The best NYC-themed gifts for the holidays

Commemorate your fellow New Yorker's favorite spot or an important local haunt where it all began with a print of it by an NYC artist—Annie Schonberger or Bop Bop Art. She has so many city favorites to choose from, including Dante, the Little Owl, Books Are Magic, Katz's and Russ & Daughters. Schonberger also donates 15% of her profits at the end of each year to an organization called Protect Our Winters, which is a group of winter sports enthusiasts fighting for climate change impact!

bopbopart.com, starting at around $65.

If they really miss Carnegie Deli's New York Cheesecake (RIP the brick-and-mortar store, which closed in 2016) you can surprise them with one this holiday season! You can actually order a four-inch or eight-inch cheesecake through its store on Amazon right now.

amazon.com, the larger cheesecake is $99.

For a classy gift for the New Yorker who appreciates vintage NYC items and memorabilia, get the NYC Subway Cognac Token & Revenue Bag Watch. It’s a practical gift with a nod to the past made with an authentic 1970s-era 7/8-inch Y-cut New York Transit Token. The dial is made from a “revenue bag” that was used to transfer tokens throughout the system.

nytransitmuseumstore.com, $265.

If you want to commemorate the MetroCard before it’s fully gone (thanks to the new OMNY system), you can grab some ephemera here.

Only design nerds know what the New York City flag looks like. For the rest of us, our collective symbol would probably be the "We are happy to serve you" coffee cup. Now, with this ceramic homage to the Grecian icon, you can re-create that sweet street-java feel at home.

nycoffeecup.com, two for $36

In 2020, a three-story-tall, vibrant mural celebrating RBG's life popped up in the heart of East Village. There was such an overwhelming response to the mural from fans of the Flatbush-born Justice, artist Elle now offers prints and t-shirts featuring the massive artwork.

elle-streetart-merch.myshopify.com, T-shirt $23, smaller print $65, bigger print $150.

When you’ve been hacking through 23,000 pounds of corned beef and pastrami every week—for decades—you enlist the best surfaces for the job. Katz’s is selling limited runs of carving boards made from the deli’s old counters, oodles of knife marks and all.

katzsdelicatessen.com, $125

Beloved New York City pride brand New York or Nowhere, which now has a brick-and-mortar shop, has cornered the market on classy NYC-pride merch. We recommend grabbing them a cozy sweatshirt with their lovely phrase here, $145.

“Can I get a swipe?” sounded less thirsty before dating apps.The person on your list can rep the city hard with this charm in sterling silver ($68), with a Simone de Beauvoir quote (“There is something in the New York air that makes sleep useless”) on the back.

jetsetcandy.com, $68

JAY Z already made the Yankees hat famous, but here’s your chance to champion another New York baseball team. This cap was sported by the Brooklyn Eagles, a Negro National League club that played ball for one season at Ebbets Field.

ebbets.com, $54

Architecture and underground art intersect, well, underground—beneath Gotham’s streets. Collected here for your perusal, Philip Ashforth Coppola’s intricate drawings celebrate our subway’s decorative elements, from overlooked mosaics and terra-cotta plaques to faience medallions and cornices.

wherever good books are sold, $24.95

If a wisp of cat hair is in your bacon, egg and cheese, that’s just part of the experience of getting a sammie at the corner store. And we’re fine with that: Some of our favorite New Yorkers are bodega cats.

peraltaproject.com, $40

If they’re a big fan of the American Museum of Natural History, get them something to celebrate their love and the opening of the impressive, new Gilder Center!

AMNH has a great, heavy-duty sweatshirt made exclusively for the opening on sale for $78, here.

One of the most beautiful rooms in all of NYC can be around their neck. The Rose Main Reading Room is an iconic symbol of the library and one of the largest uncolumned interior spaces in the world. James Wall Finn and Yohannes Aynalem's celestial mural soars 52 feet above the room, giving the impression of looking through the ceiling up to a sky of billowing clouds, and is surrounded by ornate rosettes and recessed panels embellished with classical motifs. Its understated elegance has the feel of an "I heart NY" T-shirt without making you look like a tourist.

nypl.org, $85.50–$95

Give the gift of the sweet scapes of Central Park. This sunny New Yorker Cover by Artist Bob Knox, originally published on July 15th, 1991 has 1000 pieces, to keep you busy on cozy winter evenings.

mcny.org, $18.95