Places alisonhballard Wants to Go

Down a stairway in the East Village, you could once read a plaque describing an alternate history of a fictional version of Manhattan.

Sip coffee and talk politics at this landmark cafe in Astoria's Little Egypt, a contender for the title of America's first hookah bar.

For almost a century, this East Village newsstand has served egg creams to beats, hippies, punks, and everything in between.

This tiny store is your one-stop shop for all sorts of rare and wonderful buttons.

A veritable variety of odds and ends.

A DIY art gallery/music venue/lecture hall dedicated to video game culture.

Tucked in the back of this amazing antique store is an important piece of medical history.

Devotional offerings and pleas for intercession are left at this Depression-era shrine inside a nature preserve.

A temple belonging to the largest Buddhist order in South Korea nestled in the middle of New York City.

An exhibition space dedicated to American outsider art created between the 18th and 21st centuries.

A hidey-hole sandwiched between cellphone, DVD, and jewelry stores features Tibetan delights.

The best B-movies filmed on a shoestring budget were born here.

Have a steam and some blini at this cafe in a century-old bathhouse.

More than 250 sakes are available in an izakaya hidden in the basement of a Midtown office building.

This subterranean oyster house has been the pearl of Grand Central Station since 1913.

A no-frills cinephile haven known for showing offbeat, underseen films.

Finally, you don't have to be a pious Swedish seaman to relax like one.

Cryptic messages embedded in the New York City sidewalk.

This otherwise innocuous bodega was once the headquarters of the most feared assassin's guild in American history.

This interactive gallery makes you feel like you've stepped into a fantasy world filled with whimsical monsters.

This collection of grinning ephemera has grown from basement to Brooklyn.

This enormous Hindu temple in Queens serves incredible dosas in its basement canteen.

The first and only carousel with a lineup entirely of insects.

Behind a bodega is a small museum of relics and ephemera showcasing the history of New York.