1 W 42nd St
2 Mets colors
3 Double-decker buses
4 Newspaper boxes
5 Horse-drawn carriages
Blights 6–10


6 Rainbow Room
Some things never change—but they should. Paid-by-the-hour tour guides will tell you that the venerable Rainbow Room hearkens back to the halcyon days of satin gloves and coattails, but one look around the garish 65th-floor banquet hall and all we see are cruise-ship sequins and bad toupees. Where’s the glamour? The romance? The Grace Kellys and the Prince Rainiers? The Rainbow Room is a tired old hooker, and her clientele reflects that.

View our more tangible icons picks on a Google map.

7 Times Square’s Naked Cowboy
He ruins country music. And busking. And nudity.

8 Goethals Bridge
Let us count the ways we’ve almost died whilst crossing the Goethals Bridge. The plank-wide lanes (which are actually two feet narrower than the current design-standard requirement, not to mention that there’s no freakin’ shoulder) make for a terrifying journey—e.g., monstrous 18-wheelers, powered by diesel and trucker speed, barreling down the middle when they can’t fit left or right. If, when we die, Satan forces us to brave the river Styx en route to hell, this is the bridge that’ll get us there. Not coincidentally, it connects the greatest of two evils: Staten Island and New Jersey.

View our more tangible icons picks on a Google map.

9 Waldorf Astoria Hotel
301 Park Ave at 50th St
When this once-grand historic hotel opened on Park Avenue in 1931, it catered to the upper echelons of New York high society. Nowadays, a glimpse around the garish lobby reveals lines upon lines of weary package-deal tourists waiting hours (and hours) to check in with disinterested desk clerks. If you want a quality Waldorf experience, just order a salad—to go.

View our more tangible icons picks on a Google map.

10 Socialites
Omigod! You really just saw Tinsley Mortimer at Frederick’s!?! And she was talking shit about Olivia Palermo? Wow, cool! Wait, why are they famous again?

View our more tangible icons picks on a Google map.