363 Best Sights in New York City, New York

In 1968, the Studio Museum in Harlem opened to celebrate artists of African descent. In 2018, the museum closed for a $300 million renovation and expansion project, and is slated to finally reopen in fall 2025 after a seven-year hiatus. The reopening will feature work from Tom Lloyd, an activist who was a focal point of the institution's opening 56 years ago. There will be works of art dating back to the early 1800s, showcasing more than 200 years of work by Black creatives, such as Houston E. Conwill, David Hammons, and Glenn Ligon.

Standing on the bluff of Sugar Hill overlooking Jackie Robinson Park, outside the slightly run-down 409 Edgecombe Avenue, you'd never guess that here resided such influential African Americans as NAACP founder W. E. B. DuBois and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. In 1946, Langston Hughes reportedly called it one of Harlem’s “most fashionable addresses.\" And farther north at 555 Edgecombe (known as the \"Triple Nickel\"), literary icon Zora Neale Hurston and jazz musicians Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Lena Horne, and others lived, wrote, and played. It's also here that, for more than 25 years, musician Marjorie Eliot has been hosting jazz concerts in her apartment (3F) at 3:30 pm every Sunday. Farther down, at No. 345, you can't miss the Benzinger House with its flared mansard roof. Amid all this history, the modern-looking Sugar Hill Children's Museum of Art & Storytelling, at 155th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue, gathers local families for programs that encourage the creative spirit of children.

Swing Low, a bronze statue of abolitionist Harriet Tubman rising from a traffic triangle at the crossroads of St. Nicholas Avenue, West 122nd Street, and Frederick Douglass Boulevard, was created in 2007 by sculptor Alison Saar. Inspired by West African \"passport\" masks, the striking monument incorporates the faces of \"anonymous passengers\" of the Underground Railroad in Tubman's skirt. The granite base includes bronze tiles that depict pivotal events in Tubman's life and traditional quilting patterns.

With two floors of exhibition space, the shows here can spread out. Look for innovative modern work in a variety of media, by the likes of Olafur Eliasson, Uta Barth, Ernesto Neto, Lisa Oppenheim, and Sarah Sze, who represented the United States at the 55th Venice Biennale.

Just across Liberty Street from the World Trade Center site, the “Ten House” firehouse is officially known as Ladder Company 10 and Engine Company 10. On the morning of September 11, 2001, firefighters on duty here were among the first to respond to New York’s terrorist attacks. The companies lost six heroes that day. The “Ten House Bravest Memorial” stands inside the firehouse to commemorate their ultimate sacrifice and that of other Ten House heroes. Around the corner on Greenwich Street, the 56-foot-long bronze bas-relief FDNY Memorial Wall serves as a tribute to 343 firefighters who perished on 9/11.

This is the most energetic part of New York City, a cacophony of flashing lights and shoulder-to-shoulder crowds that many New Yorkers studiously avoid. Originally named after the New York Times (whose headquarters has since relocated to 8th Avenue), the area has seen many changes since the first subway line, which included a 42nd Street station, opened in 1904. The area was once a bastion of the city's unseemly side, but today it's a vibrant, family-friendly destination, with pedestrian-only plazas that line Broadway with tables, chairs, and granite benches. There’s no longer a visitor center here, since the Official NYC Information Center is down at 151 West 34th Street in Herald Square, with maps, brochures, coupons, and a bilingual staff.

The focus of the entertainment might have shifted over the years, but live shows are still the heart of Midtown's theater scene, and there are 40 Broadway theaters nearby. (A few of the most historic theaters are spotlighted in this chapter's introduction.) Learn about Broadway's history and architecture on a two-hour Times Square walking tour by Manhattan Walking Tours ( $50  Daily at 10:30 am  www.manhattanwalkingtour.com) or join the two-hour guided Inside Broadway tour ( $39  Daily at 4 pm  www.insidebroadwaytours.com) that leaves from the George M. Cohan statue at West 46th Street and Broadway.

The Today Show doesn't have a studio audience, but if you get yourself to the corner of Rockefeller Center and West 49th Street well before 7 am, with some posterboard and markers (fun signs always get camera time), comfortable shoes (you'll be on your feet for hours), and a smiley, fun attitude, you might get on camera. America's first morning talk-news show airs weekdays from 7 to 10 am in the glass-enclosed, ground-level NBC studio.

In 2014, Saturday Night Live veteran Jimmy Fallon packed up his impressions and sketches, his roster of star friends, and his house band (The Roots) and moved from Late Night to The Tonight Show, filling the big comedic shoes of Jay Leno and Johnny Carson before him. He also moved the show back to New York from Los Angeles, where it had originally resided since 1972. Visit the website to reserve free tickets; they're released during the first week of the month prior to the show.

Occupying a section of land originally granted in 1705 by Queen Anne of England, Trinity Church is considered one of the first and finest examples of Gothic Revival architecture in America. This Episcopal church (the third on this site) was consecrated in 1846 and remained the city's tallest structure until 1890. Among its notable features are its three sets of enormous bronze doors depicting religious and early New York history, as well as some of the earliest examples of American-made stained glass. The churchyard contains the city’s oldest carved gravestone (Richard Churcher, 1681); on its south side, Alexander Hamilton is buried under a marble pyramid, not far from a monument commemorating steamboat inventor Robert Fulton (buried in the Livingston family vault with his wife). Trinity Church recently underwent a major \"rejuvenation\" project, restoring its historic architecture and adding a new section of stained-glass windows. Episcopalian worship services are held in person on Sunday and online during the week.

In 1925, prominent real-estate developer Fred F. French was among the first Americans ever to buy up a large number of buildings—most of them tenements—and join the properties into a single, massive new complex. He designed a collection of nine apartment buildings and two parks in the \"garden city\" mode, which placed a building's green space not in an enclosed courtyard, but in the foreground. French also built a 39-by-50-foot \"Tudor City\" sign atop one of the 22-story buildings, best viewed from the eastern end of 42nd Street. The development's residential towers opened between 1927 and 1930, borrowing a marketable air of sophistication from Tudor-style stonework, stained-glass windows, and lobby-design flourishes. Tudor City has been featured in numerous films, and its landmark gardens—sometimes compared to Gramercy Park, only public—remain a popular lunch spot among office workers. The neighborhood, which is near the United Nations, was designated a historic district in 1988.

From the late 19th century through the end of World War II, tens of thousands of Ukrainians made their way to New York City—and particularly to \"Little Ukraine,\" as much of the East Village was known. This museum examines Ukrainian Americans' dual heritage, with a permanent collection made up of folk art, fine art, and documentary materials about immigrant life. Ceramics, jewelry, hundreds of brilliantly colored Easter eggs, and an extensive collection of Ukrainian costumes and textiles are the highlights. To continue the Ukrainian experience, head to nearby Veselka restaurant for borscht and pierogi.

Officially an \"international zone\" in the city's heart, the UN Headquarters sits on an 18-acre tract on the East River, fronted by flags of its 193 member states, who are charged with helping maintain international security and peace. Built between 1949 and 1961, the complex completed an overhaul in 2015—the 70th anniversary of the UN's founding—that retained the 1950s look while upgrading its infrastructure. The only way to enter the UN Headquarters is with the hour-long weekday standard guided tour, available in all six UN official languages; reservations can be made online, and you'll need a security pass from the visitors office at 801 1st Avenue.  Arrive 60 minutes before your tour's start for security screening. The tour includes the General Assembly, Security Chamber Council, and exhibitions and educational details. Youngsters under five are not admitted. Other scheduled tours cater to different aspects of the UN such as art and architecture, or emphasize Black history or women and children; virtual versions are also available.

The complex's buildings (the slim, 550-foot-tall green-glass Secretariat Building; the much smaller, domed General Assembly Building; and the Dag Hammarskjöld Library) evoke the influential Swiss-born French modernist architect Le Corbusier, and the surrounding park and plaza remain visionary. The public concourse has a visitor center with a gift shop, a bookstore, and a post office where you can mail postcards with UN stamps; bring your passport to add the commemorative UN stamp.

Each year, from late August through early September, approximately 1 million fans come here for the U.S. Open, which claims the title of highest-attended annual sporting event in the world. The rest of the year, the 34 courts (19 outdoor and 12 indoor, all DecoTurf, plus three stadium courts) are open to the public for $40–$80 hourly. Ball machine rentals are also available for $18 per hour. Make reservations up to two days in advance. Parking is free but limited.

Ride the 1 train to its northernmost stop and you'll be greeted—surprisingly—by a park so sprawling and leafy, it's hard to believe you're still technically in New York City. Van Cortlandt started its life as the grounds of a 17th-century plantation built by an officer of the Dutch West India Company, and you can still visit the estate to learn about its generations of owners and the people who were enslaved there.

The park itself has plenty of hiking trails, bridle paths, and sports facilities including a cricket pitch, plus the Van Cortlandt Golf Course, the oldest public golf course in America, which includes a picturesque lake house offering rowing rentals in handmade wooden boats.

The gallery, located in a historic town house on a tree-lined street, features a vast collection of works by contemporary artists from the era of World War II up to the present. Van Doren Waxter represents Caetano de Almeida, Marsha Cottrell, and Farid Haddad, among other artists, while handling secondary market work by Georgia O'Keeffe, Lee Krasner, Roy Lichtenstein, and other revered names.

When it debuted in 2019, the centerpiece of the new Hudson Yards development was an instant city landmark serving as both an interactive artwork and photo-op paradise. Created by British designer Thomas Heatherwick, Vessel consists of 154 interlocking flights of stairs stretching 16 stories high, resembling a gigantic, woven copper basket. A visit might make you feel like you're inside an M. C. Escher drawing. Visits to the top are ADA-accessible via ramp and elevator, with stringent security screening. Buy tickets at Hudson Yards ticket kiosks, or reserve them online in advance.  Entry is free for NYC residents on Thursday.

Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar, among others, host this popular ABC talk show with a live studio audience every Monday to Friday at 11 am. Tickets can be requested in advance but don't always guarantee you'll get in, so be sure to get in line by 10:15 am—or earlier (see ticket instructions). Tapings last about an hour. You must be 16 or older to join.

A rarity in Manhattan, this pretty, brick-covered street—really a glorified alley—is lined on the north side with the former mews (carriage houses) of the area's homes. Although the street is private, gated, and owned by New York University, which uses many of the buildings for clubs and offices, it's open to pedestrian traffic.

With views of the Hudson River and New Jersey's dramatic Palisades cliffs, Wave Hill is a former 19th-century estate with residents that have included Theodore Roosevelt and Mark Twain. Today it's a renowned 28-acre public garden and cultural center that attracts visitors from all over the world, with exquisite theme gardens, from an aquatic garden to a shade border. Grand beech and oak trees tower above wide lawns, an elegant pergola overlooks the majestic river view, and benches on curving pathways provide quiet respite. The 1843 Wave Hill House is home to The Café and hosts workshops, talks, and concerts. Exhibitions in the Glyndor Gallery take place spring through fall each year. On the grounds, visitors enjoy a wide range of gardening and wellness programs and walks year-round.

Honoring the history of the 19th-century Black community of Weeksville, one of the first communities of free Blacks in New York (founded by James Weeks), this Crown Heights museum with an industrial-modern building by Caples Jefferson Architects has rotating exhibitions, botanical gardens, and three preserved houses on gravely Hunterfly Road in the back, dating back to 1838. Tours inside these structures depicting life in the 1860s, 1900s, and 1930s can be booked through their website.