Emerging from the sidewalk, this sculpture of a whale commemorates the importance of baleen in traditional Japanese puppetry.

The traditional houses along the coast of this charming Japanese fishing village allow people to sleep above the sea.

For almost a century, this East Village newsstand has served egg creams to beats, hippies, punks, and everything in between.

Though the case is scorched and the buttons half-melted, this hardy handheld gaming device can still run a game of Tetris.

Church in Manhattan holds the bloody sock of Padre Pio, among with many other unusual relics.

The mummified relics of an American missionary.

One of the oldest Jewish cemeteries in the city, it is now overgrown with an urban forest.

Historical figures from New York City's Catholic community reside in Midtown.

This neighborhood grocery houses a treasure trove of Eastern European delights.

The crown jewel of the Queens Museum is a nearly 10,000-square-foot architectural model of the city originally built for the 1964 World's Fair.

This iconic tattoo shop has its own onsite museum with artifacts from the early history of modern body art.

The loneliest island in New York.

A restaurant on Staten Island showcases a different grandmother’s cooking every night.

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

The "Seinfeld" diner.

Ride the subways of yesteryear.

A New York garbage depot holds a secret collection of weird and wonderful refuse.

Try not to get slimed in Tribeca.

A crumbling hospital from the 1850s on Roosevelt Island.

A terrific purveyor of natural history objects and curios.

A small town lost in the mountains of southern Italy hosts the childhood home of one of the most famous saints of the 20th century.

Meet the oldest inhabitants of this Italian hamlet, a series of oddly preserved mummies.

A macabre anatomy museum tucked within an old Italian hospital.

What better way to honor a pioneering anatomist than by preserving his severed head like a specimen?