Anything noteworthy on UWS? We just moved here and want to explore the area with purpose!

The lock museum (& rotating exhibit watch library/museum!) at the Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen on 44th between 5th/6th is definitely an underground find, one I’ve yet to see mentioned online. The building is stunning, inside, and out, and it’s totally and completely free!

Poster House in Chelsea! A boutique design museum with vibrant rotating exhibitions with focus on posters. posterhouse.org I'm definitely biased—I work at the museum—but I really enjoy what we make. Hope you enjoy!

The Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria has an amazing Jim Henson exhibit.

Some of my favorites that I don't think have been mentioned:

Coney Island Museum

Fraunces Tavern Museum

Grolier Club

Morgan Library

Poster House

Queens Museum

Museum of the City of New York is great! The dance exhibit currently there was a huge hit with my 9 month old, as well as a couple of elementary aged kids there at the same time.

The Queens County Farm Museum is fun with kids

New York Hall of Science is great. My kids also like the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City. 

Brooklyn children's museum. My kid once spent the entire day there. From 10am when they opened till 3pm. I was exhausted

The Transit Museum

Museum of the City of New York

Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria. I visited in like 9th or 10th grade and it solidified what I wanted to do with my life.

The Tenement Museum is awesome (definitely take a tour!)

The Noguchi is peaceful and unique, and the perfect size in that you can reasonably see it all during your visit.

It’s similarly lauded like the MOMA and the Met, but Natural History is always amazing.

Intrepid is also dope.

When the Frick reopens, jump on it. Very small, very idiosyncratic. Very UES.

In the meantime, the Morgan Library, also small and idiosyncratic, great little atrium cafe.

How did you manage to get the culture pass?

The trick with Culture Pass is to log in at the beginning of the month to get museum reservations- they go very fast.

Film forum!!

Highly recommend both of the Botanical Gardens, the cherry blossoms are going to bloom soon in Brooklyn and the orchid show is on at NYBG! I also love going to the Museum at Eldridge Street. The Noguchi Museum is wonderful as well.

The antithesis of techy is a really cool NYC Tenement museum on orchard st in the LES. It is an perfectly preserved late 1800s tenement that shows how the early irish, italian, german, and jewish immigrants lived when they first came ove Its close to little Italy and Chinatown, so you can stop for a pastry and cappuccino on the way.

The Artechouse museum on15th st has a great presentation in cooperation with NASA exploring the interaction of light and technology with art.

If he is into challanges, go to one of the escape rooms. You get put into a theme room (like diamond heist, night in the museum, etc) and you have to solve a succession of puzzles and codes. I'd suggest the Escape Room madness on 32nd st.

There is also the NYC Sex museum that is interesting, but I would warn you that it has a very confusing floor plan. I spent hours looking for the clitoris but got horribly lost.

A sleeper tech museum is the Museum of the Moving Image. There's a fair bit of tech development involved to put moving images on a screen, and then to add sound and then color. The museum shows a good bit of that. Plus they have a small collection of retro arcade games you can play.

Check out Natural History museum as their new space has some cool additions.

For art and tech - ARTECHOUSE NYC - in Chelsea Market. Get some noodles from Very Fresh and then some snacks and walk the Highline.

Pop over to Little Island after. See if you can time it for when there is a show or activation.

For an activity, why not just wander around the east village or the west village? Very different neighborhoods but always something to see. 

If he likes tech history, check out the Transit Museum. It’s supper hands on and very informative. Here’s how they describe themselves:

“Founded in 1976, the New York Transit Museum is dedicated to telling and preserving the stories of mass transportation – extraordinary engineering feats, workers who labored in the tunnels over 100 years ago, communities that were drastically transformed, and the ever-evolving technology, design, and ridership of a system that runs 24 hours a day, every day of the year.

Housed underground in an authentic 1936 subway station in Downtown Brooklyn, the Transit Museum’s working platform level spans a full city block, and is home to a rotating selection of twenty vintage subway and elevated cars dating back to 1907.

Visitors can board the vintage cars, sit at the wheel of a city bus, step through a time tunnel of turnstiles, and explore changing exhibits that highlight the cultural, social and technological history – and future – of mass transit.”

I don’t know that seeing as many Basquiats as you can in a week is the best use of your time. I’d say don’t miss the Earth Room or the Broken Kilometer, both free and a few blocks from each other. The Merode Altarpiece + The Unicorn Tapestries + the view at the Cloisters is worth the trip uptown. You’d probably want to do one day in Chelsea, one day downtown galleries. The Frick used to be really special, haven’t been since they relocated. I’d skip the Brooklyn Museum, partly because Kaws sucks. The best use of a day would be to take a train up to Dia: Beacon — they’re open with advanced reservations, and for my money that’s one of the best art viewing experiences in the world.

To mention: The Met is pay what you wish, so you can give them a quarter. There was a huge foundation grant to allow this. (Remember not to feel guilty, many museums in Europe are free for artists). Note that museums have free or pay what you wish nights, again you save a lot of money this way, if that matters. Chelsea galleries are worth a buzz through if you have time. Note the Met takes a long time. Check out the shows on at the Gug, Whit, and Brook before going to them, sometimes there is a bunch of crap that makes it not worth going. A great little museum with older stuff is the Frick, check it out online to see.

Isn’t PS1 still around?

Get the See Saw app when you get in and checkout all the gallery shows

The hole

DoNYC has a running list of pop up museums and events, updated regularly! Hope this helps! https://donyc.com/pop-ups-nyc

Ah yes, my favorite museums:

"Poster House"

"Metropolitan Museum o Fart"

"Museum"

Metropolitan Museum o Fart 😂

Definitely go to the rooftop bar at the Met. If you like jazz, go to the Carlyle. If you like Blues, go to Terra Blues. Bryant Park is awesome (and you can double it with the library, if that’s your thing). AMNH.

There are no hidden gems. Did you even bother to use the search option or check out the sidebar before posting? Check out the FAQ

If you want to do something off the beaten path considering coming over to my apartment and doing laundry.

Please "report" and downvote this comment if irrelevant to question above.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

Our Ultimate Visitor's guide will probably help you. Check our some recent visitor inquires here!

Please "report" and downvote this comment if irrelevant to question above.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

There are no hidden gems. God, there should be a bot that automatically deletes these messages.

Hidden Gems are more of an outer borough thing. That being said The Raines Law Room is a speakeasy on W 17th in Chelsea. Otto’s Shrunken Head is a really fun tiki bar on E14th in Alphabet City. The truly hidden gems are in South Brooklyn.