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At Untapped Cities, we have a “Daily What?!” series, which consists of one surprising thing every weekday. The column keeps us on our toes at all times looking for quirky New York City stuff. We’ll admit that on some days, we’re stumped, but that rarely happens. To catch you up, here are the Top 10 Daily What?!s of 2014 on Untapped Cities:
A defunct doorway in the Times Square subway that once led to a hotel so popular it was nicknamed “The 42nd Street Club.” Read more here.
Mau Mau Island is man made, but a small artists’ collective known as Swimming Cities has hosted an epic naval battle for the island. Read more here.
Slices at Koronet Pizza are larger than your head. Their crown jewel is the Jumbo slice–from a 32″ pizza–that’ll only set you back about $4. Read more here.
For those on the search for this Hindu temple, you’ll have to spot a “blue door” at the corner of Crosby and Broome Street and head up to the second floor. Read more.
At the Time Warner Center, so many people touch Fernando Botero’s Adam sculpture’s small but prominent penis that it has been worn to a golden shine. Read more here.
In 1947, a man decided to take the bus he was driving to Florida…and didn’t get fired. Read more here.
Did you know that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has a gold vault containing the world’s largest known depository of gold? The approximately 530,000 gold bars weigh 6,700 tons. Read more here.
The next time you pass by the Graybar Building at Grand Central Terminal, be sure to look up. Three sculpted rats are depicted as if they are climbing the anchor ropes on a ship, a quirky reference to New York’s maritime roots. Read more here.
What is now possibly the worst kept secret at Columbia’s Morningside campus, an intricate network of tunnels connects many of the school’s buildings. These tunnels date back to 1900 when the campus was home to another institution: Bloomingdale’s Insane Asylum. Read more here.
On 57th Street, between 6th and 7th Avenue, across from the Parker Meridien Hotel, is this Gold ATM. That’s right, a machine that dispenses gold. Find out more here.
It’s been a centerpiece in Union Square now for 15 years, but it still bewilders many a passerby. No, these numbers don’t count the national debt or the acres of rain forest being destroyed. Find out what it is here.
When dodging people on Fifth Avenue and at Rockefeller Center, you probably don’t have time to look up and ponder what secrets may lie in the tourist trap. But atop the Art Deco infused Rockefeller Center are some great garden rooftops. Find out more here.
Pugsley’s Pizza has been located behind Fordham Road in the Bronx for almost 30 years and is a true mom and pop pizzeria. As it’s hidden by a gas station, many people walk right by without ever realizing it. Read more here.
When Lehman Brothers purchased One Times Square in 1995, they envisioned a new kind of tenant: advertisers. Instead of renting the offices inside the 25 floor building, they began retrofitting the facade with billboards. By 1997, the profits were up 400%, and the inside was empty. Read more about this and where the New Year’s Eve ball is stored here.
In April 2014, the demolition of the mall at Pier 17 at South Street Seaport was fully underway. See more photos here.
In the Diamond District on 47th Street is a mid-block passageway, the Plaza Arcade, featuring almost predominantly gold shops. See more here.
Fans of Cynthia von Buhler’s Speakeasy Dollhouse show put up more than 150+ miniature fairy doors in NYC this year. See more here.
This adorable door in the 60th Street and Broadway subway entrance to Columbus Circle has been making us smile for a while now. Could it be the smallest door in the NYC subway system? Read more here.
Photo via Metropod
There used to be an entire floor of “nap pods” in the Empire State Building. At MetroNaps on the 24th floor, tired New Yorkers could kick back in a space-ship-like chair to catch some much-needed zzz’s in twenty minute intervals. Read more about it here.
A look at the shortest streets in NYC. Find out which won here.
5. The Empire State Building Zeppelin Docking Station
There were plans for a docking station on the Empire State Building but did it ever host a zeppelin? Find out here.
Nick Kroll from Comedy Central was at it again. You might recall the parody Dr. Zizmor ads for puppy face lifts he did exactly a year ago in the NYC subway. See more here.
This Banksy-like find was discovered by Rembert Browne last year on 57th Street and 10th Avenue, nowhere near the 7 line. Find out why.
There were 22 original eagles on the original Penn Station and that at least 14 still exist. Here’s where they are.
We’re not surprised this is your #1 favorite Daily What?!. This secret train platform, supposedly used by FDR, General Pershing and maybe even Andy Warhol is so popular, it also figures in our Top 10 Secrets of Grand Central Terminal.
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