American Museum Of Natural History
Residents of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut can enter the museum for free. Two things to note about the free entry at his museum.
If you want to get tickets in advance online, you must pay the full price.
Also, when you enter for free, you will not have access to the Hayden Planetarium Show or the IMAX.
See our post on how to visit the American Museum of Natural History.
Ny Transit Museum Shop At 2 Broadway
Located just across the street from the Bowling Green subway station, the NY Transit Museum Store at 2 Broadway in Lower Manhattan offers all the must-have transit apparel, accessories and collectibles.
HoursWednesday & Thursday, 10am to 4pm
Shop the NY Transit Museum Store online at NYTransitMuseumStore.com!
Know Before You Visit
Museums Included In Tourist Passes
Entry to some number of ticketed museums is included in most tourist attraction discount passes, which bundle several tours and attractions, including museums, into one pass at a flat rate price.
Also, having a pass saves you time because you dont have to wait online to purchase tickets and some passes offer skip-the-line privileges.
Buying a tourist pass makes a lot of sense if you are planning on visiting several museums, especially those that required a paid ticket.
With the major art museums costing $25 each, youd be wise to consider a pass if you plan on going to 3 or more such museums.
This is one of the top museums in the world and its collection of over two million works includes pieces from several different periods in human history.
This is a must-see museum, but tickets are $25 and they do not offer any free hours.
This very popular museum, located on an aircraft carrier is very engaging. Its mission is to educate the public about the history and science of sea, air, and space travel.
It is very interactive and great for kids.
Tickets are pricey, and though they have free hours one Friday a month, the best way to save on tickets is to consider a tourist pass.
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Visit The Transit Museums Decommissioned Subway Station At 99 Schermerhorn Street
Brooklyn, NY Catch all the trains you missed! Beginning Saturday, August 14th, the New York Transit Museum in Downtown Brooklyn will be open for museum visitors! After over a year of closure, the Museum is thrilled to welcome old and new friends to explore its vintage train cars and exhibits.
After what might only be described as the most challenging 16 months in the Museums history, I am pleased to share that the New York Transit Museum will reopen our main location in mid-August. We cannot wait to see visitors experience our fantastic vintage fleet and our wonderful exhibits in person its been a long time coming! says New York Transit Museum Director Concetta Bencivenga.
The New York Transit Museums initial reopening hours will be Fridays – Sundays, 11am to 4pm. Advanced tickets and mask wearing are required for admission, and new health-and-safety procedures are in place.
Museum members can enjoy early access with an exclusive Member Preview Day on Friday, August 13th. Additional membership benefits include year-round free admission, a 10% discount on all New York Transit Museum Store purchases, and free or discounted tickets to programs in-person and online.
For more information on Museum hours, admission and directions, please visit nytransitmuseum.org.
ABOUT THE NEW YORK TRANSIT MUSEUM:
Why You Should Go
Most museums invite you to escape your day-to-day experience and delve into rare moments in history and exclusive artistic achievement. The New York Transit museums invite you to look at the history and evolution of a significant part of your everyday life. You do not need a course in art appreciation or a background in American history to appreciate these particular artifacts with a critical eye and a basis in personal experience. More than any other museum in the city, this is your museum. And it might have the best gift shop in town.
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Getting To The Transit Museum In Brooklyn
Ironically, though you can take the subway to get to the museum, youll have to walk to it from another nearby subway station.
- If youre taking the A or C train, get off at Hoyt-Schemerhorn Station and walk for 4 minutes northwest on Schermerhorn Street until you reach the intersection with Boerum Place. Youll find the museum there.
- If youre taking the 2 or 3 train, get off at Borough Hall Station and walk south on Boerum Place for about 4 minutes to the corner of Boerum Place and Schermerhorn Street.
The museum entrance is a long stairway, but there is also a wheelchair lift at the other end of the old station platform, at the corner of Schermerhorn and Court Street. The museum is almost entirely wheelchair accessible, since the exhibits are all along two flat station platforms. The station has two floors, but with a wheelchair lift between the two levels. Some of the older train cars are not accessible because of narrow doorways.
Admission: Adults $10, Children 2-17 $5.
Check their website for opening hours.
The Transit Museum also runs a small gallery and store inside Grand Central Station, off the Main Concourse, near the Station Masters Office. Admission is free.
Fire Island Lighthouse Preservation Society
The Fire Island Lighthouse Library Pass includes free tower tour admission for 2 adults and up to 4 children age 12 and under. Children must be 42 tall to climb tower. Hours vary during the year, call for tower availability 661-4876. Not valid for special programs and events. Admittance to the lighthouse and museum is always free. Museum restrictions may apply.
Parking: Park in Robert Moses State Park field #5. There is a parking fee at certain times of the year. Park on the east side of the parking field and follow the boardwalk right to the lighthouse, approximately a half mile walk.
This Museum Pass is sponsored by the Friends of the Northport-East Northport Public Library.
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Museum Gateway For Students
Due to public health guidelines, some museums may have specialized protocols in place for the health and safety of their visitors. Please visit their website and review information below for specific instructions and guidelines before your visit.
11 West 53 Street, Manhattan
MoMA PS1
Note to NYU Students: NYU Students can now book a complimentary affiliate ticket on the MoMA website. On the reservation page, please select “Reserve affiliate tickets”, choose your date, and select ‘Free College – NYU’ from the drop down menu. Please make sure to bring your NYU ID and ticket when you arrive at the Museum to verify your admission.
36-01 35 Avenue Astoria, NY 11106
235 Bowery, New York, NY 10002
· Click Reserve Your Ticket under the General Admission section
· Select Corporate Member ticket as the ticket type
· Promo code: NYUCORP22
· You will receive a confirmation email with a QR code. Please bring the QR code with you to be scanned at admissions.
1109 5th Ave at 92nd StNew York, NY 10128
99 Gansevoort Street
What You Will See
The highlight of the museum is its varied collection of vintage subway cars, complete with the hilariously outdated subway advertisements. For special occasions, the transit museum will put one of these cars back on the tracks. In addition to the subway cars, explore the engineering and construction of the bridges and tunnels that connect Manhattan to the rest of the city, sit behind the wheel of a bus, and see the evolution of subway turnstyles and payment methods.
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Is The New York Transit Museum Worth Visiting
If youre interested in urban transportation, the New York Transit Museum is worth visiting. If you have kids who are train-crazy, theyll enjoy it, though it wont take them long to exhaust what the Transit Museum has to offer.
Id also recommend the museum to anyone interested in the history of advertising. While there is no extra information about the ads, theyve clearly been curated. They fit in terms of chronology with each other and with the train car theyre in. You could probably find the ads online, but here you see them in their intended context and time period.
Even with skimming most of the informational signs and dawdling over the ads, I only spent a bit over an hour in the museum.
A wooden subway car from 1907 has cushioned seats and leather straps.
Ny Transit Museum Tickets
The New York Transit Museum is a great place to learn about the history of the citys public transportation system. The museum offers a variety of exhibits and activities, and it is a great place to take the family. Tickets can be purchased online or at the museum.
The New York Transit Museum is one of the citys most prominent cultural institutions. This museum is the largest in the country in terms of its focus on urban public transportation history. The Museums location in a historic 1936 IND subway station has grown in popularity and scope since its previous home was demolished in 1936. The New York Transit Museum is visited by 65.93% of people between the hours of 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. Visiting the New York Transport Museum is the most popular way to travel by car for 6595% of visitors. The New York subway and museum are usually visited within 1 hour. The Dead Rabbit and Yankee Stadium are two of the most popular tourist attractions in New York City.
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Is The New York Transit Museum Open
Yes, the New York Transit Museum is open. The museum is dedicated to preserving and displaying artifacts that tell the story of the development of public transportation in the New York City region.
Beginning in July, the New York Transit Museum will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week at its decommissioned subway station in Downtown Brooklyn. The popular exhibit space, which features a collection of vintage subway train cars, will now be open every Thursday through Sunday, rather than the current three days per week of Friday and Sunday. Because of the pandemic, the museum laid off 24 employees, roughly one-third of the workforce before COVID. Despite the decrease in recent months, the number of visitors is still less than a quarter of what it was before pandemics hit. Were prepared to do whatever is necessary to accommodate those critical positions, Bencivenaga said.
What Is Culture Pass
Culture Pass is a program for cardholding patrons 13 and older of Brooklyn Public Library, New York Public Library and Queens Public Library. Using their library card, New Yorkers can reserve a pass and get free admission to dozens of NYC cultural institutions, including museums, historical societies, heritage centers, public gardens and more.
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National Museum Of The American Indian
The collection of Native American Indian artifacts is outstanding. This museum is kid-friendly as well.
The museum is housed in the historic and stunning Beaux-Arts building, the former Alexander Hamilton Customs House.
Click here for more information on the museum.
TIP: This museum is located in Lower Manhattan, an area that has so much more to see. Our Guide to Lower Manhattan lists the multitude of activities, many of which are free.
Grand Central Gallery & Store
Dont miss our gallery of rotating exhibits and retail store in Grand Central Terminal! Located just off the Main Concourse in the Shuttle Passage, adjacent to the Station Masters Office. The Terminals Main Concourse is accessible by wheelchair from both Lexington Avenue and 42nd Street. It is not accessible from Vanderbilt Avenue.
HoursTuesday Sunday, 10am to 7:30pm
**Note that strollers are not permitted in the Gallery & Store. Additionally, Grand Central Terminal does not permit unattended strollers. Please consider leaving your strollers at home.
Admission
For directions to Grand Central Terminal, use the widget above, the MTAs Trip Planner, or .
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Reign Of The Redbirds
Now On View!
2019 marks the 60th anniversary of the introduction of the R-26, the first of nine types of similar-looking subway cars that ultimately came to be known as Redbirds. If you rode the subway between 1959 and 2003, chances are it was on one of these cars. Introduced at varying times and in various colors, they collectively came to be known as Redbirds because of the color they were painted from 1984 until the fleets retirement in 2003. Boxy and industrial-looking, the cars that became the Redbirds arrived in New York City at a time of great transition. In service for more than four decades, they captured the imaginations of millions, became as iconic as the subway token, and still evoke expressions of admiration to this day.
Reign of the Redbird is sponsored by
Here Are Some Events You Can Check Out On Lunar New Year In New York City
Its Year of the Rabbit! Celebrate Lunar New Year celebrations in New York City starting this weekend and lasting for a month culminating with the big, blowout 25th Annual Lunar New Year Parade in Manhattans Chinatown.
Below are events listed in chronological order to hop, skip, and jump your way through Lunar New Year across New York City.
Manhattan
Its almost Lunar New Year! Join Olly Olly Market for custom Forsyth Fortune Cookies, a Live Lion Dance performance, as well as a raffle with lots of prizes whose proceeds will benefit Send Chinatown Love, a non-profit that helps local mom & pop restaurants. Theyll also be giving away a free Lunar Hard Seltzer with purchase of their Baby Burrito.
When: Friday, Jan. 20, 5 p.m. 8 p.m.
Where: Olly Olly Market, 601 W 26th St, New York, NY 10001
When: Friday, Jan. 20, 10 p.m.
Where: Broadway Comedy Club, 318 W 53rd St, New York, NY 10019
When:Where:
Ring in the Year of the Rabbit with an afternoon of festivities for the whole family performances, demonstrations, workshops, and author meet & greets.
When:Where: When:
When: Saturday, Jan. 21, 10 p.m.
Where: NOREE, 274 Grand St, New York, NY 10002
When:Where: When: Where: When:Where:When:Where: Where:
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What To See At The New York Transit Museum
The first part of the museum is dedicated to the construction of the subway. Thanks to black and white photos, you can see a typical day of those who worked hard to dig miles of tunnels.
The second part explains how the subway works. Among other things, you can see the different turnstiles that were used over the years since 1904.
On the ground floor, in a real metro station, there are about ten trains. The first ones date back to the 1910s. You can walk around in the old wagons, with old commercials on the wall. You can sit down and have the impression of traveling through time.I would have liked to see a graffitied train! You know, this typical 80s style, although at that time, transport was not as safe as it is today.
Before you go, dont forget to stop by the museums souvenir shop. They sell many perfect items to give to your friends: socks, mugs, books, key rings
What About The Met
The Metropolitan Museum of Art and its other branches used to have pay-what-you-wish admission for everyone. This was great, because The Met is one of the best museums in New York and a must-see for all visitors!
Unfortunately, in 2018, this policy. Now, only New York residents can take advantage of pay-what-you-wish.
Everyone else must pay full ticket price
While this change is extremely annoying, you have two options. You can either visit with a friend whos a New York resident or visit as part of the New York Pass.
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Where In Brooklyn Is The Transit Museum
But first, you have to find it! Its easy to miss the entrance. It looks, as you walk down an ordinary sidewalk in central Brooklyn, like the entrance to any subway station: a stairway down from the sidewalk, edged with a railing. Im sure there are people who pass it every day who dont know its there. And there must be people who enter it every day, then, startled, turn around and climb the stairs again when they realize its not, in fact, a subway station.
The New York Transit Museums entrance.
To be fair, the NY Transit Museum is housed in an unused subway station. Youll even feel the occasional rumble, but the cleanliness level and smell are distinctly better than your average station. The museum extends the length of a city block, using two levels of a 1930s-era station.
Here are some other things worth seeing and doing in New York City:
And heres a complete listing of free or cheap things to do: New York City on a Budget
New York Public Library Tours
This library is an NYC icon. You will instantly recognize the two lions on the side of the grand staircase up to the entry.
You can explore the librarys exhibits on your own or you can take one of their free tours.
Find out more about their tours here.
The NYPL is a stop on our guided Midtown Manhattan Tour as well as our GPS-led audio tour.
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Brooklyn Museums That Are Free On Saturdays
- Brooklyn Botanic Garden: The Brooklyn Botanic Garden offers free admission from 10 am to 12 pm on Saturdays.
- Brooklyn Children’s Museum: The Brooklyn Children’s Museum boasts a rooftop terrace, hands-on exhibits, and 27,000 must-see objects in its permanent collection. The museum offers free “early bird” admission before 11 am on the second weekend of every month.
- Brooklyn Museum: On the first Saturday of every month, the Brooklyn Museum boasts a free night of culture from 5 pm to 11 pm, with live music, dance, movie screenings, arts & crafts, guided tours, and more.
