Unusual Tourist Attractions of New York City

The Little Italy of Martin Scorsese and Batman's Gotham City. Broadway and the dazzling lights of Times Square. The words "New York" bring many images to our minds eye. No matter where we live, images of New York are part of our culture.

But the real New York extends far beyond the moving pictures. Tucked away in the one-way streets of Manhattan, hidden on the boardwalks of Brooklyn, magical places exist all over the city, far away from the tour routes.

Jekyll and Hyde Restaurant
91 7th Avenue South, New York, NY 10014, (212) 989-7285

If you've ever been to New York, you might already be familiar with the Jekyll and Hyde Restaurant in midtown. The swanky, three-story restaurant is a neighbor to such tourist attractions as the Hard Rock Café and Carnegie Hall, and any tour of New York worth its ticket price includes it as one of the stops. But what most tourists don't know is that this respectable establishment has a rowdy cousin in the heart of the West Village.

In contrast with the uptown location, the West Village Jekyll and Hyde is small and cozy, filled with shifting, eerie lights and brains floating in jars. The staff, comprised mostly of young starving artists who are usually from the neighborhood, have two functions to perform: they serve you impeccable food while doing their best to freak you out, make you blush, or simply give you a good belly laugh. A talking gargoyle with a bad head cold picks on you from the wall; a grumpy mummy tries to give you dating advice; and once you're well hammered on the hilariously named house drinks (Frontal Lobotomy is my personal favorite), you must face the challenge of finding the bathroom door hidden in a wall of books.

Lido Restaurant and Club
200 Columbia Street, Brooklyn, NY 11231, (718) 858-9322
Odessa Restaurant
1113 Brighton Beach Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11235, (718) 332-3223

From "Moscow on the Hudson" to "Little Odessa," Hollywood movies about the Russian neighborhoods of New York never quite capture the magic of Russian American culture. One thing they do capture, however - one thing that's hard to miss when you meet Russian people - is the great enthusiasm with which Russians have a good time. It could be the vodka or the gypsy music, but these people know how to party!

Lido and Odessa are typical Russian restaurants - in fact, they are the best. By day, they look like regular restaurants that offer scrumptious Russian, Ukrainian and Central Asian dishes, with some French cuisine thrown in for good measure. But as the night falls, the real enchantment begins.

Lido has been called the Moulin Rouge of Little Odessa, and for good reason. Odessa Restaurant is quickly gaining in quality. Beautiful and talented dancers tantalize and entertain while you eat and drink; the band plays old Russian favorites and modern dance beats… and the crowd gets progressively more cheerful throughout the evening.

The Museum of Television and Radio
25 West 52nd Street, New York, NY 10019, (212) 621-6880

The Met; the Guggenheim; the MoMa… Timeless works of art have always found a welcoming home in New York. But when you think of timeless art, do television and radio shows ever come to mind?

Few tourists come to the Museum of Television and Radio. Its main attraction is a giant library of thousands of old radio shows, classic sitcoms, documentaries and dramas from the birth of radio and into modern times.

You might be a tourist - but chances are, you are also a television fan. Here, you can learn about the little-known history of the medium that shapes our culture like no other.

These are just a few of the places where you can catch glimpses of the real New York, the way real New Yorkers experience it: spooky and sexy, with all its accents and faiths, these places will leave you with your own, uniquely personal impression of New York.