This iconic L.A. bookshop is housed in an abandoned bank—both symbolic and chic.

Built hundreds of years ago this downtown iron barrier once protected a much despised king.

The most confusing clock in New York.

This historic building housed the surviving crew members of the Titanic, who were left destitute after the wreck.

The site of the deadly Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire.

Unrepaired walls from a 1920 anarchist bomb attack.

Visit the monolithic tomb of America's most famous general.

This futuristic airport terminal was abandoned for decades before reopening as a hotel—with a vintage plane of its own parked out back.

Manhattan's lighthouse, erected at the insistence of the unsinkable Molly Brown.

The only home that Alexander Hamilton ever owned has a history almost as troubled as his own.

This Wall Street bar was once a hub of revolutionary activity where Washington famously bid farewell to his troops.

A dark, dank room in subterranean Manhattan was the site of a ghastly murder.

This mosaic dedicated to John Lennon was tended for years by a Beatles super-fan.

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

The name of this famed hospital was once a byword for the horrors of medical and psychiatric care.

Wall Street has a new heroine, a bronze statue of a small but fierce girl.

Mysterious 500-year-old tapestries depict a unicorn hunt.

This cemetery has graves dating back to the 17th century, including the city's oldest carved tombstone and an ominous cryptogram.

The "Seinfeld" diner.

A dilapidated dock tells the story of Titanic's missed arrival.

Under a glass sidewalk lie the remains of some of Manhattan's oldest buildings.

Manhattan’s Battery Park has a whimsical carousel full of spinning, glowing fish.

The world’s oldest and biggest bookstore stocking only mystery, crime fiction, espionage, and thrillers.

A simple but powerful tribute to the 20 victims of the 1692 witch trials.