Places Karina Spivak Wants to Go

This nondescript coffee shop conceals one of the wildest patisseries in New York City.

Rare moles meet activism at this Oaxacan eatery.

You don't have to be an ambassador to dine like one.

Come for the waffles, stay for more waffles.

Those belting out show tunes in this West Village piano bar might not realize it marks the site where Thomas Paine died in 1809.

“Invented in Key West, Perfected in Brooklyn."

This semi-hidden Manhattan restaurant is based out of a loading dock.

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

Nikola Tesla's former home contains an homage hidden from plain sight.

This lower Manhattan bar is set up in an old bank vault that rests beneath a skyscraper that hides even more historic splendor.

Order scoops of pandan, lychee, and black sesame at this family-run institution.

Once the center of power for the region's various factories.

This overlooked courtyard and museum celebrate Benjamin Franklin's life and achievements.

This scout retreat, still in use today, was the filming location for the original “Friday the 13th” film.

Whimsical artist house in the New Jersey woods.

Once in a state of dilapidation, this candy-inspired fortress is now being revived.

Series of storm drains connected to a dark urban legend.

This tiny New Jersey village has lived many lives but seems determined to remain a ghost town.

Hidden in plain sight on the Hudson River is an abandoned train station where nature has taken over.

In the woods of New Jersey lie the ruins of a munitions village abandoned after World War I and the remnants of a 1920s wooden racetrack.

A recently abandoned psych ward at the end of Sanatorium Road.

This historic iron-working village is now a ghost town so immaculate that it looks as though it was recently built.

A storefront museum in Asbury Park honoring the Jersey Shore’s deep history of mystery—including the Jersey Devil.

A bronze monument to the infamous radio broadcast in the real New Jersey town where the fictional Martians crash-landed.