuring Arts Research Company

Koreatown    Free    conjuringarts.org/

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Submitted By: Nina Ki

Non-profit organization dedicated to preserving magic and its allied arts. Maintains and develops “the most expansive collection of conjuring related material in the world.” Features exhibits and libraries, and runs various projects.

House of Yes

Williamsburg    Free    houseofyes.org/

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Submitted By: Nina Ki

Former ice warehouse-turned anything-goes performance space. Showcases dance, circus, theater, and cabaret performances with events like “Polesque,” “House of Love,” and “Deep House Yoga”.

Green-Wood Cemetary

Brooklyn    Free    www.green-wood.com/

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Submitted By: Nina Ki

Cemetary in Brooklyn that houses some pretty famous dead people: Jean-Michel Basquiat, William Poole (aka “Bill the Butcher,” portrayed by Daniel Day Lewis in Gangs of New York), and William Magear “Boss” Tweed, just to name a few. Battle Hill, the highest point in Brooklyn, is inside, and it was the site of some action during the Battle of Brooklyn. Some escaped monk parakeets have made their home in the spires of the entrance gate.