Let Me Tell You is a series of columns from our senior editors about life in NYC, including the best things to do, where to eat and drink, and what to see at the theater. They appear every Tuesday, so you’ll hear from us every week. Most recently from Things to Do editor Rossilynne Skena Culgan explored Canada’s surprisingly charming Times Square.
Can you keep a secret? I have kept a big secret for the past year and can now finally reveal it: I have written a book about the secrets of New York City! It is called Secret New York: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful and Obscureand pre-orders are open now. But before the book finds a place on your bookshelf (I hope!), I wanted to give you a behind-the-scenes look at how I found these secrets, which ones surprised me the most, and how you can start secretly exploring.
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People like to share secrets
While working on the book over the past year, I made it a habit to ask people if they knew any New York secrets. From new friends at dinner parties to New Yorkers in the office, I was constantly asking for suggestions. As a proud New Yorker, I brought a humble approach and a fresh perspective to the project.
As a seasoned explorer, my crowning glory is embarrassing New York locals and showing them cool new places in the city. As a lifelong Manhattanite told me, it’s easy to forget how special (and how wonderfully weird) a place is when you’ve always lived there. I hope to bring that sense of wonder to locals and visitors alike. I’ll be hosting events all over the city this fall (and you’re invited!), and I’d love to help you plan a “secret” itinerary.
Secrets exist even in the most unlikely places
One of my best moments while researching this book happened by chance. I was working on a story for Time out about an ASMR art pop-up in Times Square. After the interview, I started talking to one of the artists about the general feeling of Times Square, how it was like an enchanted panopticon. She asked me if I had seen the secret artwork there, and I was completely blown away when she showed it to me. So dazzled that I immediately wrote about the piece for Time out and decided that this topic should also be given special attention in the book.
It’s not just Times Square, though. There are also secrets at Grand Central Station (and no, not the one you’re thinking of!), the Empire State Building, and Central Park. But to find out more about those, you’ll have to order a copy of the book.
New York City has an incredible revolutionary history
When I think of the American Revolution, Philadelphia and Boston usually come to mind. But New York City is actually packed with revolutionary history.
The historic Fraunces Tavern, of course, makes an appearance in the book, and if you haven’t checked out the Birch Trials exhibit, it’s a must-see for history buffs. But just a few steps away from Fraunces Tavern is a much more obscure, easily overlooked, and incredibly gross piece of American history. I’ll tell the full story on Time out soon, so stay tuned. As a preview, it involves a fallen horseman, a fence, and the Declaration of Independence.
There are secrets in all five districts
Although we can get virtually anywhere in this city by train, it’s often much easier to stay in our own neighborhood. I myself am certainly guilty of going to the same places, eating at the same restaurants, and falling into a weekend routine just steps from my apartment.
What I especially loved about this book was the impetus it gave me to deviate from my usual route and explore the whole city. On weekends, I would design detailed itineraries for places I wanted to visit for the book. I spent hours on subways and buses and loved seeing new neighborhoods, eating lunch at different places, and navigating the city with a map.
From a nerdy tribute in Queens to a quiet retreat on Staten Island to a place in the Bronx that looks like New York’s Stonehenge, every borough offers fascinating and obscure places if you know where to look. And if you don’t, I’m here to help.
It is impossible to capture them all
While I reveal nearly 100 secrets in the book, this is far from a complete list. I focused on secrets that are publicly available and put a special emphasis on free locations. This means that my list of secrets that didn’t make the list is quite long – 10 pages to be exact. Some of these places were too hard to find (one even required a drone to see), and others were just not as exciting as the others in my opinion. So I won’t be revealing those secrets for now.
But secrets are a renewable resource. Places close, old stories are revealed, and new secrets emerge. So if you know a standout New York City secret, I want to hear about it. I won’t tell anyone (that’s why my hair is so big) unless you let me – and then I might just put it in the book.
