This Tang Dynasty behemoth is the biggest Buddha in the world.

The most famous location in China was home to whole dynasties worth of imperial rulers.

A fifth-century temple improbably built into the side of a cliff.

This elaborate towering structure was once famed for its revolutionary height.

This charming colonial alleyway is one of the oldest continuously used residential streets in the U.S.

A layered tribute to the work of mosaicist Isaiah Zagar.

World's first "penitentiary," meant to be humane, drove men insane.

America's most famous museum of medical oddities is home to the remains of Albert Einstein's brain.

Touching mementoes from those who didn't make it back from World War I still hang in one of New York's oldest bars.

This wall on a street corner in Lower Manhattan has been a blank canvas for a rotation of renowned artists since the 1980s.

Make a tough dinner decision: Octopus wasabi roulette or bull penis?

Slyly buy a shake in the Parker Meridien lobby.

The walls are decorated with whimsical murals painted by the creator of the Madeline franchise.

The remnants of two World's Fairs are here, complete with a 12-story globe, a mini-Manhattan, and a UFO-shaped pavilion.

Love, knishes, and best wishes from this legendary Lower East Side bakery.

The "Seinfeld" diner.

One of only two commuter aerial tramways in the United States.

Elevated freight railway turned wildly successful urban park.

The oldest family-run luncheonette in New York, last renovated in 1948, still serves food and drinks the old-fashioned way.

A beautiful and abandoned New York subway station from 1904, complete with chandelier.

Dodge prohibitionists and slide through the telephone booth in Crif Dogs.