Elizabeth Minkel's User Profile - Atlas Obscura
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San Francisco, California

The Parrots of Telegraph Hill

Staircase winds down the side of Telegraph Hill through gardens, wild parrots flying overhead.
Amherst, Massachusetts

Stearns Steeple

The monumental steeple on Amherst College's campus has no church attached to it.
Amherst, Massachusetts

Emily Dickinson's Bedroom

The mighty room where the poet spent most of her life is available to rent for an hour or two.
Saratoga Springs, New York

Spit and Spat

Two mermen, eternally spitting into each other's mouths.
Saratoga Springs, New York

Orenda Spring Tufa

A beautiful multicolored mound formed by the mineral deposits of the Orenda Spring.
Brooklyn, New York

Vinegar Hill

Walk into the 19th century without leaving Brooklyn.
New York, New York

The Peace Fountain at Cathedral of St. John the Divine

A curious fountain that has no water and includes Satan, a crab, and 9 giraffes.
New York, New York

Bluestockings Bookstore

New York City's only radical feminist independent bookstore.
Brooklyn, New York

Green-Wood Cemetery

A Victorian cemetery in the heart of Brooklyn remains a popular mecca of morbid curiosity.
New York, New York

Governors Island

Lie in a hammock where George Washington stood.
Brooklyn, New York

Brooklyn Townhouse Secret Subway Exit

This innocent-looking townhome is actually a subway exit.
Queens, New York

TWA Flight Center at JFK Airport

This futuristic airport terminal was abandoned for decades before reopening as a hotel—with a vintage plane of its own parked out back.
New York, New York

The Grolier Club

The oldest bibliophilia club in America, with exhibitions on historic books and graphic arts.
Queens, New York

Flushing Meadows-Corona Park

The remnants of two World's Fairs are here, complete with a 12-story globe, a mini-Manhattan, and a UFO-shaped pavilion.
New York, New York

Fraunces Tavern

This Wall Street bar was once a hub of revolutionary activity where Washington famously bid farewell to his troops.
Brooklyn, New York

City Reliquary

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

House of Wax

Tucked in a nondescript downtown Brooklyn mall is a bar containing a remarkable turn of the century anatomical wax collection last seen in 1920s Berlin.
New York, New York

Unicorn Tapestries at the Cloisters

Mysterious 500-year-old tapestries depict a unicorn hunt.
New York, New York

Trinity Churchyard

This cemetery has graves dating back to the 17th century, including the city's oldest carved tombstone and an ominous cryptogram.
New York, New York

Roosevelt Island Tramway

One of only two commuter aerial tramways in the United States.
Brooklyn, New York

Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Sniff the Titan Arum's rotting flesh.
New York, New York

Tom's Restaurant

The "Seinfeld" diner.
Brooklyn, New York

New York Transit Museum

Ride the subways of yesteryear.
New York, New York

The High Line

Elevated freight railway turned wildly successful urban park.