As a native New Yorker, I’m sure some of you can relate to what I’m about to say: my city hosts some of the most eccentric locales anyone has ever seen.
Forget the usual hotspots that tourists flock to while they’re adorned in “I LOVE NY!” shirts and caps. There’s so much more to see and do beyond just walking around Times Square, taking the boat to Ellis Island to stare at the Statue of Liberty and taking a selfie in front of Madison Square Garden. I’m always on the lookout for speakeasies, arcades packed to the brim with retro games, quirky museums and other sorts of unique locales.
I already had two AI tools in mind when trying to come up with a list of strange places to head out to: Gemini and Google Maps’ trusty Ask Maps feature. I approached both of Google’s chatbot assistants with this simple request: “Find me 7 of the weirdest yet entertaining attractions in New York City.”
Both Gemini and Google Maps’ Ask Maps scoured every borough of my city and came back with a host of trippy locales that appeal to my interests as an intrepid metro adventurer. These are the 7 weirdest hotspots that I can’t wait to take a weekend trip to.
Gemini’s suggestions for local locales that are a bit weirder than most
When it was Gemini’s turn, it met me with four equally intriguing locales that are definitely out of the norm when it comes to oddball gimmicks:
- Evolution Store (SoHo): A cabinet of curiosities brought to life, this shop caters to collectors of the macabre, science enthusiasts, and oddity seekers. You’ll find real human and animal skulls, taxidermy, pinned exotic beetles, meteorites, and prehistoric fossils alongside medical antiques.
- Sunshine Laundromat & Pinball (Greenpoint): At first glance, it looks like a standard neighborhood laundromat with people folding shirts. But if you push open the fake washing machine door toward the back, you’ll step into a speakeasy arcade filled with decades of classic pinball machines and a full craft beer bar.
- The Whispering Gallery at Grand Central Terminal (Midtown): Located right outside the Grand Central Oyster Bar, this acoustic anomaly is built into the tiled Guastavino arches. If two people stand at diagonally opposite corners of the square entryway and whisper into the wall, the sound waves travel cleanly along the curved ceiling, letting you hear each other clearly over the noise of the terminal.
- Dream House (TriBeCa): Created by minimalist composer La Monte Young and visual artist Marian Zazeela, this continuous sound-and-light installation has been running in a light-filled room on Church Street since 1993. Visitors take off their shoes, lie on a plush carpet, and immerse themselves in a dense chord produced by sine-wave generators and neon geometric lighting.
After reading through the descriptions of all four of Gemini’s picks, I got even more excited to venture out to each one of them over the course of the next several weekends.
The Evolution Store’s selection of bracelets and framed butterflies matches my type of vibe; the Sunshine Laundromat & Pinball targets my interest in regular locals that cleverly feature hidden gems; The Whispering Gallery at Grand Central Terminal sounds like a perfect spot for me and one of my friends to go to and see if our whispers truly reach each other; the Dream House appeals to me as a stress-relieving site that I can frequent from this point forward.
Google Maps’ Ask Maps strange hotspot recommendations
After presenting my prompt to Google Maps’ Ask Maps, it spread out its seven pics across two categories: “Manhattan Oddities” and “Brooklyn Quirks.” Here are the three venues I end up adding to my future weekend hangout schedule:
- Tucked into a gritty Lower Manhattan alleyway, Mmuseumm is an eccentric, 60-square-foot museum built entirely inside an old freight elevator shaft. It explicitly explores the modern world through an absurd collection of regular everyday objects. What You’ll See: Oddities ranging from unique toothpaste tubs collected across the globe to weird papers accidentally left behind in copy machines. Fun Feature: Despite the minuscule footprint, they have squeezed in a tiny gift shop and a cafe shelf.
- Hiding behind a bright bodega-style canopy in Williamsburg, The City Reliquary is a micro-museum completely obsessed with the odd, forgotten relics of New York history. The Collection: Forget high art—this museum proudly showcases rows of vintage New York seltzer bottles, old subway tokens, and even actual subway rat bones. Community Focus: The back rooms rotate display cases dedicated to bizarre personal collections curated by everyday locals.
- If you need a new cape, a canister of “Chilled Fog,” or a fresh bucket of invisibility paint, Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co. in Park Slope has you covered. The retail front operates entirely as a dedicated, fully in-character shop selling crime-fighting accessories. The Secret Identity: The entire store is a clever front. If you pull back the correct bookshelf, you discover a secret door that opens into a hidden library housing 826NYC, a nonprofit creative writing center for kids. Store Rule: Be prepared—employees strictly require all customers to loudly recite a vow of heroism at the counter before completing any purchase.
As someone who frequently hits up museums, is amazed by the sort of objects I don’t come across on the regular and is enraptured by the heroics of my favorite Marvel Comics & DC Comics costume characters, those three aforementioned hubs spoke to me the most. The promise of a hidden creative writing mecca for kids housed within a superhero item shop should definitely appeal to any of my younger cousins who love that type of stuff.
Final thoughts
Gemini and Google Maps’ Ask Map feature have become one of my go-to AI tools for finding a wide swath of local and non-local venues to go to whenever I’m planning solo endeavors, group hangouts and first dates. In this case, they both came in clutch during my journey to discover the strangest yet infinitely cool locations that are littered across my city.
Not only do I have plenty of random spots to hit up over the next few months, but I also have a newfound desire to prompt Gemini and Google Maps’ Ask Maps to help me find even more bizarre locales worthy of my attention.
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